The Mount Baker Club records contain detailed records of the Club’s activities and interests from its formal inception in 1928 through 2001. With the exception of a small number of photographs dating from 1925, the bulk of materials in the collection date from 1928 onwards. 

The Collection’s administrative records reflect the formal history of the Mt. Baker Club, including its incorporation in August 1928, by-laws, property records and minutes from monthly meetings. The minute books comprise an especially valuable resource for researchers, documenting Club interests and activities between 1928 and 1995. They include early membership listings, detailed information regarding the maintenance of cabins in the Mt. Baker area, and also reflect the Club’s later concerns with conservation and environmental issues. 

The hiking, camping and social activities of Mt. Baker Club are well documented in newsletters, scrapbooks, photographs and outing records. The collection contains an almost complete set of the Club’s official newsletter, “The Rambler,” from its first edition in August 1928 through 2000. Copies of the Rambler reflect the outdoor, social and educational pursuits of the Club, including information about its hiking trips and camping expeditions. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and written notes, and most notably, a large number of photographs pertaining to Club outings and social events. Photographs in the 1927-1931 scrapbook, for example, document the Club’s first winter climb of Mt. Baker in 1925, the construction of the cabins at Mazama Park and Heliotrope Ridge, and the skiing tournament at Mount Baker Lodge in 1931. Outing records include trip schedules, written reports, trail literature and maps from hiking and camping expeditions. 

Researchers should note that the collection at the CPNWS does not include the original scrapbook compiled by Charles Finley Easton, which documents the history and early ascents of Mt. Baker, and which was used as a as a promotional tool in lobbying for a National Park at Mount Baker. Easton’s scrapbook was donated in 1946 to the Whatcom Museum of History and Art in Bellingham, where it is now housed in the Museum’s Photo Archives.