S5E3: Preserve. Inspire. Repeat: The Archives Fueling Outdoor Brands

Transcript:

Erin Narloch 0:11

Welcome to the History Factory Podcast. I’m Erin Narloch. Today we have Chase Anderson and Clint Pumphrey from the Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University.

During our discussion, we’ll explore this unique academic collection and how it’s being utilized by both students and brands alike. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Welcome it’s so great to have both of you here with us today.

Let’s just dive into it and talk about the outdoor recreation archives at Utah State University. Can you both just tell me a little bit more about when it was founded? Why was it founded? What are your roles? All of that good stuff.

Clint Pumphrey 1:13

Yeah, let me take the first stab at that. So the archive was founded in 2018 but we weren’t as ambitious then as we think we are now, initially the first donation of materials, which was a collection of about 1200 outdoor gear catalogs. We brought in a professor in the outdoor product design and development program who was really interested in having some historical materials that students could reference in their history of outdoor products class. So the archive initially was just that collection of materials that we thought would mainly be used by the program, the outdoor product design development program, and in particular that one class, particularly, that one class we didn’t have. It wasn’t sort of what it is today, which is this much broader project to collect and document the history of the outdoor industry and outdoor clothing and gear. So it really had kind of a small beginning from that class, and then has grown to be much bigger. And you know, the turning point for us in the trajectory of the collection really was when Chase started posting some of the imagery from those early catalogs, or that catalog collection on Instagram. So, you know this catalog imagery from the 1960s and 70s, 80s, you know, from North Face, Patagonia, Sierra Designs. You know, a lot of these, these companies, a lot of people know, know today, and you know, people from all over the country, all over the world, were started to discover it, and were kind of wanting to know more. You know, can we look at the insides of the catalogs? Can we come visit and come look at those catalogs? And so that was when we realized that we really had something that was a resource for people far outside the university. And so ever since that you know that initial donation in 2018 we’ve grown the archive to from that initial donation of 1200 catalogs to about 7500 catalogs. That first donation of only about 250 brands was represented. Now in that catalog collection, we have over 900 brands represented. We’ve really tried to expand the time scale of the collection to the first donation was kind of 1960 to the present. The archive now stretches from about 1900 to the present. So really trying to push it back to some of the earlier outdoor companies, we’ve also moved beyond the catalogs into some outdoor recreation related magazines and outdoor industry related publications, and also collections of original documents and photographs from company founders, From gear innovators, and that collection continues to grow almost daily.

Erin Narloch 4:25

How do you go about collecting? How do collections come to the archive?

Chase Anderson 4:32

You want me to take that? Yeah? Let me Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of a unique partnership, because I am not an archivist, and I work for our outdoor product design and development program. I do all of our industry outreach and marketing for that program, I help students find internships and jobs. Kind of our point person for all things industry and so don’t have an archives background, but because of our industry relationships like I kind of have taken that role on a little bit. Of finding things, and so we leverage our industry connections and talk to people in this space, track down founders of companies, whether those companies are still around or they’ve since gone away, early employees. It’s a lot of internet online sleuthing, right, and tracking people down and reaching out and and extending that invitation to help preserve these people’s work and legacy and materials. So I kind of take some of that role on and but you know Clint, of course, you know the archive that you know he’s a part of the Special Collections and Archives here at the university. They do purchase materials as well. And the same for the outdoor rec archive is, you know, there’s, there’s a number of items that are purchased on eBay or, you know, secondhand. We grow our collections that way as well. But I and Clint can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the vast majority of the materials in the collection have been donated.

Clint Pumphrey 5:59

Yeah, that’s correct. From, you know, people who worked at companies, there are people out there who just collect this kind of material, you know, they just have, they just kept every catalog that they ever received when they were, you know, growing up, and want to find a safe home for it. So we’re happy to be able to provide that.

Erin Narloch 6:19

I know this might be difficult, but I have to ask, Do you have any favorite items in the collection, and what are they? And why are they your favorites?

