During 1932 a number of individuals visited the park to aid the development of the park research and educational program. These included: Dr. Harold C. Bryant, NPS assistant director; Earl E. Trager, Branch of Research and Education; Verne E. Chatelain, historian, Washington Office; John C. Merriam, president, Carnegie Institution of Washington; Worth Ryder, University of California, Berkeley; and a committee of five with Dr. C.V. Boyer as chairman from the University of Oregon. [17]
Visits such as these continued to be made during 1933 and 1934. As a result several studies were prepared that analyzed the educational program in terms of the visitors’ experiences in the park. A study was undertaken to examine the park’s scientific features to develop an integrated program whereby visitors to Crater Lake could be brought into contact with both the aesthetic and scientific features of the park environment. The most significant study to result from such efforts was prepared on May 1, 1934, sponsored jointly by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the University of Oregon. It was entitled, “Preliminary Report on the Crater Lake Project: A Study of Appreciation of Nature Beauty.” [18]
Park Naturalist Libbey was furloughed from the park staff in November 1933 to serve in the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) program. For some three years that position was filled by temporary assignments. While the summer program continued, Superintendent Canfield observed that “development common to most parks as a result of emergency monies and technical assistants” was lost at Crater Lake “due to the absence of a year round head.”
Despite the lack of a full-time year-round park naturalist, Crater Lake continued to attract highly qualified seasonal naturalists from across the nation. Active searches were conducted to bring academically trained experts in various fields of science to the park each summer. In 1934, for instance, the seasonal ranger-naturalist staff consisted of the following:
E.I. APPLEGATE, BOTANY
Acting Curator, Dudley Herbarium, Stanford UniversityJ.S. BRODE, WATER BIOLOGY
Instructor, Santa Monica Junior CollegeB. CAMPBELL, ECOLOGY
Graduate Student, Johns Hopkins Medical SchoolR. HENDERSON, PROGRAMS
Instructor, Secondary Schools, Medford, OregonE.G. MOLL, AESTHETIC INTERPRETATION
Professor of English, University of OregonW.D. SMITH, PH. D., GEOLOGY
Professor of Geology, University of OregonC.R. SWARTZLOW, PH. D., GEOLOGY
Instructor of Geology, University of MissouriW.C. THOMAS, ZOOLOGY
Graduate Student, University of Southern CaliforniaH.H. WAESCHE, GEOLOGY
Instructor of Geology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Following the 1934 tourist season Acting Park Naturalist Warren G. Moody prepared a “Ranger-Naturalist Temporary Manual of Operation” to aid the park educational program. The manual was designed to provide seasonal personnel with data that had been used in various programs and guided tours. Included in the manual were sections dealing with Garfield Peak, Special Boat Trip, Wizard Island, Rim Caravan, Sinnott Memorial, and Community House. [19]
Facilities for the park educational activities posed problems for administrators during the mid-1930s. The Sinnott Memorial was used each summer, but “leaks in the roof and lack of funds to complete and improve the original construction prevented completion of the interior of the building as originally planned.” The Community House was ” partially broken in and badly wracked from heavy winter snows” in 1935 and was considered to be “unsafe.” Nevertheless, it continued to be used for evening programs and a temporary museum. [20]
