Riverside Metropolitan Museum

John Muir & the Personal Experience with Nature

Exhibit Open December 2, 2012 - January 19, 2014

Join us for these exhibit-related activities:
Artist Workshops - Mar 9 |  Rock painting
Educator Workshops - Mar 2, Mar 21
Richard Louv Author Talk and Booksigning Event |  March 14, 2013
Smithsonian Citizen Science Week | February 12 - 16 (school groups)
A Day with John Muir: Lee Stetson portrays America's foremost naturalist and conservationist John Muir | March 23, 2013

Arts Walk - March 7  | The Art of Egg Collecting & Decorating
Discovery Days - Feb 20, Mar 20, Apr 17 | Various Topics

About the Exhibit
John Muir was a California conservationist, naturalist, and wilderness explorer during an important time in US history. As American expansionism neared completion and industry and agriculture flourished during the19th century, the land’s natural resources were exploited and wildlife populations dwindled. Like Emerson and Thoreau of his time, Muir sought out nature for insight and inspiration.

As John Muir traveled places such as the Sierras, Alaska, and American west, he passionately studied the nature around him. Carefully documenting his travels, Muir collected specimens and wrote and sketched about his personal experiences in journals, and from these wrote letters, books, and articles sharing his passion for nature and the importance of protecting it.

The “John Muir and the Personal Experience of Nature” exhibit focuses on Muir’s contributions as a scientist –mainly as a botanist—but, also examines nature’s role in the lives of individuals and the history of the United States. Explore the life of John Muir as well as the human need to “experience” nature through images of Muir’s botanical specimens, hands-on activities, photographs, Native American material culture, and other natural history objects.


The exhibition is comprised of the traveling exhibition, "Nature's Beloved Son: Rediscovering John Muir's Botanical Legacy" by Exhibit Envoy; objects and specimens from RMM's collection and Smithsonian's US National Herbarium; and images and resources from the Holt-Atherton Special Collections (University of the Pacific), the Local History collection of the Riverside Public Library, the University of California-Riverside Department of Biology, and California Museum of Photography.