American Studies Commons^™

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1999, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

NEWSLETTER c Reconstructing John Mum's First Public Lecture, Sacramento, 1876 by Steve Pauly, Pleasant Hill, California (Editor's Note: In our previous issue, Steve Pauley's article placed John Muir's first public talk in context. Wmere is his re-creation of some sections of the talk.) n the beginning of the long glacial winter, the lofty Sierra seems to have consisted of one vast undulated wave, in which a thousand separate mountains, with their domes and spires, their innumerable canons and lake basins, lay concealed. In the development of these, the Master Builder chose for a tool, not the earthquake nor lightning to …

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 …

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 [email protected].) 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Matlovich Society (Fall 1997), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

Fall 1997 NEWSLETTER Intimacies of a New England Trip: John Muir's 1898 Excursion by j. Parker Huber (Editor's note: Parker Huber, a regular contributor to these ■pages, here excerpts and discusses a few days of John Muir's life from the pages of Muir's journal of 1898 and from his letters.) ohn Muir's extensive travels included five trips to New England, finch occurred in 1893,1896,1898,1903 and 1911. His longest fxposure to New England came in late summer and autumn of 1898. This visit had three phases: first an overnight on Cape Cod, ; which is considered here, followed by a tour …

Matlovich Society (Summer 1997), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

The John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

MUIR 1997 What Does Love Have To Do With It: ~Chr7sTIAi^^ &~KlNDRED REDEMPTION by Bonnie Johanna Gisel (Editor's note: Adjunct Assistant Professor of Nineteenth-Century American Cultural History at Drew University '' TnIleVrSey' ^se[ant^PTlthe coJ^on, in Fall 1997, of her Ph.D. dissertation ZJeannecZrrntitled Jeanne C. Carr: Into the Sun. A Nineteenth-Century American Woman's Experience in Nature and Wilderness) copyright @ 1997, by Bonnie J. Gisel hi ! amination of the letters of Elvira Hutchings written to me C. Carr and to John Muir above all reveal a portrait of friendship shared by Muir and Elvira Hutchings. A further examination provides insight …

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1997, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

JOHN WgW Volume 7, Number 2 NEW MUIR Spring 1997 X I 4 J^,AN EPISODE IN THE YOSEMITE: by Frank E. Buske copyright @ 1989,1991, by Frank E. Buske (Editor's note: Dr. Frank Buske, emeritus professor and former Chair of the English Department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, now lives in Tucson, Arizona. This paper was presented at the 1990 John Muir Conference at UOP, and is published here, along with letters from a private collection, with the author's permission.) ('•< Muir spent the winter of 1873-75 at the McChesney home in land, having come down from his beloved mountains to spend time putting into words some of the observations he had made • ■ nig the trees and the glaciers and on the ■ - les. Mrs. Jeanne Carr and others of his I «ls had, for a long time, been * •imaging him to do more writing; they HHgested that there was a market for his j I les and a need for him to set down his ilf|overies while they were still fresh in his mind. Mrs. McChesney, in a later reminiscence, described Muir as "dressed gi»iei ally in what we call now negligee, i.e., he wore a blue flannel shirt, but was never : without a sprig of some green plant as an-S*0 jjpment." Muir's apparel would be appropriate for ij§krnd of life he most enjoyed. He disliked lifting to dress for any formal occasion and hied to avoid any social gathering that would HHuire clothing and behavior that were not comfortable to him. Although he had uently written of his loneliness, sped1 w.f t enviously about his relatives and ids who had married and were raising families, he seems to made no effort to alter his own bachelor status during that Winter in the Bay Area. Mrs. J "• ' Carr The subject of John Muir and his relationship with women is interesting to ponder, and is a topic that has received a good deal of attention and even more misinformed speculation. Some verses that he wrote before this time, highly critical of young women, their appearance and the way they dressed, prompted his friend, Bradley Brown, to write the eighteen-year old Muir, "Excuse me, John, but perhaps unreciprocated love was the cause of your rhyming against the sweet little creatures. To love is painful, that is true. Not to love is painful, too. But oh! It gives the greatest pain to love and not to be loved again." The subject of Muir's poem may well have been imaginary but Brown's observations can certainly be considered prescient. At twenty-two, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, working with ice-boat inventor Wiard, John Muir wrote his brother, David, telling him of the people he was meeting. David, very much a ladies' man, replied, "I would like very well to hear that piano and Miss E.P. (excuse me, John) playing on it." Miss E.P. was, of course, Emily Pelton, niece of the proprietors of the Mandell House where Muir was living. In December of that same year, John Muir wrote his sister, Sarah, and her husband, David Galloway, of an occasion which shows a rather vivid picture of his social skills: UNIVERSITY OR page 1 (continued on page 3) PACIFIC

NEWS NOTES: JOHN MUIR CENTER PUBLICATION PROGRAM The John Muir Center announces the continuation of its series of …

Matlovich Society (Spring 1997), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

Matlovich Society (Winter 1997), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

The John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1996/97, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

Volume 7, Number 1 NEW °3> f\ND VARWIN God and Evolution in Nature by Shayne Zurilgen (Editor's note: The author, a senior in geology at the University of the Pacific, prepared this paper in the fall of 1996for an undergraduate history class, "JohnMuir and the Environment.") Ifred Lord Tennyson was looking into his microscope one day when he was moved to comment, "Strange that these wonders should draw some men to God and repel others."1 Tennyson was addressing the fervor surrounding Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. While he didn't really identify anyone in particular, Tennyson conceivably could …