Clint Pumphrey 6:28

Yeah, that’s always a, it is a tough, tough question, because, you know, we’re always so excited for every donation that we bring in. But you know, I think for me, there, there’s, there are some items that stand out, like, particularly in our catalog collection, just because of their format. You know, most catalogs, of course, are the kind of like, you know, staple, binding, glossy thing that most people are used to getting in their mailboxes. But there’s a really great catalog from The North Face, dating from around 1970 that’s a square box with the North Face logo printed on the front in black and white. And you open it up, and there’s a, like a poster that has sort of these stylized photographs of some of the products and people modeling the products and the prices. And then there’s like, an order form and a gift certificate and coupons to like, different hotels and ski resorts. And it’s kind of marketed as this, like a ski starter set, so something that you would like to give to somebody, or they would send to somebody to help them get into skiing. They could get clothing, they could get, like, lift tickets, you know, everything they needed. And so I just think that’s, like a cool format for a catalog, and that’s something that really stands out to me.

Chase Anderson 7:51

Yeah, that is, and like, a truly rare item too. I don’t think we’ve really ever seen another catalog like that floating around, which is really fun for us to see. One of mine is more on the manuscript side of things and photographs I really love. I love the big brands and the brands that are around today, but I also love all the defunct brands that have since gone away and and there’s one the challenge of like picking one favorite thing is this collection has grown so much, and it grows, like Clint said, almost every day, that I have new favorites, like every every couple of months, it feels like and one recent donation that I really love is a scrapbook from a woman named Nancy Grimes, who founded banana equipment, and it was one of the early companies in the 70s to utilize Gore-Tex. So there were just a handful of companies in the early days that adopted Gore-Tex when it first came out, and banana equipment was one of those. And it’s not a brand that people know at all. I didn’t know about it before we started digging, but we got to know the founder, and she was good enough to donate her scrapbook. She had kept a scrapbook of, like a timeline of the company history and incredible material. It’s really like a complete history of this company that I think if we weren’t taking care of it, it, I mean, there’s the fear that other you know, it could otherwise be lost or or more likely, just not accessible for people to see and learn about. So that’s one of my favorites. But again, it’s hard next month. No offense to banana equipment, but we just keep finding really unique and interesting items in the collection, which is exciting.

Erin Narloch 9:39

That is exciting and Clint, I love the way you described that catalog, because maybe today that would be more of an experience Marketing toolkit or a seating toolkit sent out. I’m sure that the folks at North Face today could find inspiration in that catalog. So just curious, who is using the archives? Who’s in there?

Clint Pumphrey 10:04

Well it’s all, it’s all kinds of people. And I think that’s what’s really surprised us about this project, is, I think when we started building it, our, I mean, our initial thought was, well, our the students in the outdoor product design and development program would would find some use in it, and we thought we would, you know, have a lot of historians cut kind of traditional academic researchers. And so I think, you know, again, when, when we started posting a lot of imagery on Instagram, we realized, actually, this was a really good way to connect with users outside of what an archive might traditionally have. And so that’s been really exciting. So of course, you know, our students continue to be, you know, a core audience. And I feel like, I mean, every year we have their classes come in, but I feel like this year, especially, we’ve really broken through with the faculty, and they’re bringing in their classes regularly, encouraging them to use the archive. So that’s been really, that’s been really great to see. But, I mean, you know, other users, I mean, we have companies that will actually bring design teams to come to the archives and do creative off sites where, you know, maybe they’re working on a particular product, or, you know, they they want to just brush up on their own history and heritage. And so, you know, we work with them to curate a selection of materials that we pull out for them. And you know, they spend half a day, a day, two days in the archives, combing through everything, taking photographs that they can bring back and use for inspiration. And so those have been really successful. I mean, I think we’re, it’s okay to mention, you know, some of those brands, the North Face has sent a team. We’ve had all the birds out. We’ve had some folks from Under Armour, MSR, I know I’m missing many black diamonds. I know I’m missing many more, but so you know, some pretty, pretty significant companies. But then you know, journalists use the collection, there are people who are just kind of gear buffs who, you know, need to know what year this particular parka was made, and so we can help with some of that kind of research. And so, so it’s, it’s, you know, we have a ski resort here in Utah who’s been using the collection for some design inspiration, so it’s kind of all over the map, and that’s been really exciting for us.

