Guide to the Robert Cahn Papers

This finding aid describes the Robert Cahn 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 1829
Creator: Cahn, Robert, 1917-1997
Title: Robert Cahn Papers
Dates: 1910-1987
Volume of Collection: 2.2 LF
Language of Materials: English

Digitized Copies: This collection has not been digitized.

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open to research use. The oral history interviews are joint works without release forms. Cahn's rights transferred to the NPS with the deed of gift, but Albright's rights did not. Recordings and transcripts may be used for research and non-commercial use only. See also the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: Donated to the National Park Service by Robert Cahn in two separate transactions (1992 and 1995).
Processing Note: This collection was processed and described by Emily Richardson in 2017. This guide was updated by Nancy Russell in December 2024.

Rights Statement for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Robert Cahn Papers, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1829)
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• Assembled Historic Records of the NPS Collection (HFCA 1645) in the NPS History Collection

• NPS Oral History Collection (HFCA 1817) in the NPS History Collection

• Record Group 79 at the National Archives and Records Administration

• Oral History Collection at the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley

• Jackson Hole Preservation Project Oral History Project at Columbia University's Center for Oral History

• Horace Marden Albright Papers at Charles E. Young Library, University of California at Los Angeles

Biographical Note

Robert Cahn was born in Seattle, WA in 1917 and graduated from the University of Washington. He began his journalism career by writing a sports column for the Christian Science Monitor from 1936-1941. When World War II intervened, Cahn served in the US Army. He fought in Europe and received a Bronze Star. In 1951 he married Patricia Lovelady.

Cahn continued his journalism career as a staff reporter for the Seattle Star and the Pasadena Star News. He was also a correspondent for Life magazine. He served as senior editor of Collier's magazine and for two years was chief of its Los Angeles bureau. He spent four years as a freelance writer, contributing articles to the Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest, among others. In 1961, Cahn became the Midwest editor of the Saturday Evening Post.

In 1963 he became a White House reporter for the US Information Agency wire service. In February 1965, he joined the Washington Bureau of the Christian Science Monitor. In 1968, the Christian Science Monitor published a 16-part series by Cahn titled, "Will Success Spoil the National Parks?" The stories won Cahn the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for "his inquiry into the future of our national parks and the methods that may help to preserve them." In 1969, Cahn also received the US Department of the Interior's Conservation Service Award, the Distinguished Service to Conservation Award from the National Wildlife Federation, and a citation from the Stokes Award Committee.

Beginning in 1970 Cahn took leave from his journalist position to serve on the President's Council on Environmental Quality, established under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). After leaving the Council in 1972, he returned to the Christian Science Monitor as environmental editor. During the 1970s he also worked as field editor of Audubon magazine and as a special assistant to the president of the National Audubon Society. He wrote stories for Reader's Digest, Smithsonian, World Monitor, TV Guide, Environment, Sierra, and Earth Work.

In 1972 Cahn met former National Park Service (NPS) Director Horace Albright at the Second World Conference on National Parks held in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. After two weeks spent together during the conference, the Cahn and Albright families became close friends. From 1979 to 1985 Cahn recorded his conversations with Albright regarding his experiences and memories associated with the history of the NPS. Although many publishers had encouraged Albright to write a book on the subject, he remained reticent to do so. In 1984 Cahn convinced Albright to allow the recordings and his recollections to be turned into a book. Albright collaborated with Cahn to create The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 1913-1933, by Horace M. Albright as told to Robert Cahn, published in 1985.

Cahn's other books included Footprints on the Planet: A Search for an Environmental Ethic and American Photographers and the National Parks. He also organized and edited An Environmental Agenda for the Future, which included pieces written by leaders of major US environmental organizations. He served on the 1988-89 Commission on Research and Management Policy in the National Park System, and he was a member of the Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas of the World Conservation Union. Cahn also taught environmental courses at the University of Colorado and lectured on the environment at the University of California at Berkeley.

Cahn moved from Leesburg, Virginia to Boulder, Colorado in 1995. He died of pneumonia at his home on October 24, 1997.

