Grand Teton National Park 1938 Vintage WPA Poster

This was the very first poster in the Works Progress Administration's legendary National Park Service series — an experimental 1938 design inviting visitors to "Meet the Ranger Naturalist at Jenny Lake Museum," rendered in bold purple and blue against the jagged Teton skyline. Unlike nearly every poster that followed it, this design skips the standard "Ranger Naturalist Service" banner entirely, making it visually unique in the whole 14-poster series.

Its survival is its own story: the WPA park poster program ended with WWII and was largely forgotten — until a young Grand Teton ranger named Doug Leen found a dust-covered original in a barn slated for the dump in the early 1970s. His discovery kicked off a decades-long hunt that rediscovered the entire lost series. Only three original prints of this design are known to exist today — one still hangs at Jenny Lake Museum each summer, one turned up in a park archive having been cut up and used as cardboard backing for a plant press, and one is in a private collection.

Digitally restored from the Library of Congress archival scan, preserving the original alpine color palette.

Product features

- Archival Giclée printing for vivid, fade-resistant color

- Three paper choices: Fine Art (textured), Semi-Glossy (satin photo finish), Matte (low sheen)

- Multiple sizes and horizontal/vertical orientations available

- Paper weights: Fine Art 285 g/m²; Semi-Glossy 180–260 g/m²; Matte 189–200 g/m²

- Sourced blanks from USA (JONDO) and Japan (Printify Choice); adults only

Care instructions

- If the print does gather any dust, you may wipe it off gently with a clean, dry cloth.