the Muir, John (1838-1914) Register of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Page 1 of 97 Register of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 OAC Brought to you by the Online Archive of California (OAC), an initiative of the California Digital Library http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf5489poz5 Muir (John) Papers Processed by Ronald H. Limbaugh & Kirsten E. Lewis; rev. by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections University Library, University of the Pacific Stockton, CA 95211 Phone: (209) 946-2404 Fax: (209) 946-2810 URL: http://www1.uop.edu/library/deptholt.html © 1998 University of the Pacific. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Collection number: Mss48 Creator: Comments? Questions? I Copyright Statement & Conditions of Use The Online Archive of California (OAC) is an initiative of the California Digital Library http://content.cdlib.org/view?docld=tf5489p0z5&doc.view=entire_text 1/12/2006 Register of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Page 2 of 97 Muir-Hanna Trust Extent: 75 linear ft. Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections Stockton, CA 95211 Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog. Language: English. Administrative Information Access Collection is open for research. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], John Muir Papers, Mss48, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library Access Points personal names Muir, John (1838-1914) Muir family Strentzel family Bade, William F. (1871-1936) Wolfe, Linnie Marsh (1881-1945) Carr, Jeanne C. Smith Carr, Ezra S. (1819-1894) http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf5489p0z5&doc.view=entire_text 1/12/2006 of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Page 3 of 97 Burroughs, John (1837-1921) Pinchot, Gifford (1865-1946) Harriman, Edward Henry (1848-1909) corporate names Sierra Club subjects Wildlife conservation Environmentalism - -West (U.S.) National parks and reserves - United States - History Glacial landforms - West (U.S.) Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) - -Description and travel West (U.S.) - -Description and travel Yosemite National Park (Calif.) - -History Hetch Hetchy Valley (Calif.) Naturalists -California - -Diaries Naturalists -California - -Correspondence Naturalists -California - -Drawings personal names Muir, Louisa Wanda Strentzel Hanna, Annie Wanda Muir Muir, Helen Lillian Biography A Scottish-born journalist and naturalist, John Muir (1838-1914) studied botany and geology at the University of Wisconsin (1861-1863). He worked for awhile as a mill hand at the Trout Broom Factory in Meaford, Canada (1864-1866), then at an Indianapolis carriage factory (1866-1867), until an accident temporarily blinded him and directed his thoughts toward full-time nature study. Striking out on foot for South America, Muir walked to the Gulf of Mexico (September 1867-January 1868), but a long illness in Florida led him to change his plans and turn his interests westward. Muir arrived by ship at San Francisco (March 1868), walked to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and began a five year wilderness sojourn (1868-1873) during which he made ent.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf5489p0z5&doc.view=entire_text 1/12/2006 Register of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Page 4 of 97 his year-round home in the Yosemite Valley. Working as a sheepherder and lumberman when he needed money for supplies, Muir investigated the length and breadth of the Sierra range, focusing most of his attention on glaciation and its impact on mountain topography. He began to publish newspaper articles about what he saw in the California mountains and these articles brought him to the attention of such intellectuals as Asa Gray and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both of whom sought him out during their visits to California. Encouraged by Jeanne Carr, wife of his one-time botany professor, Ezra S. Carr, Muir took up nature writing as a profession (1872). He set up winter headquarters in Oakland and began a pattern of spring and summer mountaineering followed by winter writing based upon his travel journals that he held to until 1880. His treks took him to Mount Shasta (1874, 1875 & 1877), the Great Basin (1876, 1877, 1878), southern California and the Coast Range (1877), and southern Alaska (1879). Muir found that he could finance his modest batchelor lifestyle with revenue from contributions published in various San Francisco newspapers and magazines. During this period he launched the first lobbying effort to to protect Sierra forests from wasteful lumbering practices (1876). In 1880 he married Louisa Strentzel, daughter of a prominent physician and horticulturist in Martinez, Calif. Quickly learning the fruit business, Muir soon found himself caught up in the full- time management of his father-in-law's orchard