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Photographs of Migrant Agricultural Laborers in California

 Collection
Call Number: WA Photos Folio 225

Scope and Contents

Collection of thirty-eight photographs that document aspects of housing, medical care, and education for migrant agricultural laborers in California, 1969-1971, created by photographers Harvey Saul Columbus and Calind Lewis Potts as well as by the California Farm Workers Health Service. Many of the agricultural laborers are Hispanic Americans as well as several African Americans.

Seven photographs by Calind Lewis Potts document education, including classroom scenes, as well as housing for migrant agricultural laborers at Dixon, Empire, Hollister, Lodi, and Merced in California, approximately 1970.

Photographs by Harvey Saul Columbus include twelve photographs that chiefly document a free medical clinic at Livingston, California, operated by the Stanford University School of Medicine including student F. Wells Shoemaker and faculty member Keith Breden Taylor in 1969. Seventeen other photographs by Columbus document medical clinics and housing for migrant agricultural laborers at Calexico, Fresno, Imperial, Lodi, Mace, Mendota, San Joaquin County, Stockton, Sutter County, and Watsonville, approximately 1970.

Two photographs by the California Farm Workers Health Service document a woman at a grape packing factory as well as agricultural workers harvesting tomatoes at unidentified locations, approximately 1970.

Manuscript inscriptions on rectos and versos of mounts. Titles for prints in this guide derive from inscriptions on rectos and versos of mounts.

Dates

  • 1969-1971

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Photographs of Migrant Agricultural Laborers in California collection is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from the William Reese Co. on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 2022.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: I. Photographs by Calind Lewis Potts, approximately 1970. II. Photographs by Harvey Saul Columbus, 1969-1971. III. Photographs by the California Farm Workers Health Service, approximately 1970.

Extent

8 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.photomigrants

Abstract

Collection of thirty-eight photographs that document aspects of housing, medical care, and education for migrant agricultural laborers in California, 1969-1971, created by photographers Harvey Saul Columbus and Calind Lewis Potts as well as by the California Farm Workers Health Service. Many of the agricultural laborers are Hispanic Americans as well as several African Americans.

Harvey Saul Columbus (born 1942)

Harvey Saul Columbus, also known as Sol Columbus, was a photographer. Born in Michigan and a son of Ida Barbara Steiner Columbus (1915-1961) and Benjamin Columbus (1912-1996). In January 1984 Columbus married Linda Ann Koester (born 1949). He lived in Novato and San Francisco, California.

Calind Lewis Potts (1920-2016)

Calind Lewis Potts, also known as Cal Potts, was a photographer, teacher, and construction inspector. He was born in Indiana, a son of Walter Earl Potts (1889-1953) and Effie May Handley Potts (1890-1987). Potts was employed at the Plano Cabinet & Fixture Company in Porterville, California, during the 1960s. Potts then worked with Migrant Services Programs in the California Office of Economic Opportunity, approximately 1970, as well as with the Migrant Services Section of the Division of Farm Labor Services for the California State Department of Human Resources, approximately 1980-1981. He was married to Annette Rosemond Potts (1920-2008), and they had two children.

California Farm Workers Health Service

The California Farm Workers Health Service was a program established by the California State Department of Health in 1961 that included decentralized medical clinics to serve migrant agricultural laborers and their families during the peak harvest months.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, as well as more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.

This guide derives from a preliminary listing by Ashley Cale based on a transcription from inscriptions on prints followed by detailed examination of each print, arrangement, and description by Matthew Daniel Mason.

Title
Guide to the Photographs of Migrant Agricultural Laborers in California
Status
Completed
Author
by Matthew Daniel Mason
Date
January 2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.