In the Mountains: Discovering the John Muir Papers at the University of the Pacific

"We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us." ~ John Muir

A few months ago, I went to Colorado to visit friends and hike a few mountains, with my trusty copy of The First Summer in the Sierra in my bag. Obviously Yosemite is far from the Rockies, but reading John Muir's lyrical descriptions of the mountains he loved made the trip even more enjoyable. Besides being a fellow Badger (On Wisconsin!), John Muir was an environmentalist and conservationist ahead of his time. He founded the Sierra Club and was the main mover-and-shaker behind the formation of the National Parks, and used his writings and influence to save many natural features of the American landscape. In short, he was awesome.

I've been a John Muir fan since watching Ken Burns' documentary on the National Parks several years ago. My husband and I have visited Muir's birthplace in central Wisconsin, we're proud members of the Sierra Club, and we've read most of his books. So imagine my excitement when I discovered that a large percentage of John Muir's papers, including his journals from that fateful trip in Yosemite, are available to view online through the Digital Collections of the Holt-Atherton Special Collections at the University of the Pacific.

The John Muir Papers feature correspondence from 1856-1914 (both digital images and transcriptions) and his journals from 1867-1913, which include his "thousand-mile" trek to the Gulf, his first summer in the Sierra, a trip to Alaska, and his travels through South America. Some of these later formed the basis of his books.  The papers also include a collection of photographs of Muir and a collection of his drawings- grand, detailed landscapes that were also later used in his books.

His journals are my favorite because he riddled them not only with his notes and impressions but also with spectacular sketches and drawings. While many of the sketches are included in his published books, as anyone who loves archives knows, seeing them "in the flesh"- even through a computer screen- can create real giddiness. Examining the records also allowed me to see his development as a naturalist in a way that is impossible to see in the books he published years later. Flipping through the pages, I can picture him in my mind's-eye, perched on a ridge overlooking the Yosemite Valley, scribbling away furiously. His energy, his passion, and his earnestness are all evident in his loopy, scrawling handwriting.

I also greatly enjoyed the photographs of Muir, many of which I had not seen before. While there are many portrait shots, the best are the ones of Muir in the wilderness he loved: hiking, gazing out at the landscape, sitting at the base of a sugar pine. One of my favorites is Muir standing by a pine tree, holding a pinecone. His beard can't hide the huge boyish grin on his face, like that of an excited kid on Christmas morning. (You can see the photo for yourself right here.) I am so glad I found this collection, for it has allowed me to see the world as Muir did, a great gift for those of us who seek to learn from his experience and his wisdom.