Chase Anderson 12:48

We surprisingly, have a lot of people who are on road trips already across the US, and they have to cut through Utah at some point, and they want to swing through while they’re on their way across the country. Surprisingly, a few visitors that are already just kind of trekking across the country, which is fun, great.

Erin Narloch 13:06

How do brands get in contact with you to schedule those trips?

Chase Anderson 13:11

They just, I mean, really, they just reach out to myself or Clint. A lot of them we already have relationships with through the design program. You know, we go to a number of events as well. So functional fabric fairs in Portland, performance days in Munich, where we interface and talk to a lot of brands, and are actually able to showcase the archive at events like those. So I mean, just in our conversations with brands, we you know, when I’m talking about opportunities with the outdoor product design and development program, I always make sure to highlight the opportunities to engage with the archive as well and come to campus. So it’s just a matter of asking. Will even have people message the Instagram account directly and say, “hey, I want to come visit”. And then Clint and I work together to schedule time and make sure rooms are available, and we can accommodate visitors and get people what they need when they want to come and visit. So that’s the other benefit of working with us directly, is we know the collection really well. Obviously, there’s more to discover. We don’t know everything about the collection, but we can kind of help curate and identify items based on people’s interests or needs or whatever they’re trying to accomplish when they come for a visit. Yeah,

Erin Narloch 14:23

What do you think these brand teams see as the value in referencing these archival materials?

Chase Anderson 14:30

I think a lot of them are, well, there’s probably a couple things. I think some of them are trying to reconnect a number of a lot of the brands that have visited are older, and they’ve gone through leadership changes or ownership changes, and, you know, some of these brands don’t have a corporate archivist at the company that’s there educating new employees and and so that’s a conversation we’ve had with with some of the brands that visit. It’s this idea. Of reconnecting with the DNA of the company, what made the company successful in its early days, or what are some of the core products that we’re known for and that we can get back to or or even reinvent some of those core products that made the brand successful? So that’s one thing that I think some companies are looking for. I think some of them just love the experience of getting out of the office and coming to some place new and seeing things they’ve never seen before. A number of the brands also are distributed, and so some of them, it was the first time some of their employees ever met in person before, and we could be that place to convene these really creative, you know, teams to come together around archives. So I think a lot of them are looking for fresh, fresh perspectives, things they haven’t seen before in the collection, like just, does, just, you know, design inspiration in general. Those are a couple things. Clint, is there anything I’m missing?

Clint Pumphrey 16:00

I mean, I think just to build off of what Chase said, I think what we hear from designers is that, you know, there’s a lot of imagery out there, obviously with the internet, but you know, for one thing, some of that imagery tends to get reused a lot like and bounced around on social media, and you see A lot of the same kind of imagery. And so, you know, the archive has millions of images that aren’t on the internet, which is kind of amazing to think about. In 2025 that, you know, there’s, there’s still so much that’s actually not online. And the other thing they really like about the archive is that it’s, you know, you may see an image online that’s really helpful and useful, but you don’t get to see the context within or that that image is within. So, you know, you can see that same image in the archive next to all the other products that were sold with it, next to all the, you know, graphic design that was put into the marketing and the catalog at the time, and all the you know, text about descriptive text about that item. And so you get a lot more information coming into the archive as well. And so I think it offers a really unique opportunity in that way.

