This collection consists of a small incomplete run of the Rural Observer, a newsletter put out by the Simon J. Lubin Society, published and edited by Helen Hosmer, a letter to Carey McWilliams and miscellaneous papers from the Simon J. Lubin Society.

Helen Hosmer was a writer, activist, and historian of California agribusiness. Her knowledge of California's agriculture dated back to the 1930s when, as a student at the University of California, Berkeley she worked at the Poultry Division, College of Agriculture. Later she worked for the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which established camps for migrant workers in California. During this period, Hosmer came to know FSA photographer Dorothea Lange, agricultural economist Paul S. Taylor, and many important figures in the labor movement in San Francisco. Because of her conviction that labor organizing was essential among agricultural workers, Hosmer resigned her government position at Farm Security in 1935 in order to have the freedom to work in behalf of her political beliefs. She co-founded the Simon J. Lubin Society, an organization that promoted unity between family farmers and migrant laborers and exposed the antiprogressive political activities of California agribusiness. From 1935 to 1941 she published and edited the Lubin Society's Rural Observer. The Society also issued special publications, such as Who Are the Associated Farmers? and John Steinbeck's Their Blood is Strong.

.5 linear ft.

1 digital object

Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections.

Collection is open for research.