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Mountaineering Collection: Home

Overview of the Mountaineering Collection in the Yale Library

View of the Alps from the Churfirsten, Switzerland

Bookplate for the Yale Collection of Mountaineering Literature

Related Research Guides

About the Collection

The Curtis Mountaineering Collection includes climbing guides and maps, biographies, search and rescue handbooks, high altitude medicine resources, works on climbing technique, videos, and accounts of various expeditions, both contemporary and historical. All areas of the world are represented, and more than a third of the collection is in a language other than English. The collection is generously supported by L. Perry Curtis ('53) in memory of his brother, Michael E. Curtis ('52).

Finding Mountaineering Materials in the Library

 

To get an idea of the contents and scope of the Mountaineering Collection click here. You can filter the list of results by publication date, language, subject, or region. 

A subject browse for mountaineering in Orbis basic search will display a browsable list of mountaineering Library of Congress subject headings. A subject search in Orbis advanced search or Books+ will find any title with "mountaineering" in the subject field. Other possibly relevant subject headings include:

Altitude, influence of
Alps (or other mountain ranges)
Mountaineers
Schweizer Alpen-Club (or other organizations)
Rock climbing
Mountaineering expeditions
Mountaineering in literature
Wilderness survival
Mountaineering injuries
Snow and ice climbing
Women mountaineers
Mountaineering guides (persons)

Also, take note of subheadings in Orbis records to find more specific information. Examples include:

Mountaineering—Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Mountaineering—South Africa
Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)—Exploring expeditions
Mountaineers—Italy—Biography
Women mountaineers—Statistics
Gros Ventre Range (Wyo.)—Guidebooks
Mountaineering expeditions—Borneo
A keyword search such as mountaineering and travel will result in many items. Using the links for subject headings from individual titles that are most appropriate to your search will lead to browsable subject headings lists. Clicking on the call number link from a record will list all titles shelved nearby, which may lead you to other appropriate sources.

Librarian for Western European Humanities

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Michael Printy
Contact:
Office Location:
SML Room 307A
Sterling Memorial Library
(203) 436-9215