Chase Anderson 17:15

It allows the brands to slow down too. I think just coming into the archive to spend a couple days, it allows them to just take a breath and do something different. And you know that that process of like flipping through pages is very different from that experience of scrolling, you know, on on a phone, and I think it lends itself really well to discovery, like sitting in the library and flipping through books like there’s it’s a recipe for for good things, right? And, you know, a lot of interesting things can come from slowing down and doing research in a different way. Yeah,

Erin Narloch 17:49

I agree with that. And I really, really love the point that you brought up Clint about the contextualization of this content, to see it where, where it was meant to be read or explored. And today, I think there’s like a viewing vacuum, right, that so many people engage with historical assets removed from that, like, as you mentioned, the internet, Instagram and scrolling. So if we think about another audience you mentioned earlier, and you touched on it a little bit the way students are utilizing the archive. Can you just tell us a little bit about how a class might come in, and what’s the value in using the archive for these you know, these students who you know, let’s be honest, they were born, in the last 21 years? So for them, this is, this is potentially, this is product and information that’s even more distant from their lived experiences. Yeah,

Chase Anderson 18:54

I think it’s the same idea for industry, right? This idea of slowing down, of like, doing deep, like, thoughtful research, engaging with things that you haven’t seen online. Like, is a really powerful experience. We have a couple examples we could probably share of like, how this is used in the classroom, where Clint is sitting right now is our art book room, and that’s that’s a part of Special Collections, but it’s full of art and design books, and there’s, you know, eight or 10 tables in there, so we can lay out a large volume of material and give the students an opportunity to kind of float around and look at different things that we want to put on display for them to look at and engage with. But a couple things that I notice when our students use the archive in a sketching class, which in sketching, you just think about the technical skill that you’re learning. You know, one of our faculties had this idea of, well, let’s bring a class in the first week of class. So yeah, maybe day one we start to play around with it. With the basics of sketching. But day two, let’s go in and look at some of the great designers and like, let’s actually engage with and see their original sketches and really high, high quality, you know, renderings. And for a student, that’s really daunting to go and look at a designer and their incredible work. And you know, the marker renderings, it’s super polished, super clean. A lot of them felt like, Wow, am I going to be able to do that? But then next to that, we pull out a designer’s notebook or sketchbook, where, for anyone but the designer, it looks like chicken scratch, right? It’s not really legible to the student, or to us, frankly. And so it’s a really cool teaching moment to be able to show students who are in a technical skills class sketching and show them aspirationally. Here’s where you could go, right? This is the power of sketching. But also, here’s another use for sketching, in a notebook for your own personal use, and like how you sort through problems and sketching as a tool to be able to work through problems you know that you have in your mind on paper. And so there’s different purposes for sketching. So I think that was a really eye opening moment for me to see, like, how we can connect a class where that’s focused on technical skill back to the archive, and the students walked away. I think feeling really, I think inspired some a little daunted, but I overall, I think maybe some of that made the class feel a little more achievable for the students, seeing the potential that sketching can do for them. So that’s one class example. I don’t know. Clint. Are there any that kind of jump out at you?

Clint Pumphrey 21:40

I mean, I think that one of the really great reasons for holding the classes here in the art book room is because, yes, we have the outdoor recreation archive materials that they can look at, but they often get drawn to those art and design books that are on on the walls and on shelves, on the walls. And we just had a class here where we had the students. They didn’t even look at anything that was necessarily outdoor focused. They were actually looking at the art and design books to try to get perspectives of design outside of the outdoor industry. And I thought, you know, I’m an outsider. I’m a librarian, I’m an archivist, so I’m not in, you know, I’m not an outdoor product designer. But I think that seems like a really cool experience, to be able to think about design more holistically. And so that’s been a really good arrangement.

Erin Narloch 22:38

Very cool, very cool. So you mentioned this before, that you take the archives out on the road. Can you just walk us through what that looks like? Where do you go? You mentioned two destinations, but just curious.

