American Studies Commons^™

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1998/99, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER Winter 1998-99 The Importance of John Muir's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, CA INTRODUCTION his article focuses on Muir's first public lecture and its importance as one of several turning points in his evolution as a public figure. The venue was the Congregational Church in Sacramento on January 25, 1876. The lecture was the fifth in a series sponsored by the Sacramento Literary Institute. Muir approached this task with fear, began poorly and with apology, finally recalled his topic, enthralled the large audience with his discussion and illustration of the current and ancient glaciers …

Cattle, Environment, And Economic Change: A History Of Cherry County, Nebraska’S Cattle Industry, From Earliest Times To 1940, Gail Lorna Didonato

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A modern cattle industry in Cherry County, Nebraska, developed as challenges of land use and pressures of economic change demanded new and flexible adaptation to the unique environment. Located in the Sandhills, a region only opened to legal white settlement after Indian removal in 1878, the area passed through phases of occupation. Open-range cattlemen drawn by lucrative local markets gave way to struggles over land use between farmers and ranchers. Early twentieth century legislation, the 1904 Kinkaid Act, designed to promote farm settlement, in the end, benefited ranchers the most. As the wedge to gain legal access to land ownership, …

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

Volume 8, Number 4 . I Fall 1998 NEWSLETTER The Muir Renaissance in Scotl by Graham White (Editor's note: A leading voice in the Scottish effort to wkdiscover John Muir, Graham White wrote the introduction to the Canongate collection of Muir's wilderness essays, and is completing a second volume of Muir Writings for that publisher. He can be reached at Brox- mouth Gardens, Dunbar, Scotland EH42 Iqw, or by e-mail at 101320.5 7@compuserve.com.) W. he John Muir Newsletter has invited me to outline the resurgence of interest in John Muir in the land of his birth, and to clarify various …

Cummings Guest House Register Pages 097 And 098, Usm African American Collection

We Exist Series 4: Cummings Guest House Register Excerpts

This is a detail from the Cummings Guest House Register. You can see a digital version of the full text HERE.

Cummings Guest House Register Pages 099 And 100, Usm African American Collection

We Exist Series 4: Cummings Guest House Register Excerpts

This is a detail from the Cummings Guest House Register. You can see a digital version of the full text HERE.

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

John Muir On Mount Ritter: A New Wilderness Aesthetic by Philip G. Terrie (Editor's note: Philip G. Terrie is Professor of English and f American Studies at Bowling Green State University, and author •f Forever Wild: Environmental Aesthetics and the Adirondack wporest Preserve (1985). This article first appeared in The Pacific Historian (1987), and is reproduced here by permission.) hile John Muir has been the subject of considerable scholarly scrutiny in recent years, we have yet to arrive at a complete understanding of his response to nature.1 One on is that we are often too eager to portray him as …

University Of Southern Maine Commencement Program, 1998, University Of Southern Maine

Commencement Programs

University of Southern Maine commencement program, 1998

Saturday May 16th, 1998 at 9:00am

Address by William J. Ryan, Banking Executive

Sebastopol State Historical Park (41gu9), Seguin, Texas: Archeological Excavations, 1978-1988, Sandra R. Sauer, Art Black, Cynthia Brandimarte

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

The town of Seguin in Guadalupe County, Texas, was known for its numerous limecrete structures. Limecrete structures probably once numbered more than 100; now, the house known as Sebastopol is one of only two still standing. Between 1978 and 1988, archeological excavations were conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in and around Sebastopol. The excavations were preparatory to and in conjunction with architectural restoration of the building and development of the site as a State Historical Park. Archeological excavations were intended to evaluate only those areas impacted by the architectural restoration. Excavation units were placed primarily in and …

Constituting White Identities. Disclosure Interviews David Roediger, Pat Jennings, Meredith Redlin

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

No abstract provided.

