Robert E. Benton Oral History Interview
Interviewer: Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake National Park Historian.
Interview Location and Date: Interview conducted via telephone on March 9, 11, 21, and 22, 1994, Oregon.
Transcription: Transcribed by Chris Prout, August 1997
Biographical Summary (from the interview introduction)
Robert E. “Bob” Benton. Crater Lake National Park superintendent 1984-1991. Everyone who worked for or around Bob Benton while he was park superintendent will always remember him. His seven years at the helm (1984-1991) were certainly tumultuous, but also presented opportunities to expand NPS staff and forge new programs. Among the latter was history, a new emphasis which reflected management’s increased concern with historic preservation and the retention of institutional memory at Crater Lake. It is only fitting that the superintendent who supported creation of a historian position in 1987 should become part of the park’s oral history program which began that year.
Materials Associated with this interview on file at the Dick Brown library at Crater Lake National Park’s Steel Visitor Center
taped interview; Notes and correspondence related to the interview are lodged in the park’s history files. Some notes from the interview and photos in file, other file correspondence dates from the period while he was superintendent.