Chase Anderson 22:54

Yeah, we’ve enjoyed a really great collaboration with the group that puts on functional fabric fair and performance days. So the functional fabric fair is based in Portland. They host two shows a year, in the spring and fall, and then they do a summer show in New York, and then Munich, kind of the same thing. They do two shows: spring and fall. We participate in the two Portland shows, and one in the fall and and in Germany, and we actually work with the trade show director, kind of figure out what the theme of the larger show is, and then we work together to come up with an exhibit that would be interesting for the attendees. And what’s been really fun with that is these trade shows are all about new, new, new, right, the newest materials innovation. But in the middle of the show floor, you’ve got, you know, six or seven display cases with archives in them, you know, catalogs, magazines, other documents that we bring to the show based on whatever theme we come up with, so that that has been really interesting for attendees of the show, where you’ve got the contrast of new materials. But then also, let’s look to the past and learn about our history. It kind of grounds the show, in a way. It’s some examples of past themes or past exhibits that Clint and his team have really put together. We did one all about the history of waterproofing and membrane technology. So focusing on, you know, kind of the early years of, how did we waterproof, pre Gore-Tex, and, you know, all of the chemical treatments that you know now, there’s big conversations around how we use those you know, up until, you know, Gore-Tex and Symbotex and these membrane companies, we’ve done an exhibit all about the history of tents and tent design, complete with like, actual tents, tents on display that the trade show provided. And then in this most recent show, we worked with one of our faculty members, who’s a color specialist, to talk about the evolution and use of color from a very functional perspective in the outdoor space, and how that’s been used over time. So those have been really great opportunities. And when we’re in those areas, when we’re in Portland, when we’re in Munich, what’s really fun is a lot of the brands are there and are in that area. And so there’s also opportunities to take the archive to the companies. So the last few years, we’ve enjoyed taking, you know, the exhibit up to Nike and sharing it with the design teams there, or to Columbia Sportswear, or, you know, other brands that are in the region, so that’s been a really fun experience to be able to take the archive on the road and share it with more people.

Clint Pumphrey 25:46

And I’ll say too, you know, this is an area where I’ve tried to think outside of the box a little bit in terms of how archives usually provide access to materials. So, you know, you know, when we collect these catalogs and these magazines, we keep two copies that are in our closed stacks area, so only accessible, you know, under supervision. But whenever we have a third copy of something, I put it in something called a traveling collection, which is basically materials that we’ve taken all over the world and just laid out on the tables for people to look through. And I think, you know, if something were to have, if coffee got spilled on them, or, you know, they were damaged in some way, or walked off. I mean, we’re watching and trying not to let that happen. But if it did, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, because we have two other copies. But I think, you know, the value in that is that, you know, it’s not just things behind glass. It’s, you know, people can actually touch and feel the materials and physically leaf through them. And I think there’s a really powerful connection to be had when you’re looking through anything that you know is, you know, somebody last looked through, you know, 50, 60, 70 years ago. So I think that’s a really cool tool that we’ve been able to use when we bring these things on the road.

Erin Narloch 27:09

Yeah, for sure that access and use and using the collection and bringing it to audiences. I love it. So, a question for you, is it true that the Outdoor Recreation Archives is the most utilized archival collection at the university?

Clint Pumphrey 27:25

Yeah, I would say that it is. You know, most universities have archives like ours, and generally the main focus is documenting local history. And so a lot of the materials that we have in our collections, any university we have in their collections, our local business records, you know, correspondence and diaries from people who’ve lived in the community. You know, records from local organizations. And of course, those are valuable and important, and we’re going to continue to do that. But you know, sometimes opportunities come up to collect a little bit outside of that sort of local geographic collecting area. And this outdoor rec archive is an obviously great example of that. And I think the reason that it’s, you know, I would say that it’s probably like per item, the most used collection in the archive, and I think that’s just because it has that really broad interest it, you know, beyond just our state or even the US, like people from all over the world are really interested in accessing this material. And you know, all these years that we’ve been doing this, you know, seven going on, seven years now we haven’t found any other archive in the world who’s collecting this type of material. So if you want to see historical gear catalogs or other kinds of historical documents related to the outdoor industry, like, you’ve got to come to Utah State. And so that’s really helped push up the usage of that. And so as an archivist like, that’s like, the Holy Grail. It’s so exciting. And I’m just so glad to be a part of that. And I have to give Chase a lot of credit too, because the only reason that it’s as successful as it, as it has been, is because, you know, we have a person in an academic program who’s really invested in the success of that collection. And so a lot of things go to Chase as well, for making sure that, you know, the archives really plugged into the industry, and I think that’s been a really good partnership.

