Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Records
BANC MSS 71/296 c
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Records
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/296 c
Physical Description:
18 linear feet
(1 box and 15 cartons)
Date (inclusive): 1969-ongoing
Language of Material: English
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
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.
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).
[Identification of item], Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Records, BANC MSS 71/296 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
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.
-
Title: Sierra Club Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/103 c
-
Title: Sierra Club Members Papers,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/295 c
-
Title: Sierra Club National Legislative Office Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/289 c
-
Title: Sierra Club Foundation Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 89/230 c
-
Title: Sierra Club International Program Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/290 c
-
Title: Sierra Club Mountain Registers and Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/293 c
-
Title: Sierra Club California Legislative Office Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 91/1 c
-
Title: Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/291 c
-
Title: Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter Records,Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/292 c
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.
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