Matlovich Society (Fall 1996), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

The John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1996, The John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

Volume 6, Number 4 NEW DNSERVATIONIST: Agriculture in California's Central Valley by Kevin S. Frazier ;:';:::::;:.'ij ; (Editor's note: our feature article this month was written by a senior at the University of the Pacific, the first recipient of the Rockwell Hunt Summer Research Scholarship for UOP undergraduates.) s I frequently drive through the California Central Valley from my home in Sonora to school in Stockton, my constant companions are expansive agricultural fields. Corn gives way to tomatoes which give way to sugar beets; orchards of walnuts turn to orchards of peaches or apricots; herds of cattle graze by the …

Matlovich Society (Summer 1996), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1996, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter summer 1996 university of the pacific volume 6, number 3 JOHN MUIR'S ATTENTION EPISTEMOLOGY by Richard Wiebe (Editor's note: Professor of Philosophy at Fresno Pacific College, Richard Wiebe presented this paper at a 1995 conference sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment). Talk of mysteries!—Think of our life in nature,— daily tobe shown matter, to come in contact with it,— rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the so/M earth! the actual world! the common sensel Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we? —"Ktaadn" from The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau …

John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1996, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir N spring 1996 university of the pacific volume 6, number 2 JOHN MUIR AND THEBIDWELLS: THE FORGOTTEN FRIENDSHIP By Michael J. Gillis (Editor's note: this article was originally published in the Spring, 1995 issue oftheDogtown Territorial Quarterly, and reprinted here with the kind permission of its publisher, Bill Anderson of Paradise, California.. The author, Michael Gillis, is Lecturer in History at California State University, Chico. He and a colleague, Michael Magliaria, are working on a book-length study of John Bidwell, Chico's founder and most prominent citizen) The thirty-seven year friendship between John Muir and the Bidwells which began …

Matlovich Society (Spring 1996), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

Matlovich Society (Winter 1996), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

John Muir Newsletter, Winter 1995/96, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter winter 1995-96 university of the pacific volume 6, number 1 HOW I FOUND SMOKEY JACK'S CAMP AND TWENTY-HILL HOLLOW ByRobert Bauer (Editor's note: When not raising turkeys, Robert Bauer is a graduate student in anthropology at California State University, Stanislaus, working on a master's thesis that places Muir and his work in the context of the land and people of the Sierra foothills between the Merced and Tuolumne rivers.) John Muir first came to eastern Merced County in 1868 by a circuitous route. Following a botanzing trip through Florida and Cuba, he was taken with a fever …

Matlovich Society (Autumn/Winter 1995), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

John Muir Newsletter, Fall 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

Muir Newsletter fall 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 4 JOHN MUIR AND THE VAN DYKE RANCH: INTIMACY AND DESIRE IN HIS FINAL YEARS By Peter Wild (Editor's note: Well-known author, poet, biographer and nature writer, Peter Wild is Professor of Modern Language at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The following paper is an outgrowth of his recent research on the Muir family in the Southwest. Part One was published in the previous issue.) PARTTWO The Muirs owed much of Helen's well-being to the ranchers, Theodore Strong Van Dyke and his son Dix. The Van Dykes were …

Apex : A Point Of Departure, Vol.4, No.07 (August 1995), Annette Dragon, Naomi Falcone, Diane Matthews, Madeleine Winter

Apex : a point of departure (1992-1995)

No abstract provided.

Matlovich Society (Summer 1995), Matlovich Society

Matlovich Society (1991-1997)

No abstract provided.

Apex : A Point Of Departure, Vol.4, No.06 (July 1995), Annette Dragon, Naomi Falcone, Diane Matthews, Madeleine Winter

Apex : a point of departure (1992-1995)

No abstract provided.

John Muir Newsletter, Summer 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter summer 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 3 JOHN MUIR AND THE VAN DYKE RANCH: INTIMACY AND DESIRE IN HIS FINAL YEARS By Peter Wild (Editor's note: Well-known author, poet, biographer and nature writer, Peter Wild is Professor of Modern Language at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The following paper is an outgrowth of his recent research on the Muir family in the Southwest. Part Two will be published in the next issue.) PARTONE When occasional gunfire erupted in the town, it could be heard at the nearby desert ranch, but that didn't seem …

Apex : A Point Of Departure, Vol.4, No.05 (June 1995), Annette Dragon, Naomi Falcone, Diane Matthews, Madeleine Winter

Apex : a point of departure (1992-1995)

No abstract provided.

John Muir Newsletter, Spring 1995, John Muir Center For Regional Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter spring 1995 university of the pacific volume 5, number 2 JOHN MUIR AND ZEN BUDDHISM by Michelle L. Dwyer (Editor's note: Michelle Dwyer is an English and Philosophy double major at the University of the Pacific. This paper was prepared in the fall of 1994 for an undergraduate course, "John Muir and the American Environment. ") Many question whether John Muir followed traditional Christianity, mystic pantheism, ora combination of the two. After reading many of Muir's writings, it seems to me that he follows the religious beliefs of Zen Buddhism closely enough to say that Muir understood …