What Did You Call Me?

Only 17 women park rangers are documented from 1918 to 1927. Perhaps another three or four are hinted at in the records. Even so, the total number was probably still only around 20. Most histories of the NPS, however, put the total number of women rangers much lower. The difference isn’t just a simple matter of math. It goes to the heart of the question “What makes a ranger?”

Yellowstone’s ranger force, 1931. Ranger-naturalist Herma Albertson Baggley is third from the left. (NPS History Collection photo)

A Ranger by Any Other Name

Although later writings refer to most of these early women rangers as ranger-naturalists, their personnel records, newspaper articles at the time, and most contemporary NPS official correspondence and reports called them park rangers. Men rangers, on the other hand, rarely have their park ranger titles retroactively changed to reflect their naturalist duties.

The NPS has always been much more interested than the public in what constitutes a ranger. By and large, visitors regard most NPS employees as “park rangers” regardless of title, particularly if they wear uniforms. Although much of the internal wrangling over differences has focused on those rangers with law enforcement responsibilities instead of those in education, to most visitors they are all just rangers.

Mesa Verde's ranger staff, 1941. Jean Pinkley is in the front row. (NPS History Collection photo)

In 1926, however, the issue seemed to be about Protecting the Ranger Image from the small number of women in uniformed positions. In 1927, the Department of the Interior and the NPS decided against hiring most women under the park ranger title. Of course, they still wanted to hire women for jobs in education and duties that men weren’t interested in doing. Some parks still needed women to provide essential services and coverage in remote areas. In an example of administrative gymnastics, they resolved the issue of what to call women by dividing the ranger force into three different types of rangers: park rangers, park ranger-naturalists, and park ranger-checkers.

Although this photograph is from the 1950s, her shadows are an apt representation of how the "park ranger" job was split into three in 1928  to protect the ranger image. (NPS History Collection photo).

A Convenience of Administration

The Civil Service Commission approved these three ranger classifications as a “convenience of administration.” It seems this was the “out” that the NPS was looking for to avoid hiring women as park rangers. Yet considering that women continued to wear the standard NPS uniform after the split (even if it was increasingly with the approved uniform skirt), to the public visiting parks in the late 1920s–1950s, uniformed women would still have looked like rangers.

NPS Acting Director Arno B. Cammerer defined the duties of these different rangers in a 1929 memo. “Temporary park rangers” were responsible primarily for patrols and traffic control. It seems that these “manly” duties were intended to be reserved for men. “Temporary park rangers (naturalists)” were those employees whose duties involved conducting nature tours and working in museums and information offices. In theory, this is an area where women would be highly sought after based on their early successes at Yellowstone and Yosemite. “Temporary park rangers (checker)” were employees whose primary duties involved checking travel, issuing automobile permits, and performing related tasks at park entrance stations. Again, both Yosemite and Yellowstone had successfully used women in this capacity. Indeed, at the 1926 superintendents’ conference, Horace M. Albright noted that there were even advantages to having women rangers in these roles at entrance stations.

Uniformed staff at Aztec Ruins National Monument, June 13, 1940. Left to right the women are Georgia Akers, Joyce Chubb, and Zelda Mae Abrams. (NPS History Collection photo)

On Paper Only

Cammerer stated that all three types of rangers had the authority to enforce park regulations and should wear badges on their uniforms. Given that fact, the distinctions between the three titles also seem less significant. Although some ranger duties were compartmentalized by job title, women wore the same uniform and had the same enforcement authorities (at least on paper). So what was gained by the administrative exercise?

Although the NPS lifted its 1926 “ban” on hiring women when the new classifications were created in 1928, a few women managed to be hired under the park ranger title in the late 1920s and 1930s. A couple of those rangers were actually historians and archeologists (leading later writers to create new hyphenates like ranger-historian or ranger-archeologist). A few other uniformed women were hired as museum assistants. A small number of women were hired as rangers during World War II when they stepped into positions left vacant when men joined the armed services.

The new classification system, however, did little to provide more opportunities for women as park naturalists. A brief surge of three new hires at Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Rocky Mountain national parks in the late 1920s added to the short list of The Women Naturalists in parks at that time.

Most women who sought to take advantage of the new ranger-naturalist classification were met with the question “Did You Know We Never Hire Women?” even into the 1950s. Questions like that go a long way towards explaining the lack of progress women made in gaining these new positions, in spite of qualifications that equaled or exceeded those of the men.

Explore More!

To learn more about Women and the NPS Uniform, visit Dressing the Part: A Portfolio of Women's History in the NPS.