Creator:  Karle, Marsha

Provenance Note: Office day books, subject files, and watercolor artwork created or collected by Marsha Karle of Bozeman, Montana were donated to Montana State University in two installments on October 26, 2012 and December 7, 2018.

Historical Note:  Marsha Lynne Karle was born in Fresno, California on July 25, 1954, the daughter of Albert Karle (1924-1973) and Dorothy Rosenthal Karle (1928-2013). She attended schools in Sanger, CA, graduating from Sanger High School in 1972.  She attended the 2-year community college in Reedley, CA, graduating in 1974 with an Associate Degree in Business Administration. She grew up working on her family’s ranch where she developed a deep affection for the agricultural landscapes of the Central Valley and the spectacular wilderness settings of the nearby High Sierra. In 1981, she began a career with the National Park Service in Denali National Park, Alaska, where she served as the superintendent’s secretary until 1983. Her first posting to Yellowstone National Park began that year when she became the secretary of Superintendent Robert Barbee and stayed until 1985. Superintendent Barbee became her NPS mentor, encouraging her to pursue a public affairs career, starting in 1987 in the National Park Service's Regional Office in Denver. In 1989 Karle returned to Yellowstone as assistant chief of public affairs and became chief in 1993, a position she held for 11 years, during which she oversaw countless large public events, VIP visits, and performed many other duties integral to the operation of the world's first national park. This work involved daily contact with regional, national, and international media, as she and her staff facilitated all journalist and film-crew activities in the park, whose often-controversial management issues are constantly in the public eye. Among other work, Karle oversaw all Freedom-of-Information-Act requests from the general public and interest groups, and served a term as chair of the Information and Education Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

        Because of Karle's stature as a public-affairs professional, during her Yellowstone tenure she also accepted extended details in other National Park Service units. She was thus public-affairs lead for five presidential events, including the 50th anniversaries of Mount Rushmore National Monument and the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as three presidential visits to Yellowstone, all of these events involving close and extended work with the White House and the Secret Service. Karle also spent two years (1992-1993) on a National Park Service all-risk management team, a small group of top specialists from various parks who were called upon on short notice to converge on any unit with an emergency or other unusual situation. Karle's work on this team included stints in the Washington NPS Office (WASO) for the re-organization of the agency, and in Everglades National Park during the immediate aftermath and recovery from Hurricane Andrew.

        During her time in Yellowstone Karle began carrying a watercolor sketchbook while hiking, skiing, and wildlife-watching. Susan Blackwood of Bozeman, Montana, became her artistic mentor and has remained so for more than 25 years. Karle has also participated in workshops with several other prominent artists, including Charles Reid at the Southern Vermont Art Center and Jean Haines in England. In the 1990s, Karle's growing artistic enthusiasm and expertise led to her serving as Yellowstone's representative at the Art for the Parks annual international competition in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she oversaw several purchase prizes of art for the Yellowstone museum collection.

        Since her retirement from the National Park Service in 2004, Karle has worked full time as an artist, participating in many regional and local shows and exhibits. Though her work has included hundreds of portrayals of regional wildlife and settings, Karle has also devoted much of her output to national and international subjects, the latter including the wildlife, landscapes, and cultural settings of England and Italy. Karle's paintings have been juried into prestigious national and international competitions and exhibitions, including Birds in Art and Paint the Parks, and she frequently donates originals to the fund-raising efforts of various good causes. In 2018, again under the mentorship of Susan Blackwood, she began oil painting in addition to continuing her watercolor work.

        During Yellowstone's 1988 fires, when Karle was in the park on a temporary detail from the Denver office, she met nature writer and historian Paul Schullery, and they were married in 1996. Adding another dimension to her art, they have collaborated as artist and author on seven books, including The Rise: Streamside Observations on Trout, Flies, and Fly Fishing (2006), Royal Coachman: Adventures in the Fly Fisher’s World (2007) and If Fish Could Scream: An Angler’s Search for the Future of Fly Fishing. The illustrations from these three books are part of the MSU Library Special Collections.

Content Description Note:  The Marsha Karle papers have been arranged in three series according to document type.  Series one consists of her office daybooks which document her meetings, telephone calls, and other daily activities during her tenure with the National Parks Service.  Series two consists of subject files which are primarily documentation of her work on the Pearl Harbor and Mount Rushmore anniversaries, highlights of her career in Yellowstone National Park, and her annual work review sheets.  These files sometime contain snapshots and correspondence related to the topic at hand.  The final series consists of the artwork Karle created to illustrate three books written by her husband, Paul Schullery.