properties. Two daughters (Annie Wanda, b. 1881 and Helen Lillian, b. 1886) added to his domestic responsibilities. His writing diminished both in quantity and quality during this decade, with only one lengthy project completed (Picturesque California, 1888). Prompted by the persistent urging of Robert Underwood Johnson, an editor of Century Magazine, and freed from many business obligations by his father-in-law's death and the subsequent sale of much of Strentzel's property by Louisa Strentzel Muir, John Muir launched a major writing and lobbying campaign that culminated in the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant National Parks (1890). He also helped found the Sierra Club (1892) and used its collective influence to protect the boundaries of Yosemite (1895) from lumber interests. During the 1890s Muir again began to travel, visiting Alaska, 1890; Europe, 1893; Arizona & Oregon, 1896; Canada & Alaska, 1897, 1899; the Midwest and New England, 1898) and also published his first important book, The Mountains of California (1894). During Muir's final fourteen years, he was hounded by a variety of family difficulties and political failures that probably hastened his death. Louisa, Muir's wife, died in 1905. In the same year his younger daughter, Helen, contracted tuberculosis and Muir shepherded the young woman to various spas ultimately settling her Daggett in the Mojave Desert (1905). Meanwhile, the naturalist found himself at odds with "utilitarian" conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt and http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf5489p0z5&doc.view=entire_text 1/12/2006 Register of the John Muir Papers, 1849-1957 Page 5 of 97 Gifford Pinchot, who were less interested in the preservation of wilderness than in the controlled "harvesting" of forest resources. Pinchot also favored conversion of the Hetch Hetchy Valley to a reservoir for the city of San Francisco, an idea which ultimately became a reality despite Muir's dogged opposition (1908-1913). Still, John Muir found time and energy both for travel and for writing. In 1903 he ushered President Theodore Roosevelt up Half Dome, then shortly afterward took a year's voyage around the world (1903-1904). In 1906 Muir spent much time with daughter Helen in Arizona, the following year he summered in the Hetch Hetchy with California painter, William Keith and in 1909 visited the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River with John Burroughs and E.H. Harriman. His most extended trip during these years was a six month tour of South America and Africa (1911-1912). Muir somehow found time during the same years to publish Stickeen (1908), My First Summer in the Sierra (1910) and Yosemite (1912). Scope and Content The Muir Papers are arranged in seven series. Series I consists of John Muir's correspondence and related papers (1856-1914). Series 2 contains Muir's journals and sketchbooks (1867-1913). Series 3 consists of Muir's notebooks (1856-1912) and working notes (1864-1914). Series 4 contains Muir's sketches and photograph collection, while Series 5 consists of Muir Family papers as well as materials relating to Muir collected and generated by his biographers William Badé and Linnie Marsh Wolf. Series 6 contains John Muir's clippings files. Series 7 consists of Muir memorabilia, including maps, calling cards, brochures, pamphlets and other like materials collected by Muir during his travels. Container List SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE & RELATED DOCUMENTS [N.B.---A published item level listing is available: viz. The Guide & Index to the Microform Edition of the John Muir Papers, 1858-1957, Ronald H. Limbaugh & Kirsten E. Lewis, ed. Chadwick-Healey, Inc., 1986; ACCESS AVAILABLE TO MICROFILM ONLY EXCEPT BY SPECIAL PERMISSION] BOX 1: Correspondence & related papers,1856-1871 [m/f reel 1-2] BOX 2: Correspondence & related papers,1872-1879 [m/freel 2-3] http://content.cdlib.org/view?docld=tf5489p0z5&doc.view=entire_text 1/12/2006 - John muir Collections Page 1 of 8 Pacific Library Enter your Pacific e-mail prefix. User ID: (Example: m_heney from m_heney@pacific.edu) RESEARCH TOOLS Enter your University ID number. LIBRARY SERVICES Log In SITE MAPS ry OF LIBRARY DEPARTMENTS HOMELAND LIBRARY HOURS PACIFIC Home CONTACT Us r Collections at Pacific 1851 INTERLIBRARY LOANS LIBRARY HOMEPAGE ons Related Papers Miscellaneous Papers Other Muir Resources Photocopy and Publication Requests John Muir (1838-1914) A pre-eminent scholar, botanist, geologist, and writer, John Muir worked toward the preservation of the wilderness and is acknowledged to be the "Father of the National Park System." His tireless efforts, writings, and friendships with presidents, writers, and philosophers influenced the nation's awareness of the need to preserve the wilderness for generations to follow. http://library.uop.edu/muir.html 1/12/2006 John muir Collections Page 2 of 8 The John Muir Collections Since 1970 the Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections has been the repository for the John Muir Papers. Over a period of ten years the Muir-Hanna families have deposited approximately 75% of the extant works of Muir. The John Muir Papers include correspondence, journals, notebooks, unpublished and published manuscripts, miscellaneous notes, sketches and photographs. Muir's unpublished writings, including but not limited to correspondence, manuscripts, and drawings, remain the literary property of the Muir-Hanna Trust and are protected by copyright. The John Muir Papers In 1980, the University in cooperation with the Muir family, private donors, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Skaggs Foundation, began a five-year project to gather and publish all extant Muir correspondence, manuscripts, notes, and illustrations. The project culminated in a microfilm/microfiche edition of Muir's papers located in forty repositories throughout the United States. Published as The John Muir Papers, 1858-1957 with an accompanying Guide , edited by Ronald H. Limbaugh and Kirsten E. Lewis (Alexandria, Virginia: Chadwyk Healey, 1986), researchers now have access to the Muir Papers by using this microform collection. Correspondence and Related Documents This collection includes correspondence to and from Muir. He had over 3,000 correspondents including many well-known national and California figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, John Burroughs, Asa Gray, Helen Hunt Jackson, Charles Keeler, and William Keith. There are nearly 7,000 items of correspondence dating from around 1858 up to Muir's death in 1914. Notebooks Muir made numerous notes and drafts in preparation for his published works. This group of material http://library.uop.edu/muir.html 1/12/2006 John muir Collections Page 3 of 8 covers the years from 1856 to 1914 and consists of 485 separate items including the drafts of books and articles, 27 notebooks, preliminary and unpublished works, and miscellaneous notes. Published and Unpublished Works Nearly 300 published pamphlets, journal articles, speeches, and other writings by John Muir are located in the Published Article Collection. Arranged chronologically, the articles give a perspective of Muir as a writer from his early work to the conclusion of his career. The collection is organized and numbered to correspond to the bibliography by William F. And Maymie B. Kimes, John Muir; A Reading Bibliography (Fresno, California: Panorama West Books, 1986). The references in the Kimes' bibliography begin with a copy of Muir's first published letter in December 1866 for the Boston Recorder on "The Calypso Borealis" and ends with the entry for the John Muir Papers microform collection published in 1986. Following these entries are "Reports of Muir's Lectures and Interviews." The collection contains the majority of lectures and interviews. Most of the items listed in the Kimes bibliography are in the Library's collections. The collection consists of photocopies of articles, primarily newspaper clippings. There are some original clippings and more than twenty typescript copies of his articles. Over 185 of the articles are Muir's personal copies and were torn from journals such as The Overland Monthly . Many contain holograph notes revising his own work. The collection currently contains 150 unpublished manuscripts. Pictorial Works In addition to the sketches in Muir's field journals, the collection contains approximately 300 loose sketches by Muir. Although Muir was not a photographer, he was an avid collector of nature photographs. Photographs of Muir, family, and friends are also included. The collection has approximately 3,000 photographs taken from 1854 to 1914. Some representative photographers are Edward S. Curtis, George Fiske, Theodore Lukens, Charles F. Lummis, Eadweard Muybridge, Charles R. Savage, Charles H. Sawyer, and Isaac Taber. http://library.uop.edu/muir.html 1/12/2006 Henry E. Huntington Library Page 1 of 2 The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens START EXPORT MARC RETURN TO ANOTHER OVER DISPLAY BROWSE SEARCH (Search History) AUTHOR gleason herbert wendell Search Record 1 of 6 Record: Prev Next Call # mssHM 66491 (1-27) Author Watkins, J. Marshall, collector. Title Collection of research material related to John Muir, 1891-1961. LOCATION CALL # Manuscripts mssHM 66491 (1-27) Manuscripts mssHM 66491 (1-27) Description 59 items. Biog. note John Muir was a naturalist, conservationist, and author. His published works include: The mountains of California, Our national parks, The Yosemite, and My first summer in the Sierra. Summary The collection is made up of 59 ephemera items related to John Muir including pamphlets, brochures, newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, programs, poetry, and copies of Muir's writings and sketches. The material was collected by J. Marshall Watkins while he was researching John Muir. Authors include Ed