UIAA Safety Commission Visit

UIAA Safety Commission Visit
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Library

Members of the UIAA Safety Commission got a tour of the library during their 2009 annual meeting in Golden. Phil Powers, AAC Executive Director, and Gary Landeck, Library Director hold court.
Jean-Franck Charlet, President of the Safety Commission, presented the library with a framed photo essay from [...]

Which Magazines and Journals Does the AAC Library Have?

The American Alpine Club has approximately 580 climbing magazines and climbing club periodicals from around the world.
Some, like the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (1830-1880) and Geographical Journal (1893-2009)are historic, and some, like The Alpinist (2002-2009) are considered classics-to-be.
Journals are obtained by donation or in exchange for the American Alpine Journal.  If you have [...]

AAC Book Club Summer Schedule

We will not be meeting in June as previously scheduled because so many folks are traveling including the organizers. We look forward to seeing you in July!!
NEW DATES:
July 14th
Forget Me Not: A Memoir by Jennifer Lowe-Anker and Jon Krakauer
August 11th
K2: The Price of Conquest by Lino Lacedelli, Giovanni Cenacchi, and Mark Worthington
September 8th
Mountains [...]

New Guidebook Collection to Track Climbing History

In the near future, the AAC library is scheduled to receive a collection of rare and unusual climbing guidebooks from Armando Menocal, a longtime climber and advocate of climbing. We asked Armando to give us some background about the collection, why he started it, and the significance of the collection. The following post was written [...]

From the Archives: Finding Whymper in a Book

One of our incredible volunteers, Tom Halicki, has been helping us get the first 5,000 books of the Central Asia Library on the shelves, and to advise on grant-writing.  His love of books is also evident in this essay he wrote about a discovery he made in the rare book room.  He also highlights one [...]

AAC Member Goes to Space Today!

Here’s a link to live coverage of the Hubble Mission, with AAC Member John Grunsfeld
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

An interesting volunteer opportunity on Easter Island

We get newsletters and climbing journals from all over the world here at the AAC.   They’re not available for checkout because they are hard to replace, but they are a great resource.   The recent Expedition News has this blurb:
“Easter Island Cave Project Seeks Volunteers – The Cultural and Natural History of Rapa Nui Caves [...]

And Now A Word From The Library Geek…

Bradford Washburn photographs on permanent loan to the AAC
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Library

We couldn’t afford manufactured compact art storage, so we designed and built it ourselves…I like to call it the Miracle of the Storage Room.
Check out this flickr set to see the transformation from unbelievably disorganized and out of control to nicely [...]

AAC Book Club: May 12th, 6-7pm

April’s book club turned out to be a special one: Tom Hornbein sat in to discuss his book, Everest: The West Ridge!  Here’s what he had to say: “Thanks immensely for luring me into a truly new experience, at least for this so-called author. Some of the comments and questions opened up whole new [...]

Grunsfeld and Washburn: Together In Space!

Astronaut John Grunsfeld’s Hubble Mission launches on May 11th, and he is taking one of the cameras from the American Alpine Club’s collection – Bradford Washburn’s Zeiss Camera.  You can read more about the camera here, or listen to a recent NPR interview with John.