Passport to Your National Parks is a program through which ink stamps can be acquired at no cost at park visitor centers and ranger stations at nearly all of the units of the United States National Park System and most of the National Park Service's affiliated areas. The program is run by Eastern National, a non-profit organization that operates bookstores in many park locations.
The ink stamps applied with a rubber stamp are similar in nature to passport stamps stamped in a traveler's national passport and serve as a record of each park visit. Eastern National has described the stamps as cancellations, but this is incorrect as a cancellation is a mark that cancels the validity of a postage stamp, while these mark a record of visitation like a passport stamp and denote a place and date like a postmark and do not cancel anything. Collectors of the stamps have formed a non-profit social club, the National Park Travelers Club, a group which holds annual conventions.
Passport Books
Passport books are official guidebooks published as part of the Passport to Your National Parks program and provide designated spaces for visitors to collect ink cancellation stamps from units of the National Park Service. They are sold at park bookstores and online.
Classic Edition
The Classic Edition is the original passport book format. It is a compact (4"x6"), spiral-bound booklet containing 112 pages organized by regional sections with space to collect ink cancellation stamps and park details. It has been the core edition of the passport series since its introduction in 1986.
Collector’s Edition
The Collector’s Edition is a larger version of the passport book (7.5"x10") designed to accommodate stamp cancellations for over 400 National Park Service sites. It is 192 pages and spiral bound, featuring color-coded regional pages, additional space for official park cancellations, and regional maps.
Explorer Edition
First released in 2006 for the program’s twentieth anniversary, the Explorer Edition uses a 8"x11" 7-ring binder format with larger, rearrangeable pages, allowing visitors to add pages and organize stamp entries flexibly. This edition is suited for travelers planning extensive park visits or who desire space for memorabilia and additional content.
Junior Ranger Edition
The Junior Ranger Edition, developed in collaboration with the National Park Service, is aimed at younger visitors and combines traditional passport stamping with educational content and activities. This passport book is a 9"x7" soft cover, spiral bound booklet. It includes space for both standard park cancellation stamps and specially designed Junior Ranger cancellations, encouraging participation in Junior Ranger programs. The National Park Service and Eastern National announced this edition in 2018.
Passport to the American Revolution (America250)
In 2025, a special edition titled Passport to the American Revolution was released to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary. This passport book is a 4.5"x6.5" spiral bound book. This edition highlights national park sites associated with the American Revolution and includes designated areas for America250™ cancellation stamps alongside traditional passport stamps, as well as historical timelines and interpretive content. The book also contains a foreword from Ken Burns.
National Park Passport Regions
The National Park Service is administratively divided into regions. Each region provides oversight and guidance to the park units within its geographic area. While the NPS currently divides the various parks, monuments, and other units among seven regions, the passport booklet organizes parks into the nine regions in effect when the program was established.
Annual Stamp Series In addition to the stamps, each year the Passport to Your National Parks program releases a set of ten full-color collector sticker stamps featuring a photo and description of one park per region. Passport holders can affix these adhesive stamps to their Passport book in a designated space below which they can stamp the corresponding ink stamp. The Park units featured on the stamp sets change each year.
The stamp sets, dating back to their inception in 1986, are still readily available at most park gift shops for under $10, or on the internet through Eastern National.
Originally, the featured stamps were only available in the region they represented, save for Colonial National Historical Park, where Eastern National was headquartered. In 1986 the stamps were printed on thin cardboard, which distorted the passbook due to the combined thickness of the cardboard. Each stamp would be mounted onto its respective page with a lightweight, black, adhesive-backed plastic sleeve. Since 1987, the annual stamp series have been printed on a single sheet of adhesive-backed glossy paper, of a quality similar to that of conventional postage stamps.
