Guide to the Catoctin Mountain Park Negative Collection

This finding aid describes the Catoctin Mountain Park Negative Collection, part of the Catoctin Mountain Park Museum Collection. For access to the collection or for more information, contact the park’s custodial officer.

The entrance to Catoctin Mountain Park.

Collection Overview

Collection Number: CATO 4843

Creator: Catoctin Mountain Park

Title: Catoctin Mountain Park Negative Collection

Dates: 1942-1988

Volume of Collection: 2 LF

Language of Materials: English

Digitized Copies: This collection has not been digitized

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open for research use. Some material may be restricted for Personally Identifiable Information (PII). See the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.

Provenance: The collection was created and housed at Catoctin Mountain Park. It was transferred to the Museum Resource Center on March 5, 2020.

Processing Note: This collection was processed and described by Randa Cardwell in 2022.

Rights Statements for Archival Description: This is in the public domain.

Preferred Citation: Catoctin Mountain Park Negative Collection, Catoctin Mountain Park (CATO 4843)

Location of Repository: Catoctin Mountain Park, 6602 Foxville Road, Thurmont, MD 21788-1598

Related Materials: Catoctin Mountain Park Slide Collection, Catoctin Mountain Park (CATO 4842)

History

Catoctin Mountain Park was created during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a place for people to reconnect with nature. It is located between 1,000 and 1,700 feet above the Monocacy River within the Catoctin Mountain ridge-range, part of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountain system. This landscape of eroded peaks and picturesque rock outcrops is primarily located within Frederick County, MD, although about 300 acres lie within Washington County. Rural, forested, and bisected by numerous creeks and their tributaries, the Park is within an hour of several urban centers, including Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, which are, respectively, approximately 60 miles to the southeast and 50 miles to the east.

Catoctin Mountain Park has 25 miles of trails through the regrowth of red oaks, birches, dogwoods, and maples, and other trees remind us that nature brings us wealth by simply being itself. There are three cabin camps within the park that are open to the public: Misty Mount, Greentop, and Round Meadow. Misty Mount and Greentop were built in the 1930s. Cabin sizes vary from three- to twelve-person capacity. Round Meadow has more modern facilities and can be used in all seasons. Round Meadow and Greentop are wheelchair accessible. The presidential retreat, Camp David, is also located within the park but maintained separately.

Scope and Content Note

The Catoctin Mountain Park Negative collection documents the park’s history, with specific focus towards recording park development and work projects. The collection consists of 3,042 images across 868 envelopes. The building and maintenance of park structures make up the largest portion of the collection. A few projects of note include the construction of the charcoal

hearth by a volunteer group from Thurmont and construction of a Collier’s Hut for the Park’s interpretative programs. There are also a series of images of Maps of Frederick County and the surrounding area from the mid to late 1800s. The negative collection also captures the work of the craftsmen and women at the Round Meadow Folk Craft Center which was popular in the park during the early 1970s. Images of the Center involve crafts such as making maple syrup and shaping iron wheels among others. In addition to the subject matter, one should note that many different types of cameras were used to create the images, resulting in a range of varying dimensions of the negative sizes.

Regarding dates, the earliest negatives in the collection date back to 1942. However, the collection includes negatives of records dating back to 1827.

There are an estimated 868 negative sleeves in the collection, and many contain a single negative, however some sleeves contain many negatives, especially if there are 35mm. There are an estimated 3,193 images, including negatives, transparencies, and a small number of prints.

There are an estimated 3,091 negatives both black and white, and color,

including:

35mm = 2,074

4x5” = 726

2.5x4.5” = 103

2.5x3.5” = 67

2x3” = 57

3.5x4.5” = 15

3.5x5” = 7

3.5x6” = 6

5x7” = 35

There are 91 color transparencies that were used in museum exhibits, including:

5x7” = 73

4x5” = 19

There are also seven 3.5x5” prints and four 4x5” prints.

Arrangement

Organized into 27 series based on a Natural Resources classification system used at Catoctin Mountain Park. Series 17 and 26 contain no negatives, as the collection shares the same hierarchy with CATO 4842: the Catoctin Mountain Park Slide Collection.

Series 01: Resource Management
Series 02: Nature/Scenery
Series 03: Nature/Animals, Plants, and Minerals
Series 04: Buildings, Maintenance, Signs, and Roads
Series 05: Round Meadow
Series 06: Misty Mount
Series 07: Greentop
Series 08: Shangri-La/Camp David
Series 09: Ranger Activities
Series 10: Protection Activities and Incidents
Series 11: Park Personnel
Series 12: Visitor Center
Series 13: Interpretive Programs and Facilities
Series 14: Winter Scenes and Activities
Series 15: Volunteers
Series 16: Job Corps
Series 17: Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and Comprehensive Employment and Training Agency (CETA)
Series 18: Round Meadow Folk Craft Center
Series 19: Special Events
Series 20: Thurmont Activities and Other Areas Outside the Park
Series 21: Historic Pre-Park Buildings and Structures
Series 22: Cunningham Falls State Park
Series 23: Buildings, Activities, and Visitors
Series 24: Trails
Series 25: Camp Peniel and Headquarters
Series 26: D.C. Schools and Summer in the Parks
Series 27: Copies of pre-1950s Maps, Photographs, and Records

Series 01: Resource Management

The Resource Management series captures the park’s efforts to combat invasive animal and plant species as well as prevent erosion.

Series 02: Nature/Scenery

The Nature – Scenery Series contains beauty shots in the park

Series 03: Nature/Animals, Plants & Minerals

This series contains images of the park’s animals, plants, and minerals.

