Guide to the Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection

This finding aid describes the Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection, 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.

Stephen T. Mather. (NPS History Collection, HFCA 1607)

Collection Overview

Collection Number: HFCA 1883
Creator: Mather, Stephen Tyng (1867-1930)
Title: Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection
Dates: 1920-1929
Extent: 39 EA
Language of Materials: English

Digitized Copies: This collection has been partially digitized. Click the hotlinks in the film titles below to directly access films that are available online.

Conditions Governing Access: Except for films that have already been digitized, this collection is not open to research use without funding for digitization. Requests to digitize films for access should be sent to the archivist. Films are housed in cold storage and requests require advance notice. Not all commercial films may have entered the public domain. See also the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: Donated to the National Park Service by Stephen Mather's three grandchildren.
Processing Note: This collection was processed and described by Nancy Russell in 2017. This guide was updated in December 2024.

Rights Statement for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1883)
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• Assembled Historic Records of the NPS (HFCA 1645), NPS History Collection
• NPS Historic Photograph Collection (HFCA 1607), NPS History Collection
• Stephen T. Mather's 16mm film projector, NPS History Collection
• Stephen Tyng Mather Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
• Fred Payne Clatworthy Collection, History Colorado

Biographical Note

Stephen Tyng Mather was born in San Francisco, California on July 4, 1867. His parents were Joseph Wakeman Mather, a business merchant with ties to the borax industry, and Bertha Jemima Walker. A descendant of Richard Mather, a prominent Puritan minister in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, Mather attended Lincoln Grammar School and Boys' High School in San Francisco.

In 1887, he graduated from University of California, Berkeley. He moved to the East Coast and worked as a journalist for the “New York Sun” for the next five years. In 1893, he married Jane Thacker Floy and the Mathers had one daughter, Bertha Floy Mather. Following the marriage, Mather joined his father in the borax business at the Pacific Coast Borax Company, working in advertising and as a sales promotion manager. Talented at marketing and publicity, Mather helped Francis Marion "Borax" Smith make the brand name 20 Mule Borax synonymous with borax in the United States. In 1898, he and partner Thomas Thorkildsen created Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company.

In 1904, Mather hiked the Swiss Alps, followed by climbing up the icy side of Mount Rainier with the Sierra Club in 1905. He credited such experiences not only with making him into a committed mountaineer but also with inspiring ideas to improve national parks in the United States. Mather found that the parks had poorly maintained trails and roads, and no protection from private lumber and cattle interests. In 1914, after hiking in the High Sierra, he wrote to the secretary of Interior, Franklin K. Lane, to complain about the management of the parks. The story goes that Lane, who was looking for someone to administer the parks, invited Mather to come to Washington, D.C., and "run them yourself" as assistant to the secretary of the Interior. However, that story hasn't been verified.

Mather came to Washington from Chicago in January 1915 as special assistant to secretary of the interior for national park concerns. There, he met Horace M. Albright, who became his assistant and together they laid the groundwork to establish a system of national parks. That summer the Mather took a group of influential individuals on a back country trek through the High Sierras. The "Mather Mountain Party" as it became known engendered significant support for the mission to establish a bureau to manage the parks. Within a relatively short time, Mather brought together a broad coalition in support for national parks, including the railroads and other business interests; writers and journalists; environmental groups such as Sierra Club, American Civic Association, and Save the Redwoods; and members of Congress, to secure passage of the act establishing the National Park Service (NPS) on August 25, 1916.

An appropriations act on April 17, 1917 provided funds for NPS operations and Mather became the first director on May 16, 1917. Albright became assistant director. However, Mather became incapacitated by depression shortly after the NPS was established, leaving Albright to serve as acting director and get the new bureau up and running. As Mather recovered, he continued to promote park access, development, and use and contributed generously to the parks from his personal fortune. He traveled regularly to the parks, often bringing government officials, senators, and representatives as guests, to showcase the national parks and their needs. During his tenure the Service's domain expanded eastward with the addition of Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Mammoth Cave National Parks.

Around 1924, Mather purchased a Bell and Howell 16mm Cine camera and Filmo Cine Projector. He used the camera to create home movies that document his family life, national parks he visited, and special events. He may have hired someone to do some of the filming for him because he appears in many of them and, therefore, cannot have been the cameraman. Family or NPS staff may have filmed some of the scenes in which he features. From 1925-1928, dozens of films were made while traveling to national parks as part of his annual inspection tours, as well as during trips to Alaska and Hawaii.

