National Park Service Historian

National Parks were places my family visited on driving vacations. As a very young child I was happy to note that these parks were run by people dressed appropriately like Ranger Smith in the Yogi Bear cartoons. These rangers worked outdoors and told us about animals and plants and camping. What puzzled me was when we would take guests from our suburban New Jersey home into New York City to Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace and people in ranger uniforms would lead the tours. Eventually I figured out that the National Park Service was not all about “parks”, but also about historic sites.

By chance this past January a cousin of mine was telling me about one of his in-laws who has worked for the National Park Service for years. Through my family connections I decided to inquire if anyone knew a NPS Historian I could interview for this assignment. I received an e-mail informing me I had “hit the jackpot” and was given contact information for “my dear, long-time friend Dwight Pitcaithley” who served for a decade (1995-2005) as the Chief Historian of the National Park Service.

Before I tell his story I want to jump ahead to Dwight’s advice to people thinking about a career in Public History. “Be open!” I suspect that that is more an attitude toward life he embraces and is what led Dwight down some roads and paths he never expected to follow as a young man.

Dwight grew up in Carlsbad, New Mexico in the 1940s and 50s. He’s gone full-circle and returned to that part of the country in the semi-retirement phase of his life. He currently is a history professor at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. In the early 1960s he was a talented enough drummer/percussionist that when he headed off to college ( the name of which he didn’t divulge) he had every intention of earning a degree in music. After 2 frustrating years he and his music department agreed he was failing miserably. He could read and play rhythms, but that did not compensate for his inability to read music. He didn’t have an educational backup plan and though it was a risky choice at that period in time, he signed up for 3 years in the Marine Corps.

He did return to civilian life and he did re-enroll in college, just at a different institution, Eastern New Mexico University. He took a required History class, it captured his interest and he never looked back. By 1976 he had worked straight through his B.A., M.A., and PhD, all in History. While in his PhD program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock the National Park Service came looking for a graduate student who would be willing to spend a summer in Arkansas. The NPS was compiling a history report on the Buffalo National River and needed a researcher. That project started his extensive life-long writing side work. (I counted over 30 publications listed on his Curriculum Vita..) His work also caught the attention of the NPS to the extent that as he finished his PhD they offered him a job with their Southwest Region based in Santa Fe. His work in that office as a NPS Historian focused on the Third Fort Union.

In 1979 he was promoted and moved with his family to the Boston area where he was a Regional Historian for 10 years. In that position he considered himself a coordinator. He was a cultural resource manager. He dealt with historic properties and made sure everything was in line with the National Register and the National Preservation Act. In 1989 he went to Washington, D.C. to become the Chief of the Division of Cultural Resources, another administrative coordinator position covering the National Capitol Region. When the Chief Historian for the National Park Service retired in 1995 Dwight took over what he calls “the best job in Federal government”.

He saw a need for National Park Service historians and interpreters to receive more and different training. They all had been given plenty of help with how to give a presentation, but not so much concerning what information was being presented. He had some heated years with Park Superintendents because he wanted to incorporate new scholarship into park programs. For example, not everyone liked the idea of having to talk about the causes of the Civil War ( that slavery issue) rather than just the movements of the battles. It was essentially a change in a policy that had been around since 1933. He encouraged more reading, more course work, more workshops and increased understanding of history.

Dwight’s professional experience goes way outside the bounds of the National Park Service. He has been heavily involved with the National Council on Public History. He served on their Board of Directors, was the President of that organization, writes for their journal The Public Historian, and is on that editorial board. He was an adjunct professor at George Mason University. He also was on the Board of Directors and was President of the George Wright Society for protected area professionals dedicated to preservation of cultural and national parks and reserves.

Dwight’s current classes at NMSU include one on Civil War politics and one called Interpreting Historical Places. He uses computers and recognizes that mobile and digital devices are the way of the future. He thinks he’ll leave that technology to up and coming historians. Going back to his advice…”Be Open!” to opportunities to do something extra: learn new technology skills, photography, inventorying, volunteer, build your resume, join the National Council on Public History (they have student memberships), read voraciously, travel…