Sources
Albright, Horace M., and Robert Cahn, 1985. The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years 1913-1933. Howe Brothers.

"Environmental Journalist Robert Cahn Dies at 80", Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/10/28/environmental-journalist-robert-cahn-dies-at-80/1d2d915d-55c0-4e7b-bae3-1531303e573a/utm_term=.1aac699c5146 (accessed 7/20/2017).

"Profile of Robert Cahn" by Saville Davis, 1977. The Journal of Environmental Education (Vol. 2, No. 4) http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00139254.1971.10801583?journalCode=vjee19 (accessed 7/20/2017).

Robert Cahn. http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/robert-cahn (accessed 7/20/2017).

Robert Cahn Obituary. New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/30/us/robert-cahn-80-leading-writer-and-us-aide-on-environment.html (accessed 7/17/2017).

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence, research notes, recordings and transcripts of material related to development of the 1985 book The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 1913-1933 by Horace M. Albright as told to Robert Cahn.

Arrangement

Organized into two series as follows:
Series I: Research Materials and Correspondence, 1910-1987 (bulk dates: 1910-1933)
Series II: Interviews with Horace M. Albright, 1979-1985
Subseries A: Interview Recordings, 1979-1985
Subseries B: Interview Transcripts, 1979-1984

Series I: Research Materials and Correspondence, 1910-1987 (bulk dates: 1910-1933)

Volume of the series: 0.6 LF
Arranged alphabetically by topic.

Scope and Content Note
Research notes and correspondence related to the creation of the manuscript titled The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 1913-1933. Correspondence includes letters between Robert Cahn and Horace M. Albright, including Albright's corrections and revisions to chapters of the manuscript. Not all of Albright's editorial comments and revisions which add to the story were included in the finished book. Cahn's research files include copies of National Park Service (NPS) memoranda, publications, notes, and photographs. Includes copies of chapters from Horace Albright's 1940s unpublished manuscript about NPS Director Stephen T. Mather. Frank Taylor of the Saturday Evening Post worked with Albright on the Mather manuscript. Material also includes copies of some of Albright's hand-written material for the Mather book.

Container List
BOX 01
Folder 01: Albright’s Handwritten Material for Unpublished Book on Mather, undated
Folder 02: Albright’s Research Notes, undated
Folder 03: Albright’s Unpublished Book Chapters and Notes, 1943-1946
Folder 04: Congressional Hearings and Bills, 1916-1929
Folder 05: Correspondence: Albright and Cahn with Chapter Comments, 1976-1985
Folder 06: Correspondence: Albright General, 1925-1985
Folder 07: Correspondence: Albright and Mather Correspondence, 1918-1926
Folder 08: Correspondence: General, 1910-1923
Folder 09: Department of Interior Press Releases, 1980
Folder 10: Director Statements: Albright, 1933, undated
Folder 11: Director Statements: Mather, 1919, undated
Folder 12: Evison “Concessions of the NPS” Chapter Copies, undated
Folder 13: The Evolution of the NPS of the United States Master Thesis by Paul Buck, 1921
Folder 14: List of Park Service Field Officers, ca. 1933
Folder 15: NARA Records of the Park Service, 1966
Folder 16: National Park Service War Work Administrative Record, 1941-1944
Folder 17: National Park to Park Highway Association Report of Convention, 1916
Folder 18: Notes from Columbia University Oral History Manuscript, undated
Folder 19: Park Service Memoranda, 1925-1933
Folder 20: Photographs of Albright at Celebration for Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1980
Folder 21: Proceedings of the National Parks Conference, 1917
Folder 22: Publications and Programs, 1937-1987
Folder 23: Ranger Research Material, 1965, undated
Folder 24: Secretary of Interior Reports, 1910-1918
Folder 25: Sierra Club Article “A Talk with Horace Albright,” 1979

Series II: Interviews with Horace M. Albright, 1979-1985

Volume of series: 1.6 LF
Organized in two subseries:
Subseries A: Interview Recordings
Subseries B: Interview Transcripts

Scope and Content

Audio cassette tape recordings of conversations and interviews Robert Cahn conducted with Horace M. Albright. Includes transcripts where available but not all recordings have been transcribed. Includes copies of two cassette tapes of 1979 interview of Albright by Frances Gendlin for an article in Sierra Club magazine. Topics covered include memories of Mather, Albright's experiences with Washington politics, the organization of the park service, rangers, and Albright's time as Yellowstone superintendent.