Ainsworth, William Frederic Badé, Francis M. Fultz, Herbert W. Gleason, Bailey Millard, John Muir, and J. Marshall Watkins. Other subjects include Muir's conservation work in California including his involvement with the Hetch Hetchy Valley, Kings Canyon National Park, and Yosemite National Park. There is one pamphlet entitled "Redwood Mountain," published by the John Muir Association as well as a leaflet printed by the California Conservation Council regarding the life of John Muir. Many of the brochures are for events related to John Muir such as "John Muir Day" in San Francisco in 1939, a dedication of a Muir memorial park in Wisconsin, and a lecture entitled "John Muir Trails." Also included are offprints and flyers concerning the proposed John Muir-Kings Canyon National Park, and nine color reproductions of scenes in Yosemite National Park. Note J. Marshall Watkins, Gift, May 20 and June 14, 1961. Finding aids Unpublished finding aid available in repository. Subject Muir, John, 1838-1914. Conservationists -- California. National parks and reserves -- California. Naturalists -- California. Hetch Hetchy Valley (Calif.) Kings Canyon National Park (Calif.) http://catalog.huntington.org/search/agleason+herbert+wendell/agleason+herbert+wendel... 11/22/2006 Henry E. Huntington Library Page 2 of 2 Yosemite National Park (Calif.) 1891-1961. 1961. Form/genre Brochures. Clippings. Offprints. Pamphlets. Alt author Ainsworth, Ed, 1902-1968. Badé, William Frederic, 1871-1936. Fultz, Francis Marion, 1857- Gleason, Herbert Wendell, 1855-1937. Millard, Bailey, 1859-1941. Watkins, J. Marshall. Corp author California Conservation Council. John Muir Association. Rlin id CSHV03-A239 Record 1 of 6 Record: Prev Next START EXPORT MARC RETURN TO ANOTHER OVER DISPLAY BROWSE SEARCH (Search History) http://catalog.huntington.org/search/agleason+herbert+wendell/agleason+herbert+wendel. 11/22/2006 Wester Marrantics Review 39 (1985):165-172. Special Topics A.Hansen RIGHT MEN IN THE RIGHT PLACES: THE MEETING OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON AND JOHN MUIR He is getting old now," Sarah Forbes wrote to John Muir during the winter of 1872 about Ralph Waldo Emerson, "and I fancy will not go beyond his earlier efforts in what he does." Mrs. Forbes was in a position to know. Her son, after all, was married to Emerson's daughter, and Emerson's trip to California in 1871 had been arranged and led by her husband, Colonel John M. Forbes. Although Emerson was to live nearly another full decade, his literary record corroborates Sarah Forbes' view: by 1872 Emerson had reached the end of his productive life. Thus the great American naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, John Muir, whom Emerson met in May, 1871, was one of the last persons whose career Emerson touched directly. Emerson provided a special kind of au- thorization for Muir's unique and radical notions, and thus the meeting with Emerson served to solidify Muir's convictions and to reinforce his adherence to his unorthodox views.) Towards the end of his life, Muir paid Emerson the highest compliment he could bestow upon a human being. Speaking of an incident in his youth, when he first saw a spectacular swatch of rare Calypso borealis, Muir recollected that although "the Calypso meeting happened some 45 years ago it was more memorable and impressive than any of my meetings with human beings, excepting, perhaps, Ralph Waldo Emerson and one or two others." Unbeknownst to Muir, Emerson reciprocated the compliment Shortly after his return from California, Emerson entered a list of names in his journal, under the heading of 'My Men.) Of the eighteen names, nearly all are predictable and would have been recognized by anyone looking over Emerson's shoulder as he wrote: Thoreau, Alcott, Holmes, Greenough, Lowell But the last name would have raised eyebrows, for the man was completely unknown: John Muir Muir himself never knew of this honor, for he did not live to see the publication of Emerson's journals. Like most any other educated young American of the 19th century with a special interest in natural phenomena, Muir was familiar with Emerson's ideas. Muir's copy of Emerson's Essays, now in the Beinecke Library at Yale, 166-SPECIAL TOPICS is well-marked, indexed, and smudged with pine pitch and Sierra soil, indicating that Muir carried it with him during his years in the Yosemite. As one might suspect, Muir's own early writings carry Emersonian import and ring with Emersonian rhythms. In a fragment of notes, originally jotted down in 1872 and later recast for "Sierra Studies," Muir observes that "in all we call destruction there is creation Chaos is only harmony not understood." Muir must have sensed the Emersonian character of these words, for he used them in a letter to Emerson in the same year. Remarkably, Muir apparently wrote to Emer- son while an earthquake was in progress. "We have lost Eagle Rock," Muir noted, "but have gained another that is