Ernest Lowe Photography Collection, 1957-2023 RA.007
University of California, Merced Library
5200 N. Lake Road
Merced, CA 95343
University of California, Merced Library
5200 North Lake Road
Merced 95343
library@ucmerced.edu
This collection consists of photographic materials from the Photographer Ernest Lowe over the course of his career. The bulk
of materials that can be found within the collection are contact sheets, prints, slides, and negatives. The primary subject
of his photographs are California farm workers in the Central Valley. While on assignment Lowe began to photograph communities
in the Central Valley that lacked paved roads, running water, electricity, and other essential services. What Lowe found was
a cohesive and caring community that looked after one another. Low. photographs captured the dignity, strength, and perseverance
of these communities. While reporting, Lowe followed the early unionization by Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
(AWOC) and the United Farm Workers/National Farmworkers Organization. A selection of records are from Lowe's project returning
to Central Valley in 2015, where he revisited communities that that he spends time in the beginning of his career and documenting
the changes. The bulk of the collection reflects this work.
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Merced Library
Title: Ernest Lowe Photography Collection
Identifier/Call Number: RA.007
Physical Description:
13 Box
Physical Description:
116 Gigabytes
Date (inclusive): 1957-2023
Date (bulk): 1958-1966
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research by request, as it is currently being processed. Once processing is complete the collection
will be open for research. The collection is located at the University of California, Merced Library. For help locating material
and making a research request please contact library@ucmerced.edu.
Reproduction Permission:
Copyright is retained by Ernest Lowe. The artist has granted the University of California permission to transmit the works
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) license. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of photographic materials from the Photographer Ernest Lowe over the course of his career. The bulk
of materials that can be found within the collection are contact sheets, prints, slides, and negatives. The primary subject
of his photographs are California farm workers in the Central Valley. While on assignment Lowe began to photograph communities
in the Central Valley that lacked paved roads, running water, electricity, and other essential services. What Lowe found was
a cohesive and caring community that looked after one another. Low. photographs captured the dignity, strength, and perseverance
of these communities. While reporting, Lowe followed the early unionization by Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
(AWOC) and the United Farm Workers/National Farmworkers Organization. A selection of records are from Lowe's project returning
to Central Valley in 2015, where he revisited communities that that he spends time in the beginning of his career and documenting
the changes. The bulk of the collection reflects this work.
box 1, box 2
Ernest Lowe's Contact Sheet
1960-1966
Physical Description: 0.63 Linear Feet
Access:
The collection is open for research use.
Reproduction Permission:
Copyright is retained by Ernest Lowe. The artist has granted the University of California permission to transmit the works
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) license. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Series Description:
This series consists predominately of contact sheets for Ernest Lowe's photographs. A contact sheet is a method of printing
all frames from a given film roll on a single photographic paper. This allows the photographer to review all pictures taken
from the roll at once and evaluate which ones to enlarge. Lowe generates his own identifier numbers based off his contact
sheets, which use a constructed subject heading number and then adds a two-digit number in sequential order to create an identity
number for each contact sheet. A small selection of slides and prints can be found within the series. The photographs depict
the early formation of Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), living conditions of farm workers, depictions of
labor on the farms, and protests undertaken by the AWOC. Arrangement as given by the creator. An item level listing is available
upon request.
box 1, folder 1
680-Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC)
box 1, folder 2
681- AWOC Organizing Conference
box 1, folder 3
682-Communities, Camps & Homes
box 1, folder 5
684-Handpicking of cotton in a field near Pixley, mechanical cotton pickers, cotton gin
box 1, folder 6
685-Agribusiness images: equipment, packing sheds, offices etc.
box 1, folder 7
686-Coit Ranch (10K acres) in Fresno County: braceros in dorm, picking melons
box 1, folder 8
687-National Farm Worker Association organizing, Cesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, Luis Valdez, Teatro de Campesinos, union office,
Delano-Sacto march, Rally at Capitol, smaller union meetings
box 1, folder 9
688-Senate Labor Relations committee hearings on farm labor with Senator Robert Kennedy in hearing and outside conversing
with Cesar Chavez
box 1, folder 10
689-The Wilson Family with five kids, self-identified fruit tramps picking salvage grapes and in their small trailer.
box 1, folder 11
690-Teviston, a Black community on Hwy 99, between Tulare and Delano
box 2, folder 1
Senior Center, Photograph Serial Number 58-11-24A
box 1, box 2
Ernest Lowe's Negatives
1958-1966
Physical Description: 4.59 Linear Feet
Reproduction Permission:
Copyright is retained by Ernest Lowe. The artist has granted the University of California permission to transmit the works
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) license. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Series Description
This series consists of negatives from Ernest Lowe's body of works. The negatives come in a variety of formats, the bulk
of the negatives are 35-millimeter and medium-format negatives. There is a small selection of medium and large-format negatives.
