Views from the Digital Collections: America's National Parks

By Carrie McBride, Communications

July 15, 2022

Beginning with the designation of the first national park, Yellowstone, in 1872 there are now 63 national parks across the United States. They contain many natural wonders, awe-inspiring landscapes, and important cultural artifacts as well as representing an ideal of preserving the land for the future. It's no wonder that visiting one or more of them is on many bucket lists and the parks swell with visitors in the summer months.

NYPL's Digital Collections contain hundreds of vintage images from the National Parks and we're offering you a three-minute "vacation" to view them below. Enjoy!

vast view of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1629216

a woman looks down from a tall peak at the Grand Canyon

Looking down upon Ayer's Peak, a mountain 600 feet high in the Grand Canyon 1902-03.

Photo by Underwood & Underwood. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: G88F105_001F

sections of petrified logs lying in the sand of a desert

Petrified Forest, near Adamana, Arizona. 1900-02.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 62171

yucca or joshua trees in a desert

Yucca/Joshua Trees, Mojave, California. 1907-08.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 69726

a barren desert with peaks of sant

Death Valley

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1640863

smoke around the peak of an erupting volcano

Lassen Peak eruption [Lassen Volcanic National Park]

Photo by Benjamin Loomis. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1629289

forest of giant sequoia trees

General Sherman Tree, Sequoia National Park, California.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1640903

waterfall high up in a mountain

Yosemite Falls

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1640921

landscape of a forest with large rock formations in the distance

Yosemite Valley from Inspiration Point.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1629295

two men stand on a high ledge with Sierra mountains in distance

View Across the Sierras From Yosemite National Park

Photo by Ewing Galloway. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 101836

herd of buffalo grazing

Buffalo herd near Fort Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 68037

vintage postcard showing Old Faithful geyser in action

Old Faithful, Yellowstone Park, 1903-04.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 66377

barren landscape with dry cliffs and rock formations

Badlands National Park extension, South Dakota, 1936.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 58301237

cracked, dry earth with skeleton of an animal's head

Dry and parched earth in the badlands of South Dakota, 1936.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 58251337

shimmering lake in the foreground with snow-capped mountains in the background

Lake Josephine in Glacier National Park, Montana.

Photo by Fred H. Kiser. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1629955

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier

Photo by Ewing Galloway. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 101856

cloud-covered mountaintop

Heaven's Peak, Glacier National Park

Fred H. Kiser. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1629957

rock formations in Zion National Park

Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park

Photo by Ewing Galloway. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 101861

There are more than 900,000 images in our Digital Collections—what will you find?

Related reading: A National Parks Reading List