Guide to the Natt N. Dodge Photograph Collection

This finding aid describes the Natt N. Dodge Photograph Collection, 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.

Natt and Hap Dodge with their three children. (Natt N. Dodge Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1167)

Collection Overview

Collection Number: HFCA 1167
Accession Number: HFCA-00777
Creator: Dodge, Natt Noyes, 1900-1982
Title: Natt N. Dodge Photograph Collection
Dates: 1922-1966
Volume of Collection: ca. 2,296 EA
Language of Materials: English

Digitized copies: This collection has been partially digitized.

Conditions Governing Use: This collection is open to research use. However, about 1,000 of the images are on nitrate film and are stored in freezers; they require acclimation to room temperature before use. At least 72 hours prior notice is required for access to this material. Most of the images in this collection were taken by Dodge or other NPS employees. Copyright of Dodge's images not taken during official business was transferred to the NPS through the deed of gift. In some cases, the photographer and therefore the copyright status is unknown. See https://rightsstatements.org/page/UND/1.0/?language=en. See also the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.
Provenance: Donated to the National Park Service (NPS) History Collection by Mildred Dodge in 1983.
Processing Note: This collection was originally inventoried prior to the adoption of current standards. It was partially reprocessed and described by Beth Lipford in 2023 (series I only). This finding aid was updated by Nancy Russell in December 2024.

Rights Statements for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: Natt N. Dodge Photograph Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1167)
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• NPS Historic Photograph Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 1607)
• Natt N. Dodge Papers, Southwest Collection, Special Collection Library, Texas Tech University

Biographical Note

Natt Noyes Dodge was born on August 23, 1900, in South Chatham, Massachusetts. His parents were Frank P. Dodge and Florence Griffin Dodge. After spending his early years in Connecticut, he moved to Colorado where he attended the Boulder Prep School. He served as a private in the US Army during World War I from October to December 1918. He was an experienced mountain climber and winter sports enthusiast.

Dodge met Mildred “Hap” Nellie Johnson when they attended the Boulder Prep School. She went to the University of Colorado, graduating with a degree in education in 1922. He attended Colorado Agricultural College where he was yearbook editor and a member of the debate team. Their courtship lasted several years before their engagement was announced in January 1924. They married in Niwot, Colorado, on June 15, 1924, two days after his college graduation. The Dodges went on to have three children: Nattalie (born 1926), Griffin (born 1932), and Judith (born 1940).

Following their honeymoon, they moved to Seattle, Washington, where he worked as a clerk and salesman for the Superior Honey and Bee Supply Company. Dodge began his writing career around 1926, contributing articles to Bees and Honey magazine and assisting its editor. The earliest known publication of Dodge’s photographs was in the November 1926, edition of Bees and Honey, which called him an “excellent amateur photographer.” Dodge also wrote freelance magazine articles published by Sunset, Desert Magazine, and The Mid-Pacific Magazine and others in the 1920s and 1930s.

In the late 1920s he became foreman for the Pacific Slope Honey Company. While working for them, Dodge suggested to the American Honey Institute that they provide honey to Commander Richard E. Byrd “as the sweetening agent with which to maintain the strength and energy of his men” on his first South Pole expedition. Dodge’s suggestion resulted in a cooperative effort with New Zealand beekeepers providing “a use for honey never before available.” Five hundred pounds of honey was among the expedition’s provisions.

Hap Dodge recalled that it was the company’s bankruptcy that led Natt Dodge to the NPS. He got job as a ranger-naturalist at Mount Rainier National Park in 1932. For three summers, he returned to the park. During this period, he frequently contributed poems or short natural history articles to the park’s Nature Notes newsletter.

With thousands of other applicants, Dodge took the civil service exam in 1935. According to Hap Dodge, 900 men passed the test and his was the 15th highest score. He was offered two positions in Alaska which he turned down because they had two young children. He was offered and accepted a park naturalist position at Grand Canyon National Park in 1935. Hap Dodge taught daughter Nattalie and Zorro Bradley, son of an NPS engineer, in their kitchen tent on the North Rim.

While working at the park, Natt Dodge wrote two natural history booklets, Trees of the Grand Canyon and Reptiles and Amphibians of the Grand Canyon. In 1937 two of his photographs of hummingbirds on their nest on the North Rim were published in Life magazine.

