Bears of the National Parks

America’s national parks are home to three species of bears: black, brown, and polar. Bears were a source of fascination to many visitor. Charles Ten Broeke Goodspeed, the son of one of the founders of the University of Chicago, describes “a procession of bears big and little” coming to a feeding area in Yellowstone National Park in his travel diary from the 1930s.

The pastime of feeding bears is also represented by a photograph of George D. Fuller, a faculty member of the Department of Botany from 1913-1934, who employs a dish.

In the late 1960’s, bear research and management programs such as the “Grizzly Research Program of Glacier National Park” and “A Bear Management Program for Yellowstone National Park” sought to balance the needs of bear populations and park visitors.

A park ranger leans out of a car to feed a bear on its hind legs.
Yellowstone Park Transportation Company Photo of “Mrs. Jesse James” feeding a bear

From: Box 4 Folder 3, Charles Ten Broeke Goodspeed Papers. University of Chicago Library Archives
A man feeds a bear on its hind legs.
Bear in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park fed by George Damon Fuller, professor of Botany at the University of Chicago

From the Photographic Archive, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Available at: http://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/. Identifer: apf8-04534
Grizzly bears stand in a clump in a field.
Photo of a Grizzly Family in Yellowstone National Park

Photographer unknown.
From: Box 4 Folder 3, Charles Ten Broeke Goodspeed Papers. University of Chicago Library Archives