Help record the ACC's History
The ACC is fundraising to make its archival history more accessible to members and the public
“It is absolutely imperative that all the unprocessed Alpine Club of Canada material is made available to me for my research for the ACC history book. In the letters, committee reports and financial statements, the story of how the club grew and evolved is told. Most of these papers have been acquired by the club since 1985, and this is an era when the club underwent dramatic change. If these papers are not processed and catalogued, then it will be almost impossible for me to find anything and my work will be much more difficult.”
In the spring 2022 issue of the ACC Gazette we introduced the story of the history of the ACC: a major book project that celebrated mountain writer Chic Scott is presently at work on for the ACC. The book will be the first comprehensive history of our club, from its founding in 1906 through to the present day. The book will detail the club’s growth, the good times and the hard times; it will be the definitive story of the old times as well as the more current history.
The book will be a chronicle of the people, sections, huts, camps, expeditions, governance, volunteer award winners and more. This is a project to which all ACC members will feel a connection, and one to which we can all make a contribution.
This is a history that is still being played out, highlighted by the fact that when the project was begun, and when the spring Gazette was published, the ACC had never elected a woman as club President and today Isabelle Daigneault holds that position.
Our history in boxes
“Unlike the American Alpine Club, which has the Henry S. Hall Jr. Library at its Boulder headquarters, or the Alpine Club, in England, which has its own library and archive on site, the ACC does not have its own permanent place to protect and make available our national documentary heritage. For that, we rely primarily on a partnership with the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.”
The main repository for our club’s documentary heritage — our photographs, letters, meeting minutes, diaries, hut registers, summit registers and so much more — is the Archives and Special Collections at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff. In fact, at present, the ACC fond is one of the archive’s largest and most important collections, second only in size to the Peter and Catharine Whyte fond. And the collection is growing, fast.
The Whyte Museum now needs our help. All of the “old” ACC documents (before the 1980s) have been processed and catalogued and properly archived, which makes it searchable and useable for historians, including Chic. But the new material is just sitting in the Whyte’s basement in many, many boxes. The material is secure and protected, of course, but because it remains unprocessed, it is not yet accessible to the researchers and writers who rely on such sources to tell our story to members, to Canadians, and to the world.
Support the campaign
The ACC is raising funds to help expedite the process — for writers like Chic, and for members everywhere. The national office has kick-started a fund-raising campaign with a $25,000 donation. But more is needed. You can help by giving today to the ACC’s Bev Bendell Library Fund. Any donation, large or small, is appreciated, and will go a long way to making our legacy better known to future generations. If you're as interested as we are in the buried secrets and untold stories of the ACC that will be unearthed, please consider donating. Thank you.
