Finding aid for the California Migrant, Transient, and Homeless Populations collection 0449

Finding aid prepared by Jane Adler, Clay Stalls
USC Libraries Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189
213-740-5900
specol@usc.edu
2000 February 15


Title: California Migrant, Transient, and Homeless Populations collection
Collection number: 0449
Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.63 linear ft. 2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1930-1992
Abstract: The California Migrant, Transient, and Homeless Populations collection consists of article offprints, booklets, unpublished papers, transcripts of hearings, newspaper clippings, one book, and twenty-two photographs spanning the years 1930-1992. All items in this collection (in one form or another) concern the rootless in society; especially prominent in these holdings are materials concerning migrant farm workers principally in California, but also in other parts of the nation. Other areas of interest are the homeless and transient youths. The "Cotton Survey" (1938) examined the living conditions of migrant farm workers and contains invaluable black-and-white photographs of farmers' camps in such places as Kern County. Also noteworthy are transcripts of testimony from Carey McWilliams, the famous editor of The Nation and authority on California ethnic groups, before state hearings on the migrant worker. The collection also contains an assembly of reports and papers from various private and public agencies on the homeless problem of the 80s and the 90s.

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections 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.The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed to obtain permission to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder# or item name], California Migrant, Transient, and Homeless Populations collection, Collection no. 0449, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Scope and Content

The California Migrant, Transient, and Homeless Populations collection consists of article offprints, booklets, unpublished papers, transcripts of hearings, newspaper clippings, one book, and twenty-two photographs spanning the years 1930-1992. All items in this collection (in one form or another) concern the rootless in society; especially prominent in these holdings are materials concerning migrant farm workers principally in California, but also in other parts of the nation. Other areas of interest are the homeless and transient youths. The holdings on migrant farm workers in California have special value for research on their plight in the California of the Depression. The "Cotton Survey" (1938) examined the living conditions of migrant farm workers and contains invaluable black-and-white photographs of farmers' camps in such places as Kern County. Also noteworthy are transcripts of testimony from Carey McWilliams, the famous editor of The Nation and authority on California ethnic groups, before state hearings on the migrant worker. The collection also contains an assembly of reports and papers from various private and public agencies on the homeless problem of the 80s and the 90s. This material is invaluable for describing how social service groups fought this problem on the local scene as it became a national issue. This collection contains some material that can be found in the USC Libraries; this has been noted.

Custodial history

This collection did not originate from holdings that were gathered or created by an individual or organization; rather, it is a mixture of materials acquired by the CSWA and then housed together because of their subject matter. Some of this material possibly was once in the possession of Gertrude Wilson and Gladys Ryland, or the United Way Library.

Organization

The collection has been organized into two series: Migrants/Homeless Youth (Box 1) and Los Angeles Homeless (Box 2).

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Clippings
Homeless persons--California--Archival resources
Homeless youth--California--Archival resources
Migrant agricultural laborers--California--Archival resources
Migrant agricultural laborers--Housing--California--Archival resources
Pamphlets
Reports
Reprints

 

Migrants/Homeless Youth

Box 1, Folder 1

Pamphlets 1955, 1992, undated

Scope and Content

California Federation of Young Democrats. The Seasonal Farm Labor Force in California. Research Papers. undated.
Jerry Stanley. Children of the Dust Bowl. The True Story of the School at the Weedpatch Camp. New York: Crown Publishers, 1992. Publisher’s blurb.
Federal Interdepartmental Committee on Children and Youth. When the Migrant Families Come Again. A Guide for Better Community Living. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955. Bears signature of Gladys Ryland.
Florence Wyckoff. The Citizen’s Role in Community Planning for Group Work Services to Migrants. The San Joaquin Valley Health Project. Cleveland: The National Consumers’ Committee for Research and Education, undated. Bears signature of Gertrude Wilson.
Box 1, Folder 2

S. Smith Griswold. A Proposed Plan for the Care of Indigent Single Men in County of Los Angeles-California. Los Angeles: Department of Budget and Research of Los Angeles County 1937 January

Box 1, Folder 3

Transient Youth in California. A National, State and Local Problem. Report and Recommendations of the California Committee for the Study of Transient Youth . 1948

General note

Available at USC Libraries, 331.796.C1533T
Box 1, Folder 4

State Relief Administration of California. Transients. Special Surveys and Studies Progress Report 7 1936 February 28

Box 1, Folder 5

Kenneth Carlson. "Transient Boys of the Road." Boys' Work Division, First Methodist E. Church undated