Mather began talking about retirement in January 1927, saying that he was tired and had accomplished all that he had set out to do. However, that phase passed quickly and, following a trip to Central America, he refocused on “all that’s got to be done” and continued his work and his strenuous travel schedule. During a spring 1927 trip to Hawaii, Mather had a heart attack on the outbound boat journey. Although he recovered and appeared fit when he returned to California, others remained concerned about his health. He suffered a stroke on November 5, 1928, and retired from the NPS on January 12, 1929. He remained in the hospital until May 1929, when he returned to the Mather homestead in Darien, Connecticut.

In November 1928, Mather entered the Corey Hill Hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts to work with Dr. Joel Goldthwaite to regain mobility in the leg, arm, and fingers affected by the stroke. He had a second stroke while at the hospital and died on January 22, 1930. Following his death, sympathy messages sent to Mrs. Mather and newspaper obituaries praised his good works. Numerous locations and geographic features were named in his honor, including Mount Mather in Alaska; Mather Point at the Grand Canyon; Mather Memorial Highway in the Cascades; Mather Memorial Arboretum of redwoods in Strawberry Canyon at the University of California; and a 10,000-tree Mather Forest was developed at Lake George, NY, among others.

Bronze plaques, known in the NPS as “Mather plaques” were designed by sculptor Bryant Baker and installed in 23 national parks and 33 national monuments. Memorial trees were planted in numerous national parks and monuments. On July 10, 1932, the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, through the courtesy of NBC, made a National Memorial Broadcast in honor of Mather. In 1969, the scenic gorge of the Potomac River below Great Falls was renamed in his honor. Mather's legacy continues to be acknowledged in books, journals, newspaper reports, and documentaries that address the history of the National Park Service and conservation in the United States.

Sources

American National Bibliography Online. "Mather, Stephen Tyng", available at http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-00648.html

Sellars, Richard West. (1997) Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History available at https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/sellars/chap3c.htm

Shankland, Richard. (1951). Steve Mather of the National Parks, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Scope and Content Note

Silent 16mm black-and-white films taken by or for NPS Director Stephen T. Mather with his Bell and Howell Cine camera as well as by others. Films document trips to national parks from c. 1924-1929, including Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Redwoods, Isle Royale, Sequoia, Zion, and Rocky Mountain as well as trips to Hawai'i and Alaska. A Rocky Mountain film features Fall River Road and imagery by Fred Payne Clatworthy. Films include images of Mather, his wife Jane Floy Mather and their daughter Bertha Floy Mather; Horace M. Albright; Mr. and Mrs. Arno B. Cammerer; Roger Toll; Oliver Mitchell; secretaries of the Interior; and others.

Subjects include wildlife such as deer, bears, and buffalo (bison); superintendents' conference at Yosemite; opening of the Gardiner Gateway at Yellowstone; 1926 Coordination Commission at Yosemite; views of the High Sierra; and Lake Tahoe. Films not created by Mather but developed between 1920-1929 to promote national parks, including Great Northern Railroad films of Glacier National Park and Horsley Productions films of Carlsbad, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon. Cine library films of Mount Rainier and Native Hawaiian hula dancing and two films Frank M. Warren documenting moose at Isle Royale and the Crown Prince of Sweden attending a bison roundup in Yellowstone National Park in 1926 are included. The only color film present was created by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company to showcase a trip to Yosemite.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by topic.

Film List

Descriptions for films that have not been digitized are based on notes with the original cans, the Mather family inventory notes, or known details of Mather's travels. Digitized films have more detailed subject notes added as well as film run times.

Reel numbers are from the original film cannisters; they are not consecutive, and not all films were assigned reel numbers by Mather. Undated films have been given approximate dates based on Mather's known travel schedule, whenever possible. Additional research has been completed for digitized films to provide additional context and identify people, places, and events. Some home movies were spliced together before they were donated to the NPS History Collection and related topics or trips may be on different reels.

01. Animals in National Parks, ca. 1924-1928
Reel #50. Animals in various national parks. Undated reel attributed to ca. 1924-1928 (Mather's many trips to Sequoia and Yosemite do not permit a more precise date at this time). Original note in the canister reads, "Elk in Yosemite, deer in Giant Forest, Sequoia, rabbit, deer, and buffalow [sic] in Yellowstone."

