Guide to the Mark Hickok papers
1955-1991
Collection number: HMC-0618.
Creator: Hickok, Mark, 1922-2006.
Title: Mark Hickok papers.
Dates: 1955-1991; bulk 1967-1978.
Volume of collection: 1 cubic foot.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Papers of a leader in the Alaskan land conservation movement.
Biographical note:
Mark Hickok was born in Los Angeles, California in 1922 as Margaret Amy Beaumont. While working as a journalist with United Press International circa 1941, Hickok was given the name “Mark” from a bureau chief who thought it would help her get by-lines in the male-dominated profession; she later changed her legal name to Mark as well. Hickok was known primarily for her activism in environmental and conservation issues. She and her first husband, Gerald “Jerry” Ganopole, moved in 1959 to Alaska from California, where she had been one of the founders of the Sierra Club’s Kern-Kaweah Chapter. In Alaska, Hickok co-founded the club’s Alaska Chapter and also the Alaska Wilderness Council, which brought conservation groups together to map state lands to be preserved. She broke with Sierra Club in 1976 after the organization opposed letting Alaska Natives continue subsistence living on park lands but later served on its national board from 1977-1980. Hickok also served as a board member for the National Parks and Conservation Association. Her involvement with these organizations led to the establishment of Chugach State Park and Katchemak Bay State Park, among other parks, and she was heavily involved in identifying Alaska lands for conservation following the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. She also served on the boards of the Brooks Range Trust and the Hans van der Laan Brooks Range Library in the North Slope Borough. Mark Hickok married her second husband, David M. Hickok, in 1974. She died in 2006.
Collection description:
This collection mostly documents Mark Hickok’s involvement with the Alaska Wilderness Council from circa 1969-1984 and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club from circa 1967-1978. These papers include meeting minutes, correspondence, membership lists, reports, and other records for each organization, including a significant number of records relating to the Alaska Wilderness Council’s involvement with establishing state park lands from 1969-1984. There are also papers kept by Mark Hickok during her time as board member of the Brooks Range Trust, specifically relating to the Trust’s establishment of the Hans van der Laan Brooks Range Library in the North Slope Borough in 1974 and Hickok’s continuance as board member for the library after the Trust’s dissolution in 1982. Other materials in the collection include papers of other organizations such as the Alaska Conservation Society and the Mountaineering Society of Alaska; papers documenting the Alaska earthquake of 1964, including publications and reports, papers concerning damage to and restoration of the Turnagain neighborhood in Anchorage, and Hickok’s personal reminiscences and photographs; and tributes to Arizona legislator Morris Udall, among other papers.
Arrangement: This collection is arranged alphabetically by subject.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives owns copyright to this collection.
Preferred citation: Mark Hickok papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Separated materials: Newspapers, magazines, and one audio recording were de-accessioned from this collection in November 2010.
Related materials:
See also the following collections in Archives & Special Collections for other material related to this collection:
Brooks Range Trust records; 1972-1982. HMC-0076.
David M. Hickok papers; 1923-1992. HMC-0408.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Archives by Mark Hickok in 2003.
Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Megan K. Friedel in 2010.
Location of originals: Original copies of the Morris Udall papers and Robert Cahn manuscript were returned to Mark Hickok at her request in 2003. Photocopies of these materials are in the collection.
Container list:
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/1 | Alaska Conservation Society, Upper Cook Inlet Chapter papers | 1968-1975 |
| 1/2 | Alaska Wilderness Council – General papers | 1955-1982 |
| 1/3 | Alaska Wilderness Council – Alaska parks proposal | circa 1969 |
| 1/4 | Alaska Wilderness Council – Correspondence | circa 1969-1973 |
| 1/5 | Alaska Wilderness Council – D-2 reference papers | circa 1955-1977 |
| 1/6 | Alaska Wilderness Council – Meeting minutes | 1969-1970 |
| 1/7 | Alaska Wilderness Council – Wilderness and Parks Committee papers | circa 1970 |
| 1/8 | Alaska Wilderness Council and U.S. Forest Service papers | circa 1969-1975 |
| 1/9 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Chugach State Park (includes Wilderness and Parks Committee papers | 1969-1975 |
| 1/10 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Katchemak Bay State Park | circa 1969-1984 |
| 1/11 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Keystone Canyon State Park | circa 1969-1970 |
| 1/12 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Tazlina Lake Primitive Area | 1969-1970 |
| 1/13 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Tikchik State Park | circa 1967-1974 |
| 1/14 | Alaska Wilderness Council state parks papers – Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve | circa 1970-1977 |
| 1/15 – 1/16 | Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club – General papers | circa 1967-1978 |
| 1/17 | Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club – Executive committee meeting agendas and minutes | 1975-1977 |
| 1/18 | Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club – Membership lists | circa 1968-1977 |
| 1/19 – 1/20 | Brooks Range Trust/Hans van der Laan Brooks Range Library papers | 1972-1991 |
| 1/21 | Earthquake papers – Correspondence from friends and relatives | 1964 |
| 1/22 | Earthquake papers – Personal recollections, narratives, and notes | 1964 |
| 1/23 | Earthquake papers – Photographs and postcards | 1964 |
| 1/24 | Earthquake papers – Publications and reports | 1958-1964 |
| 1/25 | Earthquake papers – Turnagain neighborhood damage reports, meeting minutes, notes, and announcements | 1964 |
| 1/26 | “The Fight to Save Alaska” typescript manuscript by Robert Cahn (photocopy) | circa 1982 |
| 1/27 | Morris Udall tributes and articles (photocopies) | 1991 |
| 1/28 | Mountaineering Club of Alaska membership list and publication | 1970-1975 |
| 1/29 | Other publications – North Slope Borough Commission on History, Language, and Culture calendar and Ted Stevens brochure on the 25th anniversary of statehood | 1983, 1985 |