Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
National Park Diaries
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Every National Park That Started as a National Monument
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![[NEW SERIES] He Was the First Person to Lead the Park Service | Park Profiles: Stephen Mather](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mvNAWrbN05s/mqdefault.jpg "[NEW SERIES] He Was the First Person to Lead the Park Service | Park Profiles: Stephen Mather
Exciting new video this week! Im debuting a new series on the channel called Park Profiles, where Ill be discussing some of the most important people involved with National Parks and conservation through the years. My intention with this series is to help you all become familiar with some of the most seminal park people and use these videos as filler/reference videos for some of the other stories Ive already told and will tell on the channel. I dont always get to fully flesh these people out in regular videos due to time constraints and story flow, so I hope this series will help ameliorate some of that problem - and of course introduce you to some pretty cool people who have played a huge role in protecting National Parks around the world!
To start off with, of course, I had to go with Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service and the man most responsible for shaping the Service as we know it today.
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Sources and Resources:
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000877_text
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/sontag/mather.htm
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/albright2/pdf/ch4.pdf
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-national-parks/stephen-mather
https://todayinconservation.com/2020/03/july-4-stephen-mather-founding-director-of-the-national-park-service-born-1867/
https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/people/mather.aspx
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-guest-room/201803/the-triumph-manic-mather
https://archive.ph/20130223091425/http://www.aapra.org/Pugsley/MatherStephen.html
Images and Music:
Storyblocks
National Park Service
Library of Congress
Save the Redwoods League
Yosemite Research Library
Mather Homestead
Cal Alumni Association
DH Hubbard Collection
Bancroft Library")