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

NEWSLETTER YOSEMITE'S POETS: JOHN MUIR'S INFLUENCE ON THE CAREER OF ANSEL ADAMS by Joshua Greenfield, Master's Candidate at Hunter College, City University of New York John Muir was one of those exceptional men whose writing touches us deeply, revealing the world which is potentially avail- Wble to us all. The quality of Muir's vision has undeniably colored my own moods and response and clarified the statements of my camera. Ansel Adams Mm Muir and Ansel Adams were the two great poets of Yosemite H alley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As novelist Wallace fltegner pointed out in a 1985 memorial …

Spring 1998, Wmpg 90.9 Fm

WMPG Program Guides

WMPG program guide for Spring 1998

Includes notes from Program Director, information on shows and events, and schedule.

Cultural Resources Survey For A Joing Task Force Six (Jtf-6) Action In Webb, Maverick, And Dimmit Counties, Texas, Jeffrey D. Owens, Johnna L. Buysse, Steve Gaither

Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State

In an effort to aid United States Border Patrol efforts to combat smuggling and illegal immigration in south Texas, road improvements have been proposed along the U.S.-Mexico international border in three south Texas counties by Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6). JTF-6 Operation Number JT513/515/425-98 consists of a single action in Webb, Maverick, and Dimmit counties, Texas. This action includes the repair/upgrade of approximately 211.0 km (131. 1 mi) of existing roads, the construction of roughly 176.7 km (109.8 mi) of new roads (totaling 387.7 km (240.9 mi), the excavation of three borrow pits, the construction of an equipment storage area, …

"Introduction" To European Immigrants In The American West: Community Histories, Frederick C. Luebke

Department of History: Faculty Publications

European immigrants are the forgotten people of the American West. Their stories are not told in the many books, paintings, and movies that have created the mythic West. Immigrants did not easily fit the image of the West as the bastion of unfettered individualism and self-reliance-a region peopled by the free, brave, and pure-battling against the urbanized, industrialized, a,nd economically dominant East. Nor do European immigrants populate the pages of frontier history. Ever since Frederick Jackson Turner opened the field a hundred years ago, general histories of the American frontier have tended to ignore them. Grounded on the Turnerian notion …

John Wister (1829-1900), Active Iron Industrialist, Raymond Dilissio

People and Places

John Wister was born on July 15, 1829 at Belfield (now sometimes called the Peale House), located here on campus. John was born to William Wister and Sarah Logan Wister; Sarah’s father, William Logan Fisher, originally bought the house from colonial painter Charles Wilson Peale. John was the second oldest of six boys in the family.

Peale And Jefferson: Correspondence From Belfield, Dave Tavani

People and Places

The correspondence between Charles Willson Peale and Thomas Jefferson, while Peale lived at Belfield, is a very interesting window into the lives of two great American men. Peale and Jefferson were friends from revolutionary times--in fact Peale painted Jefferson’s portrait. Jefferson initiated the correspondence with a letter to his friend Peale dated August 20, 1811 and also wrote the last surviving letter, which is dated August 26, 1820.

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1998, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters, 1981-2015

mm IWinter 1998 NEWSLETTER Writing or Living? John Muir's Writerly Identity and Ambivalence by Randall Roorda, University of Missouri, Kansas City (Editor's note: As many fans of John Muir realize, Muir was not comfortable with writing for publication. This analysis of that ■'issue is a revision of a paper presented earlier to the Western Literature Association. We wish to thank the State University of lew York Press for permission to print this excerpt from the forthcoming book, Dramas of Solitude: Narratives of Retreat in American Nature Writing, by Randall Roorda.) lite aspect of John Muir's lite I offer is that …

Three Centuries On The South Campus, James A. Butler

Local History Essays

(Reprinted from La Salle: A Quarterly La Salle University Magazine, Fall 1998)

The story of the south campus begins, as any settlement of a new country must, with the land itself. Early in the eighteenth century, the horseback rider exploring his 500-acre "plantation" acutely felt what we in our cars scarcely notice: La Salle’s property, approached from the south, rises as a formidable hill. And the rider observed, as we no longer can, two pristine and swift-moving creeks--one following the line of present-day Belfield Avenue and the other that of Ogontz Avenue.

Charles Willson Peale At Belfield: "Your Garden Must Be A Museum", Kateryna A. Rudnytzky

Local History Essays

Famous colonial portrait painter Charles Willson Peale ("second only to Benjamin Franklin as Philadelphia’s 18^th century Renaissance man") lived at Belfield Mansion—still standing—from 1810 until 1821. Belfield Mansion, partly dating from 1708, is one of the oldest university buildings in use in the country.

