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Posted 09/04/02
In 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne lauded the White Mountains of New Hampshire as "those old crystal hills, whose mysterious brilliancy had gleamed upon our distant wanderings before we thought of visiting them." In Hawthorne's time, "the Whites" were an important summer destination for the masses fleeing overheated cities. Over the years, they have inspired numerous literary treatments, both historical and fictional. They have also been a site for important meteorological research as well as camping and outdoor recreation.
One reason so much is known about the White Mountains is the marvelously preserved and complete record of the mountains' social, geological, and meteorological history stored at Dartmouth's Rauner Special Collections Library.
Dartmouth librarians have been setting aside materials related to the White Mountains since the 1920s. Walter Wright, chief of special collections from 1968 to 1980, was considered to be the authority on the history and bibliography of the White Mountains and contributed significantly to building and documenting the collection. The College now owns more than 2,800 books and pamphlets; 1,300 postcards, clippings, brochures, advertisements, and other ephemera; 1,200 stereoscopic views; and thousands of photographs.
Special Collections librarian Philip Cronenwett is responsible for maintaining and cataloguing much of the collection.
"Dartmouth's collection of White Mountains material is easily the largest and most complete anywhere," says Cronenwett.
For example, Dartmouth owns both the manuscript and the 1846 first edition, along with many subsequent editions, of Lucy Crawford's History of the White Mountains, the first history of the region. Other historical documents-from a newspaper titled Among the Clouds, which catered to the tourism industry, to promotional maps and photographs taken by the tourists themselves-chart the history of the White Mountains as a spot for recreation and cooling-off in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the collection are also 70 years of data from the Mt. Washington Observatory. The station has recorded some of the most fearsome metrological events ever. On April 12, 1934, an anemometer recorded a 231-mph wind blast that tore the instrument off the observatory wall (though the paper on which it recorded the event was saved and is part of the collection), and during the winter of 1968-69, the observatory counted 540 inches of snow at the summit of Mt. Washington.
The wealth of resources afforded by the collection and its location in Hanover make it an ideal subject for student study. In Dartmouth's environmental studies classes, students compare the Mt. Washington Observatory records to track changes in temperature, cloud cover, snow pack, and the range of timber. Other students employ the literary and historical records to learn about everything from the history of hiking and camping to planning trips along the Appalachian Trail.
"Though one could say the value of the individual pieces is relatively small, in the aggregate they represent a tremendous resource to scholars both at Dartmouth and elsewhere," says Cronenwett.
Dartmouth students appear to agree, if their utilization of the collection provides any kind of measure. Famous for having the "granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains," it is fitting for them to have the White Mountains in their library.
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