Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming, 1802-1982, bulk 1860-1975

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Summary

Creators:
Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892-.
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.
Extent:
59.62 Linear Feet (122 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

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. Latta's research also concerns the development and history of Stanislaus and Kern counties and several California cities including: Bakersfield, Buttonwillow, Crows Landing, Fresno, Grayson, Gustine, Hill's Ferry, Los Banos, Merced, Modesto, Newman, Orestimba, Sacramento, San Francisco, Stockton, Tulare, and Visalia. The collection is made up of articles, Miller & Lux business and financial documents and 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.

Biographical / historical:

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, Joaquín Murrieta and his horse gangs. Latta died in Santa Cruz in May 1983.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Latta Family Trust, October 1987 and gift of Monna Latta Olson, the daughter of Frank F. Latta, October 1987.
Arrangement:

Organized in seven series: Series 1: Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery and Farming; Series 2: Book: Sky Farmers and Mules Skinners; Series 3: Pioneers; Series 4: Waterways; Series 5: Glass Plates; Series 6: Oversize; Series 7: Oversize Panoramas.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
African Americans -- California
Agricultural machinery -- United States
Agriculture -- California
Authors, American -- California -- Archives
Automobiles -- California
Aeronautics.
Bears -- California
Boats and boating -- California
Canals -- California
Cattle -- California
Cattle trade -- West (U.S.)
Chileans -- California
Chinese -- California
Combines (Agricultural machinery)
Crime -- California
Dalton Gang.
Donner Party.
Dry farming -- California
Earthquakes -- California
Education -- California
Farmers -- California
Floods -- California
Freight and freightage.
Gold mines and mining -- California
Indians of North America -- California
Irrigation.
Jews -- California
Land grants -- California
Livestock.
Lumber.
Mormons -- California
Outlaws.
Overland journeys to the Pacific.
Pioneers -- California
Plows.
Presbyterian Church -- California
Ranches -- California
Harvesting machinery.
Rivers -- California
Roads -- California
Saddlery -- California
Scrapers (Earthmoving machinery)
Sheepherding -- California
Steamboats -- California
Threshing machines.
Tractors.
Wheat -- Harvesting machinery.
Water rights -- West (U.S.)
Women -- California
Articles -- California -- 20th century
Business letters -- California
Business records -- California
Catalogs -- United States.
Clippings.
Color photographs
Financial records -- California
Legal documents -- California -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- California
Manuscripts for publication -- California -- 20th century
Newspapers -- California
Official reports -- California
Oral histories (document genres) -- California -- 20th century
Panoramas -- California -- 20th century
Photographic plates -- California -- 20th century
Receipts -- California -- 19th century
Research (document genres) -- California -- 20th century
Slides -- California -- 20th century
Names:
Butterfield Overland Stage Line.
California. Dept. of Public Works.
Caterpillar Tractor Company
Central Valley Project (Calif.)
Death Valley '49ers.
Deere & Company
Early Birds of Aviation (Organization)
Geological Survey (U.S.)
H. C. Shaw Company
Holt Manufacturing Company
International Harvester Company
Lux College, San Francisco.
McCormick Harvesting Machine Company
Miller & Lux.
Pacific Live Stock Co.
San Joaquin and King's River Canal and Irrigation Company
San Joaquin Pioneer & Historical Society (Stockton, Calif.)
United States. Bureau of Reclamation.
United States. Dept. of Agriculture.
Adams, Grizzly, 1812-1860
Berry, George S.
Brannan, Sam, 1819-1889
Brereton, R. M. (Robert Maitland), 1833-1911
Collyer, J. P.
Frémont, John Charles, 1813-1890
Haggin, James Ben Ali, 1822-1914
Hall, Wm. Ham. (William Hammond)
Hussey, Obed, 1792-1860
James, Jesse, 1847-1882
McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884
Merritt, C. Z.
Miller, Henry, 1827-1916
Moore, Rufus R.
Murieta, Joaquín, d. 1853
Nickel, George W.
Nickel, J. Leroy.
Quimby, Harriet, 1875-1912
Richards, Lovell Alexander.
Robinson, Frank Day.
Treadwell, Edward F. (Edward Francis), 1875-1955
Vazquez, Tiburcio.
Whitney, Eli, 1765-1825
Wiley, William M.
Places:
Bakersfield (Calif.)
Buttonwillow (Calif.)
California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
California -- Politics and government.
Central Valley (Calif. : Valley) -- Description and travel
Crows Landing (Calif.)
Fresno (Calif.)
Grayson (Calif.)
Gustine (Calif.)
Hill's Ferry (Calif.)
Kern County (Calif.)
Los Banos (Calif.)
Merced (Calif.)
Modesto (Calif.)
Newman (Calif.)
Orestimba (Calif.)
Sacramento (Calif.)
San Francisco (Calif.)
San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Stanislaus County (Calif.)
Stockton (Calif.)
Tulare (Calif.)
Visalia (Calif.)

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Terms of access:

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.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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