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de Kehoe (Joe) Silence and the Sun Collection
AR.2010.001
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Table of contents
Description
The Joe de Kehoe Silence and the Sun Collection highlights the stories of women and Hispanic families living in California's
Mojave Desert along U.S. Highway 66 during the Great Depression. The content was generated during the course of Mr. de Kehoe's
research for his book titled,
The Silence and The Sun: An historical account of people, places and events on old Route 66 and railroad communities in the
Eastern Mojave Desert, California
. The materials include audio cassette tapes of oral histories, digitized audio, electronic transcriptions, bound volumes,
captioned photographs, and subject files.
Background
Joe de Kehoe is the son of a career U. S. Navy chief petty officer and grew up on and near Navy and U. S. Marine Corps bases
in California, Japan, Florida, and South Carolina. Joe graduated from California State University, Northridge, in 1970 with
a BS in geology and earned an MS degree in geology from San Diego State University in 1972. As a result of his geologic field
work as a student that he acquired an enduring appreciation for the outdoors and love for the subtle beauty and solitude of
the Eastern Mojave Desert. During a 30-year career as an international petroleum exploration geologist, working in overseas
posts for Mobil Oil and Diamond Shamrock Petroleum Corp., Joe lived and traveled extensively in the United Kingdom, Europe,
Southeast Asia, Africa, and India including two mountaineering trips to the Nepal Himalayas.
Extent
180 Audio Cassette Tapes
containing 124 oral history interviews
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association. For permission to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Archivist at the Mojave Desert Archives.
Availability
The collection is open for research. For access, please contact the Archivist at the Mojave Desert Archives at archivist@mdhca.org.