World-famous environmentalist John Muir never forgot the day he got his first lesson in the study of nature on the steps of his University of Wisconsin dormitory. Almost 50 years later, Muir wrote a letter to thank his old college friend, Wisconsin judge Milton Griswold, for “that wonderful botanical lesson you gave me on the steps of our dormitory, which has never been forgotten and which has influenced all my after life.”
The note is part of a rare collection of Muir’s letters published online for the first time by the Wisconsin Historical Society.