April - August, 2011
The Lure and Lore of Yosemite is the most comprehensive exhibition to date of art, literature and ephemera relating to the history of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove.
Materials on display range from Lafayette Bunnell's account of the 'discovery' of the Valley, in 1851, to John Muir's famous Century Magazine articles (published in 1890) that led to the creation of Yosemite National Park.
Visitors to the exhibit will get a powerful sense of the impact of tourism on Yosemite in the decades between 1870 and 1900. Examples of rare 19th century ephemera on display - rail and stage company brochures, guide-service pamphlets, stock certificates and trade cards for early hotels - all attest to the intense commercial activity of this period.
Yosemite was also a mecca for artists and photographers, many of whose works appear in this exhibit. Highlights include: lithographs by San Francisco artist George Holbrook Baker, magnificent mammoth plate photographs by Carleton Watkins, and an original pencil sketch (from 1855) by Thomas Ayres - who was the first artist ever to draw Yosemite.
Please join us in taking this unique journey back through time to experience the 'lure and lore of Yosemite.'