Restrictions:  The Marsha Karle papers are restricted from public access until after the death of the donor. 

 

Contents

Series 1 Office Day Books, 1989-2003
Series 2 Subject files
Series 3 Artwork

Series 1: Office Daybooks, 1989-2003

Office daybooks kept by Karle during her NPS employment.  Information includes daily telephone call logs, meeting calendars, and various miscellaneous memoranda pertaining to her work as a public affairs officer.  These daybooks do not include her activities during the 1988 fires at Yellowstone, but do cover the wolf reintroduction activity in the early 1990s as well as Karle's duties coordinating the Pearl Harbor and Mount Rushmore anniversaries.

 

Box1. 1989, 1990, 1990 (Mount Rushmore), 1990 (Yellowstone), 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994

Box 2. 1995

Box 3. 1996

Box 4. 1997

Box 5. 1998

Box 6. 1999

Box 7. 2000

Box 8. 2001, 2002, 2003

Contents | Special Collections

Series 2: Subject files

Topically labeled folders that include employee evaluations, position descriptions, transfer documentation, and other general employee records for Karle's tenure at the National Park Service and some years prior.   Some folders contain correspondence, greeting cards, and photographs.  Also included are printed materials created for special projects Karle was involved in such as the Pearl Harbor and Mount Rushmore anniversaries and the NPS response to Hurricane Andrew in Florida, 1992.

Box 9
1. Alaska-Denali
2. Alaska to Yellowstone Move, 1983
3. Annual performance reviews, 1982-1989
4. Annual performance reviews, 1990-2001
5. Articles and clippings
6. Awards
7. Dealing with media tips
Box 10
1. Commemorative stamps
2. Eighth Air Force
3. Hurricane Andrew
4. Leave and earnings statements
5. Leave and earnings statements
6. Leave and earnings statements
7. Leave and earnings statements
8. Miscellaneous photographs
Box 11
1. Mount Rushmore-clippings
2. Mount Rushmore-July 3 event
3. Mount Rushmore-letters
4. Mount Rushmore-lists
5. Mount Rushmore-printed material
6. Mount Rushmore-Radio City Music Hall
7. Operation Future, 1994
8. Pearl Harbor-miscellaneous
9. Pearl Harbor-printed material
10. Pearl Harbor
Box 12
1. Pearl Harbor-travel
2. Personnel action forms
3. Personnel action forms
4. Pre-NPS employment
5. Public Affairs Office-Denver
6. Retirement
7. Retirement-cards and photographs
8. Retirement-moving
9. Thank you letters
10. Thank you letters
11. Training
Box 13
1. YNP-125th Anniversary
2. YNP Assistant Chief of Public Affairs, 1989
3. YNP Chief of Public Affairs
4. VHS tape-Mount Rushmore ceremony
5. VHS tape-The Natural World: Yellowstone
6. VHS tape-Marsha on CBS News, 1995
7. VHS tape- Paul Schullery and Bud Lilly panel discussion
8. VHS tape- Paul Schullery and Bud Lilly panel discussion

Contents | Special Collections

Series 3: Artwork

Original watercolors and pencil drawings created by Marsha Karle for three of Paul Schullery's books on fly fishing.  The images have been grouped according to publication and sequentially numbered.

Box 14
     The Rise: Streamside Observations on Trout, Flies & Fly Fishing  by Paul Schullery; Illustrations by Marsha Karle, Published 2006 by Stackpole Publishing

1. Page 2 and Page 90 - Historic Image, hand-tinted with watercolor.
Thomas Bewick - The Angler and the Little Fish (1818)
Image 5.5" high x 7.5" wide;  framed 8"x10"

2. Page 66 - Pencil drawing illustrating the trout's suction feeding
Image 5" high x 11" wide; unframed

3. Page 78 - Pencil drawing illustrating trout's vision
Image 5" high x 11" wide; unframed

4. Page 80 - Pencil drawing illustrating trout's vision
Image 8x5" high x 8.5" wide; unframed

5. Page 83 - Pencil drawing illustrating trout's vision
Image 8.5" high x 8.5" wide;  unframed

6. Page 86 - Pencil drawing illustrating trout's vision
Image 5" high x 11" wide; unframed

7. Page 103 and Page 115 -Historic Image, hand-tinted with watercolor.
Thomas Bewick - Angler working close to a small pool (1804)
Image 5.5" high x 8" wide; unframed