Frances Anne Kemble (1809-1893), Natalie Karelis

People and Places

Frances Anne Kemble was born into a theatrical family in London, England, on November 27, 1809. Her roots in the theater were well established at her birth, her aunt being the renowned actress Sarah Siddons and her father, Charles Kemble, the renowned Shakespearean actor.

The National League For Woman's Service, Lydia Stieber

People and Places

St. Mutien’s Christian Brothers’ Residence, located on La Salle University’s South Campus, was once one of the busiest centers in Germantown. In 1917, this building was known as "Little Wakefield" and was a demonstration center for one of most active branches of the National League for Woman’s Service.

Sarah Logan Fisher Wister (1806-1891), Monica Shields

People and Places

Sarah Logan Fisher Wister was born May 18, 1806 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Her parents were William Logan Fisher and his first wife, Mary Rodman. Little, if anything, is known about her childhood because the authors of the greatest quantity of information known about her were her son and her granddaughter.

William Rotch Wister (1827-1911), Dave Stanoch

People and Places

William Rotch Wister, born on December 7, 1827, was raised along with his siblings at the Belfield estate. William derived his "Rotch" name from the Rodmans and Rotches, relatives in Massachusetts who were the first people to settle the island of Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts.

Ella Eustis Wister Haines (1879-1969), Kristen Terranova

People and Places

Ella Eustis Wister was born on August 30, 1879 to William Rotch Wister and Mary Rebecca Eustis, at Mrs. Wister’s mother’s home in Milton, Massachusetts.

Sarah Logan Wister Starr (1873-1956), Jeff Thompson

People and Places

Named after her grandmother, Sarah Logan Fisher, Sarah Logan Wister was born in Pierre County, Duncannon, near Philadelphia in 1873. Her Father John Wister descended from the wealthy Wisters of Philadelphia, while her mother descended from James Logan, Secretary to William Penn during the early colonial period.

"Waldheim" And Its Inhabitants, Justin Cupples

People and Places

Remnants of the foundation of the former "Waldheim" mansion are still in existence. One can still trek into the small patch of woods between the Neumann Halls Dormitory and the La Salle University commuter parking lot, and take a gander at the ruins of the home of historically significant people.

John Caspar Wister (1887-1982), Andy Gwiazda

People and Places

John Caspar Wister, who was, as the Philadelphia Inquirer so aptly described him, the "dean of horticulturists" in the UnitedStates, was born on March 19, 1887, to William Rotch Wister and Mary Rebecca Eustis in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

William Logan Fisher (1781-1862), Michelle Dillin

People and Places

William Logan Fisher, industrialist, author, and "Philadelphia patriarch" bought the "Belfield" estate from the Peale family in 1826. He lived at "Wakefield" and established the Wakefield Mills Manufacturing Company. In its prime, the Wakefield Mills, powered by steam and water, produced an estimated nine-tenths of all hosiery and fancy knit goods in the United States.

Mary Channing Wister (1870-1913): An Unknown Legend, Eric M. Augenstein

People and Places

Most articles and stories about Mary Channing Wister start out like this: "Mary Channing Wister, the wife of the novelist Owen Wister, author of The Virginian. . . ." For some people, being affiliated with a famous spouse or other family member is a great honor. There is much more to Mary Channing Wister, though, than just having a famous husband.

Wisters And Fishers In The Civil War, Jen Merritt

People and Places

The Wister and Fisher families who lived on or near what is today La Salle's campus were prominent members of their community and many of them served diligently during the Civil War.

Frances Anne Wister (1874-1956), Bob Delp

People and Places

One of the first leadership positions that Frances Anne held was as vice president of the Women’s Civic Club of Philadelphia (c. 1907). She served as vice president for the rest of her life, except for a period of seven years (1922-29), when she served as its president. It was her sister, Mary Channing Wister, who founded the Women’s Civic Club, but when she died, Frances Anne continued it and kept it running. The Civic Club was responsible for bringing about electric street lighting to the city of Philadelphia.