Dunbar’s John Muir Association Convener’s Letter

Dear Friends,
This is the first newsletter to come to you under our new title of
Friends of John Muir’s ‘Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace’. We have also decided to revert
to our original A5 format which I hope you will agree is better, and it
Birthplace makes for easier mailing.
First of all, some exciting news of ‘Still Walking the World’, our new
publication of quotations from the writings of John Muir. (You will
Newsletter No. 1 understand the reason for the title when you buy the book!) It is the
brainchild of Will Collin who compiled a great number of Muir
quotes. These he sent to a few of us who classed them as ‘A’
(definitely), ‘B’ (maybe) or ‘C’ (perhaps not). The book, which will
be a companion to ‘John Muir’s Dunbar’ and ‘The Clifftop Trail’, is
Contents the end result. We hope that publication date will be early May.
On the subject of books, the Birthplace currently has in stock a new
Convener’s Letter edition of Muir’s ‘My Boyhood and Youth’ published by Birlinn of
Edinburgh. This edition has a wonderful introduction by our own Dr
David Anderson, who describes most authoritatively the Dunbar that
Friends of the John Muir Birthplace John Muir knew.
The first week in April was Tartan Week in New York and this year
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ Muir was included in a series on Scots who made it in America.
Birthplace manager Jo Moulin was invited to give a keynote
Tartan Week 2007 presentation. She also participated in an exhibition by Edinburgh
photographer Kenneth Paterson who has included Muir in his show.
Another visitor to American shores this April is Pauline Smeed,
California Here I Come senior assistant at the Birthplace. Pauline is presently at the John
Muir House Historic Site, Martinez, California, on a staff exchange.
East Lothian Walking Festival All being well, next year a staff member from Martinez will come to
Dunbar and then hopefully every second year there will be more
exchanges of staff.
Recent Visitors I hope you enjoy the first ‘Friends’ newsletter.
Sincerely
‘Still Walking the World’ Jim Thompson
Why ‘Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace’?
When Dunbar’s John Muir Association was formed in July 1994, it set
out to create an organisation with its roots firmly in Dunbar but with
membership open to anyone anywhere with an interest in John Muir.
The Association's objectives are:
to advance the education of the public concerning John Muir, as the
Dunbar-born pioneer of world nature conservation, and his belief in
the unique and irreplaceable value of wild places and wild creatures
to implement John Muir's philosophy practically by conserving,
restoring and enhancing landscape and wildlife in East Lothian and
Scotland.
However, in the beginning, the ultimate goal was to create a John
Muir Centre in Dunbar and considerable effort was put into achieving
this. After a number of set-backs, the house in which John Muir had
been born was purchased in 1998 and John Muir’s Birthplace was
opened to the public in August 2003.
Since then DJMA has been pursuing its two stated objectives but, with
the opening of the Birthplace, we have become increasingly aware
that there is a new role to perform. Accordingly, members were asked
at the AGM in October 2007 to approve a change of our name to
‘Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace’ and to add a further objective –
“to support the ongoing work of the John Muir Birthplace Trust and
the staff of John Muir’s Birthplace”. Both were passed unanimously.
So there has been a change of name and an additional focus, and we
invite ‘Friends’ old and new to help in any way they can – by
supporting events such as the forthcoming film night (see next page),
by volunteering time to assist the staff in the Birthplace on an
occasional or regular basis or simply by declaring an interest by
continuing/renewing/taking out membership of the ‘Friends’.
CELEBRATE JOHN MUIR’S BIRTHDAY ON 21 APRIL AND
WATCH AL GORE’S AWARD WINNING FILM ‘AN
INCONVENIENT TRUTH’
“Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority
of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to
avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet
into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather,
floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond
anything we have ever experienced.”
It sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom. Instead, it
is from the publicity release for a remarkable and memorable
film. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was released in May 2006 and,
this year, won Oscars for best documentary feature and best
original song, the first time for a documentary. The film
follows former American vice president Al Gore!s one-man
crusade to persuade the world to halt the progress of global
warming. Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire
situation, as he sees it, convinced that there is still time to
make a difference. The film's distributor, Paramount, is
donating 5% of the box office receipts and Gore is donating
all of his proceeds from the film to The Alliance for Climate
Protection. To date it has grossed $50 million worldwide.
