PHOTOS: Wyoming Mountaineers of Casper College Archives

According to the Assistant Processing Archivist with the Casper College, Hannah Baldwin, the Wyoming Mountaineers collection is one of the most unique and special pieces of the college's archives, "featuring documents created and collected by the CC Mountaineers, photographs, news articles, a scrapbook, and photo albums covering the years from 1955 through 1959."

In a recent news release from the college, she wrote: "There are interesting physical items in the collection such as the climbing vest and pitons used by the members of WMCC. The collection also includes a notable item, Raymond G. Jacquot and David E. Reynolds’s book, CC on the Rocks: The Story of the Wyoming Mountaineers of Casper College: 1955-1959, available to view and read in the archives’ reading room located in the College Library."

Wyoming Mountaineers of Casper College Archival Collection

This collection was found unprocessed but was pieced together in stages over the course of a year, starting with the scrapbook and photo albums created by the WMCC. These items were found first and so were arranged and described at the collection level, and then as processing continued, the climbing vest and pitons were found, followed by various documents and articles written and published on the Mountaineers, all of which brought the collection together.

Highlights of the collection are the artifacts and documentation of the First Graduation Climb on Devils Tower in 1955, the 1956 Rappel off the side of the Casper Gladstone Hotel, and the climbs during the 50th Anniversary of Devils Tower. Documentation on the latter includes a feature in LIFE Magazine.