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Yosemite Sentinel 1-47 (1941-)

Yosemite Sentinel masthead

Yosemite Sentinel (YNN) is the employee newsletter of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company (YPCC) and successor companies, the private concessionaire for Yosemite National Park. Listed for each year are selected articles, usually those cited elsewhere. However, many other worthwhile articles are not listed (send me a message if you see any articles I should list—in fact if you are willing to go through and pick out notable articles, let me know also). Only issues up to 1986 are available online. Later issues may be available at the Yosemite Research Library in Yosemite Village. The volume and issue numbering is confused, inconsistent, and duplicative, probably due to the high-turnover in editors, who also had other things to do. Years are also off by a year in some cases. The files below are big (1-25MB each), so be patient downloading each year. See below for the history of the Yosemite Sentinel.


History of the Yosemite Sentinel

The November 1974 issue provides a brief history of the Yosemite Sentinel (misidentified as November 1975). The first issue was called The Lost Arrow and was issued by a group of employees calling themselves the Yosemite Club with the backing of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company. the name changed to The Yosemite Sentinel in the second issue, November 6, 1941, with which this run begins. In the latter part of 1942 the Sentinel was taken over by the Curry Company which has continued publication of the paper to the present.

The paper contains community as well as company news with articles from people across the spectrum of the local community. Its publication schedule and format have changed many times. the Christmas issue of the early years was always the issue closest to Christmas, most often with a format different from the rest of the year’s issues. in 1960 the Sentinel became a glossy 8 1/2" x 11" paper of four or more pages.

The gap in publication between the issues of October 17, 1969, and November 1974 occurred at a time of changes in the Yosemite Park and Curry Company. the Curry family control of the company ended with Mary Curry Tressider’s death on October 29, 1970, after which stock purchases gave control first to the Shasta Corporation and then to U. S. Natural Resources, Inc. The Music Corporation of America (MCA) bought the controlling interest in August 1973, and Ed Hardy became the company’s Chief Executive Officer January 1, 1974. a new stability inside the company, combined with an interest in employees and community, lead to the republication of the Sentinel beginning in November 1974. in 1987 the Yosemite Sentinel continues to be a monthly publication of varying length representing company and community.

Many historical articles are by Shirley Sargent, who worked as the historian for the YPCC.


Bibliographical Information

Yosemite Sentinel (Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Park and Curry Company, 1941-). 30 cm. Ill.

Copies provided courtesy of Dr. Hal Rothman (1958-2007), formerly Professor of History at UNLV.



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