Chase Anderson 29:29

I think it’s a unique collaboration. I think at most universities, it’s not typical for this kind of a collaboration. But I think the benefit, we’ve found the benefit as a program. And I don’t know if that’s I think that takes a little out of the box thinking right, to figure out, like, oh, how do we use archives, like, in our university program? And I think it’s been really great that we have faculty that have, like, caught the vision too, and that makes it a lot easier, like, for me to just because, again. Like, my full time job is outdoor product design and development, and I have very supportive like administration here that see, oh, well, the work that’s being done in the archive eventually does come back, and it benefits the program. And, you know, even if it was just a resource for students, it would be incredibly valuable. But the attention it attracts to the university and back to the design program is really powerful.

Erin Narloch 30:24

Yeah, and you’re training a whole generation of designers who hopefully go out and kind of change and put their imprint on the outdoor landscape and in the future, make donations right to the archive, right? It’s a sustainable growth model that I think is pretty interesting to explore. Question for both of you, where do you see the future of the outdoor rec archives?

Chase Anderson 30:51

Oh, we have lots of ideas. You got the whiteboard Clint, got the whiteboard out today with all our plans, so.

Clint Pumphrey 30:58

I mean, I think in the short term, you know, we just want to continue to continue to grow the collection there. You know, even though we have such a robust collection at this point, there’s still more material out there to be collected. And I think, you know, there are a lot of people who were involved in the outdoor industry, kind of in the modern industry, sort of in its genesis, in the 60s and 70s who are getting, you know, to the end, you know, where they’re they’ve retired, and they’re starting to think about, you know, what are they going to do with the things in their their basements and addicts? And so I think we want to try to save as much of that as we can. I think it’s really, really good that we came along at this time, because it’s really, it’s a time that’s really right for collecting in this area for sure. You know, I would say, you know, our longer term plans, like Chase kind of mentioned it, but Chase and I were both hired to do other jobs. And so this project, as successful as it’s been, as excited as we are to work on it. It is only like it’s kind of something we have to kind of squeeze in the responsibilities that we were hired for, you know, hired for, and so, you know, working towards making the whole project more sustainable from a staffing standpoint, you know, maybe getting someone dedicated to just working on this project. I think we’re at the point where we could think that this could be someone’s job. We of course, still want to be involved, but I think, I think that’s, you know, from a staff standpoint, a funding standpoint, you know, just making sure that, that once we pass it along to the next person, that it will be here, you know, for the, for the long term. And of course, it will be, the material will always be here, but you know, they will continue to be, you know, marketed and and pushed out and to all these ways that we, Chase and I have been able to do it. And then, you know, one of the big questions we get is, “do you collect actual objects like parkas and tents and sleeping bags and backpacks?”. Unfortunately, the answer right now is no, and part of that is that staffing piece like but it’s also an issue of space and expertise. You know, taking care of fabric is a lot different than taking care of paper and books. And so we need someone who has that expertise, expertise in order to do that. And the storage for those kinds of materials is also different. It’s not just a letter size paper, you know, a box for letter size paper. It’s, you know, custom enclosures and different things. So, you know, having a space for that as well. I think there’s a really interesting opportunity to collect old pieces that students could use, you know, in their own design process, and actually be able to check out and examine and you know, and maybe, while you know, maybe some of that material could actually be on display somewhere. And so, you know, I think we also have some ideas for how that might happen, but it all takes money. And so, you know, just, I think continuing to try to help people see the value of this, you know, maybe that will lead to some, some people who are willing to put forward, some, you know, large some some large donations that would help kind of sustain this project and help us to expand it.