02. Bears, ca. 1926
Reel #59. Yellowstone, Kenai and Katmai in Alaska. Undated reel but Mather is known to have been at Katmai in 1926.

03. Conferences: State Park Convention, 1928
No reel #. National Conference on State Parks held in June 1928 in San Francisco, California. After attending the conference, many people joined Mather on a visit to Yosemite Valley.

04. Conferences: Superintendent's Conference, 1927-1928
Reel #38. Historical note: The April 1928 Superintendent's Conference was held in San Francisco, California. Following the conference, Mather brought his associates to Yosemite Valley to see the "all-year" highway, the new village, the museum, the Ahwahnee Hotel, and to discuss national park problems. Also includes footage with Mrs. Jane Floy Mather and Mrs. Arno B. Cammerer on a western trip, 1927-1928.

05. Crown Prince of Sweden's Visit, 1927
Reel #44. Silent black and white film titled, "Crown Prince of Sweden and Party at a Buffalo Roundup in Yellowstone National Park, July 2, 1926." Film by Frank W. Warren, copyright 1927. Crown Prince Gustav Adolf and Crown Princess Louise; horse-drawn carriages; bison roundup with cowboys; Prince Gustav on a horse; close-up views of bison; Mather, Horace M. Albright, and other NPS personnel in uniform; Includes Mather filming with his own camera. Includes still images of general scenery, the Prince and Princess, and bison in Yellowstone National Park and still images of the Prince and Princess at Mesa Verde and the royal party at Spruce Tree House. Historical note: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden visited trip to national parks as part of an international trip around the world to benefit Swedish interests. Crown Princess Louise of Sweden accompanied him on the journey, visiting Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde National Parks. Run time: 8:01 minutes.

06. Mather Homestead, "Babby", ca. 1926-1927
Reel #9. Kaibab deer named "Babby" reared from fawn at Darien, Connecticut. Undated film but Mather is known to have acquired Kaibab fawns in 1926. [Historical note: Overpopulation of Kaibab deer was a major issue at the Kaibab National Forest and around the Grand Canyon in the 1920s. In 1926, the US Forest Service started a program of transferring Kaibab fawns to other Western forests. Mather bought two of them. The one named "Babby" lived until ca. 1940 at the Mather Homestead].

07. Native Hawaiian Hula Dance, ca. 1927
No reel #. "Native Hawaiian Hula Dance," number 101 in the Cine Art Library. These were produced for purchase or rent during the 1920s-1930s. [Presumably Mather purchased this in association with his 1927 trip to Hawai'i].

08. Parks: Carlsbad Caverns, undated
Reel #56. Carlsbad Caverns National Park footage by Horsley Productions.

09. Parks: Glacier Stream Fishing, undated
Reel #63. Stream fishing scenes at Glacier National Park. Sent to Mather by W.R. Mills of the Great Northern Railroad.

10. Parks: Glacier Lake Fishing, undated
Reel #64. Lake fishing scenes at Glacier National Park. Sent to Mather by W.R. Mills of the Great Northern Railroad.

11. Parks: Grand Canyon, 1927
No reel #. North Rim.

12. Parks: Grand Canyon, ca. 1927
No reel #. North Rim.

13. Parks: Grand Canyon, 1929
No reel #. North Rim and Kaibab. Date based on date on original box, but box may have been reused.

14. Parks: Grand Canyon Travelogue, undated
Reel #58. Grand Canyon travelogue titled by Horsley Productions.

15. Parks: Hawai'i #1, 1927
Reel #46. Silent black-and-white home movie of events from the Pan-Pacific conference on education, rehabilitation, reclamation, and recreation in Hawai'i. Includes the departure of the US Army transport vessel Chateau Thierry and soldier activities onboard (a version of a leapfrog game) and biplanes flying above the ship. Stephen Mather wearing a lei. A cultural festival for the Pan-Pacific conference and surfing scenes. Run time: 11:43minutes.

16. Parks: Hawai'i #2, 1927
Reel #47. Silent black-and-white home movies of Secretary of Interior Hubert Work and party traveling in Hawai’i and attending Pan-Pacific conference events; Hawai’i National Park building; Secretary Work detonating an explosion to begin the Chain of Craters Road in Hawai’i National Park; hitting golf balls into the Kilauea Volcano; Superintendent Richard T. Evans and Director Stephen T. Mather are in some scenes; shipboard activities. Run time: 14:45 minutes.

