In 1941, Ansel Adams was commissioned by the United States Interior Department to take photographs of the National Parks to be printed as murals for the walls of the new Interior Department building. The majority of pictures in this book are from the National Parks Mural Project, but work from other projects are also included. The Kings Canyon photographs featured in the book, which were taken in 1936, were successfully used to lobby for Kings Canyon to be designated a National Park.
