Guide to the Brooks Range Trust records
1969-1984
Collection number: HMC-0076.
Creator: Brooks Range Trust.
Title: Brooks Range Trust records.
Dates: 1969-1984.
Volume of collection: 1.0 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Administrative records from an organization dedicated to the conservation of the Brooks Range.
Organizational note:
The Brooks Range Trust was established in 1972 from the estate of Hans van der Laan, a mountaineer with an interest in the Brooks Range. After his death on Eklutna glacier in 1971, his parents, with the aid of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, established the Brooks Range Trust to commemorate his life and work and to promote understanding and support for protecting a portion of the Brooks Range in Alaska. The trust worked toward the establishment of a national park in the Brooks Range, and also gave money to other conservation organizations working on behalf of wild Alaska and Brooks Range protection. In 1974, the trust established the Hans van der Laan Brooks Range Library to collect books, papers, slides, photographs, and other materials on wild Alaska and the Brooks Range in particular. The trust was dissolved in 1982.
Collection description:
The collection is divided into three series. The first series consists of the operations records of the Brooks Range Trust and includes trust papers, correspondence, records of the Hans van der Laan memorial library, financial records, a diary and slides of a trip through the Gates of the Arctic taken by Hans van der Laan in 1969, and other items. The second series consists of the Trust’s subject files concerning the Alaska Coalition and includes correspondence, newsletters and publications, and materials concerning the various member groups of the Alaska Coalition. The third series consists of the Trust’s subject files on state and federal agencies.
Arrangement: This collection is arranged by subject.
Digitized copies: Selected materials have been digitized and can be found online at Alaska’s Digital Archives . For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Archives owns copyright to materials in this collection created by the Brooks Range Trust.
Preferred citation: Brooks Range Trust records, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Related materials: For more materials on the Brooks Range Trust, see:
Mark Hickok papers; 1955-1991, HMC-0618.
Hans van der Laan Brooks Range Library Board of Directors records; 1972-1996. HMC-0382.
For other archival collections relating to environmental issues, see the Research Guide to Geography and Environmental Studies collections.
Acquisition note: This collection was donated to the Archives by the Brooks Range Trust in 1983.
Processing information: This collection was originally arranged and described by Dennis Walle in 1996. This guide to this collection was revised by Megan K. Friedel in 2011. The guide was updated in 2019 by Arlene Schmuland, duplicate items and copies of published materials were removed at that time.
Container list:
Series 1: Operating records; 1969-1984. 0.5 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/1 | Trust agreement and conveyance papers | 1972-1984 |
| 1/2 | Trust dissolution papers | 1984 |
| 1/3 | Correspondence (general) | 1974-1983 |
| 1/4 | Correspondence with Jay Hammond | 1976 |
| 1/5 | Correspondence with U.S. legislators | 1977-1979 |
| 1/6-7 | Correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. van der Laan | 1976-1982 |
| 1/8 | Other correspondence | 1973-1983 |
| 1/9 | Form letters | 1979, undated |
| 1/10-11 | Mailing lists and labels | undated |
| 1/12 | Stationery | undated |
| 1/13-16 | Hans van der Laan memorial papers (includes articles of incorporation for and clippings about the Hans van der Laan Library) | 1971-1980 |
| 1/17-23 | Financial records (includes reports, bank statements, check register, tax returns, and other papers) | 1972-1984 |
| 1/25-28 | Hans van der Laan diary (photocopy) and slides of trip to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (Arrigetch and Flotna) with Rich Gordon | 1969 |
| 1/29-32 | Other Brooks Range Trust papers: Draft statement regarding Brooks Range Trust; D-2 testimony; Brooks Range Trust brochure; and newspaper clippings regarding land development in the Brooks Range | 1977-circa 1984 |
Series 2: Alaska Coalition subject files; 1976-1982. 0.3 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/33-35 | Correspondence | 1976-1980 |
| 1/36 | McKinley National Park meeting | 1976 |
| 1/37 | National Interest Lands, D-2 campaign | 1976-1977 |
| 1/38 | Newsletters and publications | 1977-1980 |
| 1/39-52 | Files on members of the Alaska Coalition: Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Conservation Foundation, Alaska Conservation Society, Alaska Geological Society, Alaska Lands Act Coordination Committee, Fairbanks Environmental Center, Friends of the Earth, National Audubon Society, North Slope Borough, Sierra Club, Sourdough Outfitters, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Trumpeter Swan Society, and the Wilderness Society | 1975-1982 |
| 1/53 | Correspondence with the North Alaska Environmental Center | 1982 |
Series 3: State and federal agencies and organizations subject files; 1973-1982. 0.2 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/54 | Alaska Department of Fish and Game – Alaska wildlife management plans (includes draft proposals for Arctic, Northwestern, Southcentral and Interior Alaska and maps) | 1977 |
| 1/55 | Alaska Department of Highways | 1975 July |
| 1/56 | Alaska Department of Natural Resources | 1978 |
| 1/57 | Congressional Committees (highlights of meetings) | 1978 |
| 1/58 | U.S. Forest Service | 1981 |
| 1/59 | “The Alaska Challenge, 1977: The Land and the People,” a report for the Foundation Community | 1977 |