In September 1937, Dodge was hired as junior naturalist in the branch of education at the NPS Southwestern National Monuments (SWNM), and the family moved to Coolidge, Arizona. That month’s SWNM report noted, “Dodge comes to us with general naturalist experience at Mt. Rainier and Grand Canyon National parks, is an accomplished photographer, and has had considerable success along the lines of writing and editing. His work will deal principally with the biological aspects of the Southwestern Monuments educational program.”

Dodge traveled to the various SWNM over the next few years, taking on many different tasks. His family often went with him. In October 1937 he was at Saguaro National Monument, where roving ranger Jim Brewer noted, “Natt showed me the boundaries and I could hardly see the monument for all the fine ‘Game Reserve’ signs he had posted. If a hunter gets in here, it won't be by mistake.” Dodge also developed exhibits, prepared informational and publicity materials, collected specimens, took photographs, wrote reports, guided at some of the monuments, banded birds, answered correspondence, managed the library, and gave talks to community groups.

Recalling his early career in honey, in 1937 he wrote “Fighting Forest Fires with Honey” for Gleanings in Bee Culture. It was about honey’s use as an energy source for Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) men fighting fires.

Dodge also expanded his photographic repertoire to include color motion pictures. In 1938 alone, he created color motion picture films about Pima basket and pottery-making techniques, Chaco Canyon National Monument, “Glimpses of the Southwestern National Monuments,” “The Desert,” and “Indians.” He compiled the 1938 SWNM annual report which, for the first time, included photographs.

In November 1941, he was detailed into the regional naturalist position for Region Three. The family relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1942 when he became assistant naturalist. On January 1, 1943, Dodge was promoted to associate naturalist. Natt and Hap Dodge became members of the Southwest Monuments Association (now the Western National Parks Association), which was created in 1938. She was elected treasurer. That same year Region III’s NPS Women’s Club was formed. Hap was an active member for 36 years. She served as its president from 1948 to 1949.

Dodge wrote or co-wrote more than a dozen books. His photographs illustrate many of them. Examples include Poisonous Dwellers of the Desert (1949), Flowers of the Southwest Desert (1954), Saguaro National Monument, Arizona (1957), and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (1964). Together with naturalist Herbert S. Zim, Dodge wrote the Golden Guides The American Southwest: a Guide to Wide Open Spaces (1955), and The Pacific Northwest: A Guide to the Evergreen Playground (1959). He also contributed to The Book of the American West (1963). He created a series of books featuring his color photographs, including The American Southwest with more than 400 Subjects in Full Color (1956), 100 Desert Wildflowers in Natural Color (1963), and 100 Roadside Wildflowers of the Southwest Uplands in Natural Color (1967). The Natural History of White Sands National Monument and Rhymes of a National Park Naturalist and Other Selected Verses were published in 1971. Many of Dodge’s books have been reprinted through multiple editions. Throughout his career he contributed articles and illustrations to journals, magazines including The Colorado Forester, Desert Magazine, National Parks Magazine and NPS newsletters. His description of Guadalupe Mountains National Park was printed as part of the Congressional Record in 1967.

Colorado State University offers the Natt N. Dodge Scholarship in Natural Resources to incoming freshmen students majoring in biology, zoology or botany with interest in conservation and ecology, with preference given to students who plan to work for the NPS or US Forest Service. Dodge retired from the NPS in 1963. He died on December 12, 1982, in Santa Fe.

Source

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/50-nifty-finds-28-shuttering-in-the-cold.htm

Scope and Content Note

Black-and-white prints and negatives and color transparencies from Natt N. Dodge's personal collection. Most of these images were taken by Dodge, although a small number are by George A. Grant and other photographers. Images document national parks, particularly Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon national parks and national monuments in the Southwest. Subjects include flora, wildlife, NPS personnel, events, archeology, interpretive media, and general views of the Southwest Region where Dodge spent most of his NPS career. A small number of images document the 1922 winter ascent of Mount Rainier and were not taken by Dodge.

Arrangement

Organized into three series by format, as follow:
Series I: Prints, 1929-1965 (bulk dates: 1934-1946)
Series II: Slides, TBD
Series III: Negatives, TBD

Series I: Prints, 1929-1965 (bulk dates: 1934-1946)

Volume of this series: 2.5 LF
Arranged alphabetically by park acronym or topic.

Scope and Content Note

Black and white prints featuring scenes and people at Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon national parks, and monuments in the Southwest. Plants (flora) and wildlife/animals (fauna) are a common subject although most are unidentified. Note that a small number of hand-colored prints feature the artist Legoria Tafoya.

