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Frederick L. Rath, Jr. Papers
Frederick L. Rath, Jr. (1913-2001), was an American historian and a leader in the field of historic preservation from its beginnings as a national movement. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he earned a Master's degree form Harvard University. His early training was with the National Park Service as a historian responsible for the interpretation and presentation of various historic sites for the public, including Morristown, Fort Pulaski, Vicksburg, and, after World War II, Rath was the first historian for the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Hyde Park, NY. He served for four years in World War II with American Field Service in Syria and Africa (2nd NZ Division, British 8th Army) and with the U.S. Army in Europe (Military Intelligence-OB, XXIst and XVIIIth Airborne Corps).
In 1948 he became executive secretary of the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings, which was seeking a Congressional charter for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. When the legislation received presidential approval in 1949, he became the Trust's first director and served until 1956. For 16 years thereafter he was vice director of the New York State Historical Association and Farmers' Museum, Cooperstown, New York. He was an adjunct professor for the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Training. In 1972 he assumed responsibility for the historic preservation program in New York State as deputy commissioner in the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, setting up a comprehensive program for state sites, and, as Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, working with the federal government. Between 1979 and 1987 he was the chief executive officer of Eastern National Park and Monument Association, a nonprofit educational service organization cooperating with the Park Service in developing, publishing, or procuring interpretive materials for sale in parks. Discover America: The Smithsonian Book of the National Parks, prepared with master photographer David Muench, was published in 1996. Until his death in April of 2001, he was active in research, writing, editing, and preparing his papers and materials for deposit in the University of Maryland University Libraries' Archives and Manuscripts Department, arranged through the National Trust for Historic Preservation Library Collection.
Fred Rath was a founding member and president of the American Association for State and Local History from 1960 to 1962. He also helped found the Eastern National Park and Monument Association, where he was Chairman of the Board from 1977-1978. In 1968 he was appointed to the Governor's Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation in New York State and was its chairman from 1971-72. He served on the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, 1979-85. He was a trustee emeritus of the Hancock Shaker Community and a trustee of the Planting Fields Foundation. He was editor of The New York State Historical Association and Its Museums: An Informal Guide, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Hyde Park (1949), and co-editor of the six-volume Bibliography of Historical Organization Practices (1975-1984). His awards include a Bronze Star Medal, the Conservation Service Award of the U.S. Department of the Interior, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the State University of New York, the National Trust's Crowninshield Award, and the Honor Award of the New York Parks and Conservation Association. He was a member of the Century Association and the New York City Harvard Club.
Mr. Rath named the University of Maryland to be the home of the Frederick L. Rath, Jr., Papers. His wife, Ann Rath, and his two sons, William and David Rath, have been active in the transfer of his personal papers and library to the University of Maryland University Libraries . The National Trust Library and Archives and Manuscripts Department staff are currently processing his papers to make them available for scholarly use. For more information on this collection, please contact the National Trust Library.
