Last updated: March 24, 2026
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Guide to the Papers Related to Gary E. Everhardt
This finding aid describes the Papers Related to Gary E. Everhardt, 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 1645 (Series I.A.9)
Creator: Everhardt, Gary E. (1934-2020)
Title: Papers Related to Gary E. Everhardt
Dates: 1971-1977
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 and Reproduction: Some of the reports and other reference materials in this collection were not produced by the NPS and may not be in the public domain. See https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en. See also the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: This collection was assembled from materials found in the NPS History Collection.
Processing Note: This collection was processed by Emily L. Richardson in 2017. The finding aid was updated for the internet by Eleanore Kohorn in February 2026.
Rights Statements for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Papers Related to Gary E. Everhardt, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1645)
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
Related Materials:
- Assembled Historic Records of the National Park Service (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection
- National Park Service Oral History Collection (HFCA 1817), NPS History Collection
- Records of NPS Directors, National Archives and Records Administration (RG 79.3.2)
- Gary Everhardt Papers, MSS 344, Clemson University Libraries Special Collections
- Gary E. Everhardt’s uniform (HFCA-01921) and badge (HFCA-01919) from his time as superintendent of Blue Ridge Parkway are in the NPS History Collection
Biographical Note
Gary Eugene Everhardt was born on July 8, 1934, in Lenoir, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (now North Carolina State University). He married Nancy Poovey and they had two children.
Everhardt started working with the National Park Service (NPS) as a student engineer surveying lands in the Blue Ridge area near Grandfather Mountain. After graduation, the NPS offered Everhardt a job as a civil engineer in 1957. He served in the US Army for six months in 1958 and then returned to the NPS. In 1962 he was promoted to general engineer in the Southeast Regional Office in Richmond, Virginia. In 1966 he transferred to the Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He became assistant superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in 1969. In 1972 he was appointed superintendent of Grand Teton National Park.
While at Grand Teton Everhardt was awarded the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award for planning and executing the Second World Conference on National Parks which was coordinated with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. This and other favorable notice at Grand Teton propelled him to the directorship in January 1975, under President Gerald R. Ford.
As the ninth NPS director, Everhardt oversaw a large increase in park development and interpretive programming for the United States Bicentennial. NPS acreage doubled during his tenure as he pushed wilderness designations and hailed a presidential proposal for a $1.5 billion Bicentennial Land Heritage Program. During his directorship a policy council was created, which produced management objectives for the Service. Other firsts during his tenure include the first national symposium on urban recreation; the first national conference on scientific research; the first Native crafts sales program in the parks; and the first international park publication, PARKS.
Everhardt made several trips to Alaska during his tenure and helped shape the designation of Alaska's national forests and national parks, which was enacted during the subsequent Carter Administration.
After the previous appointment of Ronald H. Walker as director, the return of an NPS careerist to the job was much applauded by park employees and supporters. However, Everhardt's leadership fell short of expectations, and the new Carter administration returned him to the field. He served briefly as special assistant to the NPS director until he assumed the position of superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway in October 1977. As superintendent he oversaw completion of the parkway with the construction of the Linn Cove Viaduct around Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, as well as the construction of the Asheville Folk Art Center, Parkway headquarters, and the Blue Ridge Music Center. He retired in 2000.
Everhardt was awarded the Department of the Interior's Distinguished Service Award on April 24, 1985. He received the Cornelius Amory Pugsley National Medal Award in 1990 for his dedication to park conservation. The Blue Ridge Parkway headquarters building is named in his honor.
Everhardt died on December 27, 2020, age 86. He succumbed to the Covid-19 virus four days after his wife Nancy.
Sources
--. 2025. “Directors of the National Park Service”. Accessed January 29, 2026, at http://npshistory.com/publications/directors/index.htm
Clemson University Libraries Special Collections. 2015. “Gary Everhardt Papers”. Accessed January 29, 2026, at http://media.clemson.edu/library/special_collections/findingaids/manuscripts/Mss0344GaryEverhardtPapers.pdf
Scope and Content Note
NPS memoranda written by Everhardt as director, Department of the Interior press releases, articles, and newspaper clippings. Also includes information and a program regarding a dinner honoring Everhardt in 1975.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Container List
BOX 01
Folder 01: Articles and Clippings, 1974-1977
Folder 02: Gary E. Everhardt Dinner, 1975
Folder 03: Memoranda, 1975-1977
Folder 04: Press Releases, 1971-1975
Folder 05: Swearing in Ceremony, January 13, 1975
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