Skyfarming: Finding Aid

http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8280dq8 Online items available Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Brooke M. Black, June 29, 2007. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2007 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Frank F. Latta Collection: mssLatta Skyfarming 1 Skyfarming: Finding Aid Overview of the Collection Title: Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming Dates (inclusive): 1802-1982 Bulk dates: 1860-1975 Collection Number: mssLatta Skyfarming Creator: Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892-. Extent: Approximately 17,320 items in 121 boxes Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2129 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection contains the research materials of Frank F. Latta (1892-1983) from his five decades of researching the history and development of California's San Joaquin Valley and Miller & Lux, in particular dry farming known as skyfarming. Subjects include: agriculture and farming in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of agricultural machinery (combines, plows, reapers, scrapers, threshing machines, tractors and various types of harvesters), livestock, ranches, cattle, and crops, mostly wheat. The collection is made up of articles, Miller & Lux business records, catalogs, brochures, clippings, legal document, oral interviews, correspondence, manuscripts for publication, newspapers, notes, official reports, receipts, and research material in general. The collection also contains hundreds of photographs, both color and black and white, slides, panoramas and glass plates. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance Purchased from Latta Family Trust, October 1987 and gift of Monna Latta Olson, the daughter of Frank F. Latta, October 1987. Cataloger's Notes 1. The collection is arranged in six series by subject of the material. Several of the series have sub-series based upon more specific subjects (such as the sub-series Steamships under the Series Waterways). This was done to keep Latta’s original organization as much as possible throughout the entire collection. 2. Due to the original organization of the collection, Latta often put material dealing with several different subjects in the same folder and with the decision to not take items out of their original folders, some subjects can be found throughout the entire collection and not just in their corresponding series. The database for the collection will help in trying to find all material about a certain subject. 3. Latta did not put titles on all of his folders. In that instance the words “No title” or “Untitled” were used. The cataloger supplied short description titles on the folders for browsing and identification purposes. There are also a few instances where the title Latta gave to the folder is not correct for the material that is inside the folder; the cataloger then put the folder in the series related to the material inside the folder and not the title Latta used. 4. Latta often used a “genre” term on his folders. These were used to help organize the collection and will be found on the folder, under the title folder, as well as in the database in the field labeled “Genre Term.” 5. For the most part the folders in each series and sub-series are arranged in alphabetical order. Any exceptions are noted in the scope and content notes for the series and sub-series. Frank F. Latta Collection: mssLatta Skyfarming 2 Skyfarming: Finding Aid 6. There is a large amount of material dealing with the farmers Miller & Lux in the collection. Most of that material can be found in their own sub-series in series one and four (Agriculture and Waterways). Although to find all material related to Miller & Lux, the database should be used. 7. Latta often sent out forms to people for them to fill-out regarding their family’s genealogy. There are approximately 150 of these “Genealogical forms” throughout the entire collection. They often accompany oral interviews or correspondence. Related Materials in the Huntington Library The Huntington Library also has a collection of material relating only to Miller & Lux that also came from the Latta Family Trust: • Frank F. Latta Collection: Miller & Lux Papers (Call number: mssLatta Miller and Lux) Digitized materials Visit the Huntington Digital Library to view digitized glass plate negatives from this collection. Biographical Note Frank Forrest Latta (1892-1983), son of Presbyterian minister Eli C. Latta and teacher Harmonia Campbell, was born September 18, 1892, in Stanislaus County, California. As a young boy, Latta worked on several ranches in the San Joaquin Valley and became interested in the stories of the early pioneers, and in 1906 began interviewing people and gathering research regarding early life and early farming in California. Latta also spent much time researching the farming corporation Miller & Lux and its founders Henry Miller and Charles Lux. Latta married Jeanette “Jean” Allen in 1919; they had four children. When Latta was not traveling the San Joaquin Valley interviewing pioneers or writing at home, he taught drafting and carpentry at high schools in Gustine, Porterville, Shafter and Bakersfield, California. Latta helped found the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield in 1941 where he worked both as a curator and as its director. Latta, who was president of the League of Western Writers in 1938, is the author of several publications including Black Gold in the Joaquin, California Indian Folklore, Dalton Gang Days, Handbook of Yokuts Indians, and Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs. Latta died in Santa Cruz in May 1983. Bibliography Igler, David. Industrial cowboys: Miller & Lux and the transformation of the far west, 1850-1920 . Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Johnson, Stephen. The great central valley: California’s heartland . Berkeley: University of California Press in association with the California Academy of Sciences, 1993. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Black gold in the Joaquin . Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1949. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . California Indian folklore, as told to F. F. Latta, by Wah- nom-kot, Wah-hum-chah, Leé [and others] . Shafter, Calif.: Frank Forrest Latta, 1936. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Dalton gang days. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Bear State Books, c.1976. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Death Valley ‘49ers. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Bear State Books, 1979. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Handbook of Yokuts Indians . Bakersfield, Calif.: Kern County Museum, 1949, 1977. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Joaquín Murrieta and his horse gangs . Santa Cruz, Calif.: Bear State Books, 1980. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892- . Saga of Rancho El Tejón . Santa Cruz, Calif.: Bear State Books, c.1876. Scope and Content The collection contains Frank F. Latta's research material from his five decades of researching the history of California's San Joaquin Valley and Miller & Lux, in particular dry farming known as skyfarming. Subjects include: agriculture and farming in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of agricultural machinery (combines, plows, reapers, scrapers, threshing machines, tractors and various types of harvesters), livestock, ranches, cattle, and crops, mostly wheat. Also covered are: early aviation, early automobiles, bears, crime, the Dalton Gang, the Donner Party, earthquakes, education and schools in the San Joaquin Valley, floods, freight and steamships on the San Joaquin River, gold mines, irrigation, canals and water rights in San Joaquin Valley, land grants, livestock, lumber, outlaws, pioneers, the Presbyterian Church in California, ranches, rivers, roads, saddlery, sheepherding in California, overland journeys to California and California politics, government and history. Also talked about are women, African Americans, Chileans, Chinese, Mormons, Native Americans and Jews in California. The collection contains roughly 180 oral interviews with people living in the San Joaquin Valley in the 1930s through the 1970s. One of the series contains drafts of the unpublished manuscript Sky Farmers and Mule Skinners with Something about Hay Muckers, Buckaroos, and Bindle Stiffs and a Sheepherder or Two. Frank F. Latta worked on this manuscript for five decades. Frank F. Latta Collection: mssLatta Skyfarming 3 Skyfarming: Finding Aid Individuals covered or represented in the collection: Grizzly Adams, George S. Berry, San Brannan, Robert Maitland Brereton, J. P. Collyer, John Charles Fremont, James Ben Ali Haggin, William H. Hall, Obed Hussey, Jesse James, Cyrus McCormick, C. Z. Merritt, Heny Miller, Rufus R. Moore, Joaquin Murieta, George W. Nickel, J. Leroy Nickel, Harriet Quimby, Lovell Alexander Richards, Frank

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