Scenes/Cast:
Storylines:
James J. Hanks
During the summers of 1927 and 1928, Clyde Kluckhohn, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student, explored the Southwest with several other undergraduates classmates. The group traversed thousands of thinly populated and forbidding square miles of northern Arizona and southern Utah, including parts of the Navajo Nation, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The young students relied on a simple magnetic compass and several topographical maps to navigate their way across the remote and challenging terrain.
Escalante, 1886, James J. Hanks Collection, NAU.MAP.1240.04, Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.
The students survived, as did their 1886 Escalante map (above) used during the expeditions, now part of the James J. Hanks Collection in the archives. Worn from repeated folding and unfolding and likely storage in the back pocket of one of the student-explorers, the map arrived in Special Collection in three pieces. Its new home is an acid-free protective enclosure inside a map drawer, as well as a choice spot in the digital universe. The map's condition alone helps tell its story of adventure, while also illustrating the importance of maintaining delicate materials.
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The Expedition
James J. Hanks acted as the primary photographer for the expeditions. His collection documents the voyages through photographs, letters, and journal entries. Take a journey through the Colorado Plateau Archives to experience a personal and often colorful and exciting account of exploration and life in the 1920s Southwest. The story also continues in Special Collections, where more non-digitized maps, photographs, and documents await.
Links
Cline Library's James J. Hanks Exhibit