Carl Parcher Russell (January 18, 1894 – June 19, 1967) was a historian, ecologist, and administrator. Russell was born January 18, 1894 in

Fall River, Wisconsin Fall River is a village in Columbia County, Wisconsin, United States, along the North Fork of the Crawfish River. The population was 1,712 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Alfred Brayton, an ...

. He joined the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

(NPS) in 1923 as a Naturalist in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

. In 1931 he received a Ph.D. in

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He served as an officer for the NPS for 34 years, from 1923 until his retirement in 1957. He was the Chief Naturalist of Yosemite from 1923 to 1929. He specialized in

frontier history A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

, studying its material culture in minute detail, and documented pioneer life for the NPS and others. Russell served in several regional positions in the NPS, including NPS Chief Naturalist of Yosemite (1923–1929), regional director, and

Superintendent. Russell retired from the park service in 1957, and he died at his home in

Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados ...

on June 19, 1967 after a heart attack.

Books by Carl P. Russell

''One Hundred Years in Yosemite''
(1931, 1947, 1957) * ''Guns on the Early Frontiers'' (1957) * ''Firearms, Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men'' (posthumously, 1967) * Besides books, Russell wrote several articles for ''Yosemite Nature Notes'' and NPS and historical journals, and papers for various conferences.

Online article by Carl P. Russell

"Early Years in Yosemite," ''California Historical Society Quarterly'' 5:4 (December 1926)

References

External links

Collection Guide to the Carl Parcher Russell papers, ca. 1929-1965
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

Collection Guide to the Carl Parcher Russell papers, 1940-1966
at

Biographical sketch
(WSU Libraries). WSU is the depository for his papers.

* 1894 births 1967 deaths National Park Service personnel American ecologists University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers People from Fall River, Wisconsin Historians from Wisconsin 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub