WYOMING— In 1925, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Horace Albright hired Marguerite “Peg” Lindsley as a permanent park ranger, making her the first female park ranger in Yellowstone National Park.
Lindsley had previously worked as a seasonal park ranger in YNP beginning in 1921. That year, two other women were given seasonal positions as well.
Lindsley was born in 1901 in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, and had a deep appreciation for her proverbial backyard and the nation’s first national park. Her father, Chester Lindsley, served as interim superintendent during the transition period into a national park.
Lindsley earned a degree in Bacteriology from Montana State College in 1922. In 1923, she earned her Master’s in Bacteriology from the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to Wyoming in 1924, by way of a reported 17-day cross-country motorcycle trip.
She was a licensed guide in the park from 1924 to 1925 before being selected for the permanent park ranger position in 1925. Lindsley served as a naturalist, leading tours and educating visitors.
Lindsley later married a ranger, worked as a seasonal ranger from 1928 to 1931 and lived in the park year-round. She helped run a government information center and a small museum in Mammoth as well. She died in 1952.
Learn about Grand Teton National Park’s pioneering women here.
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