Finding Aid to Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California circa 1906-1911

Processed by Chris McDonald.
The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
1996
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Finding Aid to Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California circa 1906-1911

Collection number: BANC PIC 1905.02634-.02731--PIC

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Finding Aid Author(s):
Processed by Chris McDonald.
Finding Aid Encoded By:
GenX
Copyright 1996 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California
Date (inclusive): circa 1906-1911
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1905.02634-.02731--PIC
Collector: Cross, Ira B. (Ira Brown), b. 1880
Physical Description: 101 photographic prints, 9 x 14 cm. or smaller. 100 digital objects
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Abstract: Collection shows laborers from various ethnic groups (Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, "Hindu") working in the following locations: Sacramento (including Japantown), San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles, Gilroy, and Merced. Photos show laborers in the fields, but also focus on their businesses, ranches, living conditions (including interiors of houses), street scenes, and children.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is available for use.

Publication Rights

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted to The Bancroft Library. See:http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California, circa 1906-1911, BANC PIC 1905.02634-.02731--PIC, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Agricultural laborers--California--Photographs
Chinese--California--Employment--Photographs
Japanese--California--Employment--Photographs
Mexicans--California--Employment--Photographs
Italians--California--Employment--Photographs
East Indians--California--Employment--Photographs
Alien labor--California--Photographs

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California collection was received as a gift from Ira B. Cross.

Funding

Finding aid and digital representations of archival material funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biography

Ira Brown Cross, a descendant of William Bradford and John and Priscilla Alden of the Plymouth Colony, was born December 1, 1880 in Decatur, Illinois. He received his A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and while a student there became a member of the Socialist Party. In 1904 he served as the Assistant Secretary of the National Convention of the Socialist Party in Chicago. Cross received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1909. He remained at Stanford as a professor until 1914, when--despite his radical economic views--he was asked by University of California president Benjamin Ide Wheeler to accept a position in the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Cross accepted and would remain at the University of California until his retirement in 1951. During his tenure at Berkeley he significantly expanded the scope of the Department of Economics and gained a reputation as a challenging, iconoclastic instructor and impassioned lecturer who was able to enliven student interest in a field often referred to as the "dismal science." An estimated 60,000 students enrolled in his classes during his career. Cross was Chair of the Department of Economics in the 1919-1920 and 1923-1924 school years. In 1951 Cross was awarded the LL.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin, and in 1958 was awarded the same degree from the University of California. In 1964 he was honored with the dedication of the Ira B. Cross Room in Barrows Hall on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to his career in academia, Cross was also active in arbitration and strike-breaking efforts, and created one of the nation's first employment management training courses. He also served as a member of the American Institute of Banking from 1935 to 1960, for whom he taught and contributed important educational texts. Cross also helped to form the Berkeley Police School, an internationally recognized crime prevention program. After his retirement, Cross pursued his interest in the cultivation of chrysanthemums, becoming such an authority on the subject that he served as associate editor of the Bulletin of the National Chrysanthemum Society. Ira B. Cross died March 24, 1977.
In addition to publishing numerous articles and reviews, Cross also wrote several volumes on economics and banking, among them the following: Cooperative Stores in the United States (1906); Essentials of Socialism (1911); Collective Bargaining in San Francisco (1917); Domestic and Foreign Exchange (1923); History of Banking in California (1927); Economics (1931); Money and Banking (1931); and A History of the Labor Movement of California (1935).
(Sources: Cross, Ira B. (interviewee), Portrait of an Economics Professor: Oral History Transcript, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1967; In Memoriam, Academic Senate, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1978 edition.)

