the john muir exhibit - uop - 2018 john muir symposium at university of the pacific
2018 John Muir Symposium
"The Practical John Muir"
University
of the Pacific, Stockton, CA,
March 23-24, 2018
University of the Pacific's John Muir Center hosted
its ninth conference focused on John Muir at the Stockton campus
of University of the Pacific on March 23 - 24, 2018.
March 23 & 24, 2018 - "The Practical John Muir" Symposium is hosted by the Unversity off the Pacific. A field trip to Yosemite Valley was held on Friday, March 23, featuring stories and interpretation going and coming by Frank Helling. A Friday evening reception in the University of the Pacific Library offered the opportunity for attendees, including many Muir family descendants, to meet. On Saturday, March 24, presentations were made by an array of people with varying approaches to the theme of "The practical John Muir." Exhibits featured the local Sierra Club, the John Muir Trail Foundation, Peter and Donna Thomas' new book Anywhere That is Wild: John Muir's First Walk to Yosemite, and UOP's Media X hands-on virtual reality developments of a virtual immersive "John Muir Museum" and a short Vritual Reality 3D film of John Muir in Yosemite. The delicious theme lunch was based on foods available at the Strentzel-Muir ranch in Martinez. The delicious theme lunch was based on foods available at the Strentzel-Muir ranch in Martinez. University of the Pacific John Muir Sympoisium announcement. (off-site link). The Practical John Muir Symposium 2018 Program (PDF)
Radio Interview - University Of The Pacific Honors 150th Anniversary Of John Muir's First Visit To California - Capital Public Radio, "Insight" (March 7, 2018). Professors Bill Swagerty and Mike Wurtz discuss Muir's impact on California's environmental movement and what's expected at this year's symposium. The 2018 John Muir Symposium will be held on March 23-24, 2018. This March marks the 150th anniversary of John Muir's travels to California and pioneering trip in Yosemite. The outdoorsman and author is considered by many to be a pioneer of the environmental movement in the Golden State. The University of the Pacific in Stockton holds a massive collection of Muir's letters, journals, drawings and photographs from his time in California. This month, they're opening the collection the public and hosting a trip to Yosemite that follows in Muir's footsteps.
Schedule
Friday March 23 -- All day field trip to Yosemite National Park Leave by motor coach from the University of the Pacific at 8 a.m.
Muir enthusiast and reenactor Frank Helling will discuss the history, geology, and natural history of the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada, and Yosemite. Once in Yosemite, "John Muir" will lead us on a walk to the base of Yosemite Falls and tell stories of his adventures in the Valley. Lunch included. Return to Pacific around 5:30 p.m.
Friday evening 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. -- Welcoming Reception in the University Library, home of the John Muir Papers. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Welcome by Pacific Provost Pallavicini and University Librarian Somerville
Demonstration of virtual Hetch Hetchy game.
Saturday, March 24 - Symposium the University of the Pacific's Grace Covell Hall
Check-in begins at 8 a.m. with coffee and scones. Presentations by Robert Hanna, Matt Blessing, Peter and Donna Thomas, Lee Stetson, Bob Hare, Dean King and Langdon Moss, Bill Youngs, and student scholars of Muir. Lunch included. Symposium ends at 5 p.m.
The Practical John Muir
March 23-24, 2018
On the 150th anniversary of Muir's arrival in California, University of the Pacific will host a symposium exploring Muir's life and legacy as advocate of the practical. Inventor, explorer, mountaineer, orchardist, nut rancher, correspondent, lecturer, and family-man-Muir lived a fascinating life beyond his better-known environmental activism and philosophical writings.
Gathering in Stockton, Muir scholars and guests will explore aspects of this other side of Muir, following his footsteps on a day-trip to Yosemite on March 23 and convening in Grace Covell Hall on the 24th for papers, presentations and discussion.
John Muir Symposium Grace Covell Hall at University of the Pacific
Saturday, March 24, 2018
8 a.m. Registration Check-in. Coffee and Scones.
8:30 a.m. Welcome from University of the Pacific President Eibeck
9 a.m. Robert Hanna: The Many Sides of John Muir. Muir's great-great-grandson will take us through a very up-close and personal look at Muir's life as can only be told by his family.