more beautiful. Destruction is always creation - storms of water and cloud, storms of azure wind and purple granite are things of beauty and love, working beauty and love constantly 'higher yet higher.' " From Muir's letters it is also evident that by July, 1872, he had read and re-read Emerson's Society and Solitude and Poems, two books Emerson himself probably sent to Muir. In any case, before he had published anything more than a letter to a newspaper, Muir was well-grounded in Emersonian thought. But Emerson probably had no notion of John Muir when he went with the Forbes party to California in 1871. Emerson had accepted Colonel Forbes' invitation largely to recover from his exhausting course on "The Natural History of the Intellect," which he had conducted the previous winter at Harvard In considerable demand as a lecturer in San Francisco and the Bay Area, Emerson finally took a few days off for a short trip to Yosemite. Travelling by train, stagecoach, and horseback, Emerson and his party arrived at Leidig's Hotel on the Valley floor on May 5. Even in this remote, sparsely populated region of the Sierra Nevada, Emerson was soon sur- rounded by admirers and well-wishers. Some time later, Muir recalled Emerson's arrival: I heard the hotel people saying with solemn emphasis, "Emerson is here." I was excited as I had never been excited before. But so great was my awe and reverence, I did not dare to go to him or speak to him. I hovered on the outside of the crowd of people that were pressing forward to be introduced to him and shaking hands with him. The meeting of John Muir and Ralph Waldo Emerson, that is, very nearly did not occur, thanks principally to Muir's innate shyness. Muir, it should be remembered, was only 33 years old at the time and virtually unknown; Emerson, one of the most famous men of the day, was nearly seventy Moreover, in 1871 Muir was less a scientist and philosopher in than a hermit and vagabond. When he had abandoned his formal studies 1863, Muir had observed that he was leaving the University of Wisconsin to enter the "University of the Wilderness." Subsequently, Muir had been an inventor and tinkerer, a hiker, a shepherd, and amateur naturalist. His single bit of notoriety came from his appearance, thinly disguised, as the SPECIAL TOPICS-167 possessor of some rather peculiar (for the day) geological views in Therese Yelverton's novel, Zanita, A Tale of the Yosemite. But except for his letter describing the Calypso borealis, which had been forwarded to and published by the Boston Recorder in the mid-1860s, Muir had done little of note. In fact, at the time of Emerson's visit, Muir was working as a hired man at Hutchings' sawmill in Yosemite Valley.) Fortunately, Muir and Emerson had a devoted, mutual friend. Having become acquainted with both men in Madison, Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, the wife of University of Wisconsin Professor Ezra Carr, was dedicated to the cause of bringing the two men together. "I shall send Mr. Emerson a note about you," she wrote Muir from Oakland, where the Carrs had moved when Professor Carr took a position at the University of California. She told Muir that she was pleased that Emerson would soon be "in your hands I hope and trust." Although he failed to break through the throng and introduce himself to Emerson the night of Emerson's arrival, a few days later Muir was embold- ened by a second letter from Mrs. Carr, which informed him that Emerson was about to leave Yosemite. Consequently, on May 8, Muir rode to Emer- son's hotel and delivered a long, admiring note. "Do not thus drift away with the mob," Muir pleaded. If you will call at Mr. Hutchings' mill I will give you as many of Yosemite and high Sierra plants as you wish as specimens. I invite you join me in a month's worship with Nature in the high temples of the great Sierra Crown. Intrigued by the eloquence and, no doubt, the raw flattery of the letter, Emerson and a few companions travelled to Hutchings' mill the next day, May 9. When Muir heard his name being asked for, he stepped from his workshop and introduced himself. A member of Emerson's party recog- nized Muir as the deliverer of the letter the previous night. "Why did you not make yourself known to me last evening?" Emerson asked Muir. "I should have been very glad to have seen you." Between their meeting on the 9th and Emerson's departure on the 13th, the two men spent many hours together. To Muir's great disappointment, however, Emerson's party was extremely solicitous of the great man's health. It was unthinkable, for example, for Emerson to accept Muir's invitation to hike off for an over-night campout, although Emerson himself apparently was eager to spend a night among the Sequoia. And, when Emerson left on the 13th, Muir experienced a new and rare (for him) sensation: loneliness. Muir's description of Emerson's departure, which he cast two decades later, poignantly reveals Muir's feelings: I followed