National Park Service National Park Service Uniforms Badges and Insignia, 1894-1991

From the first, the men guarding our parks looked for an identity. They wanted a uniform and all of the trappings that would let the world know who they were.

When the National Park Service was inaugurated as a bureau in 1917, an "officer and men" mentality prevailed, with the basic rangers being the "men" and everyone else being "officers." This was reflected in the first insignia allocated to each. In succeeding years many different things were tried, polished, and in some cases abandoned before the great "leveling" of the 1928 uniform regulations.

The following is a breakdown of the various insignia that have been used, or proposed for use in some cases, by Service personnel.

National Park Service emblem prior to the adoption of the arrowhead in 1952	"Enviroman," 1972. One of the many emblems used briefly by the NPS for its environmental programs
The 1972 National Park Centennial emblem	The 1991 National Park Service 75th Anniversary emblem
U.S. Department of the Interior seal, 1889-1913. This same basic seal has been used since 1849	U.S. Department of the Interior seal, 1968-1969. Seal was designed by Chermayeff & Geismar, Associates, New York, but proved to be very unpopular in the field