Series 04: Buildings, Maintenance, Signs & Roads

This is the largest series in the collection and focuses on documenting the construction or remodeling of buildings throughout the park, mostly outside of the three camps. It also includes images of some of the older properties on the perimeter of the park.

Series 05: Round Meadow

All images that are identifiable as taken in Round Meadow are found in this series. They are mostly of the buildings, facilities, and some activities.

Series 06: Misty Mount

All images that are identifiable as taken in Misty Mount are found in this series. They are mostly of the buildings and facilities. There are several images of Girl Scouts using the swimming pool.

Series 07: Greentop

The Greentop images includes construction of new buildings, documentation of existing structures, and activities of the Baltimore League of Crippled Children and Adults.

Series 08: Shangri-la/Camp David

This series depicts building projects from the 1940s and structures within the presidential retreat Camp David.

Series 09: Ranger Activities

This series contains images of park rangers working in a variety of activities, either as interpreters for visitors, maintaining the park or engaging in safety training.

Series 10: Protection Activities & Incidents

Images in this series almost exclusively focus on the Mountain Rescue Training School.

Series 11: Park Personnel

This series is primarily portraits of people who work in the park.

Series 12: Visitor Center

The series primarily includes images of construction of the Visitor Center as well as images of the old Visitor Center.

Series 13: Interpretive Programs & Facilities

The negatives in this series include images of self-guiding trail signs, the whiskey still and the sawmill.

Series 14: Winter Scenes & Activities

Most of the images in this series focus on damage from winter storms and activities at the Winter Festival such as cross-country skiing and sled dog demonstrations.

Series 15: Volunteers

The images in this series focus on an assortment of volunteer-supported park programs, many involving the Boy Scouts and other groups working on weekend projects. Some projects include maintaining the park’s interpretive programs or getting the facilities ready for summer visitors.

Series 16: Job Corps

The images of the Job Corps program range from the 1950s through the mid 1970s when the program was disbanded. The negatives include construction projects as well as an event honoring Job Corps Teachers.

Series 17: Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) & Comprehensive Employment and Training Agency (CETA)

There are no negatives in this series.

Series 18: Round Meadow Folk Craft Center

The images in this series are limited to the period of time when the Round Meadow Folk Craft Center operated and hosted a range of craft work programs such as making maple syrup or shaping an iron wheel.

Series 19: Special Events

This series contains a limited number of negatives of special occasions, particularly the Park’s 50th Anniversary.

Series 20: Thurmont Activities and Other Areas Outside the Park

This series includes images from the surrounding community with an emphasis on a project to construct a charcoal hearth for the park. It also includes a set of transparencies from other National Parks that likely were used in the Catoctin Visitor Center.

Series 21: Historic Pre-Park Buildings & Structures

The negatives in this series are mostly of images of the Catoctin furnace and an ore cart that was found partially buried in an ore pit. There are also images of the Blue Blazes Still Site, Catoctin Manor and other old buildings in the area.

Series 22: Cunningham Falls State Park

The images in this series focus on the pavilion and the lake at low water.

Series 23: Buildings, Activities & Visitor

This series contains negatives of images taken of construction projects such as the Collier’s Hut and the Charcoal Hearth as well as color transparencies of park visitors likely taken as part of a publicity campaign.

Series 24: Trails

There are two different images in this series, one of campgrounds and the other of the Wolf Rock Trailhead.

Series 25: Camp Peniel & Park Headquarters

The negatives in this series mostly depict the roofing of the old Assembly Hall as well as images of Camp Peniel.

Series 26: D.C. Schools & Summer in the Parks

There are no negatives in this series.

Series 27: Copies of pre-1950s Maps, Photographs & Records

This series is negatives of copy prints of maps of Frederick County and the surrounding area from the mid to late 1800s.

Container List

BOX 01:
Contains negatives from the following series:
Series 01: Resource Management (12 envelopes)
Series 02: Nature/Scenery (19 envelopes)
Series 03: Nature/Animals, Plants, and Minerals (52 envelopes)
Series 04: Buildings, Maintenance, Signs, and Roads (97 envelopes)
Series 05: Round Meadow (42 envelopes)
Series 06: Misty Mount (15 envelopes)
Series 07: Greentop (65 envelopes)
Series 08: Shangri-la/Camp David (91 envelopes) RESTRICTED

BOX 02:
Contains negatives from the following series:
Series 09: Ranger Activities (12 envelopes)
Series 10: Protection Activities and Incidents (32 envelopes)
Series 11: Park Personnel (34 envelopes)
Series 12: Visitor Center (34 envelopes)
Series 13: Interpretive Programs and Facilities (3 envelopes)
Series 14: Winter Scenes and Activities (25 envelopes)
Series 15: Volunteers (17 envelopes)
Series 16: Jobs Corps (21 envelopes)
Series 18: Round Meadow Folk Craft Center (47 envelopes)
Series 19: Special Events (7 envelopes)
Series 20: Thurmont Activities and Other Areas Outside the Park (36 envelopes)
Series 21: Historic Pre-Park Buildings and Structures (38 envelopes)
Series 22: Cunningham Falls State Park (2 envelopes)

BOX 03:
Contains negatives from the following series:
Series 23: Buildings, Activities, and Visitors (93 envelopes)
Series 24: Trails [and Campgrounds] (2 envelopes)
Series 25: Camp Peniel and Headquarters (11 envelopes)
Series 27: Copies of pre-1950s Maps, Photographs, and Records (56 envelopes)

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