Scope and Content

The Photographs of Agricultural Laborers in California collection contains 101 photographic prints taken circa 1906-1911. The collection documents various ethnic groups, many of them agricultural workers, present in California in the early twentieth century. Especially featured in the collection are Japanese farm laborers and scenes of urban Chinese communities. Also pictured are Mexican, Italian and East Indian (referred to in the captions as "Hindu") workers and communities. Agricultural locations pictured in the collection include the Stockton area, Palo Alto, Woodland, Visalia, Ryde, and the San Joaquin River area. Many prints show the various types of housing used by the farm laborers, which included large ranch houses, communal bunk houses, dilapidated shacks, and open-air tents and beds. Also pictured are laborers at work or during travel.
The collection also includes scenes of many urban communities, including the Chinatown districts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno, Gilroy, San Jose, and Merced, as well as Japanese commercial districts in Fresno, San Francisco and San Jose. Also pictured are an Italian residential area of San Francisco, and a Mexican employment office in Fresno.
Many of the photographs in the collection may have originated from a 1908 U.S. Immigration Commission study conducted by Stanford University professor Harry A. Millis with the assistance of Cross, which sought to gather information on immigrant farm labor problems of the San Joaquin Valley.
Individuals identified in the collection include Harry A. Millis, rancher George Shima, and anarchist William C. Owen.
Cross is likely to have been the photographer of many of the prints, but this has not been ascertained.
The original captions accompanying the photographs are reproduced in the container listing. They include words like "Jap" and "Hindu" that were commonplace at the time, but may now have a derogatory meaning.

 

"Blanket Stiff". [Man carrying bedroll on his back.] BANC PIC 1905.02634--PIC

 

"Blanket Stiffs". [Two men carrying bedrolls on their backs.] BANC PIC 1905.02635--PIC

 

Interior of bunk house. BANC PIC 1905.02636--PIC

 

[Housing for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02637--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap ranch laborer's shack. "
 

[Japanese laborers tilling a beet field near Woodland, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02638--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap beet workers near Woodland."
 

"Blanket Stiff". [Men carrying bedrolls and belongings in front of unidentified building.] BANC PIC 1905.02639--PIC

 

Japanese, San Jose. [Children in street.] BANC PIC 1905.02640--PIC

 

[Japanese laborers and white foremen(?) in a field.] BANC PIC 1905.02641--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap laborers and white foremen."
 

[Japanese laborers cultivating a beet field.] BANC PIC 1905.02642--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap beet workers."
 

[Housing for Japanese laborers on a ranch.] BANC PIC 1905.02643--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap laborer's house on ranch."
 

[Interior view of a bunkhouse for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02644--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Interior Jap bunk house."
 

[Housing for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02645--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farm laborer's shack."
 

[Unidentified farm building. Bunk house?.] BANC PIC 1905.02646--PIC

 

[Makeshift shelter for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02647--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farm labor bed."
 

[Makeshift shelter for laborers on a ranch.] Visalia 1908. BANC PIC 1905.02648--PIC

 

[Makeshift shelters for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02649--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap beds farm laborers."
 

[Beds for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02650--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap beds, farm laborers."
 

[Makeshift shelter for Japanese farm laborers.] BANC PIC 1905.02651--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap bed."
 

Bunk house. [Jarfey?], Fresno. BANC PIC 1905.02652--PIC

 

Club house. [Jarfey?], Fresno. BANC PIC 1905.02653--PIC

 

Jarfey[?] ranch bath house, [Fresno. Shower stalls.] BANC PIC 1905.02654--PIC

 

[Japanese Information Bureau: Frank H. Aikawa, Ben K. Kaneko. Unidentified location.] BANC PIC 1905.02655--PIC

 

[Street and sidewalk, unidentified location. Businesses include B.A. Soberanes, Real Estate Agent and Togo the Machine Shoemaker.] BANC PIC 1905.02656--PIC

 

Bunk house, Palm Tract, Island ...[illegible], near Stockton. BANC PIC 1905.02657--PIC

 

Island ranch house, Palm Tract, near Stockton. BANC PIC 1905.02658--PIC

 

George Shima's launch. BANC PIC 1905.02659--PIC

 

San Joaquin River Island Ranch. 1909. BANC PIC 1905.02660--PIC

 

[Japanese laborers with horses, on George Shima's ranch near Stockton, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02661--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap laborers on Shima's ranch near Stockton."
 

George Shima's ranch house near Stockton. BANC PIC 1905.02662--PIC

 

[Japanese mother and son working in a field.] BANC PIC 1905.02663--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farm laborers. Wife and son."
 

[Japanese laborers riding in horse-drawn wagon, Ryde, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02664--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Ryde. Jap farm hands."
 

[Bedrolls and belongings of Japanese laborers stacked outside unidentified building in Ryde, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02665--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap packs. Ryde, Cal. Sac[ramento] River."
 

[Hay stack with farm laborers (including Japanese?).] BANC PIC 1905.02666--PIC

 

[Alley in Japanese commercial district, Fresno, California, 1910.] BANC PIC 1905.02667--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap alley. Fresno, Cal. 1910."
 

[Unidentified farm building, possibly in the Sacramento or Stockton area.] BANC PIC 1905.02668--PIC

 

[Japanese laborers cultivating a field.] BANC PIC 1905.02669--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap laborers."
 

[Housing for Japanese farm laborers near Sacramento, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02670--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farm house, near Sacramento."
 

[Housing for Japanese farm laborers near Sacramento, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02671--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farm house, near Sacramento, Cal."
 

[Children in alley in Japanese commercial district, Fresno, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02672--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap alley. Fresno, Cal. Italian and Mexicans, boot black boys."
 

[J. Nishita Co. building in the Japanese commercial district, Fresno, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02673--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap town. Fresno, Cal. 1910."
 

[Japanese commercial district, Sacramento, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02674--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Sacramento Jap town."
 

Sacramento. [Alley or side street, with Chinese sign visible.] BANC PIC 1905.02675--PIC

 

Sacramento. [Bon Ton Meat Market. Commercial street scene in Japanese or Chinese district.] BANC PIC 1905.02676--PIC

 

[Japanese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02677--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap town, Sacramento."
 

[Japanese laborers working a potato field. Islands in the Sacramento River Delta?] BANC PIC 1905.02678--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap potato diggers. Sacramento Islands."
 

[Japanese laborers stacking hay.] BANC PIC 1905.02679--PIC

Additional Note

Original captions: "Jap laborers."
 

[Alley of Japanese shops within a Chinese commercial district?, Fresno, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02680--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap alley, Chinatown. Fresno, Cal."
 

[Kamikawa's Hotel and Kamikawa Bros. Co. General Store, Fresno, California. Duplicate of :02682.] BANC PIC 1905.02681--PIC

 

[Kamikawa's Hotel and Kamikawa Bros. Co. General Store, Japanese commercial district, Fresno, California. Duplicate of :02681.] BANC PIC 1905.02682--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap town, Fresno, Cal. Jap bank and P.O. in this building."
 

[Japanese commercial district, San Francisco, California, with signs for Yabuno Bros. and K.F. Jan & Co.] BANC PIC 1905.02682A--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "San Francisco Jap town."
 

Chinatown, Gilroy. 1911. [Chinese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02683--PIC

 

Chinese store, Gilroy. BANC PIC 1905.02685--PIC

 

Part Chinatown, Fresno, California. BANC PIC 1905.02686--PIC

 

[Chinatown. Fresno, California. Duplicate of :02688.] BANC PIC 1905.02687--PIC

 

Part Chinatown, Fresno, Cal. [Duplicate of :02687.] BANC PIC 1905.02688--PIC

 

Chinese, San Jose. [Children on a sidewalk in Chinatown.] BANC PIC 1905.02689-PIC

 

Chinatown. Merced, Cal. BANC PIC 1905.02690--PIC

 

Main Street, Chinatown. Fresno. [Duplicate of :02714.] BANC PIC 1905.02691--PIC

 

Chinese Children, San Francisco. J293. [Post card.] BANC PIC 1905.02692--PIC

 

Chinese Market, San Francisco. J57. [Post card.] BANC PIC 1905.02693--PIC

 

Chinese. San Francisco. BANC PIC 1905.02694--PIC

 

Palo Alto. Chinese laborer. BANC PIC 1905.02694A--PIC

 

Palo Alto. Chinese laborer. [Carrying baskets balanced on pole.] BANC PIC 1905.02694B--PIC

 

Chinese, San Francisco. [People gathered on street corner.] BANC PIC 1905.02695--PIC

 

Chinese. San Francisco. [Chinese boys and men on sidewalk, Chinatown.] BANC PIC 1905.02696--PIC

 

[Ranch house of a Japanese farmer, near Sacramento River, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02697--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap farmer. Sacramento River."
 

