television companies who provide american history tv to viewers as a public service. from 1929 until his retirement in 1954 george alexander grant created more than 30,000 photographs of national parks. he took this photo in utah in 1929. up next the co-authors of the book landscapes for the people george alexander grant first chief photographer of the national park service show examples of his work and discuss his story with a park service historian the national archives hosted this 2016 event and provided the video. my name is tom nastic. i'm a public program producer here at the national archives in washington dc. and it's my pleasure to welcome you all here today to the william g mcgowan theater, and also welcome those of you who are watching us on the national archives youtube channel. today our series of noontime author lectures and book signings continues with landscapes for the people george alexander grant first chief photographer for the national park service. with our special guest today ren and helen davis today's lecture is one of several programs. we will present in the coming months to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the national park service the story of the national park service is well represented in the holdings of the national archives. in the form of textual documents films and photographs including of course the work of today's subject george alexander grant. but before we get to today's program i would like to tell you about two upcoming programs. that'll take place in this theater as well as on our youtube channel. on thursday, may 19th at noon historian. joe goldstein will be here to discuss his book the white house vice presidency the past two significance mondale to biden. goldstein will discuss how a constitutional office can evolve as well as the critical role of political leadership in institutional development. and later that evening march 19th at 7pm annette gordon reed winner of the pulitzer prize. to find out more about these and other programs exhibits and events here at the national archives. please consult our monthly calendar of events. there are copies outside the theater and it is also available online at our website www.archives.gov. it's a pleasure to welcome renton helen davis back to the national archives. they were here in june of 2012 to discuss their book our mark on this land a guide to the legacy of the civilian conservation corps in america's parks, and we're pleased that they have traveled from their home in atlanta to share with us their research into the largely unknown story of george alexander grant. following their lecture in q&a. they will be signing books one level up in front of the archives store. would you please welcome ren and helen davis? well, thank you very much. we want to thank the national archives for hosting us and tom nastic. thank you for making all the arrangements for today's presentation. i just want to give a little shout out to our nephews patrick and ted mcgee for hosting us in arlington and from pittsburgh my dear aunt gloria and my cousin shari came to hear us today. it's exciting to be part of the centennial celebration of the national park service and to share the story of our new book landscapes for the people we want to acknowledge wade myers media specialist at the national park service historic photographic collection in charlestown, west, virginia. we could not have written this book without his knowledge support and enthusiasm for this project and also to dr. timothy davis right here national park service lead historian who specializes in park historic structures and cultural landscapes. tim generously took the time to review our manuscript add to our research and penned the books forward and we're looking forward to his new book national park roads a legacy in the american landscape due for release this fall by the university of virginia, press and we are delighted that he could join us today to share his perspective. on george grant's role within the national park service. so ren tim and i will take turns presenting today. this first picture you're looking at was taken in 1933. and it is jackson like at the grand tetons national park. the men in the foreground were part of the civilian conservation corps. and when we saw this picture in 2006 while doing research in the national park service historic photographic collection, i said to rent i think this is an ansel adams photograph. and turning it over we were introduced to george grant. after discovering several similar images. we asked archivist tom durant. who is george grant? and we later learned. he was the first staff photographer of the national park service, and we asked well why have we never heard his name? and he said well in his role almost everything he did was labeled national park service. so many have viewed his photographs, but very few know his name. well shortly after we returned from that initial visit to the archives in 2012. i was reading an article in outdoor photographer magazine and the author of the article made reference to ansel adams as an elder in the field of american landscape photography, and we kind of looked at each other and said i think we have discovered an unknown elder someone who deserves recognition. so when we talk about the elders of american landscape photography who might we be talking about so here's a sort of a cliff notes version of a few of those notable photographers. probably the first was carlton watkins born in 1829. he traveled to california for the gold rush but opened up a photography studio in san francisco, and it was his photographs of the yosemite valley in the mariposa grove of redwoods that was instrumental in the passage of legislation in 1864 setting those natural wonders assad for preservation. possibly the finest and best known pioneer landscape photographer was william henry jackson a civil war veteran. he accompanied the hayden expedition to the yellowstone in 1871 and 72 and it was his photographs along with thomas moran's monumental paintings that were instrumental in persuading congress to establish yellowstone as the world's first national park in 1872. and this photograph here at the bottom. this is a photograph of william henry jackson. he's in his mid-90s in the national park service. dark room in the mid-1930s. the portrait was taken by george grant. now possibly the finest landscape photographer of the 20th century by all accounts would have been ansel adams noted for his stunning black and white images. oftentimes of iconic national park sites at why so often associated with the national parks? he did a