The history of women rangers in the National Park Service (NPS) was believed to start with Yosemite and Mount Rainier national parks in 1918, followed by Yellowstone in 1920. New information confirms that Wind Cave National Park, which had a third of the visitors of these other parks in 1917, hired the first woman ranger in 1916 and the second in 1918. Rediscovering these appointments rewrites the history of women in the NPS and challenges the idea that women rangers were only hired due to shortages of men during World War I.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
