I've seen many mentions of the Ultraviolet Catastrophe, but I don't remember reading that it directly caused Plank to look for (a quantized) solution. That seems like a historical justification that a QM physics class doesn't need. I looked through both Liboff and Baym and don't see even a mention of ultraviolet (other than problem sets) or catastrophe, but maybe I missed it. These are searchable.
I don't think the Mechanical Uselessverse (as we referred to it) would be a text for these schools, thought it was produced at caltech and it apparently does refer to the ultraviolet catastrophe. I think you're more likely to find it in videos and narrative historical materials where story is more important.
