Library News

“Merced County was what might be termed virgin territory for rural organization work before the farm bureau came into this county,” wrote County Agent J.F. Grass in his November 30, 1920 Narrative Report. But Grass reported that with a few “good men” of experience placed in office who were “willing workers,” and with ongoing attention to “developing individuals” to be “trained to act as leaders,” “the program of work idea is working out satisfactorily in this county.” As of December 1^st of that year, the Farm Bureau of Merced County had fifteen farm centers and 1,075 members.

Map of farm centers in the county, from the 1920 annual report of the county agricultural agent.

Three years after the start of the county farm bureau, the 1920 annual report strikes a reflective tone, and Grass takes stock of the factors that are important to the progress of work: the importance of “efficient local leadership,” and of addressing the needs of local conditions, which were found to be diverse across the county. Near the end of the report, he captures an interesting snapshot in time of what he sees as the needs and prospects of those fifteen centers—starting with Amsterdam and ending with Stevinson—based on their population, attitudes, and the physical conditions of the land. Of one center he writes, “moving population and sparsely settled, poor soil to the greatest extant, lack of unity among the settlers.” Of another, a “good center, a group of people in this center who always want to change the existing order of things… always making resolutions.”

To those interested not only in the history of agriculture, but also of civic organization and community development in this county, these and other historic reports from a century ago give firsthand perspective. The 1920 report includes discussion of the Merced and West Joaquin irrigation districts recently formed, the founding of the Merced County Purebred Livestock Breeders Association, and the development of the Farm Bureau Exchange, as well as photographs illustrating farm demonstrations, agricultural clubs, and other work conducted in the county. Now, anyone with an internet connection can freely view and download these historic materials through UC Merced Library and the California Digital Library on Calisphere.

In 2018, the National Archives awarded UC Merced Library a Major Initiatives grant to preserve and digitize these and other records of California’s Cooperative Extension (UCCE) county offices. The award recognized that the Cooperative Extension records represent “documentary heritage essential to understanding our democracy, history, and culture.” Merced County’s UCCE records are among the first the library archived, under an agreement between the campus and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Over the course of the three-year grant, collections from fourteen California counties have been archived and are being digitized. They are core to the California Agricultural Resources Archive (cara.ucmerced.edu), an effort the library is undertaking to aggregate and provide digital access to a host of historical research material on California agriculture online.

The UC Merced Library is happy to announce the public launch of the Ernest Lowe Photography Collection. This collection of photographs, which was acquired by the Library with support from the UC Merced Office of the Chancellor, showcases the work done by photographer Ernest Lowe to document the lives and struggles of the farmworking communities in California's Central Valley. 

These photographs date from the late 1960s, which featured a series of flashpoints of labor activism among farmworkers in the Valley. Featured among these photographs are images from the Delano to Sacramento March, organized by the UFW, and where labor activists Cesar Chavez and  Dolores Huerta figured prominently. Too, are images of Bobby Kennedy as he participated in a series of congressional hearings on the rights on farmworkers in Delano, CA.

Alongside these more dramatic scenes are images depicting the familial and community lives of these farmworkers. As viewers, we are drawn into the worlds these laborers built for themselves as they worked tirelessly in the fields, or struggled with the disappearance of jobs as a result of the mechanization of agriculture. We are drawn into communities like Teviston, where Black sharecroppers migrated to after the Second World War. These former sharecroppers came to California looking to escape the oppression of the Jim Crow South and the new-slavery tenant farming systems, but instead found themselves struggling to find work and dealing, once again, with a racism they had hoped to escape.

Ernest Lowe studied photography in the late 50's with the noted social documentarian, John Collier Jr. His other models were the classic images of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and other Farm Security Administration photographers. In 1959 Lowe joined the staff of Pacifica radio station KPFA and almost immediately began documenting the lives of migrant farm workers. 

This rich collection features more than 2,700 digital images, with approximately 5,000 additional film negatives. The digital images are newly available on Calisphere for free public viewing.