‘Friends’ are showing the film in Belhaven Parish Church
hall on Saturday 21 April. All ‘Friends’ and friends are
welcome. Admission is by donation and, as a celebration of
John Muir’s birthday on the same day, there will be ‘nibbles’
and a glass of wine or a soft drink. The evening begins at
6.30 pm, with ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ running from 7 pm. It
lasts for 94 minutes. So there will be time to discuss the
issues it raises, or simply to enjoy the company.
Above: A typical
Friday afternoon
workshop at John
Muir’s Birthplace.

Above: Poster for

Right: Half Dome. ‘An Inconvenient
Photo courtesy of Truth’. This film
Ken Paterson. There will be shown on
will be a special Saturday, 21st April
exhibition of his at Belhaven Church
work -‘John Muir, Hall – see main text
Man and Landscape’ for details.
- at John Muir’s
Birthplace, 30th April Right: One of the
to 13th May. pupils from Campie
Primary School
takes part in the
Citizenship Project.
More on this in the
next newsletter!
 TARTAN WEEK 2007
This year, John Muir featured in two Tartan Week events and
Birthplace manager, and Friends council member, Jo Moulin was
participating in both. The first - ‘John Muir: The Original ‘Wild’
Child’ - on 3 April was part of the Scottish Museum Council/Scottish
Screen’s programme at the New York Historical Society. The
publicity leaflet said that Jo “talks candidly about Muir’s boyhood in
Scotland … and the influences and experiences that shaped the ‘Wild
Muir’.” The series of events, which also included ‘John Paul Jones –
America’s Hero, Scotland’s Pirate’, was sponsored by Belhaven
Brewery.
Jo’s second lecture was on 12 April at the Arsenal Gallery in Central
Park to coincide with the preview of a photographic exhibition by
Scottish photographers Ken Paterson and Lindsay Robertson entitled
‘John Muir, Man and Landscape – A celebration of nature’s
visionary’. Ken Paterson from Kirkliston lectures on photography at
Stevenson College and his work has appeared in such as the New
York Times, numerous guidebooks and the Tate Modern. Lindsay
Robertson specialises in black and white landscape photography and
next year will be exhibiting alongside Ansel Adams, arguably the
most revered landscape photographer in the World. The exhibition is
scheduled to open in Feb 2008 at the City Arts Centre, Edinburgh.
Between times Jo traveled to Wisconsin to visit the Muir family’s first
American home at Fountain Lake, meet with members of the
Wisconsin History Society and hopefully collect photographs and
other information for the Birthplace exhibition on John Muir, the
inventor, scheduled for the end of June.
We will carry Jo’s personal account of her exciting US visit in the
next Friends newsletter.
**************
“"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we
find it hitched to everything else in the
Universe.” John Muir, 1911
STAFF EXCHANGE – THE FIRST OF MANY!
Full time museum assistant at John Muir’s Birthplace Pauline Smeed
flew out to California on 10 April to spend four weeks at the John
Muir National Historic Site (JMNHS) in Martinez. The idea of a staff
exchange between the Birthplace and John Muir’s family home in
Martinez was first discussed with David Blackburn, Chief of
Interpretation in Martinez, in 2004. It moved forward when Jo
Moulin and ELC’s museums head Peter Gray visited Martinez in
2006. A holiday visit by David Blackburn to Dunbar last summer
cemented the link and Pauline’s visit is the outcome.
A staff member from JMNHS will spend time in Dunbar in 2008 and
subsequently all permanent staff at both sites will be given the
opportunity to participate. Hopefully, exchanges of Friends members
with our counterparts in Martinez will further strengthen the links
between John Muir’s first and last homes.
In the midst of all her preparations, Pauline found time to write the
following for our newsletter:
‘California Here I Come!’
