Other Places for Information About John Muir
- Facebook Group - Fans of John Muir
- John Muir Global Network - A portal to celebrating and encouraging environmental protection through the inspiring life of John Muir, the founder of the worldwide conservation movement. Includes resources keyed to varied locations around the world and in the U.S.A., conference archives, and other unique items.
- Discover John Muir - Website hosted by the John Muir Trust and funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and Year of Natural Scotland.
- John Muir National Historic Site - National Park Service
- Holt-Atherton Digital Collections - University of the Pacific's collection of John Muir photographs, journals, and drawings.
- John Muir Papers - University of the Pacific's repository for the John Muir Papers.
- John Muir Memorial Association
- Friends of John Muir's Birthplace
- John Muir on My Hero: Earthkeepers by Harold W. Wood, Jr., John Muir Exhibit volunteer webmaster.
- Cornell University's Making of America Journal Collection - includes searchable database of scanned images of many publications which Muir wrote in such as Century, Harper's Scribner's, etc.
- Wikepedia, the Free Encyclopedia: Entry on John Muir
- Original manuscript letters of John Muir, 1861-1914, Wisconsin Historical Society
These 30 letters, totaling more than 100 pages, were written by Muir to five correspondents. Twenty are to his old friend Emily Pelton, with whose family he boarded in Prairie du Chien in 1860-61, or to her aunt Frances. Four other letters are to childhood friends from Wisconsin, James Whitehead and Milton Griswold. A few other letters of a routine business nature are also included. All but six of the letters have never been previously published in their entirety (though typed copies of most were included in Muir's manuscripts at the University of the Pacific). - Articles and Manuscripts about John Muir and Conservation, Wisconsin Historical Society
Includes Recollections of John Muir in Prairie du Chien, 1860-61, Muir's younger brother recalls their boyhood, A visit to John Muir in his dorm room, ca. 1862 - Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles About John Muir, Wisconsin Historical Society, from its Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles Collection.
Includes approximately 17 articles from various Wisconsin newspapers, dated from 1915 to 1942, about Muir. - John Muir's Botany - A photo gallery of close-ups of John Muir's botanical collections, (no longer online), previewing the book Nature’s Beloved Son, Rediscovering John Muir’s Botanical Legacy by Bonnie Johanna Gisel with photographs by Stephen Joseph (Berkeley, Heyday Books). (
- No. 2422 John Muir , feature in Engines of Our Ingenuity -Text and radio program about Muir as an engineer. from the University of Houston's School of Engineering. A streaming audio of this episode is available.
- The National Parks: America's Best Idea - John Muir - PBS
Other Literary Naturalists
- Edward Abbey (Abbey's Web) - Perhaps our most inspiring modern writer on desert wilderness
- John Burroughs - Muir's fellow traveler and friend (Wikipedia)
- Robert Burns - Muir's favorite Scottish poet (Wikipedia)
- Burns Country - Another Robert Burns website
- Rachel Carson - by Linda Lear
- Raymond Dasmann - from Planet Patriot website
- Ralph Waldo Emerson - American essayist who was a major inspiration to Muir; John Muir met him when Emerson visited Yosemite - from Transcendentalist Spirituality website
- Loren Eiseley - Loren Eiseley Society
- Joseph Wood Krutch - from Planet Patriot
- Aldo Leopold from Planet Patriot
- Aldo Leopold Foundation
- Sigurd F. Olson - Listening Point Foundation
- Sigurd F. Olson - Books by biographer David J. Backes
- Edwin Way Teale - Wikipedia
- Henry David Thoreau - from Transcendentalists Spirituality
Nature Writing and Interpretation Resources
Environmental Education
- Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center - the Sierra Club's museum, library, and education center in Yosemite Valley, California.
- John Muir Day Camp - A summer day camp for kids 7 - 12 at John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez, California.
- John Muir Geotourism Center - Based in Coulterville, California, exploring, learning, sharing, and preserving the natural environment for mental, spiritual and physical development, as exemplified in John Muir's life.
- John Muir Highway - The John Muir Highway was established to honor the legendary naturalist John Muir by developing visitor sites along the County Road J132 route of Muir’s 1868 walk to Yosemite from San Francisco. See also Sierra Nevada Tourism Mapguide for John Muir Highway.
- Wilderness Connect - Connecting federal employees, scientists, educators, and the public with their wilderness heritage
- Sharing Nature Foundation - Joseph Cornell's website, inspired by his ground-breaking 1979 book, first book, Sharing Nature with Children®,helping people of all ages deepen their relationship with nature, including Cornell's superb book John Muir, My Life With Nature.
- Muir Trek- A sunrise to sunset journey through a natural wild place no one knows, inspired by John Muir. Sponsored by the Institute for Earth Education.
