Jim Thompson, a Knoxville photographer, played a major role in promoting creation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, particularly on the Tennessee side of the park. Photographs taken by Thompson made a convincing argument for choosing the Smokies in the early 1920’s as a suitable area for a new national park by the Southern Appalachian National Park Committee, a committee established by the Secretary of the Interior and National Park Service to investigate various sites proposed for a national park in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Founding the National Park - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)