17. Parks: Isle Royale Moose, 1926
Reel #66. Silent black-and-white film titled “Moose at Isle Royale (A Michigan Game Reserve).” Copyright 1926 by Frank M. Warren, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Documents male, female, and juvenile moose feeding and swimming in the water (some scenes filmed from a boat on the water). Run time 16:03 minutes.

18. Parks: Isle Royale (1925) and Mount McKinley (1926)
Reel #65. Silent black-and white home movies taken at Isle Royale and Mount McKinley (now Denali National Park). Isle Royale: Mather and party in 1925; scenes of Isle Royale filmed from a boat; houses, log cabin, and other structures on islands; paying a fisherman for a fish; Mather and party aboard the boat. (Run time 4:11 at Isle Royale). Mount McKinkley: Mather party in Alaska in 1926: sled dogs at their kennels; people such as Stephen T. Mather, Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Roper, Clarence H. Norward, Superintendent Harry Karstens, Chief Ranger Fritz Nyberg, and Clerk Ralph Mackie; Kartens' wife Loiuse and son Eugene; feeding the sled dogs; large tent camp with rangers; Eugene Kartens hand feeding two chained bear cubs; the chained cubs running and playing; traveling on horseback; Savage River Camp run by the McKinley Park Tourist and Transportation Company; life in camp; making a campfire; widlife (mountain sheep, eagle, white-tailed ptarmagin, and a porcupine); packing up camp; cabin Charles Sheldon built in 1907 on the Toklat River. Total run time 16:53 minutes.

19. Parks: Mount Rainier, ca. 1927
No reel #. "Above the Clouds on Mt. Rainier," number 1502 in the Kodak Cinegraph Library. These were produced for purchase or rent from c. 1927-1930s.

20. Parks: Mt. McKinley National Park, ca. 1926
No reel #. Animals in Mt. McKinley (Denali) National Park. Historical note: Original box labeled "Mailed direct from Harry Karstens c/o Stephen T. Mather, Director, NPS to Eastman Kodak Co in San Francisco." Karstens was park superintendent from 1921-1928. Film expiration date on box is May 1928.

21. Parks: Mt. McKinley National Park (1926) and Sequoia and Zion (1927)
Reel #39. Silent black-and-white home movies. [Original cannister label read "Redwoods with Jane Floy Mather in Redwoods, Miss Jessie Foster." The original note in the canister reads, “Reel Three 1. Alaska trip (cont), 1926. 2. Superintendent’s conference in Washington, DC, 1926. 3. Redwoods and Zion National Park, 1927”.] Alaska scenes are at Mount McKinley (Denali) and include traveling on horseback in the mountains and camp scenes. Other scenes may be the 1926 superintendents' conference, an unidentified lakeside amusement park, and possibly Yosemite Zoo. Unveiling a dedication plaque for Stephen T. Mather’s gift of a redwood grove at Sequoia National Park in 1927. Scenes at Zion include clear images of Mather and others coming down rocky trail. Mrs. Jane Mather at Stephens Grove in Humbolt Redwoods State Park. Run time: 15:16 minutes.

22. Parks: Rocky Mountain, ca. 1925
Reel #67. Rocky Mountain and Fall River by Clatworthy. [Probably Fred Payne Clatworthy]. Undated reel but likely filmed in 1925 when Clatworthy was at the park. Original note in canister reads, "Rocky Mountains, falls, snowbanks, button hook curve, yacht race, motor boating."

23. Parks: Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone, 1926
Reel #41. Opening of Gardiner Gateway at Yellowstone. Rocky Mountain National Park and Superintendent Roger Toll. Good views of Mather speaking. Undated reel but Mather is known to have been at the opening of the elk horn gate across the Roosevelt arch in Gardiner on June 29, 1926.

24. Parks: Stills of Parks, undated
Reel #49. Stills of all the parks.

25. Parks: Yellowstone, 1927
Reel #60. Various animals at Yellowstone National Park, including buffalo (bison), deer, and bears.

26. Parks: Yellowstone, 1927
Reel #61. Buffalo (bison), deer, and elk at Yellowstone National Park.

27. Parks: Yellowstone, undated
Reel # 68. Wildlife, including buffalo (bison), deer, and bears, at Yellowstone National Park.

