Robert Sterling Yard

Robert Sterling Yard was born in 1861 in Haverstraw, New York, to Robert Boyd and Sarah (Purdue) Yard. After attending the Freehold Institute in New Jersey, he graduated from Princeton University in 1883. Known throughout his life as "Bob", he became a prominent member of Princeton's Alumni Association, and founded the Montclair Princeton Alumni Association. In 1895, he married Mary Belle Moffat; they had one daughter, Margaret.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Yard worked as a journalist for the New York Sun and the New York Herald. He served in the publishing business from 1900 to 1915, variously as editor-in-chief of The Century Magazine and Sunday editor of the New York Herald. After serving as editor of Charles Scribner's Sons' the Book Buyer, Yard helped launch the publishing firm of Moffat, Yard and Company. He served as vice president and editor-in-chief of the firm.

National Park Service

In 1915, Yard was invited to Washington, D.C., by his friend Stephen Mather, who had started working on national parks as assistant to the Secretary of Interior. Yard and Mather had met while working for the New York Sun and became friends; Yard was the best man at Mather's wedding in 1893.

Mather, who wanted someone to help publicize the need for an independent agency to oversee the national parks movement, personally paid Yard's salary from his independent income. The United States had authorized 14 parks and 22 monuments over the previous forty years (1872–1915), but there was no single agency to provide unified management of the resources. In addition, some resources were managed by political appointees without professional qualifications. Together Mather and Yard ran a national parks publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior.

Although Yard was not an outdoorsman like most advocates of a national park service, he felt a connection to the cause, and eventually became personally invested in its success. At the National Park Conference in March 1915, he stated, "I, the treader of dusty city streets, boldly claim common kinship with you of the plains, the mountains, and the glaciers." He gathered data regarding popular American tourist destinations, such as Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada, together with reasons why people visited certain areas; he also collected photographs and compiled lists of those who might enlist in the conservation cause. One of his most recognized and passionate articles of the time, entitled "Making a Business of Scenery", appeared in The Nation's Business in June 1916:

We want our national parks developed. We want roads and trails like Switzerland's. We want hotels of all prices from lowest to highest. We want comfortable public camps in sufficient abundance to meet all demands. We want lodges and chalets at convenient intervals commanding the scenic possibilities of all our parks. We want the best and cheapest accommodations for pedestrians and motorists. We want sufficient and convenient transportation at reasonable rates. We want adequate facilities and supplies for camping out at lowest prices. We want good fishing. We want our wild animal life conserved and developed. We want special facilities for nature study.

In 1916, Yard published the National Parks Portfolio (1916), a collection of nine pamphlets. That same year, Yard wrote and published Glimpses of Our National Parks, which was followed in 1917 by a similar volume titled The Top of the Continent. The latter volume, which was subtitled A Cheerful Journey through Our National Parks and geared toward a younger audience, became a bestseller.

Yard and Mather's publicity and lobbying resulted in the creation of the National Park Service; on August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill establishing the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wild life therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Mather served as its first director beginning in 1917, and while he appointed Horace Albright as assistant director, he put Yard in charge of the National Parks Educational Committee. It consisted of only of Yard and a secretary.

In January 1917, Mather suffered a mental breakdown and had to take an extended leave. Yard believed he would be appointed interim director at the NPS. Disagreements within the organization, however, kept him from the position. Yard, who has been described as "intense, urbane and opinionated", was disappointed when the position was given to Albright, who was then only 27 years old. After more than a year of working in the Educational Division, Yard began to look outside the NPS for support.