My flights and accommodation are arranged, work preparations made
and the bags are out of the attic, for on 10 April I will be off to
California for the first of what is hoped will be many staff exchanges
between John Muir’s Birthplace and the John Muir Historic Site!
I am very much looking forward to meeting with staff, local groups
and the many visitors to Martinez, and building on the good
relationships that we already have there. Plans also include joining in
with meetings and helping with activities and events, in particular
those arranged for John Muir’s Birthday weekend of 21st April. I also
hope to visit several other Historic Sites while I am there.
I will be keeping my own ‘journal’ while on my exchange and look
forward to sharing the experience with ‘Friends’ on my return!
Pauline Smeed
Museum Assistant, John Muir’s Birthplace
JOHN MUIR – Long Distance Walker, Hiker or What?
East Lothian’s annual Walking Festival runs from Friday 20 to
Sunday 22 April, straddling John Muir’s birthday on 21 April.
‘Friends’ will have a display at the Evening Reception in Haddington
Town House on 20 April [7 pm, glass of wine and nibbles, ticket £2,
book in advance.] The event will include presentations by Birthplace
manager Jo Moulin and East Lothian ranger, Dunbar’s Victor Lough.
The dates are appropriate, for John Muir is one of the world’s most
famous travellers. In his relatively long life – he died on Christmas
Eve 1914 at the age of 76 – he covered colossal distances. It is
estimated that he travelled around 40,000 miles during his long-
anticipated visit to South America and Africa in 1911/12.
For many, his journeys on foot were more impressive still. When
Muir left “the Wisconsin University for the University of the
Wilderness”, he walked first in Canada before setting out on his epic
1,000 mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico. He wrote to Mrs Jeanne Carr,
“I wish I knew where I was going. Doomed to be ‘carried of the spirit
into the wilderness,’ I suppose.” Bound for South America, he went
instead to California where he set out on a “short stroll”– 250 miles
to Yosemite Valley. The following summer he was back, again on
foot, with a flock of sheep. Then came years of exploration of the
coastal ranges – “From garden to garden, ridge to ridge, I drift
enchanted.” Every time he set out, usually with only a bag of flour or
dried bread and some tea, was a new adventure. “Between every two
pine trees,” he wrote, “there is a door leading to a new way of life.”
In later life, when he was asked by a reporter to describe his
occupation, he replied, “Tramp – I’m seventy four and still good at
it.” However he was never a hiker. In ‘The Mountain Trail and Its
Message’ (1911), Albert W Palmer wrote, “I said to him: "Mr. Muir,
someone told me you did not approve of the word 'hike.' Is that so?"
His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: "I don't
like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter.” Palmer
continued, “John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the
last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He often stopped to get
acquainted with individual trees along the way
RECENT VISITORS TO THE BIRTHPLACE
After a quiet start to 2007, the number of visitors is increasing. An
examination of the visitors book revealed 74 entries, only a small
fraction of the total, during February and March. Of the 74, 11 were
from North America with the same number from England; 2 were
from Denmark, 3 from Germany, 2 from New Zealand, 1 from Ireland
and seven were local. The remainder were from the rest of Scotland.
The following are some of the comments in the book:
J&G.A. from Alaska, “Our appreciation of John Muir increases.”
E.L. from Aberdeen, “Delightful and inspiring exhibition.”
D&M.M. from New Zealand, “A very important man. Great to learn
about him.”
L.C. from Bristol, “Clear information, calm setting.”
J&C.C from Yorkshire, “Good balance – educational and interactive.”
Two high ranking US Embassy officials paid a private visit on 23rd
March. Gary Grant Bagley from the US embassy in London was
accompanied by Lisa Vickers, principal officer at the US Consulate
General in Edinburgh. Ms Vickers is a native of California and thus
no stranger to the contribution John Muir made to the development of
the present day United States. Mr Bagley served as administration
officer in the US embassies in Ukraine, Portugal and Romania before
coming to Britain. A Grant ancestor was taken captive after the Battle
of Dunbar and shipped to America, where many of the Scottish
survivors of the Scottish army were sold into slavery.