Box 1, Folder 6

Reports and addresses on migrant workers 1939, 1940, undated

Scope and Content

William Dickie, Director of California State Department of Health. "Statement on Health Problems among Migratory Agricultural Workers Made at Request of LaFollette Committee on Civil Liberties. March 1940."
Carey McWilliams, Chief Division of Immigration and Housing. "Memorandum on Housing Conditions Among Migratory Workers in California." State of California. Division of Immigration and Housing. State Building Los Angeles, Calif. 1939.
James Mussatti. "California’s Migrant Problem." Address Before Annual Convention of California Association of Commercial Secretaries, Santa Barbara [CA], January 19, 1940.
Paul S. Taylor. "Synopsis of Survey of Migratory Labor Problems in California." undated
"Testimony of Carey McWilliams Chief, California State Division of Immigration and Housing Before Tolan Committee at San Francisco, Calif. September 24, 1940."
Box 1, Folder 7

Articles by Madeleine R. Stoner 1983

Scope and Content

"An Analysis of Public and Private Sector Provisions for Homeless People." Article submitted to Urban and Social Change Review (1983).
"The Plight of Homeless Women." The Social Service Review 57, no. 4 (December 1983): 565-81. Offprint.
Box 1, Folder 8-9

The Cotton Survey 1938

Scope and Content

Multiple copies, includes introduction by Lola Selby, and photographs of migrant living conditions.
Box 1, Folder 10

California Migration, 1955-1960. Sacramento, Dept. of Finance, Budget Division, Financial and Population Research Section 1964

General note

Available at USC Libraries, HB1985.C2A5
Box 1, Folder 11

Dr. George Gleason. The Fifth Migration. Report on the California Migratory Agricultural Workers prepared by Dr. George Gleason, Executive Secretary, County Committee for Church and Community Cooperation, Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles: Committee for Church and Community Cooperation circa 1940

General note

With clipping: Ronald B. Taylor. "California’s Okies Look Back on Pain of the ‘30s." Los Angeles Times, Sunday October 5, 1980. Section I, pp. 1, 3, 22
Box 1, Folder 12

Sister M. Bernadine Rusting, O.P. and Sister M. Isabel Espinosa, O.P. Missionaries in Migrant Camps. San Gabriel, California 1973

Box 1, Folder 13

Los Angeles Community Chest Manual 1930-1931

Box 1, Folder 14

Crime Commission on Social and Economic Causes. Held in Fresno California 1948 December 10

General note

Transcript. With Unemployed Federationist, Week of January 1, 1936 (Volume 1, no. 1). Newspaper of the "Public Works and Unemployed Unions and the California State Federation of Unemployed and Allied Organizations."
Box 1, Folder 15

Article, report, pamphlet 1948, 1953, undated

Scope and Content

Mary Perry. "California Committee Studies Transient Young People." The Child, 13, no. 5 (November 1948). Reprint.
Claire L. Peterson. "When the Migrant Laborer Settles Down. A Report of the Findings of a Project on Value Assimilation among Immigrant Laborers." undated
Fred Ross. Get Out if You Can. The Saga of Sal si Puedes. San Francisco: California Federation for Civic Unity, 1953.
Box 1

William T. Cross and Dorothy E. Cross. Newcomers and Nomads in California. Stanford University Press 1937

General note

Available at USC Libraries, 361.6.C951N, HV4506.C2C7 1937
 

Los Angeles Homeless

Box 2, Folder 1

City and County of Los Angeles reports and summaries re homeless problem

Box 2, Folder 2

Richard Ropers and Marjorie Robertson. The Inner City Homeless of Los Angeles: An Empirical Assessment. Basic Shelter Document No. 1. Los Angeles: UCLA School of Public Health, Psychiatric Epidemology Program 1984

Box 2, Folder 3

The Shelter Workers Handbook. A Guide for Identifying and Meeting the Health Needs of Homeless People. A Project by the Health Committee of the Coalition for the Homeless . Edited by Margaret Rafferty, et al. 1983

Box 2, Folder 4

Rob Waters. Trickle Down Tragedy: Homelessness in California 1984 January

Box 2, Folder 5

City of Los Angeles Shelter Ordinance Interpretive Memorandum. Prepared by Shelter Partnership, Inc. 1987

Box 2, Folder 6

"Confronting Homelessness: What Should be Done? Strategic Planning Data and Policy for the greater Los Angeles Partnership for the Homeless." Paper prepared by Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler 1988 December

Box 2, Folder 7

"Homelessness in the SCAG Region. A White Paper Report Prepared for the SCAG Regional Advisory Council." 1985 August