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William Frederic Badè

1871-1936

William Frederic Bade
  • Editor, Sierra Club Director, theologian, university professor.
  • A graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Yale Divinity School (1895).
  • Badè was a professor at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley from 1902 to 1936. He taught Old Testament Literature, and also conducted archeological research in Palestine.
  • In 1903, he joined the Sierra Club and became an active member and protege of John Muir during Muir's later years.
  • He served as president of the Sierra Club from 1918 to 1922, and as editor of the Sierra Club Bulletin for twelve years.
  • Badè was active in the Hetch Hetchy campaign with Muir in the Sierra Club.
  • Badè officiated at John Muir's funeral on December 28, 1914.
  • After Muir's death, his daughters chose Badè to be Muir's literary executor. Badè edited and published Muir's posthumous works: A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916), The Cruise of the Corwin (1917), and Steep Trails (1918). He also wrote the preface for Muir's Travels in Alaska (1915), a posthumous work edited by Marion Randall Parsons. The Life and Letters of John Muir (1924), volumes 9 and 10 in The Writings of John Muir series (1916-1924) and later published separately, were compiled and edited by Badè. Using Muir's letters and journals he assembled a vast amount of unpublished material for The Life and Letters of John Muir. Badè had hoped to locate a thousand letters; he ultimately accumulated nearly double that number. In a garret in Indiana he discovered Muir's collection of botanical specimens, the remnants of a trip through Canada. From the dates and notations on these specimens, Dr. Badè was able to trace Muir's movements of a little known period of his life. Compiling The Life and Letters of John Muir so soon after Muir's death gave Badè a chance to collect reminiscences from people who had known Muir.
  • Bade's papers in The John Muir Collections at Holt-Atherton Library include book reviews of Muir's works, newspaper clippings about Muir, transcriptions of journal selections, manuscripts, letters, and reminiscences. The reminiscences are included in the microform collection. Badè transcribed over 3,100 letters by Muir and his correspondents. Some of the typed letters were filmed if the original letters were lost or difficult to read. All correspondence was published in some form in the microform edition.



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