Chinatown. Fresno, Cal. [Children sitting on front stoop.] BANC PIC 1905.02698--PIC

 

Chinatown, Sacramento. [Makeshift dwellings.] BANC PIC 1905.02699--PIC

 

Chinatown, Los Angeles. 1911. [Child in front of unidentified building.] BANC PIC 1905.02700--PIC

 

China alley. Fresno, Cal. 1910. [Alley in Chinese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02701--PIC

 

Part Chinatown. Fresno, Cal. 1910. [Chinese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02702--PIC

 

Merced Chinatown, Cal. BANC PIC 1905.02703--PIC

 

Chinatown. Fresno, Cal. 1910. BANC PIC 1905.02704--PIC

 

Sacramento Chinatown. [People resting on sidewalk in Chinese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02705--PIC

 

Chinatown, Los Angeles. 1911. BANC PIC 1905.02706--PIC

 

Chinatown, Los Angeles, 1911. [View down street.] BANC PIC 1905.02707--PIC

 

[Chinese commercial district?, Fresno, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02708--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Jap town, Fresno." (Signs with Chinese names.)
 

Chinatown, Los Angeles. 1911. BANC PIC 1905.02709--PIC

 

Chinatown, Los Angeles. 1911. [Men in front of unidentified building.] BANC PIC 1905.02710--PIC

 

[Same?] China alley. Fresno, Cal. 1910. [People in front of building in Chinese commercial district.] BANC PIC 1905.02711--PIC

 

Main Street (part of) Chinatown. Fresno, Cal. Showing Mexican employment office. BANC PIC 1905.02712--PIC

 

Part of Chinatown. Merced, Cal. BANC PIC 1905.02713--PIC

 

[Main Street, Chinatown. Fresno, California. Duplicate of :02691.] BANC PIC 1905.02714--PIC

 

[Japanese and Chinese commercial districts, Fresno, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02715--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Partly Jap and China town. Fresno, Cal."
 

[Makeshift shelter for Indian or other South Asian farm laborer.] BANC PIC 1905.02716--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Hindu bed."
 

San Francisco. 1910. [Men sitting on wooden sidewalk, one Indian or South Asian man in turban.] BANC PIC 1905.02717--PIC

 

[Group of men, including Indians[?] or South Asians with turbans, outside building. San Francisco, 1910. Cf. :02717.] BANC PIC 1905.02718--PIC

 

[South Asian farm laborers tending field], San Joaquin Valley Island, 1909 BANC PIC 1905.02719--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "San Joaquin Valley Island. 1909. Hindu laborers."
 

[South Asian farm laborers tending field.] BANC PIC 1905.02720--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: H"indu laborers."
 

San Joaquin Valley Island. 1910. Italians. [Italian farm laborers in front of unidentified building.] BANC PIC 1905.02721--PIC

 

Italian district. San Francisco. BANC PIC 1905.02722--PIC

 

W.C. Owen. San Francisco. Anarchist in '80s. Taken about 1906-7. Highly educated -- fine, friendly personality, but an advocate of anarchy. BANC PIC 1905.02723--PIC

 

George Shima [(the potato king)?] -- plowing -- on ...[illegible]... lands near Stockton. BANC PIC 1905.02724--PIC

 

[Japanese laborers and ranch owners H.A. Miller and George Shima near Stockton, California.] BANC PIC 1905.02725--PIC

Additional Note

Original caption: "Dr. H.A. Miller & Shima and Jap laborers near Stockton."
 

Dr. H.A. Miller and [George] Shima on Shima's ranch near Stockton. BANC PIC 1905.02726--PIC

 

Mexicans -- Plaza -- Los Angeles. 1911. BANC PIC 1905.02727--PIC

 

Mexicans -- Plaza -- Los Angeles. [People gathered at unidentified plaza in Los Angeles. 1911? Cf. :02727 and :02729.] BANC PIC 1905.02728--PIC

 

Shoe Blacks. Mexicans -- Plaza. Los Angeles. 1911. [Shoeshine boys waiting to shine shoes in unidentified plaza.] BANC PIC 1905.02729--PIC

 

Visalia. [Mex?] fruit. [Laborer picking fruit.] BANC PIC 1905.02730--PIC

 

Sailors' Union of the Pacific Headquarters. 1911. On Embarcadero, between Market and Mission. BANC PIC 1905.02730A--PIC

 

Ranch house. Stanford farm, Calif. BANC PIC 1905.02731--PIC