New in the Library! Must-Adds to Your Reading List
Looking for a good book to read this season? Settling in for another round of Quarantine?
We have you covered. Here are some new titles that just arrived in the Library!
“A family of climbers…”
“The Bark of the Cony is the story of one man's journey to overcome physical hardship and its resulting challenges. Before the age of four, George Nash Smith had a freak accident which impaired use of his right arm and hand. With the support of his parents and siblings he adapted to his circumstances and learned to approach life in a positive way.”
This is a delightful story of the life of a climbing father and his sons. Known as the “Climbing Smiths,” George & his four sons climbed 68 peaks over 14,000-ft in the United States in 48 days. They completed this feat in 1974.
The Bark of the Cony is an enjoyable read for all outdoor enthusiasts and has local history nuggets for Colorado history buffs like myself. You can checkout our circulating copy or grab your own by clicking this link here (all proceeds go to charity).
““The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
― St. Augustine”
“…a true foray into the unknown”
An avid reader, writer, and dedicated AAC Library advocate, here is what Pete Takeda has to say about Labyrinth of Ice:
“Labyrinth of Ice is a tale that rivals Endurance as a classic of polar exploration.
Adventures like this are hard to come by these days. The expedition, led by a man of unimpeachable character named Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, was purely scientific and exploratory. It was not adventure for its own sake. Second, it was a true foray into the unknown.
What started as a research expedition ended in a classic struggle for survival. In a traditionally male drama of Arctic exploration, a lady plays the key role in the ultimate outcome. Levy leaves no doubt that without the stalwart persistence and in-depth knowledge of Henrietta Greely (Adolphus’ wife), the expedition was doomed to perish.
Labyrinth is also a case study in leadership. This book would be a fine candidate for a film and a wonderful addition to high school curriculums.”
Click here to see a list of NEW books in the Library!
And if you are looking to own some climbing classics, take a gander at our selection in our online store linked here.
Self-Powered Adventure 100 Years Ago
Finding Women in the Collections of the American Alpine Club Library
Beasts of Burden
The Colorado Mountains: View from the Archives
Atop Mount Audubon, circa 1916-18.
Now more accessible than ever! Thanks to a grant from the Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board, we were able to process and digitize a portion of the Colorado Mountain Club Archives.
Located in the American Mountaineering Center, the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) Archives are maintained by the staff of the American Alpine Club (AAC) Library. From April 2017 to May 2018, with a dedicated group of enthusiastic CMC & AAC volunteers, we organized, inventoried, rehoused, and digitized much of this collection. The most painful part was organizing the huge duplicate collection of Trail & Timberline back issues and flattening summit registers. Interested in purchasing back issues of the T&T? Contact us at library@americanalpineclub.org. Proceeds will go towards archives maintenance.
What's in the Colorado Mountain Club Archives?
The archives date back to before the founding of the Colorado Mountain Club in 1912. There are trip reports, photographs, lantern slides, scrapbooks, old gear, 'Save the Wildflowers' posters, and much more. Currently, most of the early trip reports (over 1,150) have been digitized and eight photo scrapbooks. We are gradually adding them to our Digital Collections website. As we create and catalog finding aids, you can find them in our catalog here.
Putting It All Together
Having all of these records inventoried and cataloged makes it so much easier for researchers to find information. For example, you can now find photographs from the 1915 Clear Creek Outing on our Digital Collections website, with a selection seen below.
By searching the inventories, you can pair those photographs with the Song Book written by the Club members, the Grays and Torreys trip report and the summit registers that were signed by the CMCers when they climbed Grays and Torreys on August 20, 1915.
There are many more great records. Feel free to drop by the library and take a look. Keep an eye on our Digital Collections website as we are constantly adding more photographs and records.
This project was supported in part by an award from the Colorado Historical Records Advisory Board, through funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), National Archives Records Administration. This project would not have been possible without the volunteers that inventoried, sorted, boxed, re-foldered, and scanned. Many thanks to Donna Anderson, Karyn Bocko, Dan Cohen, RoseMary Glista, Ann Hudgins, Peter Hunkar, Mike Lovette, Jan Martel, Barbara Munson, Roxy Rogers De Sole, Linda Rogers, Lin Wareham-Morris and Pat Yingst.
Magic Lantern Slides
A Lantern Slide Close-Up. Caption reads: Climbing Mt. Lyell, Yosemite Nat. Pk. (Photo by Farquar). This slide came from Francis P. Farquhar. It is probably from the 1910-20s.
The magic lantern was an early type of image projection, used since the 17th century, to show painted or printed materials for entertainment. With the invention of the photograph, it was adapted in the 19th century to project photographic materials to the masses.
Mountaineers would often employ this method to illustrate lectures on their mountain pursuits. Many of the early American Alpine Club annual dinners included lectures and talks that were "illustrated by lantern views."
Excerpt from the 1911 By-Laws & Register Book: Notes from the Eighth Annual Meeting held in Boston, 1909
Lantern slide projectors are the apparatus used to display the images. We have three in the AAC Library. They are currently on exhibit (until February 2018) in the American Mountaineering Center.
On display at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, Colorado (until Feb. 2018).
These projectors date from approximately 1900 to 1930s. A 1950s slide projector is also on display with a 35mm glass slide. The many glass lantern slides on display date from 1890-1950. Most are from the American Alpine Club Archives, with a few from the Colorado Mountain Club Archives. You can see mountain scenes, cabins, and instructional slides.
This is one of the projectors in our collection. This page is from a 1911 Bausch & Lomb catalog, which can be viewed in its entirety here on HathiTrust.
Sketchbooks & Diaries
Check out this selection of 19th century sketchbooks and diaries found in the AAC Library's Archives and in the Central Asia Library. See more photos on Flickr.
Sketches made in the Himaleh 1848 by Charles Horne. This sketchbook can be found in the Central Asia Library. Charles Horne (1823-1871) was employed in the Bengal Civil Service. He worked in the region, studied, and wrote articles on various aspects of the life of the people, which appeared in such publications such as the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Most of the sketches were done in the region of Garhwal. Sketches include scenery, shrines, rope bridges, local people, botany, birds, etc. Also artifacts such as prayer wheels. It is a thorough documentation of life in the mountains at that time.
Summer Tour in the Grisons and Italian Valleys of the Bernina, 1862
A souvenir from Mrs. Henry Freshfield's summer tour, most of the sketches found in this little book are by a Mrs. C. Galton. They were pasted into this book, which might be a draft version of Mrs. Freshfield's book of the same name. This item was collected for the AAC Library by Past President J. Monroe Thorington. To read the book, you can access it online here.
Sketches made on trip to Mt. St. Elias, June-Sept. 1888
Descended from William Williams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, this Williams donated many items such as this sketchbook, a diary and a privately published book to the AAC Library. Read his In Memoriam in the 1947 AAJ here.
Henry George Newcombe Tibet Diary, 1869.
This is another treasure that can be found in the Central Asia Library. This is the journal of a 4-month shooting expedition into Tibet in 1869, undertaken by three young British army officers, Henry George Newcombe (1846-1895) and his companions, Tillotson and Evans. In addition to Newcombe's observations, are illustrations, consisting of 3 maps, 53 watercolors and many vignettes within the text.
Sketchbook of Pfarrer Friedrich Drechsel 1895
The sketches range in date from 1890-1909. It contains sketches of mountain and village scenes in turn of the century Bavaria. The book was donated by Karl Drechsel to J. Monroe Thorington (Drechsel's former pupil) in 1927. Thorington donated the sketchbook in 1949 to the AAC.