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Finding Aid to Migrant Labor Camp Photographs from the Harry Everett Drobish Papers,
1935-1936
BANC PIC 1954.013--PIC
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Collection Title: Migrant Labor Camp Photographs from the Harry Everett Drobish Papers
Date: 1935-1936
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1954.013--PIC
Photographer:
Harry Everett Drobish
Physical Description:
63 photographic prints; black and white; various sizes
63 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
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in
English
Collection is available for use.
Publication Rights Materials in this collection 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 owners. Works not in the public
domain cannot be commercially exploited without 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 in writing
to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
[Identification of item], Migrant Labor Camp Photographs from the Harry Everett Drobish Papers, 1935-1936, BANC PIC 1954.013--PIC,
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Digital Representations Available
Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image
files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto
35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD
files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.
Title: Harry Everett Drobish Papers.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS C-B 529.
Title: Harry Everett Drobish papers : Additions.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 80/97 c
Title: Photographs of Migrant Laborer Camp Life From the Harry Everett Drobish Papers.
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1905.07938-.07977--PIC and BANC PIC 1905.08047-.08085--PIC
Administrative Information
Transferred from the Harry Everett Drobish Papers (BANC MSS C-B 529). The papers were a gift of Faith Boardman Drobish in
1954.
Harry Everett Drobish was born in Decatur, Illinois in 1893. He moved to Riverside, California in 1905 and graduated from
high school there in 1912. After attending Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years, he transferred to the College
of Agriculture of the University of California, Berkeley, becoming an active member of the University YMCA, Alpha Kappa Lambda
and Alpha Zeta, the agricultural society. His first job following graduation in 1917 was itinerant assistant farm advisor
for the University's Agricultural Extension Service. Several years later he was promoted to farm advisor for Butte County.
In 1927 he resigned to accept an assignment as marketing investigator for the California Department of Agriculture. From 1930
to 1933 he was an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and from 1933-1934 worked for the Farm Credit
Administration. From September 1934 to 1936 he was State Director of Rural Rehabilitation in the California Emergency Relief
Administration and the Chief of Farm Laborer Projects for the Resettlement Administration. As State Director he conceived
the idea of federally owned camps for migrant farm workers and built the first two camps at Marysville and Arvin. In 1937
the Drobishes returned to their ranch, Far View, near Bangor. The next ten years were spent purchasing and rehabilitating
abandoned olive groves and slowly developing olive growing into a profitable business. In partnership with a friend Drobish
bought and rebuilt an olive oil mill.
After an unsuccessful campaign for the State Assembly in 1946, Drobish was elected State Senator of Butte County in a special
election the following year. In the Senate he served on the Agriculture, Education, Institutions, and Public Utilities Committees
and was vice chairman of the Committee on Public Health and Safety. He was also a member of the Senate Interim Committee on
Statutory Salaries and the Joint Legislative Committee on Soil Conservation. After an unsuccessful campaign for re-election
in 1950 Drobish returned to his ranch to devote his attention to the improvement of his olive groves and the California olive
industry in general. In 1952 he was sent by the State Department to Jordan as consultant to their olive industry. His last
years, until his death in 1954, were also devoted to increased involvement in community interests, including the YMCA and
the Council for Social Action of the Congregational Church.
This collection of 63 photographic prints of various sizes documents migrant labor camps in California. The photographs were
taken in 1935-1936, many likely by Harry Everett Drobish. Included are photographs of groups and buildings at the Arvin Migratory
Labor Camp and other camps in Kern County, California. Also included are photographs of Hooverville in Sacramento, some taken
by the California State Emergency Relief Administration. Printed and handwritten captions found on or below the photographs
are reprinted in the container listing.