Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Collection Summary
Collection Title: John Muir Correspondence
Date (inclusive): 1856-1914
Collection Number: various
Creator:
Muir, John
Extent:
22 reels of microfilm containing 6581 letters.
6581 digital objects.
Repositories: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
University of the Pacific Library
Holt-Atherton Dept. of Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
URL: http://library.pacific.edu/ha/
Abstract: This collection consists of digital images of the
correspondence of John Muir from 1856-1914. The vast majority of the letters were
sent and received by Muir, although the collection also includes some correspondence
of selected family members and colleagues. Muir’s correspondence offers a unique
first-hand perspective on his thoughts and experiences, as well as those of his
correspondents, which include many notable figures in scientific, literary, and
political circles of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The correspondence forms
part of the John Muir Papers microfilm set that filmed letters located at over 35
institutions.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the collections are stored offsite and
advance notice may be required for use. For information on the location of the
original letters and/or the microfilm reels, please contact the owning
institution.
Information for Researchers
Access Information
Collection is open for research.
Conditions of Use
Some of the materials in the John Muir Correspondence Collection may be protected
by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) and/or by the copyright or
neighboring rights laws of other nations. Additionally, the reproduction of some
materials may be restricted by privacy or publicity rights. Responsibility for
making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary
permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to reproduce or use the item.
The owning institutions encourage use of these materials under the fair use
clause of the 1976 copyright act. For the purposes of research, teaching, and
private study, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download)
materials from this collection without prior permission of the owning
institution, on the condition that proper attribution of the source is provided
in all copies.
For other uses of materials (e.g., commercial products, publication, broadcast,
and other reproductions not considered "fair use"), requests for permission must
be submitted in writing to the owning institution. Permission for publication or
other use is given on behalf of each institution 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. Contact the owning institution, identified
in the "Publisher" field of the description of the item.
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], John Muir Correspondence, [owning institution
name].
Alternative Form of Materials Available
Full collection is available on microfilm as part of the John Muir Papers.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog
Muir, John, 1838-1914
Conservation of natural
resources--United States--History--Sources
Conservationists--United States
Natural history--United
States--History--Sources
Naturalists--United States
United
States--Description and travel--Views
Biography/Organization History
A Scottish-born journalist and naturalist, John Muir (1838-1914) studied botany and
geology at the University of Wisconsin (1861-1863). He worked for awhile as a mill
hand at the Trout Broom Factory in Meaford, Canada (1864-1866), then at an
Indianapolis carriage factory (1866-1867), until an accident temporarily blinded him
and directed his thoughts toward full-time nature study. Striking out on foot for
South America, Muir walked to the Gulf of Mexico (September 1867-January 1868), but
a long illness in Florida led him to change his plans and turn his interests
westward. Muir arrived by ship at San Francisco (March 1868), walked to the Sierra
Nevada Mountains and began a five year wilderness sojourn (1868-1873) during which
he made his year-round home in the Yosemite Valley. Working as a sheepherder and
lumberman when he needed money for supplies, Muir investigated the length and
breadth of the Sierra range, focusing most of his attention on glaciation and its
impact on mountain topography. He began to publish newspaper articles about what he
saw in the California mountains and these articles brought him to the attention of
such intellectuals as Asa Gray and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom sought him out
during their visits to California. Encouraged by Jeanne Carr, wife of his one-time
botany professor, Ezra S. Carr, Muir took up nature writing as a profession (1872).
He set up winter headquarters in Oakland and began a pattern of spring and summer
mountaineering followed by winter writing based upon his travel journals that he
held to until 1880. His treks took him to Mount Shasta (1874, 1875 & 1877),
the Great Basin (1876, 1877, 1878), southern California and the Coast Range (1877),
and southern Alaska (1879). Muir found that he could finance his modest bachelor
lifestyle with revenue from contributions published in various San Francisco
newspapers and magazines. During this period he launched the first lobbying effort
to protect Sierra forests from wasteful lumbering practices (1876).
In 1880 he married Louisa Strentzel, daughter of a prominent physician and
horticulturist in Martinez, Calif. Quickly learning the fruit business, Muir soon
found himself caught up in the full-time management of his father-in-law's orchard
properties. Two daughters (Annie Wanda, b. 1881 and Helen Lillian, b. 1886) added to
his domestic responsibilities. His writing diminished both in quantity and quality
during this decade, with only one lengthy project completed (Picturesque California,
1888).
Prompted by the persistent urging of Robert Underwood Johnson, an editor of Century
Magazine, and freed from many business obligations by his father-in-law's death and
the subsequent sale of much of Strentzel's property by Louisa Strentzel Muir, John
Muir launched a major writing and lobbying campaign that culminated in the creation
of Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant National Parks (1890). He also helped found
the Sierra Club (1892) and used its collective influence to protect the boundaries
of Yosemite (1895) from lumber interests. During the 1890s Muir again began to
travel, visiting Alaska, 1890; Europe, 1893; Arizona & Oregon, 1896; Canada
& Alaska, 1897, 1899; the Midwest and New England, 1898) and also published
his first important book,
The Mountains of California
(1894).
During Muir's final fourteen years, he was hounded by a variety of family
difficulties and political failures that probably hastened his death. Louisa, Muir's
wife, died in 1905. In the same year his younger daughter, Helen, contracted
tuberculosis and Muir shepherded the young woman to various spas ultimately settling
her at Daggett in the Mojave Desert (1905). Meanwhile, the naturalist found himself
at odds with "utilitarian" conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford
Pinchot, who were less interested in the preservation of wilderness than in the
controlled "harvesting" of forest resources. Pinchot also favored conversion of the
Hetch Hetchy Valley to a reservoir for the city of San Francisco, an idea which
ultimately became a reality despite Muir's dogged opposition (1908-1913). Still,
John Muir found time and energy both for travel and for writing. In 1903 he ushered
President Theodore Roosevelt up Half Dome, then shortly afterward took a year's
voyage around the world (1903-1904). In 1906 Muir spent much time with daughter
Helen in Arizona, the following year he summered in the Hetch Hetchy with California
painter, William Keith and in 1909 visited the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River
with John Burroughs and E.H. Harriman. His most extended trip during these years was
a six month tour of South America and Africa (1911-1912). Muir somehow found time
during the same years to publish
Stickeen (1908),
My First Summer in the Sierra (1910) and
The Yosemite (1912).
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of the correspondence of John Muir from 1856-1914. The vast
majority of the letters were sent and received by Muir, although the collection also
includes some correspondence of selected family members and colleagues. Muir’s
correspondence offers a unique first-hand perspective on his thoughts and
experiences, as well as those of his correspondents, which include many notable
figures in scientific, literary, and political circles of the 19th and early 20th
centuries.
The correspondence forms part of the John Muir Papers microfilm set that includes
letters that are located at over 35 institutions. In this digital collection the
“owning institution” of the original letters is indicated on each image and in its
metadata. Muir correspondence that was acquired after the microfilm was created in
1986 is not currently included in this digital collection, although it may be added
at a later date.