Rebecca Conard TheNationalConferenceon StateParks: Reflectionson OrganizationalGenealogy n the morning ofMonday,January l 0, in the capacious rooms of the splendid Fort Des Moines Hotel, at 11 o'clock, [a] far- '' 0 fetched assembly, representing twenty-five states ... got down to business and made history with definite and precisioned step." Edgar R. Harlan, curator of the Iowa State Historical Department, wrote these words to mark what he intuitively understood was a historic occa- sion: the organizational meeting of what would become the National Confer- ence on State Parks, convened in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1921. Harlan also was secretary of the Iowa Board of Conservation and, in this capacity, served as Iowa's point-person for organizing the meeting. In the decade following that initial In 1974, the National Conference meeting of minds, the National Con- on State Parks ceased to exist by that ference on State Parks (NCSP) name, but two organizations claim its emerged as the most important forum legacy. One is the National Associa- for debating ideological as well as tion of State Park Directors, orga- administrative issues of park devel- nized within the NCSP in 1962. The opment and management. It pro- other is the National Society for Park vided a broader framework for dis- Resources, which functions as a sec- cussio n than other organizations tion of the National Recreation and concerned with park development Park Association (NRP A), a non- and management at the time, notably profit consortium organized in 1965 the American Institute of Park Ex- and dedicated to advancing parks for ecutives, the American Society of human leisure. The significance of Landscape Architects, and the Play- this bifurcation is as subtle as it is ground and Recreation Association complex. Reflecting on the motives of America. However, during the thatbroughtapproximately two hun- late 1930s a process of institutional dred people together in January of transmigration began, a process that 19 21 and that animated debate would lead the NCSP into a com- within the NCSP during the next plexly linked set of organizations, the decade illuminates the issues and very nature of which reflected con- concerns that still bind as well as dis- tinuing ambivalence in society about tinguish those who influence the the purpose and functions ofparks. management of public lands. THEFIRSTNATIONALPARK CONFERENCE OF THE WORLD Banquet atthe Hotel FortDes Moines, January 11, 1921 DesMoinesIowa Two hundred men and women as- ments of conservation or state park sembled in Des Moines, but this boards; municipal park administra- overstates the magnitude of the 1921 tors; prominent natural scientists and conference since more than half of landscape architects; and representa- those in attendance were Iowans, tives from the Sierra Club, the Na- even through the invitation list num- tional Municipal League, the Ameri- bered more than 1,500 people drawn can Scenic and Historic Preservation from all forty-eight states, plus Society, the General Federation of Washington, D.C., and Canada. Women's Clubs, the Garden Club of Moreover, the Des Moines gathering America, the U.S. Bureau of Biologi- was billed as the first National Con- cal Survey, the Federal Highway ference on Parks, not the first national Council, and the National Park to conference on state parks. This dis- Park Highway Association. Delegates crepancy caused no little confusion also included a wide range of local for about two years. Nonetheless, the and state organizations: birding first conference drew an eclectic clubs, historical societies, farm and group, and this was the source of its garden associations, wildflower pres- strength as a forum for debate. The ervation societies, commercial clubs, crowd included representatives from civic leagues, nature study groups, a handful of existing state depart- and the like. In addition, there were a few publishers of outdoor magazines, State Parks would take during the although press coverage of the event 1920s. Mather's reason for promot- was minimal. ing a state park organization was fairly The assembly of 1921 was, as transparent. The Park Service was Harlan claimed, a historic occasion, inundated with requests for creating but the history as it unfolded was not national parks in areas that he and his exactly made with the same "definite staff felt were "more oflocal interest." and precisioned step" that apparently National park designation was to be brought conferees to Des Moines. reserved for areas of "supreme and The first few years of the NCSP went distinctive quality" or containing by more like a high school marching "some natural feature so unique as to band, each row marching to its own be of national importance." Mather beat and the whole unified only by thus saw state parks as a medium for forward momentum. As a case in protecting and preserving places that point, Harlan captured something of were less than "supreme" in their the early confusion in a letter to for- scenic quality or rarity. mer Secretary of the Interior John Mather's purpose gave rise to the Barton Payne, who served as the first perception ofstate parks as simply the NCSP president and chairman of the second tier of a nationwide park sys- board. "[N]otwithstanding the im- tem. However, in Iowa, NCSP's measurable benefits I have received birthplace, the creators of the state from the two meetings with which I park system neither intended it to be a have been connected," Harlan wrote, smaller-scale model of the national referring to the 1921 and 1922 con- system, nor did they entirely appre- ferences, "I have never yet caught the ciate the National Park Service trying fundamental purpose nor the source to impose standards and guidelines or inspiration of the enterprise." To for the development and administra- another correspondent Harlan wrote: tion of state parks. An important goal "I do not quite gather the source of of those who framed Iowa's 1917 the influences that are, or were be- State Park Act was to use state parks hind the meeting, nor the objects and as a vehicle for creating a central state purposes. I feel that it is almost agency that could address interrelated wholly the creature of Mr. Mather of resource conservation problems: re- the National Park Service, and that forestation, lake preservation, water that service is intended to be benefi- quality, soil conservation, wildlife cial." protection, the preservation of rare Stephen Mather, the ambitious plant species and unusual geologic first director of the National Park formations, and the preservation of Service, was indeed the instigator, historic and prehistoric sites. Recre- although he either never tried or was ational use was considered one func- unable to dictate completely the di- tion of state parks, but not the reason rection the National Conference on for being. For that matter, the 1916 legislation creating the National Park construed as "conservation parks." Service did not mention recreation. But beyond distinguishing "conser- Mather, however, being a pragmatist, vation parks" from baseball parks and cultivated public support for the new auto parks, Macbride, like others, federal park system by emphasizing resorted to vague language when he tourism. Texans thought in a similar tried to define his terms. The mode. Governor Pat Neff and D. E. difficulty that state park advocates had Colp, the long-time chairman of the in defining their territory was Texas State Parks Board (1923- underscored when the NCSP 1935), unabashedly promoted state committee charged with drafting a parks adjacent to principal highways uniform state park law reported at the as a means to increase automobile second annual conference that, after a tourism within the state and thereby year of study, it did not think the task stimulate the state economy. Like- possible. wise, Governor Arthur Hyde of Mis- If an agreed-upon definition of souri, envisioned a "chain of parks" "state park" remained elusive, there that would attract tourists to drive were still concrete issues to deal with. Missouri's new highway system. One issue agitating many people was In retrospect, there seems to have "the transportation question," a eu- been no common mission among phemism for the weekend "nature those who participated in the Na- lovers" who stripped park roads of tional Conference on State Parks, their wildflowers while motoring which had formally adopted that through and the automobile campers name by the 1922 conference. In- who found state parks a convenient stead offostering a common mission, place to gather firewood and leave NCSP provided a venue for seeking their trash. On this issue, common "common ground" as state park ad- ground was hard to find, yet E. R. ministrators and activists grappled Harlan, for one, considered the with a host of issues that came transportation question "vital" to any wrapped up in the designation of serious discussion ofstate parks. "state parks." At one extreme, J. Ho- As the first secretary of the NCSP, race McFarland, president of the Harlan corresponded with many American Civic Association, saw people. Therefore, he was in a posi- state parks as a recreational "square tion to know how eager commercial deal"-outdoor playgrounds for interests were to be central figures in families who did not have the means the state park movement. Among to travel to far-away national parks. those attending the Des Moines con- At the other extreme was Thomas ference was Charles Hatfield, general Macbride, the source of inspiration manager of the St. Louis Convention, for Iowa's state parks. Macbride, a Publicity and Tourist Bureau; also botanist at the University of Iowa, ar- president of the Associated Advertis- gued that "real" state parks should be ing Clubs, president of the National Association of Convention Bureaus, moters, boys' and girls' clubs, and and an officer in the national Cham- other privately sponsored groups.