150 Years of Yosemite

Dave Iverson

Jun 6, 2014 at

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(Courtesy Stanford University Special Collections)

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, making Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove the first parkland ever set aside by the federal government for preservation and public use. That act laid the groundwork for the national park system. We look back on the history of Yosemite and the artists, conservationists and leaders who were inspired by the dramatic landscape that Frederick Law Olmsted called “the greatest glory of nature… the union of the deepest sublimity with the deepest beauty.”

"Yosemite HD": An Awe-Inspiring Time-Lapse Video:

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Guests:

Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, curator of prints, drawings and photographs at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center and curator of the exhibit "Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums"

Dayton Duncan, writer, documentary filmmaker and author of "Seed of the Future: Yosemite and the Evolution of the National Park Idea"

Shelton Johnson, Yosemite National Park ranger and writer and performer of the one-man show "Yosemite Through the Eyes of a Buffalo Soldier"

Scott Gediman, Yosemite National Park ranger and spokesperson

Lee Stetson, actor who has played the role of John Muir for more than 30 years as part of Yosemite Theater

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