The Genesis of National Park Management: John Roberts White and Sequoia National Park, 1920–1947

Abstract

T he administrative principles of Stephen T. Mather, first director of the National Park Service, are the foundation for the park system's successes. Mather and his successors, Horace M. Albright and Arno B. Cammerer, believed with missionary zeal that expanding and opening the parks to the public through good roads, trails, and accommodations would not only save these scenic wonders but would convince the government and the public of their inestimable economic, patriotic, educational, recreational, and, later, environmental values. With the businesslike optimism of a marketing salesman, Mather declared that "our national parks are practically lying fallow, and only await proper development to bring them into their own."1 Historians, having accepted the importance of Mather and his successors, have dealt mainly with the formulation of park policy at the national level. This approach has yielded important insights into the evolution of the "national park idea" but has left other questions unexplored. For instance, who were the so-called Mather men directing development in each of the parks? How did they translate the Mather tradition into individual park policies? And most important, how did the Mather tradition inspire and invigorate park development on a local level?2 Park historian William C. Everhart has drawn an analogy between the individual park superintendent and the