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The interior of LeConte Memorial Lodge features five interpretive displays which are the masterwork of Sierra Club volunteer and professional designer, George Pettit. Joseph LeConte Display 
The first display features Joseph LeConte (1823-1901), the renowned geologist and university professor. The LeConte Memorial Lodge was built in his honor. This display tells the story of his life, beginning with his boyhood and youth in Georgia and his coming west to teach at the fledgling University of California. It was installed in 2001. Joseph LeConte, like his close personal friend John Muir, is indelibly linked to Yosemite. On his first visit to Yosemite in July 1870, Joseph Le Conte wrote in his journal: "I have heard and read much about this wonderful valley, but I can truly say I have never imagined the grandeur of the reality." As a scientist, Joseph LeConte validated the idea of the glacial origins of Yosemite Valley as originally advanced by John Muir. In 1892, they joined forces with several like-minded friends to found the Sierra Club. For more information on Joseph LeConte, see our online Joseph Leconte biography and the tribute to him in the 1896 Blue and Gold University of California Yearbook. John Muir and the Sierra Club The second display was installed at the beginning of the 2002 season. It features the early history of the Sierra Club in Yosemite, including John Muir, the battle for Hetch Hetchy, early exploration and trail-building, launch of the Club's outings program, and John Muir's legacy of National Parks. The exhibit tells how LeConte’s son, Joseph N. LeConte, explored, climbed, photographed, and mapped much of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, and served the Sierra Club for over fifty years. Of course, William E. Colby is mentioned as well, as the founder of the Sierra Club’s Outings program, and the recipient of the Club’s first John Muir Award.  Left hand side of John Muir and Sierra Club display  Right hand side of John Muir and Sierra Club display To Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet The third interpretive display in the LeConte Memorial was installed on July 22, 2003. This display tells of the contributions of the Sierra Club to America's national parks movement and the environmental movement of the 20th century. Display items include the building of the LeConte Memorial Lodge (several years before Yosemite Valley became a part of Yosemite National Park,) and the early development of mountaineering in the Sierra Club. Early Sierra Club leaders and mountaineers are pictured, including Marion Randall Parsons, Ansel Adams, and David Brower. 
The display continues with the story of the 1960 This is the American Earth exhibit in LeConte Memorial and the first Sierra Club Exhibit Format Series book, which remain, alongside Rachel Carson's Silent Spring as a major inspiration for the modern environmental movement. The display concludes with a summary of some of the legislative victories of the latter part of the twentieth century, and is dedicated to 97 year-old Sierra Club activist Ed Wayburn, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his efforts to protect wild Alaska and California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Climate Change Display
The Climate Change display, installed in 2009, heightens the awareness of visitors
to this issue of great importance to the Sierra Club and the National Park
Service. Despite its contemporary message, the display carries on the style
of the other three primary exhibits in LeConte memorial. Interactive features
include a "time machine" showing the increase of carbon dioxide over
the last 300 years, and a series of panels with informative photographs and
text in both English and Spanish. Special attention is given to climate change
in Yosemite, including melting glaciers and impact on Yosemite wildlife such
as the American Pika. The display offers solutions that can be understood and
embraced by the National Park Service, the Sierra Club, and individuals.
Other Displays Joseph LeConte in Yosemite Photo Display These historical photos have resided in LeConte Memorial Lodge for decades. In May, 2006, they were refurbished by volunteer Exhibits creator George Pettit, adding identifying information for each photo.
Centennial Wildflower Display As a special Centennial project, the Sierra Club prepared a Wildflower Exhibit to digitally re-create in 2004 the original 1907 wildflower show held at the LeConte Memorial Lodge. This was on exhibit between 2004 and 2009.
Muir, Earth, and Turtles All the Way Down Muir,
Earth, and Turtles All the Way Down Decorative Art by George Pettit This view of John Muir, the Earth, and turtles all the way down, crowns the top of our four-sided bulletin board which features news and events of interest to LeConte visitors. For more information, during the summer contact Sierra Club LeConte Memorial Lodges Curator, P.O. Box 755, Yosemite, CA 95389, 1-209-372-4542; e-mail: leconte.curator@sierraclub.org. During the winter, contact LeConte Lodge Committee Chair, Harold Wood, P.O. Box 3543, Visalia, CA 93278; phone: (559) 697-3525; e-mail: harold.wood@sierraclub.org Tax deductible donations to support the new exhibits and renovation efforts of the LeConte Memorial can be made to "Sierra Club Foundation," marked for the LeConte Lodge Fund. Up to Top |