Subseries II.A: Interview Recordings

Volume of subseries: 0.8 LF
Arranged numerically by HFC log number and thereunder chronologically.

Scope and Content Note
Audio cassette tape recordings of interviews and conversations with Horace M. Albright.

Container List
MEDIA BOX 01
Log #471, Log #1545 - Log #1582

MEDIA BOX 02
Log #1583 - Log #1587, Log #1664

Subseries II.B: Interview Transcripts

Volume of subseries: 0.8 LF
Arranged by transcript type (Assembled Transcripts, Transcripts, and Transcript Summaries) and thereunder either numerically by "part" or chronologically.

Container List
BOX 01
Folder 01: Assembled Transcript Part One, undated
Folder 02: Assembled Transcript Part Two, September 17, 1980
Folder 03: Assembled Transcript Part Three, October 28, 1980
Folder 04: Assembled Transcript Part Four, July 5, 1980?
Folder 05: Assembled Transcript Part Five, April 26, 1980
Folder 06: Assembled Transcript Part Six, undated
Folder 07: Assembled Transcript Part Seven, undated
Folder 08: Assembled Transcript Part Eight, December 4, 1979
Folder 09: Assembled Transcript Part Nine, undated
Folder 10: Assembled Transcript Part Ten, December 4, 1979
Folder 11: Assembled Transcript Part Eleven, November 12-13, 1980
Folder 12: Assembled Transcript Part Twelve, January 7, 1981
Folder 13: Assembled Transcript Part Thirteen, December 8, 1980

BOX 02
Folder 01: Transcripts: March 20, unknown year
Folder 02: Transcripts: March 22, unknown year
Folder 03: Transcripts: March 23, unknown year
Folder 04: Transcripts: June 23, unknown year
Folder 05: Transcripts: August 23, unknown year
Folder 06: Transcripts: October 4, unknown year
Folder 07: Transcripts: October 22-23, unknown year
Folder 08: Transcripts: October 23, unknown year
Folder 09: Transcripts: 1979 Sierra Club Interview
Folder 10: Transcripts: February 10, 1980
Folder 11: Transcripts: March 24, 1980
Folder 12: Transcripts: April 26, 1980
Folder 13: Transcripts: May 10, 1980
Folder 14: Transcripts: July 5, 1980
Folder 15: Transcripts: January 6, 1981
Folder 16: Transcripts: February 10, 1981
Folder 17: Transcripts: March 8, 1981
Folder 18: Transcripts: March 25, 1981
Folder 19: Transcripts: October 17, 1981
Folder 20: Transcripts: October 18, 1981
Folder 21: Transcripts: June 26, 1982
Folder 22: Transcripts: October 14-16, 1983
Folder 23: Transcripts: October 17-18, 1983
Folder 24: Transcripts: October 19, 1983
Folder 25: Transcripts: October 20, 1983
Folder 26: Transcripts: October 22-23, 1983
Folder 27: Transcripts: January 1, 1984
Folder 28: Transcripts: March 19, 1984
Folder 29: Transcripts: September 24, 1984
Folder 30: Transcripts: October 3, 1984
Folder 31: Transcripts: October 4-5, 1984
Folder 32: Transcripts: October 5, 1984
Folder 33: Transcripts: January 16, 1985
Folder 34: Transcripts: October 18-19, 1985
Folder 35: Transcripts: December 6-7, 1985
Folder 36: Transcripts: March 19, 1986
Folder 37: Transcripts: April 26, 1986
Folder 38: Transcript Summaries: October 23, unknown year
Folder 39: Transcript Summaries: January 3-24, 1981
Folder 40: Transcript Summaries: March 25, 1981
Folder 41: Transcript Summaries: October 3-5, 1984

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