Scenic overlooks in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park in California offer gorgeous views of endless mountain beauty. Many of the park’s roads are spectacular but can be unnerving in winter if you’re not used to driving in snowy conditions. Be prepared and drive carefully and a pastel sunset over snow-dusted mountains can be your reward. Photo by Aaron Chen (www.sharetheexperience.org).
With snow already accumulating on the Sangre de Cristo mountains, fall is coming to an end at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. The cottonwoods along Medano Creek are losing their golden leaves and frost greets the morning. Soon, the tan dunes will put on their blanket of winter white. Photo by Patrick Myers, National Park Service.
We hope your summer plans included visiting one or more of the 411 national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails in the National Park System. If you can’t make it to one of the locations found in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands – join the National Archives online to celebrate the records of the National Park Service on their 100th anniversary tomorrow, August 25.
#TagYourPark!
Tagging is a fun and easy way for you to help make National Archives records more discoverable online. By adding keywords, terms, and labels to a record, you can do your part to help the next person discover that record. Take a look at these photographs from the National Parks and add keywords that describe what you see.
Trail of the Ancients – Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park. National Archives Identifier 7722478
New to Tagging? Learn how to get started.
Are you ready to tag? Select the National Parks Tagging Mission and get tagging!
Transcribe!
Letter from Frederick Harvey, owner of Fred Harvey Company to M. R. Tillotson, Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park. National Archives Identifier 27753707
Transcribing the digitized records in the National Archives Catalog is an important way to improve search results and increase accessibility to these historical records.
New to Transcription? Learn how to get started.
Are you ready to transcribe? Jump right in and select the National Parks Transcription Mission.
Watch!
In the 1930s the Department of Interior made a series of films on the nation’s growing park system, from trails blazed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Yosemite, California, all the way up to Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. Now you can see what your local parks looked like during the Great Depression, a time when many old parks were upgraded and many new parks were created.
View highlights from the National Archives’ collection of films from the National Park Service.
Now go and #FindYourPark!
via National Park Service Turns 100 | NARAtions
(Photos of Yellowstone, Grand Teton, King’s Canyon, and Glacier National Parks all come from the series: Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, 1941 - 1942, from the Records of the National Park Service. )
Happy 100th Birthday!
Start your spring outdoor adventure with a sunrise at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. With waterfalls, wildlife, history, hiking trails and amazing views along the famous Skyline Drive, the park is a feast for your eyes and spirit, and will keep you coming back for more. Photo from Thornton Hollow Overlook by N. Lewis, National Park Service.
Even in winter, there is plenty of amazing outdoor activities to do at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. From early November to May, visitors can explore the park by fat bikes, cross-country skis, snowmobile and dog sled. No matter your experience, you’ll enjoy the stark beauty of winter at Kenai Fjords. Photo by National Park Service.
Hey, Texas! Get out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park before you miss the fall colors. McKittrick Canyon is one of the best places in the state to enjoy autumn’s brilliance as the leaves shift from green to spectacular shades of yellow and orange. Under a gorgeous blue sky, breathing in the fresh air, you’ll never want your walk in the woods to end. Photo by M. Haynie, National Park Service.
Fall brings dramatic color to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. Dense colonies of aspens grow in moist soil, sharing a root system and changing their leaves in unison. Like a river of gold, these gorgeous trees fill Morris Gulch, high in the mountains above the sand dunes. Photo by Patrick Myers, National Park Service.
It’s International Mountain Day! Not only are mountains majestic, they’re also critical to the water cycle, food production and tourism. Denali, America’s tallest mountain, is often shrouded in clouds, but on clear days at Denali National Park & Preserve in Alaska, you can see why its name means “The High One.” Photo by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.
Take a walk through a winter wonderland at Yellowstone National Park. While it looks a light coating of snow at Tangled Creek, the landscape is covered in hoar frost, which forms when water vapor freezes quickly creating delicate, feather-like crystals. Photo by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.
For the last century, the National Park Service has protected America’s Best Idea, ensuring current and future generations can experience the country’s natural, cultural and historic treasures. Established 44 years before the National Park Service, Yellowstone was the world’s first national park and sparked a worldwide movement to protect special places.
Tomorrow is the 100th birthday of National Park Service! We were honored to have their park rangers visit us this week.
Lindsay Brandt (Rock Creek Park) and Suzy Traut and Heath Mitchell (National Mall and Memorial Parks) answered questioned about the Organic Act of 1916, which is currently on display.
The Organic Act created the National Park Service as we know it today. (Learn more here: http://1.usa.gov/29hOr2N). The rangers also shared the history and current initiatives of the National Park Service with our visitors.
Visitors can also explore the national parks in our ReSource room with fun activities like a scavenger hunt.
Come #FindYourPark at the National Archives!
