Mountaineering in the Pacific Northwest: The Mountaineers

These records are some of the earliest histories of the Mountaineers. They document various outdoor activities, especially the club's annual outings.

This collection contains photograph albums documenting the activities of The Mountaineers during the years 1907-1951. The organization's activities included hiking, climbing, skiing, snowshoeing, and stage productions by The Mountaineers Players. The photographs in the albums were taken by club members during various outings. Photographers whose work is frequently represented in this collection include Mabel Furry, William J. Maxwell, R.L. Dyer, Mabel Vanderpool Nash, and Fairman B. Lee. Several photographs by Asahel Curtis are also included in the collection.

Josendal was a member of the Mountaineers and served as the club's vice president from 1952-1953. He was also on its Board of Directors from 1954-1957. He served as the chairman of the Climbing Committee in 1950, the Safety Committee in 1956, and the Budget Committee in 1959. In addition, he participated in many other Mountaineering activities.

Josendal's papers include organizational features, correspondence, reports, notes, tape-recorded reminiscences, accident reports, news releases, newsletters, clippings, ephemera, oversize posters, subject series, and other record series. The accession also includes nearly all of the December issues of "The Mountaineer" from 1915-1940.

Harry Hagen and his wife, Maxine, were active members of The Mountaineers, and Harry chaired the Climbing Committee in 1943. His papers contain the Mountaineers' 1922 songbook, ski mountaineering and climbing handbooks, a Mountaineers climbing notebook, writings, newsletters, lists, and ephemera. Various Mountaineers activities are documented, including climbing, ski mountaineering, and the summer outings of 1940-1949. A small subgroup of this collection contains records from the Montanaedus, a mountaineering club which Harry Hagen apparently founded.

These records reflect Brock Evans' work as the Northwest Representative of the Sierra Club and of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs (1967-1973). Also included are Evans' interactions with northwest conservation organizations including the Mountaineers, Nature Conservancy, North Cascades Conservation Council, Washington Environmental Council, and Citizens for Outdoor Recreation.

The bulk of the collection consists of topical files regarding specific environmental issues or geographical areas in the western United States and Canada (Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington).

This collection includes an essay by Ness that describes her impression of the management of the Mountaineers in 1977, which she wrote for a class in management. Ness was a Mountaineers employee at the time she wrote the report.

Winn was on the Board of Trustees of the Mountaineers from 1985 to 1986. He chaired the Mountaineers' Conservation Division from 1988 to 1990, and then served an additional term as chair of the Mountaineers Conservation Division from 1998 to December 2001. He was not on the Mountaineers Board of Directors during this second term as chair. Winn was also president of the Washington Wilderness Coalition from 1990 until January 1993. He was a president of the Mountaineers, served on the Mountaineers Books Management Board in 1982, and was on Mountaineers committees to find a new club room (1981, 1983) and to deal with its operational problems. Winn chaired a Mountaineer committee to investigate a fatal accident during a Mountaineer scramble of Sluiskin Squaw on October 14, 1978. At this time, he was apparently given a file on the July 13, 1969 fatal accident involving a Mountaineers climbing party on Mr. Rainier.

Naomi Benson was a member of numerous organizations throughout her lifetime. Among the first that she supported were the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Everett-based Mountaineers, the American Red Cross, and the National Parks Association. Papers related to the Mountaineers can be found in boxes 9, 37, and 39.