The Himalayan Club

The Himalayan Club is an organization founded in India in 1928 along the lines of the Alpine Club. The stated mission of the organization was “to encourage and assist Himalayan travel and exploration, and to extend knowledge of the Himalaya and adjoining mountain ranges through science, art, literature and sport.” The Club publishes a journal, the Himalayan Journal and has a library. Chewang Motup Goba from Ladakh is the current president of The Himalayan Club.[1]

Mountaineer Divyesh Muni (VP of Himalayan club in 2017), Rita Gombu (Daughter of Mountaineer late Nawang Gombu) and Motup Chewang (VP of Himalayan club in 2017) at the 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival venue IMF Delhi

History

The idea to start such an organization was proposed in 1866 by Mr. F. Drew and Mr. W. H. Johnson to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.[2] Douglas Freshfield, active member of the Royal Geographic Society wrote in the Alpine Journal in 1884, "The formation at Calcutta or Simla," he said, "of (a) Himalayan Club, prepared to publish Narratives of Science and Adventure' concerning the mountains, would be the most serviceable means to this end."[2] The organization was finally established on 17 February 1928 in the office of Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood. A library was established at Shimla.[2] Some of the 127[2] founding members were:[3]

The membership of the organization grew from 250 in 1928 to 572 in 1946. A library was initially established in Shimla at United Service Institution of India but moved to the Survey of India and in 1932 to New Delhi. In 1947, most of the British members left India but continued to be members. With more members in Calcutta, it was managed from there and the library moved from the Army headquarters to the Calcutta Light Horse Club in 1948. In 1958 the library moved to the Geological Survey of India and in 1966 it moved to the National Library of India in Calcutta. In 1971, it moved back to New Delhi where it was housed in the Central Secretariat and before moving to the Indian International Centre in 1976 where it continues to be located.[3]

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References
  1. "The Himalayan Club". The Himalayan Club. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  2. Corbett, G.L. (1929). "The founding of the Himalayan Club". The Himalayan Journal. 1: 1–3. MR. DOUGLAS FRESHFIELD tells me that the idea of a Himalayan Club goes back so far as 1866, when it was formally suggested to the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Mr. F. Drew and Mr. W .H. Johnson. And Mr. Freshfield himself, writing in The Alpine Journal in 1884, advised that our knowledge of the Himalaya might thus be extended. "The formation at Calcutta or Simla," he said, "of (a) Himalayan Club, prepared to publish Narratives of Science and Adventure' concerning the mountains, would be the most serviceable means to this end." The idea must have recurred to many, but it never took shape, not because a Club was not wanted, but because in this land of endlessness it is only now and then that the two or three are gathered together.
  3. Flora, Nirmolini V (2003). "The Library of the Himalayan Club, a Unique Cultural Institution in Simla, 1928-1946". Libraries & the Cultural Record. 38 (4): 289. doi:10.1353/lac.2003.0062.
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