T-minus 4 Days

So, what does one do a few days before departure to prepare for four and a half months in Northern Montana?

- PACK
- Carefully rummage through the basement to find your old dorm stuff
- Read your hiking books
- Dig back out some of your winter clothes (although a winter storm in Denver may have already helped)

REI purchases

- Fill out paperwork
- Try on/order your bridesmaid dress
- Make an appointment for your car to get tuned up
- Buy new things (day pack, shoes, outdoorsy stuff from REI)
- Listen to others talk about the bears up North (Grizzly and Black Bears, OH MY!)
- Have lunch with old professors and bosses
- Buy bear spray
- Google beautiful images of Glacier and update your Facebook cover photo
- Hang out with friends and family
- Find sheets in the linen closet that fit a double bed
- Go to those last few concerts you paid for back in February
- Get really excited
- Decide to start a blog

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

That red dot is Glacier NP. Calgary here I come!

If you didn't already know, I got a seasonal gig with Glacier National Park working as an archives technician. I'll be leaving Denver this Friday and won't be back until the end of September. Right when things start to get chilly again. 

Glacier National Park is in the Northwest region of Montana. Literally 30 minutes from the Canadian border. Part of Glacier is shared with Canada, the first International Peace Park in the world across country lines. Waterton is the Canadian side of the Park and just as beautiful as the American side. It is, after all, just a political boundary that separates the Parks. Here are two maps to put things in perspective. 

The drive should take about 14 and a half hours from Denver and I'll be stopping in Billings, Montana for a halfway rest point. Saturday night I'll get to Glacier and begin settling in. I get government housing that comes out of my paycheck and will be living right outside the park entrance in the little town of West Glacier. I begin my archival work Monday. 

To get us all in the mood of National Parks, the outdoors, 'merica o 'merica, I have some great quotes from the Glacier website:

“There is nothing so American as our national parks... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The national park idea has been nurtured by each succeeding generation of Americans. Today, across our land, the National Park System represents America at its best. Each park contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the United States and our way of life; of the natural processes which have given form to our land, and to the enrichment of the environment in which we live.”
  - George B. Hartzog, Jr.

I really do like the mission of our National Parks system and am honored to be working to archive and preserve the history of this organization. These quotes help instill that mission, our American values, and are some of my favorites.

Dr. and Mrs. George Bird Grinnell on top of Grinnell Glacier, NPS photo

What exactly am I going to be doing at Glacier? What is an archives technician?
I am going to be working as a seasonal government employee in the Glacier National Park Museum. Seasonal because most of the researchers come up when it's nice and staff is really limited for the winter months.  In the museum, there are documents, photos, and maps of the history of the park from 1950 to 2007 that still need to be organized, cataloged, and preserved. Park files and history go back much further than the dates I've mentioned, but have already been cataloged and organized. My seasonal project is to finish out 1950 to present. Organization is key so that files can be found and are in date/contributing author/or other order (so the documents make sense). Cataloging is essential so that papers can be found and the content is known. We don't need any mysteries.  Finally, preservation is key so that the park history is not lost due to a rusty staple that takes out important information or improper storing of the only copy of a 1960s photo. In other words, I get to help be the keeper of the history of Glacier National Park along with the seasonal archivist and full-time museum curator. I'll also be scanning some of the documents for further preservation and access, as well as helping historical researchers access the park files appropriately. Check out the collection here!

Since I know now I won't have wifi at my convenience, in order to keep up with Glacier National Park when I can't update my blog, check out Glacier's Facebook page! And while I continue to pack my tiny Ford Fiesta, I leave you with this tidbit: Yesterday, May 11th, was Glacier's 104th anniversary as a National Park! Isn't she pretty for her age?

Lake McDonald, NPS photo