Guide to the Robert M. Utley Papers

This finding aid describes the Robert M. Utley 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 1645 (Series XIV.F)
Accession Number: HFCA-01086
Creator: Utley, Robert M.
Title: Robert M. Utley Papers
Dates: 1932-1978 (bulk dates: 1956-1976)
Extent of Collection: 1.25 LF
Language of Materials: English

Digital Access: The collection has not been digitized.

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open to research use. See the NPS general copyright and restricted information here.
Provenance: Received from the NPS History Division in 1992.
Processing Note: This collection was processed and described by contractors in 2012. Updated by Nancy Russell in November 2024.

Rights Statement for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Robert M. Utley Papers, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• NPS Oral History Collection (HFCA 1817)
• Verne E. Chatelain Papers, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645)
• Ronald F. Lee Papers, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645)
• Ernest A. Connally Papers, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645)
• Records of the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645)
• Utley's NPS uniform jacket and collar ornaments (HFCA 1103, HFCA 1104)

Biographical Note

Robert Marshall Utley was born October 31, 1929, in Bauxite, Arkansas, but grew up in Indiana. He developed a fascination for General George Armstrong Custer when he was 12 years old, after watching the film They Died with Their Boots On. He studied at Purdue University, earning a Bachelor of Sciences in History. As undergraduate student in 1947, Utley began working as a seasonal ranger at Custer Battlefield National Monument (now Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument); he worked six summers at the park. He received his Master of Arts in History from the University of Indiana in 1952. His thesis, entitled Custer and the Great Controversy: The Origin and Development of a Legend, focused on his interest on the military history of the American West.

Utley joined the US Army in 1952, graduating with honors from Officers Candidate School where he became a tactical officer before he was assigned as historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. He left the Army as a captain but continued to serve the military for another year as a civilian. In 1956 he returned to the National Park Service (NPS) as regional historian in the Southwest Region. That same year he married Lucille Alvia Dorsey. They went on to have three children together but divorced in 1977.

In 1964 he was promoted to chief historian in the NPS Washington Office. In that role, he played a key role in the development of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Following a re-organization in 1973, he took over the role of Director of the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP) from Ernest A. Connally. Utley also held the titles of Assistant Director of Park Historic Preservation and Chief of the Cultural Resources Management Division.

Utley retired from the NPS in 1980. That same year, he married Melody Webb, herself an NPS historian. They had three children together. Utley became the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Senior Research Fellow in Western and Frontier History at Yale University and turned to full-time research, writing, consulting, and speaking. For the next 16 years, the Utleys continued their connection with the NPS as Melody’s career took them to Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and Grand Teton National Park.

Utley received numerous acknowledgements for his work including three honorary doctorate degrees; Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award; Wrangler Award (four times); Spur Award (four times); Western History Association’s Caughey Prize; Society of Military History’s Samuel Eliot Morison Award; Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement from Western Writers of America; and he was inducted a Member of Western Writers of America’s Hall of Fame. The Western History Association has named the annual Robert M. Utley Book Award in his honor.

In retirement Utley continued to write histories about the American Frontier. He published 23 books, including Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, Geronimo, and a two-volume history of the Texas Rangers. His autobiography, Custer and Me: A Historian’s Memoir was published in 2004.

Robert M. Utley died on June 7, 2022, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 92 years old.

Scope and Content Note

Copies of reports, memoranda, clippings, and correspondence Robert Utley gave to Barry Mackintosh (NPS bureau historian, 1965-1999) for reference when he was writing a history of the NPS’s response to National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Reference copies of the Act as well as Utley’s report entitled Cultural Preservation in Japan, Some Lessons for America are included. Topics include historic structures preservation management within the NPS, as well as the development and organizational management of relevant administrative bodies, including the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Container List

BOX 01
Folder 01: Advisory Council Historic Preservation, 1966-1968, undated [1 of 2]
Folder 02: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 1966-1968, undated [2 of 2]
Folder 03: Correspondence re: “Toward a New Preservation Ethic,” 1974
Folder 04: Historic Preservation Task Force, 1956-1976, undated [1 of 3]
Folder 05: Historic Preservation Task Force, 1956-1976, undated [2 of 3]
Folder 06: Historic Preservation Task Force, 1956-1976, undated [3 of 3]
Folder 07: Historic Structures Inventory and Handbook, 1963
Folder 08: History of U.S. Department of the Interior, 1932-1976
Folder 09: National Heritage Task Force, 1977-1978, undated [1 of 4]

BOX 02

Folder 01: National Heritage Task Force, 1977-1978, undated [2 of 4]
Folder 02: National Heritage Task Force, 1977-1978, undated [3 of 4]
Folder 03: National Heritage Task Force, 1977-1978, undated [4 of 4]
Folder 04: National Historic Preservation Act Regional Conference
Program, 1967-1968
Folder 05: Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Administrative
History, 1962-1976 [1 of 3]
Folder 06: Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Administrative
History, 1962-1976 [2 of 3]
Folder 07: Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Administrative
History, 1962-1976 [3 of 3]

BOX 03
Folder 01: National Register Report, 1973-1974
Folder 02: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [1 of 6]
Folder 03: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [2 of 6]
Folder 04: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [3 of 6]
Folder 05: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [4 of 6]
Folder 06: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [5 of 6]
Folder 07: Organizational Management, 1964-1975, undated [6 of 6]

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