McAleenan began privately publishing books and giving them to his family, friends, and various distinguished members of society in 1914 when he wrote Through Yellowstone Park and Elk Hunting in Wyoming, published and printed by P.J. Collison & Co. As the title suggests, the book, like most of his works, describes his hunting adventures in and exploration of the West, excursions that included friends such as Robert Frothingham, a writer and anthologist, Dr. Harlow Brooks, a famous New York pathologist, and John Murgatroyd, a well-respected taxidermist. McAleenan filled his books with journal entry’s, tall tales, photographs and lyrics and lines from people like Woody Guthrie and Rudyard Kipling. His books are a recording not just of his own adventures but also of an era that emphasized masculinity, “rugged individualism,” naturalism, resilience, exploration and conquest. McAleenan and his friends seemed to seek what Roosevelt called the “strenuous life,” meaning a life in which men do not shrink from danger or hardship (Roosevelt). Like Roosevelt, McAleenan and his friends were members of the conservationist-oriented and, at the time, strongly masculine institutions, the Explorers Club, the Campfire Club,[1] and the New York Zoological Society (NYZS).[2] They hunted for sport, at times donating their taxidermied trophies to the NYZS. They explored and hunted with Jimmy Simpson, a famous Canadian guide. Local Wyoming newspapers reported on their adventures, one of which described them as being “One of the most enthusiastic bunch of big game hunters that ever chased a grizzly in Wyoming’s hills” (“Party of Eminent Men”). When they were done hunting with rifles, they began “hunting” with cameras as McAleenan explains in his book Hunting with Rifle and Camera: “As of late years, the camera has appealed to us more than the rifle” (3). McAleenanand his fellow adventurers were men of their era, and his books, though originally intended for a small audience, today are rich historical resources that provide a window into their world.
Bibliography
The following books make up, as far as I know, the entirety of his bibliography. Of special note are two of his works… Diary of the Wyoming Bear Hunt (1914) and Leaves from a Wyoming Diary (1924) are included in the Western Americana: Frontier History of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1550-1900, a microfilm collection of 7,000 titles primarily from the collections of the Beinecke Library at Yale and the Newberry Library at the University of Chicago. Their inclusion in this collection suggests their value…
- Diary of the Wyoming Bear Hunt (1914), Published by Press of P.J. Collison & Co.
- Through Yellowstone Park and Elk Hunting in Wyoming (1914), Published by The Knickerbocker Press, G.P. Putnam’s Sons
- The History of the Irish Wolfdog (1917), Reprinted by H.S. Nichols; originally printed in Dublin, 1897 (First edition available in HathiTrust)
- Diary Kept by Joseph McAleenan of a Cruise for Sword-Fish in the Month of July, 1916 (1922), published by H.S. Nichols
- Leaves from a Wyoming Diary (1924), published by H.S. Nichols
- Hunting with Rifle and Camera in the Canadian Rockies (1924), published by H.S. Nichols
- Grand Canyon Trails (1924), published by H.S. Nichols
- The Explorer (1924), published by H.S. Nichols