Preserve our past - contribute to the Yodeler preservation fund!
Buried in cardboard boxes and hiding in editor Don Forman's seemingly subterranean office on San Pablo Avenue is hidden treasure - every issue ever published of our Chapter's newsletter, the Yodeler. The Yodeler has changed a bit from its original mimeographed, 8-1/2 by 11 format printed on what appears to be the cheapest paper that could be found, but from the earliest years it has reflected the Club's dual personality - enjoying the outdoors and protecting our environment.
Volume 1, No. 1, carried the name "Sierra Club News", and is dated Dec. 22, 1938. The first item? A naming contest - and lo, by the next issue, the name "Yodeler" had been chosen, and so it has been ever since (pace the abortive announcement in one issue that the name would be changing to "Bay Sierran"). Page 3 of the January 1939 issue tells us: "In spite of the fact that several recent name-contest judges were playing politics, and favored pleasing all entrants by using a different name for this paper with each succeeding issue, the Sierra Club Yodeler has been chosen as official name for the sheet. The winner - Charlotte Mauk - gets the weekend at Norden as soon as we can corner the Lodge Committee and get the reservation. In spite of having submitted eight names himself, Dick Leonard writes `... I vote for YODELER. It is short, expressive of a blatant (!) news sheet, cherished in thought by all groups in the Club, and reasonably symbolic of the high mountain ideals of the group.'"
The article goes on to state: "To those who submitted names but not 75, our sympathy. They might have won." Apparently, the contest was a fundraiser then, and now we need another one to preserve our Chapter's past.
The Yodeler is a fascinating look at our Chapter's history, and archival preservation of the Chapter's Yodeler collection is especially important. The acidic paper on which these newsletters were printed is disintegrating, and only proper professional care will save them. Otherwise the acids will destroy these fragile copies.
The earliest Yodelers are filled with poetry and the enthusiasms of a still young and more innocent Club. As the years went by, especially starting in the 1970s, the articles became longer and more political, and began to approximate what we have today, a mature combination of enjoyable newsletter, Club news, and newspaper-style political content. While the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley has a Yodeler collection, it is not always immediately available to the public. In contrast, this set of Yodelers is at the Sierra Club office in Berkeley and available to all.
The Chapter has been blessed with the volunteer services of an expert archivist, Carolyn Gaye, who is beginning a project to house all our back issues - from 1938 to today - in proper acid-free, safe archival storage materials. The project will cost about $1,500 in materials. Carolyn, who holds a master's in archival management and museum studies, is donating all her time. Carolyn has previously worked on collections of the deYoung Museum, the Stern Grove Festival, the Oakland Public Library, River of Words, and the East Bay Watershed Center at Merritt College. A native Californian, Carolyn holds a life-long interest our State's wildlife and habitats. Over the past 20 years her company Archival Revival has organized records of environmental and educational non-profits.
For those of you who enjoy history, please send a special donation to the Chapter and help us preserve the Yodeler's long and rich history - a fascinating reflection of both our American culture and the development of the environmental movement from the late 1930s to the present.
This first step - archival "housing" - will be followed by another project to index the entire run of Yodelers - but first things first - let's get our history preserved!
If you would like to contribute, please contact , director of individual giving, or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 322 (Yes, we take Visa and Mastercard!)