9:45 a.m. Matt Blessing: "The Inventions, though of Little Importance, Opened All Doors for Me" Wisconsin Historical Society State Archivist will offer a visual presentation of John Muir's wizardry wooden contraptions - some of which dazzled visitors at the 1860 Wisconsin State Fair.
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Peter and Donna Thomas: A Month in Yosemite for Only About Three Dollars - The Story of John Muir's First Trip to Yosemite in 1868. The Thomases, known for their fine press and artist's books will share a close look at Muir's first year in California and how they discovered the story.
11:30 a.m. Lunch/Keynote Lee Stetson:: John Muir Live. World-renowned Muir reenactor, Stetson will take us back in time to meet Muir.
1 p.m. Bob Hare: Following John Muir into Wild Yosemite: Up the Merced and Down the Tuolumne. Hare, a retired curator/ranger/biologist will saunter with Muir up the Merced Canyon and down the Tuolumne Canyon where he has rephotographed many of Muir's drawings from Muir's 1873 and 1895 trips to those areas and breaking the code on many of his personal names for landscape features. A set of videos of Bob Hare's presentations are available on the John Muir Fans Facebook Group.
1:45 p.m. Dean King and Langdon Moss: An Ecstasy of Water & Ice. Award-winning author King and writer Moss will focus on Muir and his intimate link to the giver and shaper of life: water.
2:30 p.m. Break
2:45 p.m. Student Presentations
- Sara Segentin, University of Trieste: THE RANGE OF LIFE from Words to Steps: Sauntering with Muir through Creeks & Crags from Yosemite to the DolomitesÂ
- University of the Pacific Fall 2017 Media X students: Legacy is a short film demonstrating how Muir has touched many lives.
- Students from Dr. Swagerty's: John Muir's World: The Origins of the Conservation Movement will offer a poster session of their research for the class: Fruit, Nuts, and Vegetables produced on the Strentzel-Muir Ranch; Inventions of John Muir; John Muir Place Names; Public Lands Set Aside through the Influence of John Muir. Â
4 p.m. Bill Youngs: "I Should Like to Invent Useful Machinery:" John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Alexander von Humboldt - Wilderness Appreciation and Practical Mechanics. Eastern Washington University Professor of History, Dr. Youngs will explore Muir's "practical mechanics" and sum up the day's discussion.
Other Muir Conferences
- 1980 - The University hosted its first John Muir Conference, which are
now held about every five years. A monograph series based on the conferences
began in 1981 with the publication of The World of John Muir.
- 1985 - The papers from this conference were published the same year in John Muir:
Life and Legacy, in The Pacific Historian, Vol. 29, Numbers 2 & 3 (Summer/Fall 1985).
- 1990 - The publication of conference proceedings continued with the
1993 publication of John
Muir: Life and Work, by the University of New Mexico Press.
- 1996 - a new volume based on the presentations made to the California
History Institute in 1996, entitled John
Muir in Historical Perspective was published in 1999; Also
available are the Abstracts of papers presented at the 1996
John Muir Conference.
- 2001 John Muir Conference - Abstracts
of Papers (Off-site link). Conference proceedings have been published
under the title: John
Muir: Family, Friends, and Adventures (2005).
- 2006 John Muir Conference - John Muir in Global Perspective
- 2010 - John Muir: Naturalist and Scientist
- 2014 John Muir Symposium: What has been saved; what has been lost:
John Muir’s Legacy, 1914-2014
- 2018 John Muir Symposium: The Practical John Muir
-
2019 John Muir Legacy Fair and Celebration of Muir-Hanna family's gift of John Muir Papers - Program, Presentations, and Details
- 2022 Muir Symposium: New Perspectives on Peoples and Parks - April 23, 2022 at University of the Pacific. This year's Symposium explored Muir's world in the context of his influence on creation of parks and other natural areas. The organizers are especially interested in the speakers' and audience's contribution to the current discussion on Muir and race, as well as the questions: for whom were parks created and who has had open access to "America's Best Idea?"
For an independent review and analysis of this 2022 symposium, see: