the john muir exhibit - geography - museums
Museums Featuring John Muir
California
- Oakland
Museum of California - (off-site link) - This famed museum
opens a new temporary exhibit on August 6, 2011 spotlighting the
life of John Muir as well as eight Modern Day Muirs. A
Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir's Journey (off-site
link) highlights Muir's immersion in the natural world of California.
Through interactive, multisensory
displays of natural specimens and audio and video, - and even smell
- visitors will experience a simulation of Muir's exploration behind
Yosemite Falls, his trek from Yosemite to Mount Whitney, and even
his night spent in a hollow giant sequoia observing the forest
burning around him. People currently involved in environmental
research and activism are celebrated as well —including
a Yosemite National Park geologist, a bighorn-sheep biologist inspired
by Muir, and an Oakland tree-planter/activist. The Sierra Club's
own Bonnie
Gisel, Muir scholar and curator of the Club's LeConte
Memorial Lodge in Yosemite is
included. Told
through OMCA's collections of art, history, and natural science,
interactive digital technology, and journals,
manuscripts, videos, audio, natural specimens, and original drawings — the
exhibition is a tribute to Muir’s legacy and to the importance
of continued environmental stewardship.
- John
Muir National Historic Site - The Martinez Ranch where Muir lived
for many years, tending orchards and writing his conservation messages,
has long featured the historic house he lived in, built by his father-in-law.
Now, the NPS is revamping the visitor center to feature more exhibits
and displays explaining John Muir's life and legacy. You can view many
Muir artifacts and historic photographs on the NPS site for Museum
Collections for John Muir National Historic Site.
- LeConte
Memorial Lodge - The Sierra Club's historic LeConte Memorial in
Yosemite Valley includes a comprehensive display about John Muir
and his life and legacy. A life-size photographic cut-out of Muir
greets visitors, a creative Earth-Turtles-and-Muir quote surprises
visitors, and evening programs frequently feature Muir as a topic.
Wisconsin
- Wisconsin
Historical Society - (of-site link) The library of the Wisconsin
Histroical Society features a display of John Muir's remarkable invention,
a clock-study desk that automatically rotated books Muir was studying.
- Muir Memorial Park - Really an outdoor museum, includes a nature trail
surrounding Ennis Lake (which Muir's family had called "Fountain Lake."
Enjoy this excellent 10
minute video slide show of the Memorial Park showing
Muir's ties there. (off-site link)
Scotland
- John Muir's Birthplace
- (off-site link) Muir's birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland, has been transformed
into an interpretive center with three floors of interactive exhibits explaining
the importance of John Muir to the world-wide conservation movement.
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