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Wasatch Mountain Club records, 1920-1998

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Wasatch Mountain Club
Title
Wasatch Mountain Club records
Dates
1920-1998 (inclusive)
Quantity
28.25 linear feet
Collection Number
MS 0283
Summary
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.
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
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Historical Note

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.

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Content Description

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.

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Use of the Collection

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.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged to the folder level.

Separated Materials

Photographs and photograph albums transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collection (P0004).

Acquisition Information

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.

Processing Note

Processed by Karen Carver and Cory Richardson in 2007 and 2008.

Addendum processed by Betsey Welland in 2016.

Related Materials

See also the Wasatch Mountain Club photograph collection finding aid and the digitized photographs from the collection available through the Digital Library.

Forms part of the Ski and Snow Sports Archives (S.J. Quinney Outdoor Recreation Archives).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Organization and Membership

    • Description: Lawrence Vanderplas, "A Wasatch Mountain Club History"

      This essay traces the development and activities of the club from before its incorporation in 1920 until the mid-1970s. It includes a list of interviews the author conducted while researching this subject.

      Container: Box 1, Folder 1
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: Rules, Regulations, Constitution and Amendments
      Dates: 1937-1963
      Container: Box 1, Folder 2-3
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: Certificate of Incorporation
      Dates: 1923
      Container: Box 1, Folder 4
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: President's Notebook

      A notebook containing the club president's copy of membership rosters. Some of these rosters have marginal notes and corrections. The original order of this notebook has been maintained.

      Dates: 1929-1957
      Container: Box 1, Folder 5
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: Membership Rosters
      Dates: 1961-1977
      Container: Box 1, Folder 6-9
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: Board of Directors Rosters
      Dates: 1973-1976
      Container: Box 1, Folder 10
      Location: Organization and Membership
    • Description: Treasurer's File

      Operating statements, balance sheets, property inventories and ledger pages.

      Dates: 1920-1945
      Container: Box 1, Folder 11-25
      Location: Organization and Membership

  • Financial Information

    • Description: Ledger
      Dates: 1923-1947
      Container: Box 2, Folder 1-2
      Location: Financial Information
    • Description: Lodge Construction

      A collection of receipts, contracts, and treasurer's records.

      Dates: 1929-1937
      Container: Box 2, Folder 3
      Location: Financial Information
    • Description: Commissary Expenses
      Dates: 1942
      Container: Box 2, Folder 4
      Location: Financial Information

  • Club Materials

    • Description: Meeting Minutes
      Dates: 1921-1960
      Container: Box 3
      Location: Club Materials
    • Description: Meeting Minutes
      Dates: 1960-1968
      Container: Box 4
      Location: Club Materials
    • Description: Meeting Minutes
      Dates: 1968-1975
      Container: Box 5
      Location: Club Materials
    • Description: Correspondence

      Miscellaneous correspondence between the Wasatch Mountain Club board of directors and Miss Edith Cook (later Mrs. Samuel Dean Green). Some of these letters are personal, some are "form letters" addressed to Mr. Green. They have been arranged chronologically.

      Container: Box 6, Folder 1
      Location: Club Materials
    • Description: Scrapbook

      The Wasatch Mountain Club Scrapbook, Volumns I through III. This scrapbook was compiled in 1946 by Loretta Bartlett, the club librarian and historian, and contains materials dating from 1926 through 1946. This scrapbook contains the only known existing copies of some early editions of , the Wasatch Mountain Club magazine. It also contains a variety of official correspondence, notices of meetings and outings, newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining to the Wasatch Mountain Club and its members, photographs and other memorabilia.

      Dates: 1926-1946
      Container: Box 6, Folder 2-22
      Location: Club Materials

  • Clippings and Notices

    • Description: News Clippings
      Dates: 1949-1970
      Container: Box 7, Folder 1-2
      Location: Clippings and Notices
    • Description: Notices

      Primarily notices of meetings and events.

      Dates: 1924-1968
      Container: Box 7, Folder 3-11
      Location: Clippings and Notices

  • Schedules, Reports, and Newsletters

    In addition to the foldered material, box 8 contains envelopes of postcards with schedules of Wasatch Mountain Club activities from 1930 to 1966.

  • Miscellaneous

    Papers in box 9, folders 3-14 were donated by Frank Trottier, who advised the Wasatch Mountain Club in legal matters in the 1920s and 1930s.

    • Description: Guest Register, Brighton Lodge
      Dates: 1944-1959
      Container: Box 9, Folder 1
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Summit Register, Box Elder Peak
      Dates: 1933-1973
      Container: Box 9, Folder 2
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Constitution and Amendments
      Dates: 1930-1950
      Container: Box 9, Folder 3-4
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Rules and Regulations
      Dates: 1937
      Container: Box 9, Folder 5
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Application Forms
      Dates: 1930s
      Container: Box 9, Folder 6
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Legal Documents
      Dates: 1932-1936
      Container: Box 9, Folder 7
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Income Statements and Receipts
      Dates: 1929-1947
      Container: Box 9, Folder 8
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Correspondence, Board of Directors
      Container: Box 9, Folder 9
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Lodge Construction
      Dates: 1915-1930
      Container: Box 9, Folder 10
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Membership Rosters
      Dates: 1930-1953
      Container: Box 9, Folder 11-13
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Thank You Letter, Charles Pfeiffer to Frank Trottier
      Dates: 1939
      Container: Box 9, Folder 14
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: O'Dell Peterson Notebook

      A notebook kept by O'Dell Peterson of Wasatch Mountain Club activities in the 1930s and miscellaneous materials. The original

      order of this notebook has been preserved.

