Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 18 linear feet (1 box and 15 cartons)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Records, BANC MSS 71/296 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The records of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund at The Bancroft Library are incomplete. Included in the collection are agendas, minutes, reports, clippings, financial reports, dockets, new matter forms, notes, and subject files pertaining to SCLDF's Mineral King litigation.
The files are arranged in two series. Administrative and Operational Files pertain to the functioning of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund itself. The second series, Mineral King Files, deals exclusively with the prosecution of SCLDF's first major case. These Mineral King files are divided into two subseries, the first arranged alphabetically, and the second using a SCLDF-devised numerical code. Except for minor changes (adoption of the Library of Congress-approved subject headings used in all of The Bancroft Library's Sierra Club collections), the original order of the files has been maintained throughout the second series.
- Biographical / historical:
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The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (SCLDF) was established in San Francisco in 1971, with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Sierra Club Foundation. Sierra Club Legal Committee members Phillip Berry, Donald Harris, Fred Fisher, and Michael McCloskey were instrumental in its creation. James Moorman was its first executive director. It is legally and financially separate from the Sierra Club, able to solicit tax-deductible donations and represent non-Sierra Club clients.
The young organization immediately became embroiled in a lawsuit, first filed by the Sierra Club in 1969, to prevent the establishment of a major ski resort at Mineral King, California. The decade-long campaign to halt Walt Disney Production's development plans resulted in the addition in 1978 of Mineral King to Sequoia National Park. The courts also granted environmental organizations legal standing to sue to protect public lands, despite their lack of financial interest in the outcome.
SCLDF has been involved in many other landmark environmental law cases throughout the United States. These include the ongoing campaign against the clearcutting of Admiralty Island, Alaska; and the protection of federal lands in the Western United States against strip mining, coal-fired power plants, and uranium mining. The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund has worked extensively with local Sierra Club chapters and groups on local litigation. In this way, SCLDF's work complements the legislative and grassroots campaigns carried out by the Sierra Club.
For further information on the history of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, consult Tom Turner's Wild by Law: The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and the Places It Has Saved (Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1990).
- Acquisition information:
- In 1970 the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club voted to place the club's historical records in The Bancroft Library. Among the records subsequently donated were historical files of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.
- Processing information:
-
The initial Sierra Club Records Project was made possible by a major grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Additions to the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund records were processed by Lisa Monhoff in 2019 with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Records, BANC MSS 71/296 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481