Hikers and mountaineers from the 1940s
From the archives

From the archives: at ease in the Sierras

The Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter History Archives recently published these fab photos of Glen Dawn and other club members on the summit of Mt. Langley. The images were taken in the 1940s and feature club members posing during outings and at camp.Per usual, the photos illustrate a bygone approach to dressing for the outdoors absent of …

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Archival Alpinists

Despite criticism of flickr’s semi recent redesign, I remain loyal to this content management system for the access it provides to historic image archives.  Flickr Commons provides one search access to some terrific image collections including the the Library of Congress and the Stockholm Transport Museum.  While I prefer to browse the pages of vintage …

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Archival Snow Sports

  Long before Warren Miller, Dwight Watson, amateur photographer and mountaineer, documented snow sport culture in the pacific northwest.  I’ve been browsing Watson’s 1940s era images on the UW Digital Collections site.  As a non-skier, I’m drawn to Watson’s more casual scenes showing sportsmen and women at rest – at the lodge, in ensemble poses.  …

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Mountain Summer

For those of you working through the summer, I recommend shopping from the Glenbow Museum Archives for surrogate vacation snaps of the Canadian Rockies from the 1920s and 1930s. If you’re too pressed for time, here is my summary of an ideal summer spent hiking, reading, rowing, dining, fishing, swimming and climbing – in perfect …

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Archival Reprint: Filson Japan Lookbook

Per yesterday’s entry, I’m reprinting a few of my favorite views from the strangely compelling, Filson Japan lookbook, “The Ballad of Portraits”. I love the stylized presentation of the figures who look like colorized, plasticized transplants from a 19th century daguerreotype (if Dodge Sportsmans appeared in daguerreotypes). Since most web image content disappears from view …

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Archival Alpinists

We love these hand tinted magic lantern slides by alpinist Thomas B. Moffat. Taken in the 1930s, they document the Alpine Club of Canada’s ascent of several mountains in the Canadian Rockies. There’s a refreshing lack of technical clothing, high tech gear and off road vehicles in these photographs. Vests, ponchos, pipes and caps finish …

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