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Finding Aid of Ralph W. Hollenberg collection of materials relating to the Farm Security
Administration, Region IX, 1924-1949 (bulk 1938-1945)
BANC MSS C-R 1
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Ralph W. Hollenberg collection of materials relating to the Farm
Security Administration, Region IX
Date (inclusive): 1924-1949
Date (bulk): (bulk 1938-1945)
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-R 1
Creator:
Hollenberg, Ralph W.
Extent:
Number of containers: 9 cartons
Linear feet: 11.25
Repository: The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please
consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract:
Contains materials collected by Ralph W. Hollenberg chiefly during his tenure as Acting Director of
the Farm Security Administration, Region IX, from 1939 to 1941. Contains administrative records,
program files, and farm labor research materials relating to FSA activities in Region IX, which
included Calif., Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Administrative files include a small amount of
correspondence, reports, speeches, and press releases, along with minutes of meetings, and
publications, which includes several bibliographies with a focus on agricultural labor in the west,
particularly Calif. The bulk of the collection is dedicated to a variety of agricultural, housing, and social programs
created and administrered by the FSA, and may include correspondence, reports, memoranda,
statements, and clippings. Farm labor research files focus on farmer organizations and agricultural
development in Calif., and includes a few files containing reports, statements, talks, and press
releases, with other printed material and clippings from 1942-1945, concerning the evacuation of
Japanese Americans from the west coast during World War II.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the
reader.
[Identification of item], Materials relating to the Farm Security Administration, Region IX, San
Francisco, Calif., BANC MSS C-R 1, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Title: Walter Eugene Packard Papers, 1899-1966,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 67/81 c
Title: The Making of a Documentary Photographer: Dorothea Lange oral history transcript,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 69/20 c
Title: Irving W. Wood Papers, 1934-1937,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 77/111 c
Title: Paul Schuster Taylor Papers, 1895-1984,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 84/38 c
Title: Farm Security Administration Reports and Miscellaneous Documents, San Francisco, Calif.,
1942-1943,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 95/174 c
Title: Farm Security Administration Photograph Collection, 1935-1945,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1942.008--PIC
Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Materials relating to the Farm Security Administration, Region IX, San Francisco were given to The
Bancroft Library by Ralph W. Hollenberg from 1942 through 1945, via Paul Schuster Taylor.
Funding for processing provided in part by a Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), Title III:
Networking, Preservation and Statewide Resource-sharing grant, 1994-1996.
Ralph W. Hollenberg collected a variety of materials during his tenure as Acting Director, Region IX,
U.S. Farm Security Administration, from 1939-1941. The materials range from before and after his
tenancy, and cover the period of 1938-1945. The FSA was created on September 1, 1937, as an agency to
replace the Resettlement Administration.
The FSA divided the United States into twelve regions, grouping states by agricultural similarities;
Region IX included California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. The regional office was responsible for making
loans and coordinating resettlement projects. Each regional director had the services of advisers in
Business Management, Labor Relations, Personnel and Information.
During Hollenberg's tenure, the priorities for Region IX included the Farm Rehabilitation Program, the
Tenant Purchase Project and Emergency Relief Grants. Beginning in 1941, the FSA stressed increased food
production as part of the War Food Administration. This period was a busy one for the FSA, but their
basic philosophy was that the FSA was one program and that one part of the program would not produce
results unless complemented by the other parts. The Farm Security Administration believed that farmers
must be aided as a whole, whatever their position on the agricultural ladder. They stressed that
agriculture can only prosper as a whole, and that low-income farmers must be assisted whether they are
owners, tenants, share croppers, or agricultural workers.
This collection consists of documents collected by Ralph W. Hollenberg during his tenure as Acting
Director of the Farm Security Administration, Region IX, from 1939 to 1941. Included are administrative
records, program files, and farm labor research materials relating to FSA activities in Region IX, which
included California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
Administrative files include a small amount of correspondence, reports, speeches, and press releases.
Minutes of cooperative meetings and legislative strategy sessions illustrate professional affiliations
between the FSA and the La Follette Committee and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Publications
includes several bibliographies with a focus on agricultural labor in the west, particularly California.
The bulk of the collection is dedicated to the variety of agricultural, housing, and social programs
created and administered by the Farm Security Administration, and may include correspondence, reports,
memoranda, statements, and clippings. The farm labor research files, with a focus on farmer
organizations and agricultural development in California completes the collection.