Guide to the Mary Jane McDowell papers

This finding aid describes the Mary Jane McDowell Papers, part of the NPS History Collection. To search this guide for names, places, key words, or phrases enter Ctrl F on your keyboard (command key + F key on a Mac). Request an in-person research appointment or get more information by contacting the archivist.

Ranger Mary Jane McDowell with Socks the horse. (NPS History Collection, HFCA 2997)

Collection Overview

Collection Number: HFCA 2997
Accession Number: HFCA-02097
Creator: McDowell, Mary Jane
Title: Mary Jane McDowell Papers
Dates: 1973-1981, 2016
Extent of Collection: 15 EA
Language of Materials: English

Digital Access: The collection has not been digitized.

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open to research use. Some of the documents in this collection, including Gloria Skurzynski's manuscript and book, are in copyright. See the NPS general copyright and restricted information here.
Provenance: Donated to the NPS History Collection by Mary Jane McDowell.
Processing Note: This material was processed and described by Nancy Russell in February 2025.

Rights Statement for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Mary Jane McDowell Papers, (HFCA 2997), NPS History Collection
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• NPS Oral History Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1817)
• Mary Jane McDowell's NPS uniform nametag, NPS History Collection (HFCA-02097)
• Mary Jane McDowell's NPS ranger badge, NPS History Collection (HFCA 2994)

Biographical Note

Mary Jane McDowell, known as Janey or later as Jane McDowell, graduated with a BA in Recreation and Park Administration from Memphis State University in December 1972. Prior to graduation, in March 1972, she took the Civil Service exam hoping for opportunities within the federal government.

The National Park Service (NPS) hired McDowell through its ranger intake training program. She immediately participated in the January 1973 “introduction to park operations” training class at the NPS Horace M. Albright Training Center (HOAL), located at Grand Canyon National Park. She was one of ten women park rangers in that class. Her training at HOAL lasted three months. McDowell and her class spent April that year at George Williams College, near Chicago, Illinois, working with children at an NPS site on Lake Geneva. From May through September 1973, she had her "urban experience" working for the NPS in Washington, DC.

After completing her training, in October 1973 McDowell was assigned to Mesa Verde National Park where she became the park’s first female law enforcement ranger. She nor the park had a say in her assignment, and she was not well received by the park's chief ranger. He thought that women should not be rangers and was initially reluctant to give her assignments. McDowell began to find ways to train herself, with help from ranger Tom Townley. In March 1975 she completed 14 weeks of training at the Consolidated Law Enforcement Center in Washington, DC. She graduated fifth in a class of 50. In June 1975 a new chief ranger arrived at Mesa Verde. He was more open minded about women rangers and she was given responsibility for training the seasonal law enforcement rangers.

For two weeks in July 1975 McDowell worked at Mount Rushmore National Monument where she was sent to reinforce park law enforcement staff following an explosion at the park's visitor center on June 27. She was the only woman among the group of 24 park rangers and US Park Police officers sent to help during the busy July 4 holiday period. In anticipation of the bicentennial, in February 1976 the NPS Rocky Mountain Region decided to designate this 24-member team a "special activities group." McDowell and rest of the team received additional training from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in Denver, Colorado, in disarming people, target practice, and properties of explosive devices. The team was sent to Mount Rushmore again during July 1976.

In August 1976 McDowell transferred to Yellowstone National Park. Her experience there was the antithesis of that at Mesa Verde. Here supervisor, Jerry Mernin, was welcoming and supported her professional development. At Yellowstone, McDowell initially served as the sub-district ranger at Grant Village, where she was also the district fire chief for structural fires. She was later assigned to the South Entrance. Throughout her time at Yellowstone McDowell conducted backcountry patrols, participated in search and rescue operations, conducted traffic investigations, served as a fire lookout, and responded to emergencies such as bear attacks.

McDowell left the NPS around 1980, returning to school and earning her master’s degree. Her NPS story was featured in the 1981 book, Safeguarding the Land: Women at Work in Parks, Forests, and Rangelands by Gloria Skurzynski.

Scope and Content Note

Color and black-and-white photographs of Jane McDowell working at Yellowstone National Park and a newspaper clipping about McDowell's arrival at Mesa Verde National Park as the first woman law enforcement ranger. A copy of the McDowell chapter of the manuscript for Safeguarding the Land: Women at Work in Parks, Forests, and Rangelands by Gloria Skurzynski (1981) and a first edition of the published book is included. The manuscript and book share McDowell's story as well as that of Marianna Young, a ranger-naturalist at Grand Teton National Park who survived a grizzly bear attack at Yellowstone. Many of the photos in this collection were used to illustrate Skurzynski's book.

Arrangement

Unarranged.