to the edge of the grove. Emerson lingered in the rear of the train, and when he reached the top of the ridge, after all the rest of his party were over and out of sight, he turned his horse, took off his hat, and waved me a last good-by. I felt lonely, so sure had I been that Emerson of all men would be the quickest to see the mountains and sing them After sun- down I built a great fire, and as usual had it all to myself. And though lonesome for the first time in these forests, I quickly took heart again. - the 168-SPECIAL TOPICS trees had not gone to Boston, nor the birds; and as I sat by the fire, Emerson was still with me in spirit, though I never again saw him in the flesh. Muir put his feelings more succinctly in a letter to B. McChesney: spenta most delightful week with R. W. Emerson when he was here. I wanted to steal him - to kidnap him Taking the next best course, Muir carried on an intense correspondence with Emerson over the next several months. And Emerson responded by sending Muir words of counsel and encouragement, some books, and a holograph of his poem, "Song of Nature. Emerson's visit had several demonstrable effects on Muir, not the least of which was to intensify Muir's commitment to scientific endeavors. "I am more and more interested in science," Muir wrote his brother a few days after Emerson's departure, "and am making many friends among the learned and the good who all seem to hail me as a brother." But Emerson also had a word of caution for Muir. Speaking of the lure of the Sierra, Emerson wrote to his wife, Lidian, from Lake Tahoe about the potential impact of such a region on a young, impressionable man like John Muir. "There is an awe and terror lying over this new garden," Emerson said. "I should think no young man would come back from it. Emerson voiced this very concern directly to Muir in a letter of 5 February 1872: "There are drawbacks to solitude, who is a sublime mistress, but an intolera- ble wife." In this letter Emerson urged Muir to come to Boston where he might find audience for his ideas among Professors Asa Gray, Louis Agassiz, and other leading naturalists of the day. "Bring to an early close," Emerson advised Muir, "your absolute contacts with any yet unvisited glaciers or volcanoes, roll up your drawings, herbariums and poems, and come to the Atlantic Coast Emerson's specific reference to "glaciers or volcanoes" is well-considered, for it reveals that Emerson knew precisely what Muir was up to. The phrase indicates that Muir and Emerson had spoken about a matter of great im- portance to Muir and, eventually, to the course of American geological science. The primary explanation of the origin of Yosemite Valley at the time was the "cataclysmic" or "subsidence" theory. This view held that the Valley had been formed by some cataclysmic activity - like massive volcanic eruptions - which was followed by a settling subsidence that left the Valley floor perfectly flat and richly fertile. Virtually all major naturalists prior to 1872 subscribed to this view - men like Louis Agassiz, who was not as unyielding or closed-minded as some, and Clarence King, who had walked the Yosemite years before Muir's arrival there. The most imposing and resolute of the "cataclysmists," however, was Josiah Whitney. He had been appointed Pro- fessor of Geology at Harvard; the State of California had named him State Geologist; and, he had compiled the authoritative, six-volume Geological Survey of California (1865-70). In addition, Whitney was the author of the popular Yosemite Guide Book (1869) Muir's first-hand experiences and observations, however, did not allow him to accept the cataclysmic view about the formation of the Valley. He held SPECIAL TOPICS-169 that it had been formed by glaciers. Although Muir's glacial theory is now universally recognized to be correct, in 1871 Muir was virtually alone in holding this view. To oppose such recognized and respected figures as Agassiz, King, and Whitney required considerable conviction and courage. meant, for one thing, that he had to endure express denunciations like this one by Whitney: There is no reason to suppose, or at least no proof, that glaciers have ever occupied the Valley or any portion of it SO that this theory [of glacial erosion], based on entire ignorance of the whole subect, may be dropped without wasting any more time upon it. By itself the debate over glaciers and cataclysms may seem a small matter. But as Whitney's emotional denunciation suggests, there was more at stake than one might suspect. The debate had ramifications that pointed to the Big Topic of the century: Darwinian evolution. Darwin's views regarding the origin and evolution of organic life presupposes nature to be a process of uninterrupted, sequential development. Vast, earth-rending cataclysms, such as Noah's flood or massive volcanic explosions, do not fit well into Darwin's scheme of things, for presumably such cataclysms would wipe out all organic