John Muir in the New World

FAIN: TR-50032-09

Global Village Media (New York, NY 10025-3322)
Catherine A. Tatge (Project Director: August 2008 to June 2024)

Production of a two-hour television documentary and website that examines the life of the Scottish-American naturalist John Muir and places his writing, his beliefs, and his activism in the context of late 19th- and 20th-century American history.

This two-hour documentary,John Muir in the New World [working title], shot on high definition for PBS' American Masters, will follow the life of the Scottish-American naturalist and place his writing, his beliefs, and his activism in the context of late 19th and 20th century American history. We will show how, through his writings and associations, Muir became an early and influential spokesman for the conservation movement of the United States. Visually, this film will be strongly rooted in the locations of Muir's life, from Scotland to California, which were the prime influences on his thinking and writing. While preparing this documentary, we will look specifically at the emergent field of environmental history and the new scholarship on the definition of wilderness. We will also explore Muir's egalitarianism within the context of American political thought. And we will consider the importance of religion in Muir's thinking as it related to his botanical and geological observations.