Container List

BOX 01
Folder 01: ARCH, undated
Folder 02: Artifacts, ca. 1930’s, undated
Folder 03: BAND, undated
Folder 04: BIBE, 1936, undated
Folder 05: BLCA, undated
Folder 06: Boats, Trailers, and Seascapes, 1934, undated
Folder 07: BRCA, undated
Folder 08: Brodrick, Harold J., 1946, undated
Folder 09: CACH, 1938 - 1946

BOX 02
Folder 01: CAGR, undated
Folder 02: California Sand Dunes, 1937
Folder 03: CARE, undated
Folder 04: Carmel Mission, 1937
Folder 05: CAVE, 1934-1941, undated
Folder 06: CAVO, undated
Folder 07: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), MORA, undated
Folder 08: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Southwestern National Monuments (SWNM) Firefighting, undated
Folder 09: CEBR, undated
Folder 10: CHCA, 1929-1934
Folder 11: CHIR, 1938-1946
Folder 12: COLM, undated
Folder 13: Columbia River Lighthouse, undated
Folder 14: Cranberry Picking, ca. 1932, undated
Folder 15: CRLA, undated
Folder 16: CRMO, undated
Folder 17: FOLA, undated
Folder 18: FOUN, 1939-1946

BOX 03
Folder 01: GRCA, 1935-1937, undated
Folder 02: GRSA, 1935-1937, undated
Folder 03: HAVO, undated
Folder 04: Hoover Dam, undated
Folder 05: Interpretation, undated
Folder 06: King Ben, undated
Folder 07: LAKE, undated
Folder 08: Logging, undated
Folder 09: Maps, 1952-1959, undated

BOX 04
Folder 01: MEVE, 1949, undated
Folder 02: Mexico, undated
Folder 03: MOCA, undated
Folder 04: MORA, 1932-1935, undated

BOX 05
Folder 01: MORA, Winter Ascent, 1922-1933, undated
Folder 02: MUWO Pamphlet, 1960
Folder 03: NABR, undated
Folder 04: NAGPRA (Restricted), undated
Folder 05: NAMA, undated
Folder 06: Native Americans, 1929-1951, undated
Folder 07: NAVA, undated
Folder 08: ORPI, undated
Folder 09: PECO, 1965, undated
Folder 10: PEFO, Eagle Nest Rock (pre-1941), undated
Folder 11: Personal, undated
Folder 12: Petroglyphs, undated
Folder 13: Plants, undated (1 of 3)

BOX 06
Folder 01: Plants, undated (2 of 3)

BOX 07
Folder 01: Plants, undated (3 of 3)
Folder 02: Rangers, undated
Folder 03: Redwood Highway, undated
Folder 04: ROMO, undated
Folder 05: SAGU, 1938-1946
Folder 06: SAGU: Papago Fruit Harvest, ca. 1942
Folder 07: SAGU: Women Rangers, 1961, undated
Folder 08: Santa Fe Office, ca. 1945
Folder 09: SCBL, undated
Folder 10: SEKI, 1958, undated
Folder 11: Styles, A.J., 1934
Folder 12: SUCR, undated
Folder 13: Southwestern National Monuments (SWNM) Vegetation, 1944, undated
Folder 14: TICA, undated
Folder 15: Tohono O’odham Reservation, undated
Folder 16: TONT, undated
Folder 17: TUMA, undated
Folder 18: TUZI, undated

BOX 08
Folder 01: Unidentified, undated
Folder 02: Unidentified People and Events, undated
Folder 03: Unidentified Water Sources, undated
Folder 04: Utah, undated
Folder 05: WHSA, 1938-1946
Folder 06: Wildlife, 1937-1960, undated (1 of 3)

BOX 09
Folder 01: Wildlife, 1937-1960, undated (2 of 3)

BOX 10
Folder 01: Wildlife, 1937-1960 and undated (3 of 3)
Folder 02: Wildlife, George Olin’s Photographs of Bats and White-winged Doves at Agave Blossoms, undated
Folder 03: WUPA, 1947, undated
Folder 04: YELL, undated
Folder 05: ZION, undated

Series II: Slides, TBD

This series has not been reprocessed yet.

Series III: Nitrate Negatives, TBD

Although this series has not been reprocessed yet, an inventory of materials is available by contacting the archivist.

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