Mr Bagley and Ms Vickers were shown round the Birthplace and
town house by Pauline Smeed. Then Friends members Jim Thompson
and Gordon Easingwood, who is also president of Dunbar History
Society, took them to Doune Hill to overlook the site of the Battle of
Dunbar and enjoy one of the best panoramic views of the town.
School visits are also on the increase. As part of their ‘Citizenship’
project, classes from the following primary schools spent time in the
Birthplace during March: Campie, Cockburnspath, East Linton,
Gullane, Loretto, Stenton and Tranent.
‘STILL WALKING THE WORLD’ AND ‘JOHN MUIR’S DUNBAR’
As convener Jim Thompson mentioned in his letter, our book of
quotations from John Muir’s writings is nearing completion. All that
remains is a final proof read, some minor adjustments to the design
and layout and then it is off to the printers. With luck, we should
receive copies before the middle of May. The quotations have been
taken from John Muir’s published books, some appearing after his
death in 1914, and from two other major works in the Muir collection,
William Badè’s ‘Life and Letters of John Muir’ and ‘John of the
Mountains’ by Linnie Marsh Wolfe. Sources of funding are still being
pursued and it is hoped that the selling price will be no more than
£3.50.
‘John Muir’s Dunbar’ first appeared in 1998 and the print run of 2,500
copies is almost exhausted. David Anderson, who provided the
original text and photographs, has been working on a revised version
and the opportunity will be taken to redesign the cover. It is hoped
that the new edition will be available by the middle of the summer.
Again financial assistance will be sought. If you have any ideas
regarding possible sources of funding, please contact Friends treasurer
Will Collin on 01368 863162 or by email at
will@valnwill.demon.co.uk
EXPLOITING JOHN MUIR?
On 27 February, ‘The Scotsman’ newspaper carried an article by
Keith Geddes, former leader of Edinburgh City Council, entitled
‘Scotland should exploit John Muir's legacy’. Mr Geddes put forward
the idea that ‘John Muir’s legacy’ should be used during Tartan Week
to promote Scotland as a tourist destination. Surely the legacy of John
Muir is vastly more important than as a source of free publicity. In
any case, Mr Geddes is sadly more a little behind the times. Clan
Currie Society, in partnership with the US National Park Service, ran
an exhibition to celebrate ‘The Life and Legacy of John Muir’ on
Ellis Island during Tartan Week 2005. It was estimated that there
were 700,000 visitors to Ellis Island during the period of the
exhibition.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS AT THE BIRTHPLACE
Ken Paterson’s photographs, exhibited in the Arsenal Gallery, New
York, move from Central Park to Dunbar High Street.
From Monday 30th April to Sunday 13th May, The exhibition ‘John
Muir, Man and Landscape’, a celebration of nature's visionary by
one of Scotland’s leading photographers, will be at John Muir's
Birthplace. FREE ADMISSION.
There are also the following associated events:-
2.30-4 pm Friday 4th May – ‘My Dunbar’ - a workshop for primary
aged children to record their favourite places in Dunbar with digital
cameras.
10.30 am-12 noon Saturday 5th May – ‘Capturing John Muir’s
Dunbar’ – a guided walk with photographer Ken Paterson,
Birthplace staff and volunteers. Open to all
[Digital cameras will be provided and images taken will be made
available through the Museums Service's Flickr site and
www.jmbt.org.uk.]
3-4.30 pm Saturday 5th May – ‘John Muir's Legacy’ – talks by talk
by photographer Ken Paterson about his Famous Scots project and
Birthplace manager Jo Moulin about the links that have developed
between the Birthplace and the USA, together with a chance to see
the images captured during ‘My Dunbar’ and ‘Capturing John Muir’s
Dunbar’. Refreshments provided.
All three events are FREE but places are limited. Please book
in advance on <info@jmbt.org.uk> or 01368 865899.
***********************
From 1 April, John Muir’s Birthplace is open every day – 10
am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday, and 1 pm to 5 pm on
Sunday.