The original posters

These designs come from the National Park Service’s Western Museum Laboratories in Berkeley, California. Between 1938 and 1941, artists supported by New Deal programs, including the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps, made screenprinted posters advertising ranger-naturalist programs. They invited people to join walks, attend talks and learn about the places around them. NPS history of the poster program

That mix of magnificent scenery and everyday information is what draws us to them. A mountain can fill most of the page, yet there is still room to tell you where to meet for a hike. Our additions live in that same space between the extraordinary view and the matter-of-fact announcement.

The people behind the pictures

The artists’ story is less tidy than the familiar credits suggest. Chester Don Powell (1896–1964), a commercial artist, worked on park models, dioramas and printing. Dale Miller (1917–2005) trained in California, helped with the poster project and continued painting, especially watercolors. Elmer Duffield (1892–1973), once a steelworker, also worked at the laboratories; his precise contribution to the posters remains uncertain.

Newer NPS research does not confirm Powell as the designer of the whole series. The most reliable shared credit is to the Western Museum Laboratories and its artists and printers, including people whose names have not survived in the records. NPS research on the artists

Their work deserves to be remembered, even where we cannot confidently put a single name beneath a picture.

Public-domain artwork, gently altered

The historic poster designs behind this collection are public-domain works in the United States. We do not claim ownership of the original artwork or exclusive rights over its historic designs. We acknowledge the artists and printers who made it and the public collections that preserve it. The Library of Congress lists no known restrictions on use of its WPA posters; the NPS marks the Glacier source used here as public domain. Library of Congress rights information · NPS Glacier source record

Mildly Fantastic editions are modern, digitally restored and deliberately altered versions of those works. The creatures and added activities are our fictional additions, not features of the original posters or actual park programs. These editions are independently produced and are not official National Park Service products or endorsed by the parks.

Restoration, with a little imagination

We work from archival images, using digital restoration and AI-assisted editing under human direction. Our aim is to retain the character of the old prints, not to promise an exact match to every original ink. Glacier and Yellowstone Falls include colors reconstructed using museum references. These editions are interpretations, not untouched historical reproductions.