Rare books, Photo by Jilly Salva
With brutal cold ripping through the Front Range, you should opt for a rest day and visit the American Alpine Club’s Library in Golden. Besides housing over 20,000 titles in the open stacks, this library contains a treasure trove of unique and historically significant publications and artifacts. Library Director, Gary Landeck gave me a behind-the-scenes look at rare books, photographs and paintings. Here’s a snapshot of what’s on-hand.
Central Asia Library
The Central Asia Library is a separate collection of books within the American Alpine Club (AAC) Library. Available through a generous donation of 30,000 titles from a private collector, these volumes have kept staff busy as they catalog books from this collection. Subjects covered include many aspects of mountain exploration in Tibet, Nepal, India and China. Approximately 10,000 volumes are considered exceedingly rare, according to Library Director Landeck.
Rare photographs
Conservation guru and AAC Preservation Librarian, Beth Heller led the charge to design and build an appropriate space to house rare photographs and film. The room known as “The Kennel” contains chain-link dog kennel doors, hinged to the back wall. Each chain-link door holds framed photographs encased in bubble-wrap. Tennis balls mounted at the top keep the photographs from smashing when librarians flip through the collection. Rare photographs include Teton prints by Ansel Adams, Bradford Washburn favorites and works by Vittorio Sella who accompanied the Duke of Abruzzi on the 1909 attempt of K2.
Humboldt and Tyndall authors and explorers, Photo Jilly Salva
Rare films
For now “The Kennel” room also houses rare films ranging from 8mm to 16mm productions. Plans are in the works to transfer the films to a digital medium.
Rare books
The climate controlled rare book room is worth a visit. It holds treasures like Alexander von Humboldt’s Cosmos series and John Tyndall’s Fragments of Science. Lots of places are named after Humboldt including the Colorado 14er Humboldt Peak. Rocky Mountain National Park fans have a chance to read original works from Tyndall Glacier’s name’s sake (John Tyndall).
The rare book room includes a medieval masterpiece by Conrad Gesner ca. 1541. Gesner’s best known for writing about mountains in a scientific way. His original manuscript includes woodcut illustrations printed directly on paper made out of cloth rags. This book represents some of the earliest use of illustrations within a scientific text.
Historical media
In addition to books, the rare book room holds other historical media like scrapbooks, diaries, glass plate negatives, lantern slides and photographs.
First crossing of Greenland, Photo by Jilly Salva
Large scale paintings
Several 4 foot by 6 foot oil paintings will capture your heart and imagination. See Colin Campbell Cooper’s Kangchenjunga painting ca. 1915.
The painting that captured my attention was the 1889 canvas depicting the first crossing of Greenland by J.E. C. Rasmussen. According to a note on the back of the painting, it's Rasmussen's interpretation of events and does not depict the actual crossing, because there were only three white men on that expedition.
Access
Rare books and artifacts are non-circulating materials, however, these are available to the public during library hours. Please call ahead to make arrangements to access the specialized collections. Phone 303-384-0112.
Holiday visit
See the one-of-a-kind American Alpine Club Library this month. It’s a great way to save money, have fun and learn something new this holiday season. Combine your library stop with a visit to the Bradford Washburn Mountaineering Museum located in the same building. Your out-of-town guests will love you for it.
If you liked this article you may also like:
Denver Mountaineering 101: What libraries have mountaineering resources?
Humboldt Peak 14,064 feet
Join me on Facebook and Twitter
Comments