John Muir Newsletter, April/June 1985
Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies VOLUME 5 APRIL/JUNE 1985 University of the Pacific Stockton, Calif 95211 NUMBER 2 EDITORIAL STAFF: RONALD H. LIMBAUGH, KIRSTEN E. LEWIS MUIR CONFERENCE AN OUTSTANDING EVENT Over 250 registrants from all parts of the West attended the special John Muir...
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Scholarly Commons
1985
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| Online Access: | https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn/22 https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=jmn |
| Summary: | Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies VOLUME 5 APRIL/JUNE 1985 University of the Pacific Stockton, Calif 95211 NUMBER 2 EDITORIAL STAFF: RONALD H. LIMBAUGH, KIRSTEN E. LEWIS MUIR CONFERENCE AN OUTSTANDING EVENT Over 250 registrants from all parts of the West attended the special John Muir Conference on the University of the Pacific campus April 12-13. Twenty-five speakers and panelists from thirteen differene academic institutions in nine different states and the Ditrict of Columbia participated in this edition of the California History Institute, highlighted by Hollywood actor Lee Stetson's highly-acclaimed one-man show: "Conversation with a Tramp: An Evening with John Muir." Among the special guests were more than a dozen members of the Muir-Hanna family, including three of John Muir's grandchildren. Hailed as the most successful program in the Institute's thirty-eight-year history, the Conference climaxed a five-year effort to gather, organize and publish all of Muir's extent journals, correspondence and holograph manuscripts. If you missed the Conference, or if you want to hear the speakers again, see the order form in this newsletter for details on how to order cassette tapes. GRANT PROJECT TIME TABLE EXTENDED SIX MONTHS As we indicated in the last newsletter, the Muir Papers Microform Project has been unable to meet the projected July publication date due to technical delays beyond control of the project staff. It now appears that the complete microform edition and hard copy Guide will not be ready for distribution before December of this year. In the meantime, the papers have been opened series by series as the filming is completed. Scholars working on site now have access to all original material except the correspondence which is now being filmed and should be reopened for research purposes later this summer. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by these revisions in the production schedule. CLIPPING FROM THE MUIR COLLECTION (Editors note: Scholars know a great deal about John Muir but little about his wife, Louise Strentzel ("Louie"). Her childhood trek across the southern plains in a covered wagon is colorfully narrated in this clip from a Muir family scrapbook, taken from an 1890 edition of the Adelaide, San Luis Obispo County.) DR. AND MRS. STRENTZEL ON THE PLAINS EDITORS PRESS:—In the RURAL PRESS of the 8th inst. I saw with sorrow the announcement of the death of Dr. John Strentzel of Martinez. Although I never had. the pleasure of meeting him in California, I knew him in Lamar county, Texas, before he came to this State, and as a member of -the Clarksville train in charge of Captain Griffin and Mr. Shackle ford, and old Western Texan, as pilot in ll Dr. Strentzel in Lamar county practiced his profession very successfully, and the poorest man there called upon him with as much assurance as the man with his thousands would. He knew the doctor never hesitated to go, money or no money. He used all his patients alike—rich and poor, the white and the black; he was always ready to do his best for suffering humanity wherever he found it. When he joined our train at Bonham he had a wife and one girl baby—a pretty child. His wife I shall refer to again before I get through. Our train was composed of 104 men and 7 women. This doctor received the appointment as doctor of the train. We supposed that should we need his services we would have to pay for them and made no other calculations. But whenever he was called on he rendered his services cheerfully, did all he could, but would not receive one cent, not even for the medicine. My messmate, Mr. R. Simms, was in poor health before he started, and the doctor treated him all the time until he died on the headwaters of the Colorado of Texas; and if my friend had been a brother of the doctor, he could not have been more kind and attentive to him. He was a great favorite with all the members of the train. I wanted to pay him for his services, but he would not take one cent. Few that are acquainted with Mrs. Strentzel now could realize what she went '■ through in her girlhood days. She was born in a "blockhouse." A blockhouse was made of logs notched close together to keep out bullets and arrows. The second story projected over the walls of the first one some eight or ten feet all round and was floored with logs, with portholes cut through at convenient distances, so ■they could shoot down at -the enemy when -they approached the lower walls. These houses were built principally for the safety of the women and children, and to fly to when overpowered by numbers of Indians. Often in her girlhood days Mrs. Strentzel had to fly to this refuge to save herself from the Indians. On the headwaters of the Brazos river; our train was surprised by the Indians, and the report was that they were 500 in number. I passed by her wagon in -the midst of the excitement. There she stood on the wagon-tongue, with her baby under her left arm and a United States dragoon pistol in her right hand, cool and collected. Never in all my life have I seen fight more plainly delineated, on any countenance. In passing I made some remark to her. She said, "This is not -the first time I have been in danger. " While my messmate was sick, any and everything that she could do for him she did. Dr. and Mrs. Strentzel were a noble couple. Of the 104 men and seven women that composed the Clarksville train, Mrs. Strentzel and her daughter are the only ones that I know to be living. Should there be any others left, I should be pleased and gratified to hear from them. J. L. P. Smith. ORDER FORM FOR MUIR CONFERENCE CASSETTE TAPES Anyone interested in purchasing copies of the recorded presentations at the John Muir Conference should complete the following order form. All academic sessions have been reproduced on good-quality cassettes, and can be purchased in whole or in part. A copy of the program and biographical notes will be included with each shipment. The purchase price is $5.00 per cassette which contains two thirty-minute sessions. Payment must accompany each order. Please allow three weeks for delivery. CASSETTE NUMBER CONTENTS QUANTITY PRICE SIDE A: William & Maymie Kimes: "Scotland Remembers John Muir"/Millie Stanley: "John Muir in Wisconsin" SIDE B: Peter Palmquist: "Wilderness has Many Voices" SIDE A: Bart O'Brien: "The Muir-Whitney Controversy" SIDE B: Paul Sheats: "Muir's Gospel of Glaciers" SIDE A: Richard Fleck: "Muir's Homage to Thoreau" SIDE B: Ron Limbaugh: "The Nature of Muir's Religion" SIDE A: Kathleen Wadden: "John Muir and the Community of Nature" SIDE B: Lisa Mighetto: "John Muir and the Rights of Animals" SIDE A: Edmund A. Schofield: "Muir and the New England Connection" SIDE B: Richard J. Orsi: "Muir and the Southern Pacific Railroad" SIDE A: Frank E. Buske: "John Muir's Alaska Experience" SIDE B: P.J. Ryan: "Muir in the South Pacific" HIDE A?~<^etajel Cohen: "Between the Generations; John Muir^^^Jjpe Sierra Club as Cult" SIDE B: Frederick^~56?\Ete'KJ "Toward Future Muir Biographies: Probl ospects 8 SIDE A: Linda Moon Stumpff: "All in a Quote" Please return form and payment to the Holt-Atherton Center for Western Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211. Attention: Cassette Order. TOTAL Ship to: California Residents add 6% sales tax Postage & Handling 1-3 tapes $1.75, 4-8 $2.50 TOTAL DUE https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn/1021/thumbnail.jpg |
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