Lights. Camera. Action! It's not surprising that almost as soon as motion picture technology became popular, America's majestic national parks featured in cinematic productions. Both professional and amateur photographers experimented with motion picture cameras. The value of this new medium for publicity and public education was quickly recognized by Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service (NPS). In fact, around 1924, Mather purchased his own Bell and Howell 16mm Cine camera and Film Cine projector. The camera belongs to the Mather Homestead Museum and Education Center, but the projector is part of the NPS History Collection.
In 1926 Mather used the camera to document his four-month inspection tour of national parks. In October of that year he engaged photographer Mode Wineman and filmmaker William Horsely, director of William Horsely Film Laboratories in Hollywood, for what was billed as the “most comprehensive publicity program for national parks ever attempted, using moving pictures as a means of graphically showing their wonder to people in every part of the country.” The October 6, 1926, article in the Pasadena Star-News went on to note, "Films taken in the big publicity program will be official and will have the personal sanction of Director Mather in each case before being released." The films were part of an educational campaign to familiarize Americans with their national parks and, in particular, for use in schools.
The NPS History Collection includes many 16mm films from early efforts to publicize the parks as well as those created as the film industry and NPS filmmaking matured. Recent projects have digitized some of them. More will be added below as they become available. In the meantime, grab your popcorn and step back in time!
If you have questions about any of these films please contact the NPS History Collection archivist.
Note that many historic films feature people feeding or closely approaching wildlife. This is not acceptable today. Never feed wildlife and stay a safe distance from all animals.
Stephen Tyng Mather Film Collection
A selection of films from NPS Director Mather's personal collection are available below. To learn more about all the films in this collection, visit Guide to the Stephen Tyng Mather Collection.
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Mather's Travels, 1925-1926
Silent black-and-white film. Leaving Pasadena, California, on October 6, 1926, after a four-month tour of national parks; images of Mather's car; meeting with Mode Wineman and William Horsely; a Native American at General Grant National Park; Grand Canyon; Mather feeding a bison calf at Yellowstone National Park; road construction; opening of the General's Highway on September 5, 1925; West Yellowstone ranger station; and a railroad bus. Horace M. Albright and other NPS employees in uniform are included.
- Duration:
- 13 minutes, 24 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Crown Prince of Sweden Visit, 1926
Silent black-and-white film of the Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden visiting Yellowstone National Park on July 2, 1926. The party visited a bison round up. Stephen T. Mather and Horace M. Albright can both be seen. Still images taken in Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, and Mesa Verde national parks are included and described by intertitles. It was created by Frank M. Warren of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1927. This film is no longer in copyright. Digitized from the original film in the NPS History Collection.
- Duration:
- 8 minutes, 1 second
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection Hawaii #1, 1927
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. Copyright transferred to the NPS.
- Duration:
- 11 minutes, 43 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Hawaii #2, 1927
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. Copyright transferred to the NPS.
- Duration:
- 14 minutes, 45 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Moose at Isle Royale, 1926
Silent black-and-white film “Moose at Isle Royale (A Michigan Game Reserve).” Documents male, female, and juvenile moose feeding and swimming in the water (some scenes filmed from a boat on the water). Copyright 1926 by Frank M. Warren, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The copyright on this film has expired.
- Duration:
- 16 minutes, 3 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Isle Royale (1925) and Mount McKinley (1926)
Silent black-and-white home movies taken at Isle Royale and Mount McKinley (now Denali National Park). Isle Royale islands and buildings. Scenes at Mount McKinley include park rangers in uniform; family of rangers; sled dogs in their kennels; feeding bears; park headquarters area; Savage River Camp run by the McKinley Park Tourist and Transportation Company; and the cabin Charles Sheldon built on the Toklat River. Stephen Mather is in both films. Copyright transferred to the NPS.
- Duration:
- 16 minutes, 53 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Jane Floy Mather and the Townsends, 1925
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. Copyright transferred to the NPS.
- Duration:
- 7 minutes, 7 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Mt. McKinley National Park (1926) and Sequoia and Zion (1927)
Silent black-and-white home movies. Mount McKinley (Denali) scenes 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. The unveiling of a dedication plaque for Stephen T. Mather’s gift of a redwood grove at Sequoia National Park is filmed. Stephen Mather at Zion. Mrs. Jane Mather is seen at Stephens Grove in Humbolt Redwoods State Park. Copyright transferred to the NPS.
- Duration:
- 15 minutes, 16 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Western Trip, August-September 1928
Silent black-and-white film. Part of a western trip taken by NPS Director Stephen T. Mather with his daughter, Bertha Floy Mather. 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.