28. Parks: Yosemite, 1920
Reel #62. Horsely Productions film featuring the 1920 dedication of the Ranger clubhouse, superintendent's office, and Glacier Point. (Note: a digital version of the 1920 Ranger Club dedication is available through the Yosemite National Park archives).

29. Parks: Yosemite, 1926
Reel #42. Coordination Commission 1926. Fine High Sierra views and winding trails. Billy Nelson & “bathing men.”

30. Parks: Yosemite, October 1927
Reel #42a. Silent black-and-white home movie of Stephen T. Mather addressing group at the administration building and walking around the park; woman feeding a bear outside the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room; bear trying to drink from a glass bottle; woman feeding a bear outside; bear milling around visitors outside the Ahwahnee Hotel and a man feeding it. Run time: 2:57 minutes.

31. Parks: Yosemite, 1927
Reel #45. Yosemite National Park with Oliver Mitchell, Mather's attorney and business associate. Mather and Mitchell also traveled to Yosemite during the summer of 1918.

32. Parks: Yosemite [Yosemite Park and Curry Company], 1927
Reel # 57. Color silent film titled "The Yosemite Park and Curry Company Presents A Trip To Yosemite Park, California." Tourists checking at the Arch Rock Ranger Station; Arch Rock; driving through the park; river, woodland, and meadow scenes; Cascade Falls; El Capitan; Bridal Veil Falls; Half Dome; Ribbon Falls; mountain scenes reflected in water; Yosemite Falls; herd of elk; the superintendent's office; officer's and ranger's clubhouse; Camp Curry scenes with visitors and swimming pool; Mirror Lake; exterior and interior of the new Ahwahnee Hotel; Happy Isles; Vernal Falls; Nevada Falls with Merced River below; a waterwheel. Run time: 14:39 minutes.

33. Parks: Yosemite Travelogue, ca. 1920s
Reel #55. Yosemite travelogue film by Horsley Productions.

34. People: Mather, Jane Floy and the Townsends, 1925
Reel #40. Silent black-and-white home movie of Jane Floy Mather, wife of Stephen T. Mather, and a couple described as the Townsends in Charlottesville and Winchester, Virginia, May 5-6, 1925. Charlottesville scenes include the “Stonewall” Jackson statute and Monticello. Winchester scenes feature a parade. A US Army blimp and a river with rapids are also in the film. Run time: 7:07 minutes.

35. People: Mather, Stephen T., 1925-1926
Reel #1. Silent black-and-white home movie of Mather leaving Pasadena, California on October 6, 1926, after a four-month tour of national parks; photo of young Mather; images of USNPS1 (Mather's car); meeting with photographer Mode Wineman; Native Americans at General Grant National Park; Mather feeding a bison calf at Yellowstone National Park; road construction; opening of the General's Highway in Giant Forest on September 5, 1925; West Yellowstone Ranger Stations; traveling on a railroad bus; Horace M. Albright and other NPS employees in uniform in some scenes. Run time: 13:24 minutes.

36. People: Mr. Cam and Mr. Albright, undated
No reel #. Arno B. Cammerer and Horace M. Albright.

37. People: Purdy, 1927
Reel #48. 1927 trip to Lake Tahoe with Purdy.

38. People: Secretaries of the Interior, undated
Reel #37. Four secretaries of the Interior, undated. Original note in canister reads, "Mr. Albright. Stills of Sec. of Interior by Mode Wineman."

39. Western Trip, August-September 1928
Reel #8. Silent black-and-white home movie showing part of a western trip taken by Stephen T. Mather with his daughter, Bertha Floy Mather. Mather and Bertha with others in a walled garden in a city (Los Angeles?); Bertha and another woman on horses with a ranger (Billy Nelson?) at Yosemite; Mather party riding trails; Mather and Bertha stopped at a Sierra Club log shelter; Mather in uniform; boat trip on a lake; men building a stone wall; Mather addressing the group and placing a time capsule (tin can) inside the wall before sealing it in; Bertha boating on a lake. [Historical note: This trip followed Bertha Mather's graduation from Vassar College. During the trip they visited Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, Sequoia, and Yosemite. At Yosemite, they took a horseback trip up the Merced River to the Merced Lake ranger station, over the 10,000-foot Vogelsang Pass, and down to Tuolumne Meadows]. Run time: 12:12 minutes.

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