Regional Oral History Office University of California the Bancroft Library Berkeley, California

Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Joyce Rutherford Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front Oral History Project This interview series was funded in part by a contract with the National Park Service, and with the support of individual donors. Interview conducted by Sam Redman in 2011 Copyright © 2016 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Joyce Rutherford, dated December 7, 2011. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Joyce Rutherford, “Rosie the Riveter, World War II Home Front Oral History Project” conducted by Sam Redman in 2011, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2012. Joyce Rutherford iv Table of Contents—Joyce Rutherford Interview 1: May 24, 2011 Tape 1 Born 1923 in Porterville, California—Parents emigrated from England following uncle’s encouragement—Moved from farm to Crockett—Early schooling, —Excelling in math— Enrolling in mechanical drawing and architectural drawing courses—Only woman in some classes—Impact of the Great Depression on her family and others—Many immigrants from Europe in Crockett working at the sugar refinery with her father—Description of other students—Friendly community—Parents involvement in the Episcopalian church—Attending church services—Singing—Some recollection of FDR on radio and CCC workers—Decision to enroll at UC Berkeley—First impressions of the campus and life in Berkeley—Discouraged by high school principal from studying architecture—Began at Berkeley as a math major—Courses where she was the only woman enrolled—Recollections of Japanese American friends who were allowed to temporarily continue studies while family sent away to camps—Working at Alta Bates hospital during 1942—Impressions of campus—Dances at fraternities—Uniformed servicemen in classes—Rationing on campus—Training in architecture—Meeting and learning from Julia Morgan in Berkeley—Redacted three semester schedules of War Alumni Classes— Finding work at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond—Job duties working with engineers at shipyards—Commuting to shipyards with another woman from Berkeley—Observing the construction of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge—Thoughts on the design and building of the Bay Bridge and the Key System Tape 2 End of the war in Europe—Meeting husband who served in the Navy Seabees (CB – Construction Battalion) —Earning enough money at the shipyards to afford tuition at the university—Feeling the explosion at Port Chicago from Berkeley, —Thoughts on the end of the war—Her perspective on the dropping of atomic weapons—Her husband’s perspective on the use of atomic weapons as a sailor stationed in Hawaii—Starting a business with her husband in Greenwich, Connecticut—Work and home life balance following the war—Concept of “Rosie the Riveter”—Relatives in England during the war . 1 Interview #1November 2, 2011 Begin Audio File 1 rutherford_joyce_01_11-02-11.mp3 01-00:00:06 Redman: Today is Wednesday, November 2, 2011. My name is Sam Redman, and I’m here today with Joyce Rutherford. We’re in Danville, California. This is our first session together today. I’d like to begin with probably the simplest of all questions that I could ask today. Would you be willing to tell me your full name and then the spelling of the full name, if you wouldn’t mind? 01-00:00:32 Rutherford: Okay. Joyce Margaret Rutherford. My maiden name was Farmer. 01-00:00:41 Redman: Those all spelled out like normal spellings? 01-00:00:44 Rutherford: Yes. 01-00:00:45 Redman: Rutherford—would you mind just spelling that for us? 01-00:00:47 Rutherford: R-U-T-H-E-R-F-O-R-D. 01-00:00:50 Redman: All right, terrific. Joyce, where were you born? 01-00:00:54 Rutherford: I was born down near Bakersfield in1923. A little town called Porterville. 01-00:01:03 Redman: Can you tell me what that town was like around the time you were born? Maybe how your parents had described— 01-00:01:12 Rutherford: My mother and dad owned a small farm and grew pomegranates and olives. Of course, we had chickens and sheep and dogs and cows. Lived about—I think it was about twenty miles outside of town. 01-00:01:34 Redman: Where were your parents from? 01-00:01:35 Rutherford: My mother and father came from England in 1920. They purchased their farm, site unseen, before they left England. 01-00:01:51 Redman: They had an idea, then, that they wanted to come to California? 01-00:01:54 Rutherford: Oh, yes. 2 01-00:01:55 Redman: What drew them to California? Did they talk about why they had decided— 01-00:02:00 Rutherford: My mother’s brother came out first, and he evidently encouraged them to come out. It was soon after World War One, and my father fought in France and was injured. He worked for the British Railroad Company before and after the war. 01-00:02:27 Redman: Was he a laborer for the British Railroad Company? 01-00:02:30 Rutherford: He worked in the offices in London. 01-00:02:32 Redman: I see. Had either your mother or father, had they gone to college in England? 01-00:02:38 Rutherford: No. They both stayed in school, I think until about fourteen. Then they go into offices or wherever they’re going to work and get the rest of their education there. 01-00:02:59 Redman: As sort of an apprentice? 01-00:03:00 Rutherford: Apprentice work. 01-00:03:01 Redman: I see. Then, eventually, they came to California, following your uncle, to become farmers. 01-00:03:11 Rutherford: Farmers. My father’s name was Farmer. 01-00:03:15 Redman: It was fitting, I guess, right? Tell me, then, did you have any siblings growing up? 01-00:03:21 Rutherford: I have a sister that’s two-and-a-half years older than I am. 01-00:03:26 Redman: So she came along, and then a couple of years later, you were born. 01-00:03:31 Rutherford: We were both born down in the Valley, in Terra Bella, Porterville. 01-00:03:37 Redman: Can you tell me what some of your earliest memories of growing up on the farm might have been? 3 01-00:03:42 Rutherford: Well, no. We left the farm—I probably was about not even two—and moved to Crockett. It was sort of a Depression time, and nobody needed olives or pomegranates, so my father’s business wasn’t very good. He came up to work at the C&H sugar refinery in Crockett. I grew up in Crockett, really. Went all through school, high school and all, in Crockett. 01-00:04:19 Redman: Can you then tell me a little bit about what Crockett was like? Some of your early memories of what that town was like? Because now we’re entering the Great Depression. I suspect that there were a lot of people in similar situations to your father. A lot of people were moving to try to find work, piecing together jobs here and there where they could find them. Can you talk a little bit about what Crockett was like? 01-00:04:49 Rutherford: I’ve always said that it was a wonderful town to grow up in. It was a small town. Everybody knew each other. I had really nice friends, whom I still correspond with. Hardly anybody moved out of town. We started with the kindergarten children, and we went right through school and graduated from high school with the same group. It was a very friendly town. It was just a really nice place to live. 01-00:05:30 Redman: I’d like to talk a little bit about elementary school if we could, or grammar school. A lot of places in the United States, prior to the time that you went to school, were one-room schoolhouses.

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