- Duration:
- 12 minutes, 12 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: Yosemite, October 1927
Silent black-and-white film of NPS director Stephen T. Mather addressing a group of employees at the Yosemite administration building and walking around the park with a small group of men. Scenes of people feeding bears outside the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room follow. Reminder: Never approach or feed wildlife.
- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 57 seconds
-
Stephen T. Mather Film Collection: A Trip to Yosemite Park, California, 1927
Silent film titled "The Yosemite Park and Curry Company Presents a Trip to Yosemite Park, California." Places visited include Arch Rock Ranger Station; Cascade Falls; El Capitan; Bridal Veil Falls; Half Dome; Ribbon Falls; Yosemite Falls; the superintendent's office; officer's and ranger's clubhouse; Camp Curry; Mirror Lake; the new Ahwahnee Hotel (including interiors); Happy Isles; Vernal Falls; and Nevada Falls.
- Duration:
- 14 minutes, 39 seconds
"Glimpses"
In 1916 the Department of the Interior created a booklet titled "Glimpses of Our National Parks" to bring together the essential facts of the national parks at that time. Originally designed for school children, it quickly became popular with people of all ages and the companion booklet "Glimpses of our National Monuments" was created. Illustrated lectures with the same titles became popular in the 1920s. Although the pamphlets continued to be printed through at least 1941, a "Glimpses" film series began about 1936. These films continued to be shown in national parks and by community groups into the 1960s. Although not all the films below include "glimpses" in their titles, they follow the same format and structure.-
Glimpses of National Parks, ca. 1936
Silent black and white film featuring Yellowstone, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, and Grand Canyon national parks. Intertitle cards provide descriptive information for the different scenes. Images include wildlife, waterfalls, rangers, visitor activities, and scenic views. NPS film in the public domain.
- Duration:
- 16 minutes, 18 seconds
-
Glimpses of the National Monuments of Arizona, ca. 1938-1942
Silent color film featuring photography by NPS Naturalist Natt N. Dodge who created many of the earliest NPS color films. Park signs serve to identify Tumacácori, Pipe Spring, Saguaro, Organ Pipe Cactus, Casa Grande Ruins, Tonto, Montezuma, Tuzigoot, Canyon de Chelly, Navajo, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, Petrified Forest, and Chiricahua national monuments and Grand Canyon National Park. Subjects include plants, visitors, rangers, buildings, cliff dwellings, geology, and paleontology.
- Duration:
- 19 minutes, 22 seconds
-
Glimpses of National Parks and Monuments of New Mexico, ca. 1938-1942
Silent color film featuring photography by NPS Naturalist Natt N. Dodge who created many of the earliest NPS color films. Park signs serve to identify Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Capulin Volcano, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Aztec Ruins, Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, Gran Quivira, El Morro, and Fort Union scenes. Subjects include flowering plants, visitors, rangers, buildings, pueblos, geology, and historic graffiti. Date estimated from Dodge's similar films and time at NPS Southwest National Monuments.
- Duration:
- 17 minutes, 5 seconds
-
National Parks and Monuments of Colorado, ca. 1950s
Silent color film by unknown filmmaker (but similar to Natt N. Dodge). Park signs serve to identify Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Yucca House, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado, Great Sand Dunes, Dinosaur, and Rocky Mountain scenes. Subjects include cliff dwellings, scenic views, autumnal and winter views, wildlife (deer, elk, and chipmunks), and a few visitors. NPS film in the public domain.
- Duration:
- 18 minutes, 47 seconds
Other NPS History Collection Films
These films feature other topics related to NPS history.-
NPS Western Museum Laboratories, 1938
Silent black-and-white film with some color scenes depicting the work done by the NPS Western Museum Laboratories. Created by the NPS to advertise the lab's services to parks and the Washington Office. Filmed in early 1938, it does not include silkscreen poster making, which started later that year. Demonstrates services such as exhibit planning; making dioramas, museum cabinets, relief maps, and signs; photographic services including hand-coloring lantern slides; mimeographing; book repair; and others.
- Duration:
- 20 minutes, 58 seconds
-
Women's Uniform Unveiling, 1970
Silent color B-roll of the public unveiling of the new NPS women's uniforms at Independence National Historical Park on June 27, 1970. The models are NPS employees Carole Scanlon, Marion Riggs, Louise Boggs, Ellen Lang, and Elaine Hounsell, as well as wives of NPS employees Inger Garrison and Helen Hartzog. Filmed by Associated Film Consultants, Inc. This film remains in copyright and is provided for non-commercial research purposes only. All users must comply with US copyright laws.
- Duration:
- 6 minutes, 51 seconds
Explore More!
Looking for something else? Our NPS History Collection finding aids are available to help with your research.
Last updated: September 7, 2025