Lowe generates his own identifier numbers based off his contact sheets, which use a constructed by subject heading number
and then adds a two-digit number in sequential order to create an identity number for each contact sheet. To identify the
film negative strip, Lowe uses the Contact sheet identifier as the base number and then adds an additional two-digit number
for a given row of photograph's found on the contact sheet to signal a negative film roll. An item level listing is available
upon request.
box 1, folder 1
680 AWOC Activities 1-6 [Folder 1 of 3]
box 1, folder 2
680 AWOC Activities 7-12 [Folder 2 of 3]
box 1, folder 3
680 AWOC Activities 13-18 [Folder 3 of 3]
box 1, folder 4
681 AWOC Organizing Conference [Folder 1 of 3]
box 1
681 AWOC Organizing Conference [Folder 2 of 3]
box 2, folder 1
681-AWOC Organizing Conference [Folder 3 of 3]
box 2, folder 2
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 1 of 10]
box 2, folder 3
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 2 of 10]
box 2, folder 4
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 3 of 10]
box 2, folder 5
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 4 of 10]
box 2, folder 6
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 5 of 10]
box 3, folder 1
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 6 of 10]
box 3, folder 2
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 7 of 10]
box 3, folder 3
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 8 of 10]
box 3, folder 4
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 9 of 10]
box 3, folder 5
682-Farm Work Camp and Town [Folder 10 of 10]
box 4, folder 1
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 1 of 8]
box 4, folder 2
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 2 of 8]
box 4, folder 3
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 3 of 8]
box 4, folder 4
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 4 of 8]
box 4, folder 5
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 5 of 8]
box 5, folder 1
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 6 of 8]
box 5, folder 2
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 7 of 8]
box 5, folder 3
683- Field & orchard work [Folder 8 of 8]
box 5, folder 4
684-Cotton [Folder 1 of 4]
box 5, folder 5
684-Cotton [Folder 2 of 4]
box 6, folder 1
684-Cotton [Folder 3 of 4]
box 6, folder 2
684-Cotton [Folder 3 of 4]
box 6, folder 3
685- Coit Ranch [Folder 1 of 2]
box 6, folder 4
685-Coit Ranch [Folder 2 of 2]
box 7, folder 1
686-Coit Ranch [Folder 1 of 3]
box 7, folder 2
686-Coit Ranch [Folder 2 of 3]
box 7, folder 3
686-Coit Ranch [Folder 3 of 3]
box 7, folder 4
687-NFWA Organizing [Folder 1 of 5]
box 7, folder 5
687-NFWA Organizing [Folder 2 of 5]
box 8, folder 1
687-NFWA Organizing [Folder 3 of 5]
box 8, folder 2
687-NFWA Organizing [Folder 4 of 5]
box 8, folder 3
687-NFWA Organizing [Folder 5 of 5]
box 8, folder 4
688-Senate Hearing [Folder 1 of 3]
box 9, folder 1
688-Senate Hearing [Folder 2 of 3]
box 9, folder 2
688-Senate Hearing [Folder 3 of 3]
box 9, folder 3
689- Migrant Family Profile [Folder 1 of 3]
box 9, folder 4
689- Migrant Family Profile [Folder 2 of 3]
box 10, folder 1
689- Migrant Family Profile [Folder 3 of 3]
box 10, folder 3
Don't Cry for Me-De Young Museum, 1961
box 10, folder 4
Senior Center, Photograph Serial Number: 58-11-24
item 1
Ernest Lowe's Hard drive
2013-2023
Physical Description: 114 Gigabytes
Series Description
This series consists of Ernest Lowe's hard drive. This hard drive contains digitized photographs, exhibits, projects, and
original digital photographs. A one-page document created by Ernest Lowe explaining the hierarchy of the hard drive is available
upon request. Some of the content includes but not limited to photographs of past exhibits by Ernest Lowe, Photograph projects of returning to communities from past photograph projects, videos of family reunions, church services,
and interviews of residents of Teviston and South Dos Palos recorded in 2015. Arranged by the creator. A file manifest is available upon request.