number of commissioned projects for the park service the best known might be as murals project that he began in the early 1940s and was completed later. and while he's associated with the park service nearly all of his work done for the park service and for the department of the interior was as a commissioned artist not as an employee, but to stunning beautiful black and white photographs. this is a very recognized when clearing storm at yosemite valley that he took in 1944. elliot porter was a student of ansel adams and alfred stieglitz actually trained as a physician, but he gave up his medical practice in 1938 to pursue photography full-time and he chose color photography as his his genre if you would and he was very active in working with the sierra club and other organizations to promote environmental his preservation and it was his milestone book in 1962 in wildness is the preservation of the world that paired his beautiful color photographs with the words of henry david thoreau. another student of ansel adams was philip hyde, and he joined hide and excuse me adams and porter as a regular photographer for the sierra club if you have sierra club calendars and books from the 60s and 70s. you've got some hide porter and adams photographs in your collection and two of his books. i at the point raised peninsula island in time published in 1962 and later. the wild cascades are forgotten parkland published in 1965 were instrumental in the establishment of the point race national seashore and north cascades national park. now the one elder that's still actively working is david munch often called the ansel adams of color photography vivid beautiful landscapes principally of the american west but iconic beautiful images if you've subscribe to arizona highways you have seen a lot of david munch's photography and his father joseph muntz was a renowned photographer as is david's son mark well, six years after our introduction to george grant in august of 2012. we returned to the photo archives to learn more about george grant and to determine if there was enough information to write a book about him. we were pleased to learn of the interest and a book about george grant and we began to look at some of his photographs and scanned several. in january of 2013 we gave a presentation at the metropolitan atlanta group of the sierra club and in the audience was elizabeth knowlton a retired archivist with the georgia archives and she offered her expertise to help track down some family of lifelong bachelor george grant. she found an address for his niece mary grant mcmullen and that led to us communicating with his three nieces nancy mary and anne who are now all in their 80s and his grand-niece, diana hastings. in april of 2013 we made a trip to saint michael's public library in maryland. and there we met with some of the family and opened a brown paper bag and said this belonged to my uncle george. after seeing all the places that he had driven from 1929 to 1962 and reading the quote that he had inscribed at the bottom of the map of all the sciences geography finds its origins and action and what is more adventurous action. we knew we were ready for a grand adventure as we learned more about the life and the work of george alexander grant. george grant was born in milton, pennsylvania in 1891 and he grew up in nearby sunbury, pennsylvania. he loved watching the boats on the susquehanna river and the trains traveling the rails through town. he dreamed of experiencing far away adventures one day. he was not an especially good student, but he was always working with his hands. and after high school, he went to work for several factories. he ended up at the roycroft community in new york. the center of the american arts and crafts movement of the early 20th century there. he developed his artistic eye and became a master craftsman and metal smith. these are some objects that the family shared with us that he had made an engraved for family members. in 1917. he left roycroft to enlist in the army. during world war i was sent sent to fort russell, wyoming. for artillery training and he remained there till the end of the war while there he fell in love with the west. returning home after the war george walked worked on road crews as a supervisor and in several factories. but yearning to return to the west george sent letters and telegrams pleading for job at yellowstone national park. finally in 1922 a seasonal rangers position was offered to him at a very large cut in pay. but that didn't stop george. he was excited and happily headed west. wow there park superintendent horse albright noticed the photographs he was taking and it appears that this may have been the first time in george's life that he picked up a camera to take pictures at age 31. at the end of the season grant was offered that coveted full-time position. following a horseback riding accident grant realized the rigors and the work of a back country. ranger really did not get him to his new goal to become an a master photographer. he reluctantly resigned but said to superintendent albright. i hope one day to come back as the official photographer for the national park service. following albright's suggestion that he get further education and photography. he took classes in new york city. and upon completion accepted photography position with penn state from 1923 to 1927 while he was there. he kept up by five year correspondence with all bright seeking to return to the park service. you know, i think his letters almost became what would you call it ren harassment harassment? okay, one of the letters he puts the national park service needs me. finally there was a position approved in the fall of 1928, but no funding. well, that didn't stop george. he went out and he bought a new set of photography equipment packed up his car and headed to southern california. he was going to stay with some friends he had there because he knew that he would be located in berkeley. once the funding came through. well not until april of 1929 did some outside funding. was acquired for 18 months and grant was hired as the first national park service staff photographer that 18 months was so important because it helped to prove the value of his role as a photographer and he was then promoted in 1931 to the chief photographer. he held that position for an additional 23 years. and was moved into washington dc. grant used both the large format 8 by 10 camera and other equipment that ren will share later. during his 25 years of service. he traveled over 140,000 miles to photograph more than 100 national parks monuments