Among Stephen Mather correspondence at the Bancroft Library is a note from Edna Pinkley at the Casa Grande Ruins wishing Stephen better health.
Who was Edna Pinkley? According to the National Park Service’s Women Who Were There feature, “Edna Townsley Pinkley moved to the Casa Grande ruins when she married Frank “Boss” Pinkley in 1906... As his partner, she… contributed to the running of the monument without pay…She took on a formal role when she was appointed custodian in 1914. In 1927, Mrs. Pinkley wrote Casa Grande: The Greatest Valley Pueblo in Arizona. She also wrote poems about life at the ruins…She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at their home in the monument on November 13, 1929, aged 48. Her passing was noted in several newspapers, one of which called her the ‘poet of the ruins.’”
Recently, upon finding an NPS entry for a “Jean McWhirt Pinkley,” it was easy to assume that she was Frank and Edna’s daughter, but no. She was their daughter-in-law.
Again, according to NPS historians…”Jean McWhirt Pinkley was an archeologist and interpreter who worked for the National Park Service her entire career. She steered Mesa Verde National Park to implement a rich and complex interpretive program before leading critical archeological and stabilization work at Pecos National Monument.
Jean married Addison Pinkley, the son of Frank "Boss" Pinkley of the Southwestern National Monuments, in 1942. In 1943, Addison was killed when Japanese forces destroyed his submarine.
Returning to Mesa Verde, where she worked for the next 26 years, Jean was
selected over a number of men to become Chief of the Interpretive Division. Her responsibilities covered all aspects of park interpretation, including advising the Superintendent, supervising research about the park, operating museums, creating exhibits and visitor programs, and excavation and stabilization of Mesa Verde's ruins…
In recognition of her outstanding career and her success as a woman in the Federal Service, the First Lady, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, invited Jean to lunch at the White House on March 22, 1966. She was the only Federal career woman present, and was honored along with about a dozen other women from other professions in the U.S. and foreign countries. In October, 1967, Jean was given the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Award "in recognition of outstanding professional archaeological services and contributions to interpretive programs of the National Park Service."
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