Erin Narloch 34:27

Very cool that you know someone who’s worked in brand archives, very exciting when you start to talk about apparel and just the possibilities, also as a teaching tool. I think for young designers, how cool is it? The look, touch and feel, no swatching, though, no swatching. Like, that’s like, I always get that question, “can we swatch this?”. Which, you know, is cut a little part of it, and you’re like, “No”. Are there any projects that you’re working on that listeners should keep their eyes open for, anything you have to share there?

Chase Anderson 35:05

Well, we’ve got a book coming out. I think that’s the biggest thing that we’ve got going on. Yeah, May, that’s when, apparently. I think it’s May our book is going to come out. It’s called “The Outdoor Archive”. There’s actually pre orders available for the special edition of that book, and then hopefully in the coming months, we’re going to release details about the Standard Edition. But as far as we know, yeah, late spring, we’re going to have a book, which I’ve got the draft here behind me. We’re really excited. Yeah, we were approached, well, Clint was approached, it must be three years ago now, by Thames & Hudson out of London about this idea of putting together a book, coffee table style book featuring imagery from the collection, so it has over 600 catalog cover images, a few complete catalogs included, as well as reflections from designers and creatives and historians that picked an image and then wrote, you know, what that image means to them. So we’re, we’re really excited to see it come out. It’s our way of letting people take something from the archive right, which we’re really excited about.

Clint Pumphrey 36:25

And one other thing I’ll mention too, it’s something that we kind of have ongoing. We have an Outdoor Recreation Archive Research Fellowship. We take applications every fall for those, and it’s, it’s, it’s not just for historians or designers like we. We really leave it open to anyone to propose a project related, to some aspect of the history of outdoor industry or outdoor clothing and gear. So this will be, this is our fourth year of doing that, I believe, and we’ve had artists, we’ve had journalists, we’ve had historians, we’ve had podcasters. So, you know, if anybody’s got an idea for any kind of project that could, you know, would benefit from, from the archive, you know, be on the lookout. Unfortunately, we just awarded our 2025 fellowships. But you know, that’s something to put in the back of your brain for Fall ’25.

Chase Anderson 37:28

And those are typically like a $1,500 stipend to help cover costs to get out here to visit the archive. And we should mention that REI has been generous, generous enough to help fund those. So it’s really great to see brands recognize the value of the history of archives, and they’re, you know, helping invest in making the archive more accessible to more people, which we’re grateful for.

Erin Narloch 37:54

Great. Those are two very exciting projects. I can tell you. I’ve already preordered my book. So excited for that. Where can listeners find out more about the outdoor rec archive? Where should they be looking?

Chase Anderson 38:11

Well, we’ve got to say the Instagram account @outdoorrecarchive, on Instagram. We’re on other social media platforms as well, but Instagram is kind of the go to, Pinterest as well. I think we’ve had some good success there, but ora.usu.edu is our website. And from there you can, you know, go through and see our inventories. So you could see an inventory of the catalogs, the periodicals or magazines, and then a list of the manuscript collections as well.

Erin Narloch 38:42

Very cool. Well, thank you, both of you for your time today. It’s been fascinating, exciting, and I’m saying it now. I’ve got to get out and see the archives in person.

Chase Anderson 38:57

Well, thank you. We share your passion for archives and brand heritage. So thank you for the opportunity.

Erin Narloch 39:09

What a fun conversation today with Clint and Chase. Thanks again, guys for making today’s episode so special. Listeners, I really encourage you to get out there and find the outdoor recreation archives on Instagram and through Utah State University’s website, and really see what they’re up to and what they’ve got cooking. Thank you again for joining us on the history factory podcast, and we look forward to our next conversation and hope you’ll join us then.