Mike Wurtz

Mike’s subject areas are History and Geological & Environmental Studies.

Mike Wurtz is the Head of the University of the Pacific Holt-Atherton Special Collections and Archives. He oversees the use and preservation of the historical archives of nearly 500 collections such as the John Muir Papers, collections of Japanese American Internment during WWII, and the archives of the University of the Pacific. 

Since 1992, Wurtz has focused his archival career on providing access to the collections he curates. He has done so principally through public presentations and leading digitization initiatives. He also uses his educational background to explore the symbiotic relationship between geography and history and takes every opportunity to blend archival research into geological field work in Yosemite, the Eastern Sierra, the Colorado Plateau, and Scotland. 

Since his start at Pacific in 2004, Wurtz has developed an expertise on John Muir’s archives that he has used to create a guidebook to Muir’s drawings in Yosemite, teach courses and seminars on Muir and the American Conservation Movement, curate a museum devoted to Muir collections, and explore how Muir’s writings have had an effect on race and the environment. 

• Selected Works