Wasatch Mountain Club records
Collection
Identifier: MS 0283
Scope and Contents
The Wasatch Mountain Club records (1920-1998) contain materials pertaining to club activities from the 1920s through the 1990s. A good introduction is provided by "A Wasatch Mountain Club History" by Lawrence Vanderplas, found in box one, folder one. Also in boxes one and two are incorporation and organizational documents, financial material, and a series of membership rosters dating form 1929 to 1977. These records are filed in the original order of their sources. Boxes three through five contain the club president's copies of the minutes of club meetings. Treasurer's reports, read at each meeting, are filed with the minutes of that meeting. Correspondence and miscellaneous papers are filed with the minutes in their original order. Box 6 contains correspondence between Miss Edith Cook (later Mrs. S. Dean Green) and the club directors. It also contains a scrapbook compiled in 1946 by Loretta Bartlett with materials dating back to the 1920s. Box seven contains newspaper clippings pertaining to the club and its members from 1949 to 1970 and a series of notices of club events and meetings. Box eight contains postcard schedules of club events from 1930 to 1966 and copies of the Wasatch Rambler, the club's magazine, which are available online at Wasatch Mountain Club. Also in box eight are documents pertaining to ski mountaineering and the civilian ski patrol, two avalanche reports, an information sheet about a 1917 hike of Mt. Timpanogos, and a series of programs from the Wasatch Mountain Club Ladies Choir. Box nine contains the guest register of the Wasatch Mountain Club Lodge at Brighton, Utah, with entries from 1944-1959, and a summit register from Box Elder Peak with entries from 1933 to 1977. Also in box nine are the papers of Frank Trottier, the club's legal advisor from 1920s and 1930s, and a notebook kept by O'Dell Peterson in the 1930s and 1940s. Box ten contains oversize material and issues of The Rambler are in boxes eleven and twelve. Boxes thirteen through sixteen contain further administrative and miscellaneous documents. Boxes seventeen through twenty-one contain correspondence, administrative material, and summit registers. Boxes twenty-two and twenty-three contain a scrapbook and news clippings, boxes twenty-four and twenty-five contain membership cards, and box twenty-six has financial information.
Dates
- 1920-1998
Creator
- Wasatch Mountain Club (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
Conditions Governing Use
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.
Organizational History
Although the Wasatch Mountain Club was formally incorporated on 13 May 1920, it was informally organized earlier, sometime in August of 1913. The seven original participants are said to have met in the mountains, on various trails near Salt Lake City. Soon, women were present on the outings, and before the club was formally organized, it had sponsored hiking and skiing trips, built a ski jump, and helped to rediscover Timpanogos Cave and preserve it from mining interests. There were thirteen charter members when the club incorporated, but within five years their numbers grew past 500. With a more extensive schedule of activities, hiking and skiing outings, bus tours, and social programs, it was agreed that a permanent lodge and headquarters should be constructed. Brighton, Utah at the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon, was selected as a site, and work began in the spring of 1929. Much of the labor necessary to build the lodge was volunteered by club members. When the building was finished in October 1937, it had a capacity of fifty overnight guests. In 1933 the club was governed by its first woman president, Miss Edith Cook. Also in that year the Wasatch Mountain Club Ladies Chorus (later the Schubert Singers) was founded. During the 1930s rock climbing outings and classes were first offered by the club. World War II effected the club significantly. Many of the male members were in the armed forces and gasoline was rationed, therefore club activities were somewhat limited. Nevertheless, club members joined the mountain Ski Corps Emergency Squad and the Office of Civil Defense participating in rescue work, guide service, and searches for lost aircraft. After the war, a series of shelter huts were constructed by the club along the exposed ridges between Alta, Brighton, and Park City. In 1949, a ski tow was put in at Great Western Hill, Brighton. During the 1950s, the club's activities diversified to include river running and ski mountaineering. By 1960 the club's membership had increased from under 100 immediately after the war to 600. In the 1960s the club became increasingly concerned with the conservation of wilderness. Club members made extensive studies and participated in lobbying efforts aimed at preserving the Wasatch and Uintah Ranges and many areas of Southern Utah and neighboring states. These efforts have been gratified by the designation of the Lone Peak Wilderness Area in the 1970s and eight other wilderness areas in Utah in 1984.
Extent
28.25 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Wasatch Mountain Club records (1920-1998) contain financial records, membership lists, activity schedules, newsletters, brochures and pamphlets, summit registers, corresponence, meeting minutes, and ski-related material. The Wasatch Mountain Club was formed in August 1913, and remains in operation. The club supports a broad range of outdoor activities including hiking, ski mountaineering and river running. The club has also been involved with wilderness preservation issues since the 1960s, and continues to provide outdoor opportunities for club members and the public.
Arrangement
Arranged to the folder level.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Dale Green, club historian (boxes 1-9) in 1976 and 1983.
Donated by Michael Treshow and Bill Moore (boxes 10-26) in 1999.
Donated by Michael Treshow and Bill Moore (boxes 10-26) in 1999.
Separated Materials
Photographs and photograph albums transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collection (P0004).
Processing Information
Processed by Karen Carver and Cory Richardson in 2007 and 2008.
Addendum processed by Betsey Welland in 2016.
Addendum processed by Betsey Welland in 2016.
Creator
- Wasatch Mountain Club (Organization)
- Title
- Inventory of the Wasatch Mountain Club records
- Author
- Finding aid created by Tyler Horsley, Karen Carver and Cory Richardson.
- Date
- 2007 (last modified: 2016 and 2018)
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid encoded in English.
Repository Details
Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository
Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu