This study was prepared for Parks Canada (Prairie Region) and combines a historical overview of Wood Buffalo National Park with an inventory and assessment of the major manuscript collections and secondary works relevant to the history of the park and its environment. This report, which identifies the most important historical resources that might be used to write an in-depth history of the Wood Buffalo National Park area, also attempts to recount the broad outlines of the federal economic development strategy within which the national parks concept of conservation/regulated resource exploitation has evolved. This document identifies and prioritizes potential historic sites and includes various illustrations such as native camp at Fort Chipewyan; Fort Chipewyan Roman Catholic mission; buffalo patrol at Fort Smith; and maps of Wood Buffalo National Park, its Forest Management areas, and potential historic sites includes bibliography.