life and require the process of natural selection to begin all over. Thus, as a rule, the anti-Darwinian forces held fast to the cataclysmic theory, sometimes for non-scientific, emotional reasons. Glaciers, on the other hand, bring about their vast changes incrementally. They are compatible with the nature-as-process presuppositions essential to Darwinian theory, for the environmental alteration produced by glaciers allows for biological and botanical adaptation. With glaciers there are no sudden cataclysms and subsidences? there is no extraneous, or divine, inter- vention to upset or halt the process of natural selection. Thus, whether he knew it or not, Muir was supporting the Darwinian forces by arguing on behalf of glaciers. Emerson most likely did not know of the glacier-cataclysm controversy when he first met Muir, but during their days together they must have discussed the subject in considerable detail, for Emerson knew that Muir was still seeking "absolute contact with any yet unvisited glaciers or volcanoes." As Whitney stated in his denunciation, Muir had to confess to Emerson that his theory had one major flaw. Muir had no proof. What he needed was a glacier. There were plenty, of course, in the High Sierra; but Muir needed evidence that glacial activity carved out the Valley floor. Shortly after Emerson had left, Muir found his proof. He wrote Emerson at once, ecstatic over his discovery: I ran out of the Valley by Indian Canyon. and round to the top of the falls - said my prayers in the irised spray and started for the upper end of the basin, hoping somewhere to discover positive evidence of my missing glacier in the higher deeper portions of its channel where it would linger longest. Well, I had not gone four miles ere I found all I had SO long sought, and you might have heard a shout in Concord. This glacier was about 2m[eters] in length by about 6 in breadth 170-SPECIAL TOPICS Muir's correspondence reveals more than the fact that he and Emerson discussed the controversy Muir's letters strongly suggest that Emerson had sided with Muir, with regard to the glacial origins of the Valley. Two months after the discovery of his "missing glacier," Muir was visited by Professor John Daniel Runkle, President of MIT. Muir wrote to Emerson about Runkle's visit: Professor Runkle was here last fall. I beckoned him back among the wombs of Yosemite glaciers. He saw hosts of icy ghosts and believed our glacial theory of mt'n structure [my emphasis]. Muir's style was not to use an editorial or collective "we." Thus, the "our," above, most likely indicates that Emerson shared the "glacial theory" with Muir. Significantly, because there is no evidence to suggest that Emerson came to his concurrence with Muir's glacier theory after leaving California, Emerson must have voiced his agreement to Muir during their 1871 visit. In other words, Emerson endorsed Muir's beliefs even before Muir had found his missing glacier, his proof. To have the support of a man like Emerson for one's as-yet hypothetical, unproven theory surely must have been encouraging. But it meant even more to Muir, for he had come to his unorthodox notions through a de- cidedly Emersonian means. Muir's scientific method, such as it was, had been predicated upon Emersonian assumptions. Nearly 35 years before Emerson and Muir met, Emerson had told his Phi Beta Kappa audience at Harvard that nature was the foremost influence upon the mind. Emerson had urged the scholars to leave the libraries, at least from time to time, and to "study nature" first-hand. Muir embraced this notion. He had abundant faith in the direct, unmediated study of nature, and he was suspicious of the conclusions reached by the cloistered, book-bound scholar. Muir revealed his prejudice against abstract, academic knowledge in his description of Runkle's visit. Upon showing Runkle the glaciers, Muir wrote in a letter to Emerson: I only made gestures and pointed to rockforms and canyons, and spoke a few broken words about Yosem' formation. He soon said, "It is true," receiving knowledge by absorption past all his flinty mathematics, quite forgetful of his gaunt rawboned Euclidial "wherefores." This anti-academic theme pervade Muir's letter. Having just read John Tyndall's Hours of Exercise in the Alps, Muir commented ex- pressly on the Professor's "doubtful, groping" knowledge of moun- tain structure. Tyndall would leave his lectures and books," Muir said, "and [would] dwell with the Alps he would finally make a speech or book of everlasting worth." A book that Emerson had sent to Muir, Sampson Reed's Observa- tions on the Growth of the Mind reinforced Muir's disposition against a scientific method that kept the scientist's eye upon books rather than SPECIAL TOPICS-171 nature. For example, Muir marked the following passage in his volume of Reed: In books, [Reed says] science is presented to the eye of the pupil, as it were in a dried and preserved state; the time may come when