Fish and Game Slides of Ralph B. McCormick

Title: Fish and Game Slides of Ralph B. McCormick

Dates: 1950s

Collection Number: 2010.03

Creator/Collector:

Extent: .5 cubic feet; about 200 slides

Repository: Humboldt State University Library

Abstract: Ralph B. McCormick took slides relating to his professional responsibilities as a biologist with the California Fish and Game Department during the 1950s and of other views that interested him. Most images are from Humboldt and Del Norte Counties in northern California. Subjects include: stream disruption/damage, logging, fisheries, fishing boats, Eureka street scenes, landscapes and wildflowers.

Language of Material: English

The collection is open for research by appointment only.

Copyright has been assigned to the Humboldt State University Library by McCormick's son, William B. McCormick.

Fish and Game Slides of Ralph B. McCormick. Humboldt State University Library

A City of Arcata employee (Diana Cooper) contacted Special Collections about reviewing a collection of slides that had found their way to the City offices. William B. McCormick (son of Ralph B. McCormick) had given them to the Friends of the Dunes in 2009. A phone conversation, in late 2010, with Denise Homer (Naturalist for the City of Arcata) yielded the information that she had put William McCormick in touch with the Friends of the Dunes' member Carol Van de Meer so that he could inquire about the plans for the collection, as he had sent it to them many months earlier. In the opinions of Diana Cooper and Denise Homer the collection is still intact and none had been retained by other entities or individuals along the way. On March 28, 2011, William (Bill) McCormick was reached by phone and stated he was very pleased that the collection would be held at the HSU Library's Special Collections. He stated his father had a good relationship with several HSU employees and was good friends with Professor John Dewitt. He supplied biographical information and ideas about the reasons for some of the slides. His information has been incorporated into this finding aid.

Ralph B. McCormick was employed by the California Fish and Game Department in Eureka from 1951 until 1960. In 1960 he took a position in Sacramento with the California State Parks, remaining there until he retired in 1976. He was a Fisheries Biologist. McCormick, born in Minnesota, moved to California for health reasons, attended Santa Monica Junior College, then graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Biological Sciences.

Ralph B. McCormick took slides relating to his professional responsibilities as a biologist with the California Fish and Game Department during the 1950s and of other views that interested him. Most images are from Humboldt and Del Norte Counties in northern California. Subjects include: stream disruption/damage, logging, fisheries, fishing boats, Eureka street scenes, landscapes and wildflowers, friends and colleagues. Most slides have location notes and dates on them. William McCormick thinks that many of the slides were taken as part of investigations into law/regulation violations.