Yosemite Conversation Club Collection, 1934-1995
Online content
Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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The Conversation Club Collection is comprised of six series that reflect the types of materials, record function and their original arrangement. Series I: Constitutions and By-Laws, Series II: Club History, Series III: Administrative Records, Series IV: Correspondence, Series V: Essays, and Series VI: Photograph Album.
- Biographical / historical:
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The Yosemite Conversation Club was organized on April 26, 1934 as a group of men (usually those in well-known positions within the Yosemite National Park and park concessions hierarchy) who gathered once a month for dinner and a lively discussion. Each meeting had a host who, originally was responsible for paying for each member’s dinner, although later that responsibility changed to providing wine for the meeting instead. There was also a reader for the evening, who wrote and presented an essay meant to spark discussion. These essays ranged in subject from worldly issues, war, and government to economics, education, and hobbies. Generally, topics of religion and partisan politics were avoided. Conversation Club meetings were scheduled for the last Monday of each month, beginning with dinner, followed by a reading of the month’s essay, and ending with a discussion . For many years, dinner was held at the Ahwahnee, but moved for brief periods to the Yosemite Lodge, the Four Seasons Restaurant, and occasionally, Curry Village. On rare occasions, meetings were held at the houses of members. The typical number of members was 20 men, but this was amended several times, changing increasing to 25 or 30 members before changing back to a smaller enrollment number. Notable members of the Conversation Club include several superintendents, as well as John Curry, Rusty Rust, Charley Proctor, Ed Hardy, Dr. Avery Strum, and many more. The problem of dwindling membership began in the 1970’s and continued for the remainder of the life of the club. Meeting nights were moved from Monday nights to avoid televised broadcasts of Monday Night Football. The club was finally discontinued in 1995.
- Acquisition information:
- The Yosemite Conversation Club Collection is comprised of three separate accessions: YOSE-061414, YOSE-07468, and YOSE-05506. The first accession, YOSE-06414 is .25 LF of Conversation Club materials donated by Keith Walklet in 1999 after he had left employment at the park. The second accession, YOSE-07468, was deposited in the Yosemite Research Library and accessioned to the archive in 2013. The final accession, YOSE-05506 was accessioned as part of the museum collection and transferred to the archives in 2013.
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- 1934-1995
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:54 p.m.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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No restrictions.
- Preferred citation:
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Yosemite Conversation Club Collection. Yosemite National Park Archives
- Location of this collection:
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5083 Foresta RoadEl Portal, CA 95318, US
- Contact:
- (209)379-1282