8. Page 122 - Pencil drawing - Beadhead flies
Image 5" high x 4" wide; unframed

9. Page 134 - Pencil drawing - Bivisibie fly
Image 4" high x 4.5" wide; unframed

10. Page 134 - Pencil drawing - Renegade fly
Image 4" high x 6" wide; framed 8"x10"

11. Page 134 - Pencil drawing - March  Brown fly
Image 4" high x6" wide, framed 8"x10"

12. Page 134-Pencil drawing-Dabbler fly
Image 4" high x 6" wide; framed 8"x10"

13. Page 135 - Pencil drawing - Bucktail Dace fly
Image 4" high x 6" wide; unframed

14. Page 135 - Pencil drawing - Homer Rhode Streamer fly
Image4" high x 6" wide; framed 8"x10"

15. Page 135 - Pencil drawing - Saltwater Bucktail Keel fly
Image 4" high x 6" wide; unframed

16. Page 139 - Pencil drawing - Fly Wallet
Image 7" highx10" wide; framed 11"x14"

17. Page 148-Pencil drawing- Illustration of scissoring of a streamer's wings
- pulled forward
image 4" high x 5" wide; unframed

18. Page 148  Pencil drawing - Illustration of scissoring of a streamer's
wings - released to drift
Image 4" high x 5" wide; unframed

19. Page 162 - Historic Image, hand-tinted with watercolor. Denham (1828)
Image 6" high x 7.25" wide; framed 12"x13.25"

20. Page 165 - Historic Image, hand-tinted with watercolor.
Thomas Bewick - Dapping Angler (1847)
Image 3.5" high x 4.75"' wide; framed 8"x9.25"

21. Page 168 - Pencil drawing - Fluttering Fly
Image 3" high x 5" wide; unframed
Box 15
Royal Coachman: Adventures In the Fly Fisher's World by Paul Schullery; Illustrations by Marsha Karle
Published 2007 by University of New Mexico Press

22. Cover: Watercolor painting of original Royal Coachman fly from the American Museum of Fly Fishing
Image 7" high x 7" wide; framed 12"x12"

23. Chapter 2- Pencil Drawing- The Fisherman's Chaucer
Image 5" high x 7" wide; framed 9"x11"

24. Chapter 3 - Pencil Drawing - Early American Trout Fishing
Image 5" high x 7" wide; unframed

25. Chapter 4 - Pencil Drawing - Carlisle Mornings
Image 5" high x 7" wide; unframed

26. Chapter 5 - Pencil Drawing - Battenkill Summers
Image 7" high x 5" wide; framed 11"x9"

27. Chapter 6 - Pencil Drawing - Dry-Fly Culture
Image 5" high x T wide; framed 9"x11"

28. Chapter 7 - Pencil Drawing - Royal Coachman and Friends
Image 5" high x 7' wide; framed 8"x10"

29. Chapter 8 - Pencil Drawing - Arts and Crafts
Image 5" high x 7" wide; frame 9"x 11"

30. Chapter 12 - Pencil Drawing - Trout Family Values
Image 4" high x 6" wide; framed 8"x10"

31. Chapter 14-Pencil Drawing- Cumberland Dreams
Image 5" high x T wide; framed 9"x11"

If Fish Could Scream; An Angler's Search for the Future of Fly Faking by Paul Schullery; Illustrations by Marsha Karle, Published 2008 by Stackpole Bonks

32. Page 6-Pencil Drawing-Portrait of William Trotter Porter
Image 5.75" high x 4" wide; unearned

33. Page 7 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Thaddeus Norris
Image 7" high x 5" wide; unframed

34. Page 9 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Joe Brooks
Image 6.5" high x 5" wide; unframed

35. Page 19 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Rev. William Henry Harrison Murray
Image 4.5" high x 4" wide, unframed

36. Page 24 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Robert Barawell Roosevelt
Image 5" high x 4.5" wide; unframed

37. Page 44 - Pencil Drawing-Portrait of Arnold Gingrich
Image 5" high x 4.5" wide; unframed

38. Page 50 - Pencil Drawing-Portrait of Francis Francis
Image 7" high x 4" wide; unframed

39. Page 53 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Roderick Haig-Brown
Image 6" high x 3" wide; unframed

40. Page 57 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Izaak Walton
Image 5.5" high x 4" wide; unframed

41. Page 141 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of John Gay
Image 4" high x 3" wide; unframed

42. Page 149-Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Lord Byron
Image 4.5" high x 3.5" wide; unframed

43. Page 152 - Pencil Drawing - Portrait of Humphrey Davy
Image 5" high a 4" wide; unframed

Contents | Special Collections

Updated: 1/7/2019