Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Creator:
Olmsted, John, 1938-
Title: John D. Olmsted Papers
Date: 1968-1969
Date: 2012
Extent:
0.4 linear feet
Abstract: John DeVeaux Olmsted was born on March 2, 1938 and died March 8, 2011. He founded the
Mendocino-Tahoe Conservancy. He also worked to establish or save many California State Parks. He was
instrumental in the creation of the Independence Trail, a wheelchair accessible nature trail in South Yuba State
Park in California.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many
are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special
Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-539
Language of Material: Collection materials in English.
John DeVeaux Olmsted was born on March 2, 1938 and died March 8, 2011. He had a 40 year career as a naturalist
in California. Sometimes called "the father of the trail", he founded and saved California parks, including Jug
Handle, a state reserve near Mendocino, the South Yuba River State Park which includes the Independence Trail,
the first wheelchair accessible nature trail. Before his death, he founded the Mendocino-Tahoe Conservancy
Greatly influenced by John Muir, John Olmsted spent more than 40 years preserving open space in California. His
life's vision was to create an across California trail from Mendocino to Lake Tahoe, which would be called, "The
Cross California Ecological Trail." He strongly believed in Muir's contemplation, "When we try to pick out
anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
Fellow conservationists remember John Olmsted as a conservationist who loved to teach people about the nature
beauty of California. While at the Golden Gate Park, he created a collection of images that gave 720 examples of
California plant and animal life. He taught with the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley Extension and the Mendocino Art
Center.
The collection consists of 2 DVDs entitled, "My Father Who Art in Nature: John Olmsted Memorial" and "Stories
of the Yuba: a Filmmaker's Journey on the River of his Youth, both by Alden Olmsted, the son of John D. Olmsted.
There is also a set of slides entitled "The Language of Nature, Set 1, California Plant and Animal Life in 720
Slides, edited by John D. and Priscilla C. Olmsted.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public
access catalog.
Olmsted, John, 1938---Archives
Olmsted, Priscilla C.
Olmsted, Alden
Plants--California--Identification
Naturalist--United States--Biography
Conservationists--United States--Biography
Animals--California--Identification
Collection is open for research.
Patricia C. Inouye processed this collection and created and encoded this finding aid. This collection was
processed under the Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries.
Acquired from Alden Olmsted.
[Identification of item], John D. Olmsted Papers, D-539, Department of Special Collections, General Library,
University of California, Davis.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to
publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of
California, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.