The American Alpine Club (AAC), Golden, Colorado

Founded in 1902, The American Alpine Club is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting climbing knowledge, conserving mountain environments, and serving the international climbing community. John Muir was one of the founding officers and served as President of the organization from 1908-1910.

The Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club Library currently supports the missions of the AAC by collecting and making accessible information about mountaineering, rock climbing, alpine environments and alpine culture. Established in 1916, the collections are varied: from contemporary guidebooks and videos to rare sixteenth century works on natural history; oral histories, films, photographs, maps, and serials. The AAC library is the largest mountaineering collection in the Americas and quite possibly in the world. The circulating collection numbers approximately 20,000 books, maps, and videos. The non-circulating collection numbers over 35,000 items. The artifact collection contains over 500 items, many of which are on display in the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum. Strengths of the library include the history of travel and exploration of mountain regions, including the Alps and the Himalaya.