Thank You, John Muir!

John Muir National Historic Site Needs a New Visitor Center

The John Muir Muir Memorial Association (JMMA) has been working for more than 40 years to preserve the memory of John Muir and the origins of the environmental movement in the United States. The JMMA was formed in 1956 to assure preservation of his home as a repository for his great library of environmental work, and helped to win designation of the home as a national historic site.

When the site was purchased by the National Park Service in 1964, an adjacent veterinary clinic was purchased and turned into the visitor center for the John Muir National Historic Site . The small building, now unable to handle the needs of the center, must be replaced.

The JMMA has taken on the task of raising $2.2 million, which is estimated to be needed for a new Visitor and Education Center at the site. Among the tasks and goals involved in the project are:

The Association wants to provide:

• Demolition of the current inadequate facility (a former veterinary clinic).
• Construction of a reception area, front desk, bookstore, office space and restrooms.
• Construction of an auditorium to seat 90 people.
• Construction of an education center, including a library and reading room.
• Provision for additional parking, including bus parking.
• Securing fixtures to exhibit prime examples of John Muir's literary works.
• Acquiring Muir memorabilia which preserve and develop interest in his life, writing, and environmental goals.

This project will greatly expand the ability of the site to provide educational programs, especially for school children. Combined with our goal of providing space to house memorabilia now stored in unsafe conditions and of acquiring more before they are lost, we believe the Center will provide an excellent place of study for scholars and anyone with an interest in the environmental history of our country.

We welcome your help as a contributor or as a volunteer on the project. Please call us at (925) 253-0769 or write to us at 99 Brookwood Rd., Suite 6, Orinda, CA 94563. E-mail: Fred Stickney
For more information: John Muir National Historic Site Capital Campaign Fund - offsite link

• More details on the Capital Campaign Fund
• A visualization of the proposed Visitor and Education Center in the Year 2000
• New Visitor-Education Center Planned - Press Release, June 4, 1998
• Presentation by Graham White at the Dinner Dance Fundraiser for the proposed Visitor and Education Center
• Please Click Here to Make A Pledge!!
• 1999 "Thank You, John Muir Poster Contest for Fourth Grade Students

Source: adapted from a publication of the John Muir Memorial Association.
Received: 1998 October 10

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