Featured stamps Year National Stamp Regional Stamps 1986 Statue of Liberty Cape Cod National Seashore (North Atlantic) Colonial National Historical Park (Mid-Atlantic) Vietnam Veterans Memorial (National Capital) Blue Ridge Parkway (Southeast) Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Midwest) Big Bend National Park (Southwest) Mount Rushmore National Memorial (Rocky Mountain) Yosemite National Park (Western) Mount Rainier National Park (Pacific Northwest & Alaska) 1987 Independence National Historical Park/Independence Hall Acadia National Park (North Atlantic) Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (Mid-Atlantic) Constitution Gardens (National Capital) Vicksburg National Military Park (Southeast) Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Midwest) White Sands National Park (Southwest) Devils Tower National Monument (Rocky Mountain) Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (West) Denali National Park and Preserve (Pacific Northwest & Alaska) 1988 The five winners of the Arts for the Parks contest: Cape Hatteras National Seashore Yellowstone National Park Lincoln Memorial Canyon de Chelly National Monument Glacier National Park Salem Maritime National Historic Site (North Atlantic) Gettysburg National Military Park (Mid-Atlantic) The White House (National Capital) Natchez Trace Parkway (Southeast) Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Midwest) San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (Southwest) Bryce Canyon National Park (Rocky Mountain) Grand Canyon National Park (West) Olympic National Park (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1989 Yellowstone National Park Federal Hall National Memorial (North Atlantic) Assateague Island National Seashore (Mid-Atlantic) Jefferson Memorial (National Capital) Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Southeast) Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Midwest) Hot Springs National Park (Southwest) Arches National Park (Rocky Mountain) Great Basin National Park (West) Crater Lake National Park (Pacific Northwest & Alaska) 1990 Sequoia National Park Ellis Island National Monument (North Atlantic) Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (Mid-Atlantic) Rock Creek Park (National Capital) Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (Southeast) Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Midwest) Pecos National Historical Park (Southwest) Rocky Mountain National Park (Rocky Mountain) Death Valley National Park (West) Craters of the Moon National Monument (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1991 Muir Woods National Monument Lowell National Historical Park (North Atlantic) Valley Forge National Historical Park (Mid-Atlantic) Washington Monument (National Capital) Mammoth Cave National Park (Southeast) Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Midwest) Bandelier National Monument (Southwest) Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (Rocky Mountain) USS Arizona Memorial (West) Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1992 San Juan National Historic Site Roger Williams National Memorial (North Atlantic) Edison National Historic Site (Mid-Atlantic) Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (National Capital) Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Southeast) Fort Scott National Historic Site (Midwest) Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (Southwest) Big Hole National Battlefield (Rocky Mountain) Cabrillo National Monument (West) Fort Clatsop National Memorial (Pacific Northwest & Alaska) 1993 Grand Teton National Park Boston National Historical Park (North Atlantic) Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Site (Mid-Atlantic) Ford's Theatre National Historic Site (National Capital) Wright Brothers National Memorial (Southeast) Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (Midwest) Arkansas Post National Memorial (Southeast) Hovenweep National Monument (Rocky Mountain) Redwood National Park (West) North Cascades National Park (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1994 Golden Spike National Historic Site Martin Van Buren National Historic Site (North Atlantic) Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (Mid-Atlantic) Vietnam Veterans Memorial (National Capital) Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (Southeast) Harry S Truman National Historic Site (Midwest) Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (Southwest) Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (Rocky Mountain) Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (West) Kenai Fjords National Park (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1995 Glacier National Park Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (North Atlantic) Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (Mid-Atlantic) Lincoln Memorial (National Capital) Andersonville National Historic Site (Southeast) Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (Midwest) Carlsbad Caverns National Park (Southwest) Rainbow Bridge National Monument (Rocky Mountain) Fort Point National Historic Site (West) Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1996 Mesa Verde National Park Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site (North Atlantic) Shenandoah National Park (Mid-Atlantic) Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm (National Capital) Gulf Islands National Seashore (Southeast) Effigy Mounds National Monument (Midwest) El Morro National Monument (Southwest) Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (Rocky Mountain) National Park of American Samoa (West) John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1997 Everglades National Park General Grant National Memorial (North Atlantic) New River Gorge National River (Mid-Atlantic) Korean War Veterans Memorial (National Capital) Dry Tortugas National Park (Southeast) Scotts Bluff National Monument (Midwest) Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Southwest) Zion National Park (Rocky Mountain) Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park (West) Katmai National Park and Preserve (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1998 Women's Rights National Historical Park Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (North Atlantic) Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (Mid-Atlantic) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (National Capital) Fort Sumter National Monument (Southeast) Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (Midwest) Petroglyph National Monument (Southwest) Natural Bridges National Monument (Rocky Mountain) Point Reyes National Seashore (West) Sitka National Historical Park (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 1999 Mount Rainier National Park; Bonus Stamp - Commemorative Issue: U.S. Department of the Interior. Fire Island National Seashore (North Atlantic) Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (Mid-Atlantic) Fort Washington Park (National Capital) Cumberland Island National Seashore (Southeast) Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (Midwest) Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (Southwest) Badlands National Park (Rocky Mountain) Joshua Tree National Park (West) Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (Pacific Northwest and Alaska) 2000 Minute Man National Historical Park Weir Farm National Historic Site (North Atlantic)