Cal Poly

Norman Clyde-Robert C. Pavlik Collection, 1906-2009 (MS 164)

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content

Scope and Content

The Norman Clyde-Robert C. Pavlik Collection is a record of biographer Robert Pavlik's research and writing for his book, Norman Clyde: Legendary Mountaineer of California's Sierra Nevada, published in 2008 by Heyday Books of Berkeley. The collection adds substance and dimension to the Norman Clyde story, and also reveals the exacting and methodical labor undertaken by Pavlik to research, interview, write, and prepare his work for publication.

The collection includes Pavlik's correspondence and interviews with Norman Clyde's family members, friends, and fellow climbers and outdoorsmen. There is an abundance of articles by and about Norman Clyde, and the amount of research notes and materials collected by Pavlik is substantial.

Series 1 contains correspondence, personal papers, and other primary sources belonging to Norman Clyde, which were given to Pavlik in the course of his research. Also included are articles written by Clyde and Pavlik's transcriptions of Clyde's correspondence from the Bancroft Library and the Eastern California Museum at Independence.

In the collection's primary and secondary sources, articles by and about Clyde respectively, there are articles Pavlik found in the American Alpine Club Journal, the Sierra Club Bulletin, the Geneva Cabinet, as well as the National Motorist, Motor Land and Touring Tropics.

The genesis of the book took place in 1984 when Pavlik was doing graduate work at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Harold C. Kirker, professor of U.S. Cultural History and author, suggested that he do a paper on Norman Clyde. Kirker had been a member of the Sierra Club, along with Clyde, in the 1930s. In addition to the correspondence between Pavlik and Kirker about Clyde in Series 2, there is extensive correspondence between them on a variety of topics to include book publishing in Series 4 of the collection.

Series 3, Subject Files and Secondary Sources of Norman Clyde, contain Pavlik's research on Clyde's interest and abilities in specific areas, such as skiing, natural history, photography, fishing, hunting and a fondness for firearms. A subject file on Walter A. Starr, Jr., includes newspaper and magazine articles, as well as Pavlik correspondence, a transcript of an interview, and transcriptions of correspondence.

Series 4 contain Pavlik's correspondence with book publishers, reader notes, and book marketing as well as drafts of the manuscript.

Photographs of Norman Clyde, his family and mountains are included in Series 1, 3 and 4.

Where possible, the provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved. However, in order to simplify access to the collection for researchers, some materials in specific formats and topics were reorganized and refoldered to more accurately reflect their contents.

The Norman Clyde-Robert C. Pavlik Collection is housed in 11 boxes, with Norman Clyde Book Files, Norman Clyde Primary Sources, and Research Files on Norman Clyde containing the most extensive portions of the collection. The collection is divided into four series:

1. Norman Clyde Primary Sources, 1906-c. 2000
2. Research Files on Norman Clyde, 1910-2009
3. Subject Files and Secondary Sources on Norman Clyde, 1923-2009
4. Norman Clyde: Legendary Mountaineer Book. Files, 1984-2009

All cities and counties listed on folder headings are located in California, unless noted otherwise.

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content