the instructor will take him by the hand, and lead him by the running streams, and teach him all the principles of science as she comes from her Maker In Reed's Observations, that is, as well as in Emerson's Nature and "American Scholar Address," Muir found authorization for his rejection of the estab- lished theory of Whitney and others - on the sole and principal grounds of his first-hand, non-academic experience. He had come to believe, as he wrote Mrs. Carr, that no scientific book in the world can tell me how this Yosemite granite is put together, or how it has been taken down. Patient observation and constant brooding above the rocks, lying upon them for years as the ice did, is the way to arrive at the truths which are graven so lavishly upon them. Thus, Emerson not only shared Muir's theory, but also he endorsed Muir's methods, and the personal discussions with Emerson gave it all the stamp of authority for Muir But it was not strictly a one-sided affair. Emerson, too, had reason to take heart from the visit with Muir. After all, Emerson found in Muir another advocate for his ideas about the truths that are accessible to the real student of nature. Muir's very existence demonstrated that Emerson's principal notions would be carried on, in eminently capable hands. And, near the end of his productive career, there must have been considerable peace and joy for Emerson in that thought. Think for a moment what it must have meant to a man like Emerson, his major work over, to stumble upon a brilliant, young man like Muir, who had picked up some of Emerson's notions and begun to put them into practice. When Emerson came down from Yosemite that May, he let the others in his party take the ferry across the bay to San Francisco. He had some business to conduct in Oakland. The Carrs had finished dinner and were nealy ready for bed, when they heard a commotion outside the back door of their cottage. Throwing open the door, Jeanne and Ezra Carr saw their old friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, standing outside in the chill and darkness, his cloak wrapped about him. He couldn't come in, he protested, for the last ferry was soon to leave for San Francisco. "But I could not go through Oakland," he told the Carrs, "without coming up here to thank you for that letter to John Muir." As Emerson was entering the closing decade of his life - indeed, the final year of his productive life - he had thus discovered yet one more of "his men" in the person of John Muir, who was just launching his own career that one day would influence geological science, environmental studies, and the attitude of the common man toward nature. "I have everywhere testified to 172-SPECIAL TOPICS my friends, Emerson wrote Muir, "my happiness in finding you - the right man in the right place." ARLEN J. HANSEN University of the Pacific BARBARA PYM'S PEOPLE We were standing in one of our usual talking places, the entrance to my kitchen. I could feel Rocky looking at me very intently. I raised my eyes to meet his. 'Mildred?' 'Yes?' 'I was hoping 'What were you hoping ?? 'That you might suggest making a cup of tea.' (Excellent Women, 222) Barbara Pym published ten novels between 1950 and 1980, short narra- tives, simply written, about everyday life in post-World War II London and the surrounding countryside. Their modest effect may have contributed to a temporary eclipse during Pym's own lifetime; despite continued reader popularity publishers stopped issuing her work after the sixth novel. Re- sumption of publication and the growth of an international reputation occurred only after two members of the literary establishment, Philip Larkin and David Cecil, named her, in response to a 1977 Times Literary Supplement questionnaire, one of the most under-rated novelists of this century. All of her novels are now available in this country. Pym's work belongs to a tradition of English social comedy extending back to the eighteenth century. Readers may be reminded of Jane Austen's wit; some, because of Pym's frequent use of church people and settings, of the clerical novels of Anthony Trollope; still others, of Anthony Powell's irony and understatement in the depiction of sex-power conflicts in genteel soci- ety. One theme seems to emerge repeatedly: as adult men and women come together in the rituals of contemporary life - church teas, scholarly meet- ings, business lunches, family dinners - they unconsciously play out one key fantasy: a self-denying mother generously feeds her ungrateful baby son. From this fantasy, Pym develops complex patterns of character and action on the basis of such variables as awareness of role, comparative willingness to play it and specific social context. Especially do we note three elements: (a) the opposi- tion between men and women; (b) a specially defined concept of female character, the "excellent woman"; and (c) imagery that clusters around the acts of eating and drinking, serving and withholding.