Mieth (Hansel) and Otto Hagel Photograph Collection, 1932-1969

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Summary

Title:
Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel photograph collection
Dates:
1932-1969
Creators:
Mieth, Hansel and Hagel, Otto
Abstract:
Collection contains the photographs of Hansel Mieth (1909-1998) and Otto Hagel (1909-1973).
Extent:
2.95 Cubic Feet (5 oversize boxes)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel Photograph Collection, larc.pho.0010, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection comprises images of rural California migrant workers and their families; Salinas lettuce strike; shantytowns in Sacramento; waterfront docks and longshoremen in San Francisco (including several of Harry Bridges); Pomo Indians; Mare Island shipyards and workers; Heart Mountain Japanese internment camp; civil rights marches; children from government program Head Start; San Francisco State College faculty; Jack London's house in Glen Ellen; Fort Ross; Lee Goldblatt and John Nixon wedding; New York City, including the New York Stock Exchange; World War II soldiers and sailors; Pacific Maritime Association; one photo each of Monterey County fishermen, Vietnam War protest, and the American Nazi Party in New Jersey. Collection contains portraits of singer Odetta, architect Timothy Pflueger, artist Hermann Volz, industrialist Henry Kaiser, Tom Mooney in jail, Jack London's wife, Charmian, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and photographer Imogen Cunningham participating in a civil rights march. Collection also includes self-portraits of Mieth and Hagel.

Biographical / historical:

Hansel Mieth (1909-1998) and Otto Hagel (1909-1973) were both born in Germany but immigrated to the United States in 1930 and 1928 respectively. Arriving in the midst of the Great Depression, the couple ended up finding work as farm laborers in rural California, experiencing firsthand the dismal living conditions of the migrant worker. Hagel and Mieth bought a used camera and started documenting the lives of the agricultural workers around them. Their photographs of cotton pickers and their families, of shanty towns ("Hoovervilles") around Sacramento, and of waterfront workers in San Francisco, established Mieth and Hagel as socially conscious documentary photographers.

In 1937, Mieth accepted a position as LIFE magazine staff photographer, while Hagel continued to work as a freelancer for publications such as Time, LIFE, and Fortune, as well as producing photographs for two books published by the West Coast longshoremen's union. Both Hagel and Mieth continued to capture images of America's working poor and bring attention to civil liberties and labor struggles. In 1943, on assignment for LIFE magazine, Hagel and Mieth photographed Heart Mountain Japanese American internment camp, although these images were never published by the magazine. In the 1950s, like many politically active individuals, they were brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) but refused to testify against friends in the labor movement and were blacklisted as a result. Mieth lost her job with LIFE and work became scarce. The couple, who officially married in 1940, retired to a working ranch they had bought in Santa Rosa. Some of their later works document civil rights marches, the work of longshoremen in San Francisco, and the lives of the Pomo Indians of Northern California.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Hansel Mieth. The materials in this collection came from multiple accessions: 1989/091; 1991/110; 1991/111; 1993/030; 1993/062; 1994/051; 1996/074; 1998/049; 1998/052.
Processing information:

Processed in 1998 by Sherri Nevins. Revised in 2015 by Frances Wratten Kaplan, and Wendy Welker in 2018.

Arrangement:

Arranged as received. The photographs in this collection are arranged in numerical order, 1 through 228.

Physical location:
Collection available on site.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Frances Wratten Kaplan and Wendy Welker.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2018-07-10 21:57:19 +0000 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel Photograph Collection, larc.pho.0010, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Location of this collection:
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722, US
Contact:
(415) 405-5549
specialcollections@sfsu.edu
Website