Hillory
Alfred TolsonHillory
Alfred TolsonHillory Alfred Tolson (1897-1983) received the Pugsley Silver Medal “for significant contributions to the national park field.” He was born in Laredo, Missouri. His father was the city marshal. When he left high school, he worked for the Laredo Tribune. It was here that he crafted his writing skills. In his long and distinguished career as a senior administrator with the NPS which was to commence more than a decade later, written materials sent to him for review were invariably “Tolsonized”- -i.e. they were extensively edited, corrected and sent back to be rewritten.
In these early days, Tolson also worked for his grandfather as a cowboy for a dollar a day plus room and board. His job was to herd steers into a corral and then drive them to the nearest railhead for shipment to Kansas City or Chicago. He later observed, “There are many more enjoyable jobs than being a cowboy which involves dirt, sweat, long hours, and constantly bawling steers! The cold, windy, rainy days, when one is working with cattle and is soaked to the skin astride a horse in a wet saddle, are far from being comfortable and enjoyable.” These experiences resulted in him being “tempered by fire” and prepared him for the challenges of his NPS career. He was renowned for his work ethic and demanded excellence from all who worked with him. Tolson commented, “We took our work, responsibilities, and ourselves very seriously in the early days of the NPS. Our pioneer ancestors did, so we undoubtedly inherited those traits from them.”
Tolson served with the Marine Corps in Italy in World War I, moved to Washington, DC and in 1919 went to work for the War Plans Division of the War Department. In 1921, he took a job in Washington, DC with the Panama Canal Commission. At the same time that he commenced work with the federal government, Tolson enrolled at George Washington University where he earned a bachelor’s degree (1924), master’s degree (1927) and a law degree. He was admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court in 1935 with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes presiding. His brother, Clyde, achieved the same goal, became associate director of the FBI and was a close confidant of J. Edgar Hoover.
In 1931, Tolson joined the FBI as a special agent. He began his career with the NPS in 1932 as assistant to George A. Mosley who was an assistant director of the NPS responsible for all legal matters, including legislation. When Arno Cammerer became director of the NPS in 1935, Tolson was promoted to assistant director in charge of the Branch of Administration.
At the NPS, he laid building blocks that formed a solid foundation for the agency’s future administration. His influence in codifying and establishing administrative procedures was pervasive and enduring. It was a necessary task, but not always popular among the many mavericks who worked for the NPS in its formative days. His first major task, under chief counsel George Mosely, was to initiate and develop an administrative manual for the NPS. He did this without much encouragement and with very little help. The final result after years of work was six volumes and 40 handbooks, The National Park Service Administrative Manual. He was also assigned the task of compiling the Laws relating to the NPS. He first did this in 1933 and kept it current until his retirement in 1963.
A comprehensive listing of NPS staff was first compiled by Tolson in 1964. He was also the initiator of an alumni list, when the number was relatively small. He felt that the NPS should keep in touch with its alumni and thereby give them an opportunity to add their support and knowledge to NPS initiatives.
One outgrowth of these efforts was the General Administrative Training Course, commonly known as “TolsonTech,” the first real effort at in-service training. The course was held at various regional offices to train up-and-coming executives for the NPS. In all, 704 men and 4 women graduated from the G.A.T.C. in approximately 27 sessions held throughout the country starting in 1938. He was a strong supporter of the movement that eventually resulted in the establishment of the Albright and Mather Training Centers at Grand Canyon and Harpers Ferry, respectively. His interest in employee morale led to Tolson founding the Interior Department Recreation Association in 1937, and to being its first president.
In the late 1930s, the NPS was reorganized into regions and in 1939 Hillory Tolson was sent from the Washington office to be the first Region III director, based in Santa Fe. He remained there for year before returning to Washington as assistant director and chief of field operations. He held that post until he retired in 1963. At the time of his retirement, the then NPS director, Conrad Wirth, said, “His ability, dedication, initiative, insight and personality had made a ‘Tolson Job’ a synonym for outstanding work. For his leadership and “eminent career” as an administrator, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Interior Department in 1963. During his career Tolson was chairman of the Coronado International Memorial Commission in 1942 which settled a border question with Mexico; a member of the International Park Commission between Mexico and the US; was appointed by the President to work with Mexico on conservation issues; and was a member of the Committee for the Preservation of Nature in Micronesia.
A comprehensive listing of NPS staff was first compiled by Tolson in 1964. He was also the initiator of an alumni list, when the number was relatively small. He felt that the NPS should keep in touch with its alumni and thereby give them an opportunity to add their support and knowledge to NPS initiatives.
After his retirement from the NPS, Hillory Tolson tired of golf and travel, so he accepted the position of executive director of the White House Historical Association, with an office in the Executive Office Building. He was in the office three days a week. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was an enthusiastic supporter of the association from the beginning. She proposed the association publish a book, The White House: An Historic Guide which was prepared in cooperation with the National Geographic Society and sold primarily to White House visitors. Many millions of copies have been sold, and the revenues are given to the White House to purchase historic items.