The birth of NRPA.

Nineteen hundred and ninety-eight marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the New England Association of Park Superintendent the predecessor to the American Institute of Park Executives (AIPE). AIPE was the oldest of the five organizations that came together in 1965 to form the National Recreation and Park Association.

This important anniversary offers the opportunity to reflect upon the story behind the formation of NRPA and, hopefully, to gain insight into some principles that may influence the future.

The American Institute of Park Executives was a leading proponent and guiding pioneer for park development in the first part of this century. The early park administrators helped shape a philosophy of beautifying the urban environment by re-creating nature within our cities. Developing aesthetically pleasing areas helped lift the soul of the city and made urban life more pleasing. Passive involvement was stressed, and most of the early urban parks were marked with "Keep Off The Grass" signs.

In the formative years of urban park development, considerable animosity developed between park executives and a growing group of recreation enthusiasts that was promoting the importance of active play opportunities -- particularly for children in urban areas. This early conflict of philosophies gradually faded over the years and gave way to a policy of administrating the combined functions of parks and recreation into a single agency.

By 1963, AIPE's membership included some 2,000 park and recreation administrators who constituted the voting membership of the organization. In addition, there were about 1,000 local park and recreation board members affiliated in a nonvoting capacity. The AIPE's operating budget was just less than $190,000, of which approximately 22 percent was derived from membership dues. Most of the remainder of income was generated from a strong commercial-exhibit component at its national conference and an especially successful publication program. While AIPE was regarded essentially as a park-oriented organization, it had attracted a sizable group of recreation administrators, to the point that its membership was almost evenly divided between park and recreation practitioners. The AIPE headquarters was located at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Closely affiliated with the park executives was the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA), an autonomous organization created in 1924 and dedicated to wildlife conservation. Many of the general services of AAZPA were jointly operated (for purposes of economy) with AIPE at the Oglebay Park facility. The zoological group was not particularly active in the merger negotiations but merely followed the leadership of the AIPE. Following the eventual mergel, AAZPA withdrew and continued as an independent organization.

The largest organization involved in the merger was the National Recreation Association, which was founded in 1906 as the Playground Association of America. It was created by a small group of citizen activists that was concerned with promoting healthy play opportunities for children growing up in America's urban environments. One of the organizing meetings for this group was held at the White House, where President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to serve as its honorary president. Among the early leaders of this new organization was Joseph Lee, who came to be known as the "Father of the Playground Movement." Lee was a wealthy lawyer, social activist, and Boston philanthropist who devoted his adult life to promoting play and recreation opportunities in America's cities.

The early services of the fledgling playground organization included the publication of Playground magazine (later Recreation) and the operation of an annual national convention, the first of which was held in Chicago in 1906. The Playground Association of America later changed its name to the Playground and Recreation Association of America and then, finally, to the National Recreation Association (NRA).

By 1963, when merger negotiations stared, NRA's operating budget was $924,000. The staff was made up of approximately 100 full-time members, which included 30 professional authorities involved in various facets of recreation work. The association had endowment funds of just less than $1 million and owned a headquarters building in New York City. Its members and individual contributors numbered 18,000. Most of the NRK's financial support came from philanthropic sources, with only three percent of its budget coming from membership fees. In addition to its New York headquarters, the association maintained an office in Washington, D.C.; and featured eight regional offices throughout the country. Its governing board was comprised of leading businesspersons and civic leaders.

Perhaps the smallest organization to enter the merger negotiations was the National Conference on State Parks. The NCSP was formed in 1921 in Des Moines, Iowa, for the specific purposes of advancing the state park concept and providing technical services to state parks. By 1963, the organization had established a small office in Washington, D.C., and had developed an effective lobbying service for promoting the importance of outdoor recreation and, more specifically, the expanding role of state parks.

The major professional recreation component involved in the merger was the American Recreation Society (ARS), which was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1963. By that time, it had increased its membership to 4,200, continuing to approximate the number of recreation leaders in the NRA. ARS members were organized into special interest sections, which included armed forces recreation; public and park recreation; professional education; county, state, and federal recreation; private and voluntary agencies; and religious organizations. An executive director, an administrative assistant, and a secretary made up the small ARS staff. The annual operating budget was approximately $50,000, with 70 percent coming from membership dues and the remainder from the sale of advertising and publications. The ARS published its own magazine, The American Recreation Journal, and jointly sponsored an annual national convention with the NRA. The original name for the American Recreation Society, which was established in 1937, was the Society of Recreation Workers of America. The NRA was especially helpful in establishing this independent professional organization for the growing number of recreation professionals, since the NRA did not provide an opportunity for professionals to vote and participate in policy considerations of its ail citizen board.

Several factors led these major organizations into an exploration of ways to develop organizational ties between their respective groups. Among these was the increasing competition for members, advertisers, and exhibitors. Many members, who belonged to two or more of the groups, were calling for consolidation. Also, increasing advantages of a merger were developing, in view of the expanding role of the federal government and, particularly, the work of the new Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission.

Merger discussions, which extended over a prolonged period, often became hostile and contentious. This was attributable to the major philosophical issues involved with trying to merge park professionals with recreation professionals, and the more difficult issue of merging a citizen-based group with professional groups.

NRA, which had by far the major resources, insisted that the top policy board in a merged organization have a preponderance of citizens. The professional organizations, on the other hand, felt that the professionals should constitute 50 percent of the top board.

The NRA leaders would not enter into the merger unless the new organization was to be a public service, rather that a professional organization. This rationale by NRA was based upon the necessity of preserving a favorable tax-exempt status that allowed the public to make tax-exempt contributions. Also prominent was the belief that a predominantly citizen board could make a more persuasive case to the public for sup porting parks and recreation.

After many debates and tentative proposals, a final agreement was reached that provided for a 63-member Board of Trustees, with one-third to be citizens selected from the NRA Board, one third to be professionals selected from the AIPE or ARS boards, and the final one-third to be citizens selected by the professional groups. Under this proposal, separate professional branches would be organized to deal, on an autonomous basis, with strictly professional matters, such as accreditation of professional curricula and certification. This principle subsequently provided the conceptual framework for the formation of the American Park and Recreation Society, National Therapeutic Recreation Society, Armed Forces Recreation Society, National Society for Park Resources, Society of Park and Recreation Educators, and other professional units that have since been established.

On the citizen side, separate units were created for citizen-board members and for Friends of Parks and Recreation.

The name that was eventually agreed upon for the new organization was the National Recreation and Park Association. As a part of the compromise of the naming process, the title of the monthly journal selected was Parks & Recreation magazine.

The merged organization became a reality on August 14, 1965. On that date, NRPA embarked upon a new social experiment in America that combined national citizen and professional groups to better serve the recreation and park needs of the nation.

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D. is NRPA historian and executive director of the National Recreation Foundation.