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Guide to the Charles M. Gates Papers

This finding aid describes the Charles M. Gates Papers, part of the NPS History Collection. To search this guide for names, places, key words, or phrases enter Ctrl F on your keyboard (command key + F key on a Mac). Request an in-person research appointment or get more information by contacting the archivist.

Collection Overview

Collection Number: HFCA 3647
Accession Number: HFCA-01874
Creator: Gates, Charles Marvin (1904-1963)
Title: Charles M. Gates Papers
Dates: 1935-1936
Extent: 0.2 LF
Language of Materials: English

Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized.

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open to research use.
Conditions Governing Use: Some of the reports and other reference materials in this collection were not produced by the NPS. See https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en. See also the NPS general archives copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: Donated to the NPS History Collection by Margaret Gates Laliberte in 2020.
Processing Note: This collection was processed by Mikaela Wilson in June 2026.

Rights Statements for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Charles M. Gates Papers (HFCA 3647), NPS History Collection
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

Biographical Note

Charles Marvin Gates was born August 25, 1904, in Hanover, New Hampshire. He graduated from Yale College in 1926. After graduation, he taught for a year at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia. He then received a Master of Arts in History from Harvard University in 1928. From 1928 to 1930 Gates began teaching at Reading High School in Reading, Massachusetts. In 1934 he earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota where he majored in American diplomatic history. Afterwards, Gates became the acting curator of manuscripts at the Minnesota Historical Society from 1934 to 1935. In 1935 Gates became a regional historian for the state park division of the National Park Service (NPS). Based in Indianapolis, he supervised Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) in state parks throughout the country assessing the significance of historical areas through field investigations and research. He inspected and reported on areas of historical interest for proposed ECW camp sites and national monuments, as well as the preservation, identification, and preparation of archeological and historical artifacts found during the ECW program. During 1935 and 1936 he worked on sites such as Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Phil Kearny, Fort Ripley, Fullersburg Mill, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

In 1936 Gates left the NPS to teach at the University of Washington (UW); he became an assistant professor in 1939. That same year, Gates served as a council member at the Society of American Archivists (SAA). In 1943 Gates become an associate professor at UW. From 1943 to 1963 Gates worked as managing editor for Pacific Northwest Quarterly. From 1946 to 1947 he held a research fellowship at the Library of Congress. In 1951 Gates became a full professor at UW for US History. From 1958 to 1959 he held a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Saarbrucken in Germany.

Gates authored numerous articles and published five books. He edited Five Fur Traders of the Northwest (1933); Messages of the Governors of the Territory of Washington to the Legislative Assembly, 1854-1889 (1940); and Readings in Pacific Northwest History: Washington, 1790-1895 (1941). He coauthored Empire of the Columbia (1957) with Dorothy O. Johansen of Reed College. His last work, The First Century at the University of Washington, 1861-1961, was published in 1961.

On March 24, 1963, Gates died in Bellevue, Washington.

Sources

Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection.

Charles M. Gates Papers (HFCA 3647), NPS History Collection.

R. E. B., Dorothy Johansen, Herman Deutsch, L. E. Gelfand, Richard Berner and Emily Johnson. “Charles M. Gates, 1904-1963.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly volume 54, no. 2 (1963): 49–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40487801.

Scope and Content Note

Personal and work correspondence, architectural blueprints, photographs, reports, personnel records, and historical circulars from Charles M. Gates’ NPS tenure (1935-1936). Subjects include job expectations, work complications, and his research, surveys, and proposed plans of construction for various historical sites such as Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Phil Kearny, Fort Ripley, Fullersburg Mill, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Notable individuals include Ed Hummel, Jess Douglas, Ronald F. Lee, Conrad L. Wirth, Verne E. Chatelain, and S. Herbert Evison. Photographs depict signs, landscapes, and a monument from Fort Crevecoeur.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Container List

BOX 01
Folder 01: Audubon Memorial Museum, 1935
Folder 02: Correspondence: Ed Hummel, 1935
Folder 03: Correspondence: Jess Douglas, 1935-1936
Folder 04: Correspondence: Official, 1935
Folder 05: Correspondence: Personal and Work, 1935
Folder 06: Employment Information, 1935
Folder 07: Fort Crevecoeur, 1935
Folder 08: Fort Phil Kearny, 1935
Folder 09: Fort Ripley, 1936
Folder 10: Fullersburg Mill, 1935
Folder 11: Historical Circulars, 1935
Folder 12: Illinois and Michigan Canal, 1936
Folder 13: Travel and Invoices, 1935-1936

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Last updated: August 27, 2026