Last updated: August 26, 2026
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Guide to the Robert R. Jacobsen Papers
This finding aid describes the Robert R. Jacobsen 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 3646Accession Number: HFCA-01875
Creator: Jacobsen, Robert Ray (1929-2025)
Title: Robert R. Jacobsen Papers
Dates: 1951-1986
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 and may not be in the public domain. See https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en. See also the NPS general archives copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: Donated by Robert R. Jacobsen to the NPS History Collection 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: Robert R. Jacobsen Papers (HFCA 3646), NPS History Collection
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
Related Materials:
- NPS Employee and Alumni Association Records (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection
- NPS Oral History Collection (HFCA 1817), NPS History Collection
- Polly Welts Kaufman Papers (HFCA 1980), NPS History Collection
Biographical Note
Robert Ray Jacobsen was born on August 17, 1929, in Omaha, Nebraska. Growing up during the Great Depression, Jacobsen noted that the only vacations his family could take were camping at Grand Teton National Park (GRTE) and Yellowstone National Park (YELL). As a young child, he decided to become a park ranger because of those experiences. Jacobsen attended Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, graduating in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Recreation. While in attendance, he was a part of Xi Sigma Pi, an international honor society for forestry, and Beta Beta Beta, an honorary biological fraternity. During his schooling, he worked for the US Forest Service at Arapaho National Forest in the summers. In 1951 Jacobsen served the US Air Force in the Korean War as a second lieutenant, starting as a squadron adjutant before becoming a squadron supply officer stationed in Seoul, South Korea. When the war ended in 1953, he was honorably discharged and returned to the United States.Jacobsen married Phelma “Phel” Marie Karvakko, who he’d been courting by mail while serving in Korea, in 1953. In June that year Jacobsen began his National Park Service (NPS) career, working as a seasonal ranger at Isle Royale National Park (ISRO). Phel and Robert Jacobsen remarked that their marriage came at a time when wives of NPS employees were expected to contribute in tandem with their ranger husbands. Jacobson worked the winters at ski lodges in Oregon and Utah from 1953 to 1954. He became a permanent park ranger at Crater Lake National Park (CRLA) in 1954 and served in this position until transferring to Hawaii National Park (now Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HAVO) in 1955. He became a district park ranger there in 1957. In 1960, Jacobsen was selected for the Departmental Management Trainee Program at the NPS Washington Support Office (WASO). In 1962 he took a position at Olympic National Park (OLYM) and in the same year Jacobsen took a position at Sequoia and Kings’ Canyon National Park (SEKI).
In 1963 Jacobsen became the superintendent of Lehman Caves National Monument (now part of Great Basin National Park, GRBA). Two years later he became superintendent of Chalmette National Historical Park (now part of Jean Lafitte National Park, JELA). Jacobsen remained in this position until he was assigned as a park planner by NPS Director George B. Hartzog Jr. in the New Area Studies branch of WASO in 1967. This office’s main purpose was to collect and report information to be used by Congress to make legislative decisions regarding new potential sites for the NPS. In 1969 he became the chief of this branch. Jacobsen received an NPS Special Achievement Award for innovative concepts in planning in 1970.
In 1972 Jacobsen received his final NPS appointment, succeeding R. Taylor Hoskins as superintendent of Shenandoah National Park (SHEN). One of his major achievements during this superintendency was successfully getting 80,000 acres designated as wilderness under the Wilderness Act of 1964. SHEN was the first park in the East to include designated wilderness. Jacobsen served as superintendent until his retirement in 1986, the same year he received the Department of the Interior’s Meritorious Service Award. The Jacobsens went on to operate a bed and breakfast inn and Christmas tree farm near Luray, Virginia. In 2018 Phel Jacobsen’s book I Married a Park Ranger and became a Park Wife was published.
Robert Jacobsen died on January 24, 2025. In his honor, the Shenandoah National Park Trust created the Robert Jacobsen Employee Development Fund.
Sources
Hawksbill Greenway Foundation. “Robert Ray Jacobsen.” February 2025. Accessed June 2026. https://hawksbillgreenway.org/news/robert-ray-jacobsen/.Jacobsen, Phel K. and Diana Preussler Gordon. I Married a Park Ranger and became a Park Wife. Self-published, CreateSpace, 2018.
National Park Service. “Preserving Our Heritage.” Office of Management Policy, Washington Support Office. February 1980. https://npshistory.com/publications/interpretation/preserving-our-heritage-1980.pdf.
NPS Employee and Alumni Association Records, Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection.
Robert R. Jacobsen Papers (HFCA 3646), NPS History Collection.
Shenandoah National Park Trust. “Robert Jacobsen Employee Development Fund.” Last modified 2020. Accessed June 2026. https://www.snptrust.org/project/robert-jacobsen-employee-development-fund/.
Scope and Content Note
Letters, postcards, employment records, certificates, newspaper clippings, articles, and photographs from Jacobsen’s NPS career and retirement. Common subjects include promotions or declination thereof, retirement, and Shenandoah National Park (SHEN). Jacobsen has marked certain papers with paperclips to signify them as interesting or important to him; these primarily reflect work he was proud of or kudos he received. Photographs depict subjects including National Capital Parks (NCP) and Southeast Regional Office (SERO) employees, achievement award ceremonies, and HAVO.Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject.Container List
BOX 01Folder 01: Personnel & Employment, 1951-1965, undated
Folder 02: Personnel & Employment, 1966-1986, 2003, 2020, undated
Folder 03: Photographs, 1961, 1967, undated
Folder 04: Retirement, 1982-1986, undated [1 of 2]
Folder 05: Retirement, 1982-1986, undated [2 of 2]