      Container: Box 9, Folder 15
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Grand Canyon Trip

      Record of a trip to Southern Utah, written at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Bright Angel Point, 12 September 1924.

      Dates: 1924
      Container: Box 9, Folder 16
      Location: Miscellaneous

  • Oversize Material

    • Description: General Materials

      Contains two treasurer's journals (1931-1968) and a tee-shirt (1995).

      Dates: 1931-1995
      Container: Box 10
      Location: Oversize Material

  • Newsletters

  • Correspondence and Administrative Documents

  • Miscellaneous

    • Description: Trip Schedules and Bulletins
      Dates: 1949-1951
      Container: Box 15, Folder 1
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: News Clippings
      Dates: 1987-1996
      Container: Box 15, Folder 2
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Club Manual
      Dates: 1993-1995
      Container: Box 15, Folder 3
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: 75th Anniversary Reception

      A tee-shirt commemorating the club's 75th anniversary was placed in box ten of this collection.

      Dates: 1995
      Container: Box 15, Folder 4
      Location: Miscellaneous
    • Description: Poster, Utah's Scenic Wonderlands Lecture
      Container: Box 16
      Location: Miscellaneous

  • Administrative Files

    • Description: Bylaws and Constitution
      Dates: 1932-1991
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 1-2
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: Officer Responsibilities
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 3
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: Policies and Procedures
      Dates: 1974-1982
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 4
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: Administrative Files
      Dates: 1990s
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 5-6
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: Lodge at Brighton
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 7
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: Conservation
      Container: Box 17a, Folder 8
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: President's Files
      Dates: 1940s-1990
      Container: Box 17b, Folder 1-2
      Location: Administrative Files
    • Description: President's Questionnaire
      Dates: 1984
      Container: Box 17b, Folder 3
      Location: Administrative Files

  • Secretarial and Financial Records

  • Administrative Materials

  • Membership

    • Description: Lists
      Dates: 1936-1992
      Container: Box 20a, Folder 1-3
      Location: Membership
    • Description: Cards
      Container: Box 20a, Folder 4
      Location: Membership
    • Description: Applications
      Dates: 1940s
      Container: Box 20a, Folder 5
      Location: Membership

  • Newsletters

    All issues of The Rambler are available online through the organization's website.

  • Pamphlets and Club Activities

    Container: Box 20c

  • Summit Registers

    • Description: Clayton Peak
      Dates: 1980s
      Container: Box 21a, Folder 1
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Hayden Peak
      Dates: 1950s-1970s
      Container: Box 21a, Folder 2-4
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Kessler Peak
      Dates: 1960s-1980s
      Container: Box 21a, Folder 5
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Lone Peak
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 21a, Folder 6-7
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Mount Olympus
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 21a, Folder 8
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Mount Olympus
      Dates: 1972
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 1-2
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Mount Majestic
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 3
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Notch Peak
      Dates: 1960s-1980s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 4
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Pfeifferhorn
      Dates: 1960s-1970s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 5
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Sunset Peak
      Dates: 1960s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 6
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Superior Peak
      Dates: 1960s-1970s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 7
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Thunder Mountain
      Dates: 1960s-1980s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 8
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Twin Peaks
      Dates: 1960s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 9
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Wolverine Peak
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 21b, Folder 10
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Wolverine Peak

      Copy of the containing notes by hikers who apparently ran out of room in the summit register.

      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 21c, Folder 1
      Location: Summit Registers
    • Description: Unidentified Summit Registers

      Possibly Wolverine and Lone peaks.

      Dates: 1960s-1973
      Container: Box 21c, Folder 2-4
      Location: Summit Registers

  • Hike Ratings, Trip Log

  • General Materials

    • Description: Scrapbook and Memorabilia

      This box contains one scrapbook, one folder of material, and one plaque.

      Container: Box 22
      Location: General Materials
    • Description: News Clippings
      Container: Box 23
      Location: General Materials

  • Membership Materials

    • Description: Membership Applications

      Contains 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" index cards arranged alphabetically.

      Dates: 1920s-1930s
      Container: Box 24
      Location: Membership Materials
    • Description: Membership Applications

      Contains 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" index cards arranged alphabetically.

      Dates: 1920s-1930s
      Container: Box 25
      Location: Membership Materials

  • Financial Documents

    • Description: Hiking Committee
      Dates: 1970s-1980s
      Container: Box 26, Folder 1
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: Lodge Remodeling
      Dates: 1980s
      Container: Box 26, Folder 2
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: Taxes, Lodge Property
      Dates: 1980s
      Container: Box 26, Folder 3
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: IRS Audit
      Dates: 1986
      Container: Box 26, Folder 4
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: Taxes, Treasurer's Files
      Dates: 1970s-1990s
      Container: Box 26, Folder 5-9
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: Utah Incorporation Files
      Dates: 1980s
      Container: Box 26, Folder 10
      Location: Financial Documents
    • Description: Miscellaneous
      Container: Box 26, Folder 11
      Location: Financial Documents

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Outdoor recreation--Utah--History--Sources
  • Skis and skiing--Utah--History--Sources

Corporate Names

  • Schubert Singers (Salt Lake City, Utah)
  • Wasatch Mountain Club--Archives

Form or Genre Terms

  • Constitutions
  • Histories (literary works)
  • Lists (document genres)
  • Newsletters

Finding aid created by Tyler Horsley, Karen Carver and Cory Richardson.
2007 (last modified: 2016 and 2018)

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