Geography
- John Muir National Historic Site - National Park Service Site
Environmental History
- Sierra Club History - from the Club's Colby Library
- Sierra Club Oral History Series - from Bancroft LIbrary Regional Oral History Office
- Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 from the Library of Congress
- The Military and Yosemite by David A. Smith, Historian, San Jose State University, California State Military Museum
- Environmental and Wilderness Preservation History - from Planet Patriot
- Hetch Hetchy History - from Planet Patriot, with links back to Sierra Club
John Muir's Unfinished Business
- Friends of John Muir's Birthplace - John Muir's Birthplace in Dunbar, Scotland.
- John Muir Trail Wilderness Conservancy - a non-profit organization formed in 2018 dedicated to the conservation of the John Muir Trail (est.1915).
- Restore Hetch Hetchy - A membership organization devoted to removing the dam, draining the reservoir, and restoring the "second Yosemite."
- Sierra Club Restore Hetch Hetchy Task Force - Historical and current information and photos on the campaign to restore Muir's beloved Hetch Hetchy Valley.
- Preserving the Giant Sequoias - The Sequoia Portal contains historic documents from the campaigns by Sierra Club and local groups to protrect Muir's beloved Giant Sequoias.
- Forests and Climate - Sierra Club efforts to protect and restore the forests John Muir once saw.
- John Muir Trust - Scotland's premiere organization preserving wild places in Muir's birthplace, Scotland.
- Lands, Air,Water, and Wildlife - Sierra Club
- Sierra Club Yosemite Committee - Restoring beauty, peace, and quiet to Yosemite Valley
- Alaska Wilderness League - Preserving John Muir's beloved Alaska
- Wild Arizona - Formerly the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, after merger with and the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Wild Arizona's mission is to protect, unite, and restore wild lands and waters across Arizona and beyond. John Muir spent significant time exploring northern Arizona, particularly the Petrified Forest region.
- Greater Yellowstone Coalition - Muir traveled and wrote extensively about this region
- California Wilderness Coalition - Leading organization for California wilderness
- Friends of Nevada Wilderness - Muir also visited and loved Nevada
- New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
- Oregon Wild - formerly named the Oregon Natural Resources Council, Oregon Wild works to protect and restore Oregon's wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations. Muir wrote lovingly of Oregon's wilderness - see articles by Ron Eber
- Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance - The pre-eminent organization working to preserve Southern Utah's wild places.They will never give up on their goal to pass America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, the bill to protect 9.2 million acres of Utah's stunning BLM wilderness lands. John Muir only traveled in northern Utah, but he would have loved southern Utah if he had had the chance to visit it!
- Ventana Wilderness Alliance - dedicated to protecting the wildlands of California's northern Santa Lucia mountain range.
- Washington Wilderness Coalition- Muir inspired some leading conservationists in this state
- The Wilderness Society - Founded by Howard Zahniser and other early wilderness proponents, the Wilderness Society is well-known as the the guiding impetus for the 1964 Wilderness Act. The principal author of the Act, Zahniser described himself as "a follower of Muir" and wrote: "It is of course, John Muir's leadership to which we are more directly committed in our preservation efforts."
- Sierra Club - Grassroots conservation organization of which John Muir was the first president.
Research Tools
Primary Sources for John Muir's writings - Browse or Search online - This guide provides Finding Aids for the University of the Pacific Holt-Atherton Library Special Collections and finding primary sources of John Muir's writings.
Muir, John, John Muir in His Own Words Edited by Peter Browning. (Lafayette, CA: Great West Books, 1988).
This book of quotations is organized into thirteen broad chapters, and in roughly chronological order within these chapters; chapter titles include, "Going to the Mountains", "Tourists and Development", and "Everyone Needs Beauty". Includes a detailed index
Kimes, William F. and Maymie B., John Muir: A Reading Bibliography Second Edition. (Davis, CA: Panorama West Publishing, 1986).
This book is a complete reference of Muir's published work, beginning with his first published letter in December 1866 for the Boston Recorder on "The Calypso Borealis" and ending with the entry for the John Muir Papers .
A book review of this book is available. A searchable online index of this book is now available online from the Holt-Atherton Library.
Limbaugh, Ronald H. and Kirsten E. Lewis, editors, The John Muir Papers, 1858-1957 MICROFORM, (Stockton, CA: University of the Pacific , 1980). With accompanying Guide (Alexandria, Virginia: Chadwyk Healey, 1986).
With 40 copies in libraries throughout the United States, and available to scholars through interlibrary loan, this is the complete collection of all extant Muir correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and illustrations.
See John Muir Collections, University of the Pacific
You can volunteer to help transcribe John Muir's journals.