Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
- Overview of the Collection
-
Historical Note
- Content Description
- Use of the Collection
- Administrative Information
-
Detailed Description of the Collection
- Trip down Green River
- Canyon Voyage, start of trip to Cataract Canyon
- Canyon Voyage, from end of Cataract Canyon to Deercreek Falls
- Canyon Voyage, from Havasu Creek to Grand Canyon
- Dinosaur National Monument from start of trip to Lodore Canyon
- Dinosaur National Monument from Lodore Canyon to end
- General images
- Names and Subjects
Charles Eggert photograph collection, 1952-1956
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Eggert, Charles, 1918-2005
- Title
- Charles Eggert photograph collection
- Dates
- 1952-1956 (inclusive)19551969
- Quantity
- 9 boxes
- Collection Number
- P0766
- Summary
- The Charles Eggert photograph collection consists of slides documenting the Eggert-Hatch filming expedition, the purpose of which was the make the last films of the Green and Colorado Rivers before construction of the Colorado River Storage Project was begun in 1956. The collection also includes photos taken during the creation of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Eggert was a photographer and independent filmmaker from New York.
- Repository
-
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860
Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu - Access Restrictions
-
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.
- Languages
- English
Historical NoteReturn to Top
History of the Hatch-Eggert River Expedition
The Hatch-Eggert Expedition grew out of a conversation held between Don Hatch and Charles Eggert during the Echo Park Dam controversy. Eggert, a film-maker, and Hatch, son of Bus Hatch, founder of Hatch River Expeditions, agreed to put together a river trip for the purpose of filming the river canyons of the Green and Colorado--following the course of John Wesley Powell's exploration in 1869 before the great dams were built. Photography and other personnel consisted of Charles Eggert, the photographer; his assistant, a student named Anthony Tuttle; and Fred Wood, Cid Ricketts Sumner, and Dr. Bob Parsons, all of whom were chosen by Eggert based on their answers to an ad he placed in the Saturday Review of Literature. Boatmen, besides Don Hatch, included at various times Les Jones, Bruce Lium, Clark Lium, Al Galloway, and Sylvester "Smuss" Allen. They started from Green River, Wyoming, in June 1955, in two boats, a 10-man raft and a pontoon. They reached Lees Ferry, Arizona, later that summer without serious mishap. However, by then the water had reached a low stage and Don Hatch judged that it was too low for a safe passage through the Grand Canyon. They agreed to meet again the next summer, when the water would be higher, to complete the journey through the Grand Canyon. Accordingly, they met at Lees Ferry in June 1956, with mostly the same people, although there were some changes. Fred Wood and Charles Eggert were the only two of the original members who made the complete trip through the Grand Canyon, which was, again, done without problems. Charles Eggert made two films, A Canyon Voyage and Danger River which he took on the lecture circuit and showed to audiences all over the country. Eggert is a photographer and independent film maker from New York. He was actively involved in several conservation movements in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Echo Park Dam controversy; the creation of Canyonlands National Park; and the controversy over the proposed dams in the Grand Canyon.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The Charles Eggert photograph collection document his expeditions down the Green and Colorado Rivers in the 1950s, as well as other conservation activities in the 1960s . Boxes 1-4 contain images taken during his 1955-56 voyage down the Green and Colorado, undertaken to document the river canyons before the construction of Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon dams. These runs resulted in the films A Canyon Voyage and Danger River, which are found in A0511. Boxes 5-6 contain images taken during the Echo Park Dam controversy, during which Eggert made the films Wilderness River Trail and This is Dinosaur. These films are considered by modern historians to be instrumental in halting the construction of the proposed dam. Background material on all of these films and other aspects of Eggert's career can be found in ACCN 1659. The photographs are 35mm color slides and 2 x2 inch color transparencies. Original descriptions on the slides are included in this inventory. If there was nothing written on the slides, and a description was added, that will also be in the inventory but enclosed in brackets [__].
Also included in this collection is a small model of Eggert's expedition boat, the "Brontosaur" and a small wooden frog, "Froggy", that was tied to the front of the boat.
In a February 2002 addendum, Eggert added photographs from the last leg of the Eggert-Hatch expedition, through the Grand Canyon in 1956; prints and negatives taken in Everglades National Park for the National Park Service in 1952; and prints, stereo slides, and 2x2 transparencies taken in the Canyonlands region during the filming of The Sculptured Earth in the mid-1960s.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on 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.
Preferred Citation
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in chronological order.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Charles Eggert.
Processing Note
Processed by Kristi Pace in 1999 and Roy Webb in 2002.
Separated Materials
Films (A0511), as well as his photographs (P0766) of the expedition were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections. All of his notes, files, correspondence, memorabilia, and other materials relating to the Hatch-Eggert Expedition were transferred to the Manuscripts Division in Special Collection found in the Charles Eggert papers (ACCN 1659).
Related Materials
Forms part of the River Running Archives (S.J. Quinney Outdoor Recreation Archives).
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Trip down Green RiverReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 1 | 1 | Start of trip to Red Canyon
|
| 1 | 2 | From Lodore Canyon to Labyrinth Canyon
|
| 1 | 3 | From Labyrinth Canyon to Hidden Passage
|
Canyon Voyage, start of trip to Cataract CanyonReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 2 | 1 | General images
|
Canyon Voyage, from end of Cataract Canyon to Deercreek FallsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 3 | 1 | General images
|
Canyon Voyage, from Havasu Creek to Grand CanyonReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 4 | 1 | General images
|
Dinosaur National Monument from start of trip to Lodore CanyonReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 5 | 1 | General images
|
Dinosaur National Monument from Lodore Canyon to endReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | |
| 6 | 1 | General images
|
General imagesReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | |||
| 7 | Brontosaur
|
||
| 8 | Froggy
|
||
| Folder | |||
| 9 | 1 | Grand Canyon |
1956 |
| 9 | 2 | Canyonlands National Park |
1960s |
| 9 | 3 | Everglades National Park |
|
| 9 | 4 | Everglades National Park |
1952 |
| 9 | 5 | Portraits |
|
| 9 | 6 | Cataract Caynon |
|
| 9 | 7 | River Trips |
|
| 9 | 8 | Clair Leonard, photos by Luke Gurlham |
|
| 9 | 9 | Eggert-Hatch River Expedition |
1955 |
| 9 | 10 | Canyonlands National PArk |
June 1962 |
| 9 | 11 | General |
|
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Personal Names
- Eggert, Charles, 1918-2005--Photographs
Geographical Names
- Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--Photographs
- Green River (Wyo.-Utah)--Photographs
Form or Genre Terms
- Color slides
- Photographs
Finding aid created by Kristi Pace.
1999 (last modified: 2018)
