Title: Facilities Management Records

Dates: 1914-2010 (bulk dates: 1919-2000)

Collection Number: YCN: 1018 (YOSE 223003)

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 103.5 linear feet

Repository: Yosemite National Park Archives

Abstract: The Facilities Management Records represent construction and maintenance activities in Yosemite National Park from 1914 to present, providing essential insight into activities and operations of the park in the 20th century. The collection is comprised of 17 accessions that were deposited between 1991 and 2012 from various branches within the division, while other accessions were transferred from the Denver Service Center and the Western Regional Office. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, blue prints, Diazo prints, construction and design sketches, black and white photographs and negatives, color photographs and negatives, slides, Polaroid photographs, and media (VHS tapes, floppy disks, and optical media).

Language of Material: English

While this collection is open to the public, sensitive materials have been flagged and require appropriate permission through the Yosemite archivist to access.

Facilities Management Records. Yosemite National Park Archives

Facilities Management Division, Yosemite National Park

Yosemite's Division of Facilities Management is responsible for the operation and maintenance of roads, trails, bridges, historic structures, housing units, and utility systems. Since its inception in 1916 the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of facilities at Yosemite, and the Facilities Management Division, under various names over the years, has been instrumental in that care. Originally organized by labor divisions in the early 20th Century: plumbing, carpentry, black smiths, and power plant operations, the division came to be known as Facilities Management in 2000. Reflected in the collection are many of the major events and change points that the division has adapted to and/or helped implement: increased visitation (from 69,906 in 1920 to more than four million currently); the National Environmental Policy Act (1970); Mission 66; the General Master Plan (1974); the Architectural Barriers Act (1968); the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990); the Yosemite Valley Plan; the 1997 Merced River flood; and the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River Plan (1990), among many others. Comprised of four Branches: Design and Engineering, Buildings and Grounds, Roads and Trails, and Utilities, the largest division in the park provides engineering support, operation and maintenance functions, energy use monitoring, surveying, mapping, historic preservation, and facilities inventories. The Facilities Management Records reflect the scale and challenges involved in maintaining a national park the size of Yosemite. As of 2013, the four branches of the division were responsible for 214 miles of paved roads, 68 miles of graded roads, 20 miles of paved walkways and bike paths, 800 miles of trails, 1504 campsites, 1133 structures, more than 120 pedestrian and vehicle bridges, and four tunnels, as well as all of the utilities necessary to support more than four million visitors each year.

The Facilities Management Records Collection is arranged into 10 series and further divided into subseries. The collection was assembled from several different accessions. All branches within the division are represented in the collection, and the records are arranged to reflect the functions of the division. Where possible, original order has been maintained. The hierarchy has been created to allow easy integration of future accretions to the federal records group.