Read the full UC Merced Newsroom story here: Library Acquires Ernest Lowe Photography Collection Documenting 1960s Rural California Communities

View the collection online.

Our last post referenced items from CARA related to wildfires in California and demonstrated how archival materials from the past can inform our present conditions. This connection was underscored last month when CARA staff joined with others from the UC Merced Library and Facilities Management teams, to assist in the emergency evacuation of the archive of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI). Over the course of two days, the SEKI archive was transferred to the Leo & Dottie Kolligian Library building where the collections will remain permanently. Read With Fire Threatening, National Parks Turn to UC Merced for Help Preserving History from the University newsroom to learn more about this SEKI-UC Merced partnership, one that has deepened the relationship between the campus and surrounding lands.

With the SEKI materials safely stored for the time being, the CARA team continues to process the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) collections. In recent days, we’ve turned our attention to UCCE’s significant sets of audio-visual objects. For example, the Humboldt County records contain a box of ¼-inch open reel audio tapes. In use from 1949 through the mid 1980s, open reel tapes are a type of magnetic media and were a popular and affordable option to record audio until they were widely displaced with newer media formats like 8-Tracks and cassette tapes.[1]

Box of open reel tapes, Humboldt County, UC Cooperative Extension Records.

The Humboldt County tapes contain only small amounts of contextual information, or metadata, both on and proximate to the tapes. What is clear, though, by reading the few labels, stickers, and annotations is that these are the tapes of former 4-H Home Advisor and County Director, Evelyn Wanderlich, recorded for a local radio station show. Not present though, are any references to themes, subject matter, and other contextual clues.

Open reel tape box cover, Humboldt County, UC Cooperative Extension Records.

Therefore, in order to accurately know what is on them, and to both physically and intellectually position the materials within the archive, they must be listened to. Open reel tapes are placed on particular tape recorders for playback, but many institutions, such as the UC Merced Library, simply do not have such equipment on hand. The inability to listen to certain media formats on site is demonstrative of a challenge many twenty-first century institutions face. It is something that CARA contends with and so we must reach out to organizations that specialize in preserving and digitizing obsolete media. By doing so we can make these unique documentary records accessible.

A tape recorder collection at Record Exchange in St Louis, Missouri. This is the type of equipment needed to listen to the open reel tapes in our Humboldt County UCCE records.

The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), located in San Francisco, has been supporting media makers and activists since 1976, an era in media history that was revolutionary due to the innovation of the widely available battery-powered videotape recorders. Creating audio-visual material became less prohibitive and independent media creation flourished.[2] They continue to serve as an important leader in the field of media production, education, and preservation. So, we reached out to Morgan Morel, Preservation Manager at BAVC, for information about their services and how they could help us with Evelyn Wanderlich’s tapes.

I started by sending Morgan an inventory of the six tapes. This helps a preservationist understand the state of the materials before agreement is made to work on a project. Below is an example of the inventory sent to BAVC:

The brand, material types, and condition of the object are all described here. In this example, a white powdery substance was found on the tape (see image below for what we found).

Morgan’s concern was that this substance was mold, creating an unfavorable condition for digitization. This picture, sent along with the inventory, helped him determine that the markings indicate deplasticization. Although no mold is present, this type of degradation can still cause trouble and will be analyzed further at BAVC facilities.

Barring any other major issues, the content of the audio tapes will be converted to master and access files and placed on a hard drive. These digital files will then become accessible to the public alongside other materials found in the Humboldt County UCCE collection. We will also place the reels in new acid-free archival boxes that will ensure the long-term preservation of the original object.

Old housing and new housing (Gaylord Archival® Clamshell 7" Audio Reel Box).

We are excited to expand our digital collection and for the opportunity to work with the Bay Area Video Coalition. Look out for updates for when these recordings are online!

[1] https://obsoletemedia.org/open-reel-tape/

[2] https://bavc.org/sites/default/files/resource/BAVCHistory1976-2016.pdf