historic sites battlefields and other destinations that run will talk about later now. we have to remember this is before interstates and many of the roads. he was was on were dirt and gravel. at times to reach remote locations he traveled by horseback and on foot but most often he traveled in a specially outfitted panel truck and he had a series of these panel trucks during his 25 years. he affectionately called the truck his hearse and nightly in the back of the hearse. grant had to process the film that was exposed that day reload new film unto the holders. he had to carry his camping equipment his provisions all his camera equipment and his chemicals as he would be out on site for many months at a time. was helen mentioned, he was hired in april of 1929 and we know that a few months later the nation had plunged into the depths of the great depression. and at that point the park service was cut back to true austerity budgets and so it's likely had he not had the option to take that position april 1929. it might have been years before this position would have been created. but with the election inauguration of franklin roosevelt in march of 1933, it truly ushered in what's often been described as a golden age for the national parks. it might seem counterintuitive that the depression would be the golden age for anything. but in fact for the parks it proved to be so for two principal initiatives that were undertaken. the first was the establishment of the civilian conservation corps in march of 1933 over the nine years of the ccc more than three million young men were employed in forestry work in erosion control, but also in state and national parks and the resources in manpower were instrumental in further developing and improving our national parks and making them more accessible. so that was one the second was in june of 1933 president roosevelt signed an executive order that brought into the national park service many of the national monuments. national battlefields and military parks national cemeteries if the stroke of a pen literally doubling the size of the national park service. so here is george grant is the chief photographer with this. dramatic expansion of the park service so many many new opportunities for him to work and to to chronicle and visually document the national parks and one of the aspects of that was he did a lot of documentation of the men of the ccc working in the national parks, and we've got two examples of the many of them here the bottom left. this is a crew of ccc men clearing the snow from the upper elevation roadway at rocky mountain national park in june of 1933 and then a nice young group of young ccc men on their lunch break at glacier national park in montana. so in 1933, another thing that was also happening if if you think back to the 1920s nearly all of the national parks were in the west but nearly most americans lived in the east so it's a consequence the national parks were really not accessible to everyday americans unless you had the time and the money to get there. so beginning in the 1920s with stephen mather and then horace albright and then with franklin roosevelt and others there was a strong impetus to develop eastern national parks. so we saw coming online in that year. we saw great smoky mountains national park. we saw shenandoah national park. we would then see mammoth cave national park and later the everglades in the expansion of acadia. so there was a real interest in desire to make the parts more accessible to all the people. so one of the assignments that grant would take was to accompany teams of park service staff. it might be landscape architects historians engineers management staff to survey proposed and planned national parks, and these are four examples of places where he traveled with with these survey teams the top left. this is the newfound gap road great smoky mountains national park right there at the north carolina, tennessee state line taken in 1931. that's kind of a scary road today. it cannot imagine what it was like as a dirt road in 1931. in 1934. he accompanied a team surveying the proposed natchez trace parkway through mississippi and took this photograph of the ruins of an antebellum plantation also on that same trip. he photographed ccc men restoring the battlefield at vicksburg. he traveled to the big bend of texas in 1936 became a national park in 1944 and then to the north cascades of washington state in 1937 did not become a national park until 1968. so he's laying a lot of visual groundwork for the future. another project that he was involved with was in 1934 president roosevelt declared that the national parks year if you know much about president roosevelt, you know, he was a stamp collector and he asked that the secretary of the interior and the postmaster general get together to issue a series of postage stamps depicting scenes from the national parks, that would be adapted from photographs another way to promote visitation of the national parks by everyday americans and so of those 10 images two were images taken by ansel adams five of them were by george grant and this is one example you see here on the right is george grant's photograph from zion national park in utah in 1929, and then there to the left you see the eight cent stamp that was adapted from that photograph for the national parks here and i was helen said he received very little recognition. individually for his work as a staff photographer for the park service in nearly everything. he ever had published. the credit line was often just national park service and of the 30 to 40,000 images that he produced in his working career. it's been estimated that 90% of them were never published they're involved in the park service archives. but he was he never viewed himself as a fine art photographer. he saw himself as a photojournalist a documentary photographer an editorial photographer and he was an assignment photographer. whatever the park service needed. he was able to produce for them. it might be just beautiful landscapes for brochures and and promotional materials. also, it would be people enjoying the parks again. that's part of the impetus to promote park visitation think of it almost like propaganda photography if you would but he was also asked to take portraits. he never saw himself as a portrait photographer, but he was scaled at it and you will see a few of those in a few minutes, you know, so take technical images for museum exhibits and for official and scientific reports. so whatever was needed. he had the skills and the capability to produce his book his images appeared in books