Due to faulty heating, John Muir’s Birthplace is currently closed. Please keep an eye on our social media outlets for updates.
Our staff are opening Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery instead where you can see:
Exhibition – Brrr….Stories from Dunbar’s Outdoor Pool
Exhibition- A Safe Haven
We are also providing our usual local information, souvenirs and enquiry service.
We would like to invite exhibitors from across the UK to be part of a ‘Climate Call to Action’. Combining the best in visual art with a passion for climate change, John Muir’s Birthplace plans to hold a series of exhibitions throughout 2022 to encourage climate action.
We welcome entries from amateurs or professionals working across a diversity of art forms including artists, photographers, makers, crafters and community groups.
Expressions of interest by 4 Jan 2022 to
John Muir’s Birthplace,126 High Street, Dunbar, EH42 1JJ
museumseast@eastlothian.gov.uk
01368 8659899
East Lothian Museum Service is delighted to have received funding this year from Maths Week Scotland. In John Muir’s Birthplace we have purchased some scales for families to explore the world of weights an measures – just as John’s Dad would have used in his meal dealership on this site. We also have some old fashioned scales of the type that would have been used in the 19th Century, see how different they are from your kitchen scales today.
Drop in activities are available from 25 September – 3 October, and if you ring us your correct worksheets, we have maths week themed prizes for you. Hone your maths skills and have fun at the same time, what’s not to love!
Scotland’s iconic landscapes and rugged coastlines have been shaped by the elements over countless millennia. These foundations, the rocks beneath our feet, hold the secrets of our planet’s past, they have influenced our culture and provide an outdoor playground for us to enjoy and discover.
The Scottish Geology Festival 2021 brings you a packed programme of activities from Stranraer to Shetland that will showcase and celebrate Scotland’s geology. Events range from coastal walks to fossil hunting to online talks and even boat trips to Siccar Point, where James Hutton found proof of an ancient Earth. You can explore extinct volcanoes in Edinburgh or the UNESCO Global Geopark in the North West Highlands, find evidence of ancient tropical seas and coral reefs in Fife, and learn how the recent ice age helped shaped our incredible Scottish landscapes; geology isn’t just a thing of the past, but a tool for exploring our future too. More information can be found at https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/festival/
To explore John Muir’s fascination with Geology, please don’t miss our online exhibition, John Muir and Geology
One of the things we love about working in John Muir’s Birthplace, is that we never know who our next visitor is going to be. Early in August, we were delighted to welcome Janice and David Simpson. Janice had worked with the artist Valentin Znoba to produce the statue of John Muir as a boy now in Dunbar High Street. Janice and David’s son acted as a model for the statue.
It was lovely to be told of how much Valentin Znoba (1929 – 2006) admired John Muir and loved being in Dunbar – especially eating fish and chips!
Janice gifted the maquette of the statue, which can now be seen on the top floor of the Museum to John Muir’s Birthplace. She also made and gifted the beautiful plaster bust of John Muir which can be seen as you enter the Museum on the ground floor. Janice explained to us how she sculpted the hair with her fingers, and how the shoulders of the bust actually represent the mountains John loved so much.
We have made it even easier for you to help us spread John Muir’s word! You can now donate safely and securely online to help develop new permanent displays in John Muir’s Birthplace. We are currently planning a redisplay of our legacy exhibition on the top floor of the building, bringing the story right up to date. Donations can be made here. All donations go directly to the John Muir Birthplace Charitable Trust, who are responsible for the permanent exhibition and maintenance of the building.
Entrance to John Muir’s Birthplace is free, and we rely on grants and donations for the ongoing development of our displays. Like may similar institutions, our donations have been severely affected by closures in the last year due to the pandemic, every donation makes a difference.
Thank you.
We are delighted to announce that for July and August we are finally returning to 7 day a week opening! We will be open Monday to Saturday 10am – 5pm and Sunday 1pm – 5pm. Do pop in for your fix of inspiring John Muir quotes and a step into the tranquillity that only comes from immersing yourself in the natural world.
Our current exhibition, curated by Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace is John Muir, Earth, Planet, Universe which asks questions about our role as individuals in the climate crisis.
Over the summer we are setting a series of challenges for children to complete at home. Our first one can be found here, or pop in for leaflet on what will be happening to keep the little darlings occupied over the summer.
We also have a wide selection of Muir-themed books for sale as well as a curated collection of locally-made gifts, cards and postcards.
We look forward to welcoming you this summer!
Do you have a few minutes to tell us what you think?
East Lothian Council operates 4 museums directly, supports the operation of 3 community museums, provides loan collections to schools, care homes and community groups, supports community exhibitions, runs an exhibition, events and activities programme and manages the ELC Museum Collection & museum store.
This survey concerns those museums directly operated by ELC Museums Service. The museum opening hours have remained the same since the opening of the John Gray Centre Museum in 2012. Our museums are:
Like many aspects of everyday life East Lothian Council Museum Service has been operating in a very different way for the past year. By undertaking this survey we want to make sure that as we emerge from lockdown we are providing a Museum Service that is relevant and which visitors and local people will value.
During the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 all of our museums were closed completely, opening up when permitted with reduced hours and reduced facilities. Whilst open under coronavirus restrictions we had 20-30% of our usual number of visitors, which is a pattern replicated across the country.
‘Museums play a vital role in the lives of individuals, families and communities across Scotland. Their learning and outreach work bridges inequalities in education and mental and physical health provision. Museums help to connect people with their community, while enhancing the experience of visitors to Scotland and bringing a positive economic impact.’ (Museums Galleries Scotland)
However, not everyone can or feels able to visit museums. Leisure and free time is precious and there is enormous competition for visitors’ time. Some people feel that museums are not for them or they may face physical or economic barriers to visiting. We’d like to better understand these barriers & work to remove them and to better understand the impact of our museums and how we can improve what we do.
During lockdowns and under the tier system we have made more and more of our content available online and we have seen an increase in ‘virtual’ visits and engagement both on our websites and on social media. Now that we are able to open to the public again (with restrictions in place) we would like to review our opening hours to ensure they are the best fit for our visitors and potential visitors.
You can complete the survey by clicking here.
We were delighted to welcome travel writer Simon Parker and Markus Stitz (founder of Bikepacking Scotland) yeaterday, 16 June. Simon is cycling right around the coast of Britain, writing a regular column #BritainByBike for The Telegraph. He’d come to us from Northumberland, and is now heading back up north to Shetland, where his adventure began. He’s averaging about 70 miles a day. You can follow Simon on Twitter here @SimonWIParker
Markus (@reizkultur) is a familiar face at John Muir’s Birthplace. If you haven’t seen his lovely film about cycling the John Muir Way, you can watch it here:
Unhurried: Scotland Coast to Coast on the John Muir Way (Film)
