the john muir exhibit - stamps - fleetwood shapers combo
Fleetwood Shapers of America Combo
John Muir 1964 - Liberty 1986 Commemorative Cover
Issued October 1, 1988
This cover is a combination featuring the 1964 John Muir stamp and the 1986 Liberty stamp, a part of Fleetwood's "The Shapers of America" series. This commemorative cover is postmarked October 1, 1988 at Yosemite National Park, California.
The cachet features, from left to right, A Giant Sequoia; John Muir with samples of his books including The Yosemite, Travels in Alaska, Our National Parks, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, The Mountains of California, Steep Trails, and A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf; the National Park Service arrowhead logo, and in the background El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
Text reads:
John Muir
He used his abilities as a writer to found
America's conservation movement.
The reverse side of this cover contains the following text:
John Muir
"With land enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation," said Thomas Jefferson in his Inaugural Address, "what more is necessary to close the circle of our felicities?" But within three generations, the Census Bureau announced that there was no longer a "frontier," and Americans were in danger of running out of arable land. John Muir, author and naturalist, was one of the first to appreciate the fact that Americans had to abandon their wasteful ways. He was also one of the first to do something about it. Born in Scotland in 1838, Muir migrated with his family a decade later to Wisconsin, where he worked on the family farm. Later, he went to the University of Wisconsin where he studied botany and geology and dabbled in inventions. After nearly losing his sight in one eye as a result of an accident, he determined to devote himself to studying "the inventions of God." Embarking on a walking trip from Wisconsin to Mexico and then to California, Muir applied himself to the study - and the protection - of the environment. In 1890, he and Robert Johnson of
Century Magazine were successful in their efforts to persuade Congress to protect the Yosemite Valley and other natural splendors by setting up a national park system.three years later, again at Muir's urging, President Cleveland set aside thirteen forest preserves. When Muir persuaded President Roosevelt, in 1903, to camp out with him in the Yosemite National Park, he won another ardent ally: "T.R." set aside no less than 150 million acres for national forests. Assuredly, no other conservationist of Muir's generation left a more splendid legacy of accomplishment.
Original painting by David K. Stone
Historical narrative by Henry Steele Commager
© Fleetwood, Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A. 81931
Reprinted by permission of Leigh Vosler
Manager, Special Markets, Fleetwood - Unicover Corp, August 10, 2000.
Fleetwood also created two other John Muir stamp covers:
Muir was also honored with a 32 cent postage stamp in 1998.
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