Register of the Grabow (Herman G.) Collection, 1922-1987
Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by
Don Walker
San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
11793 North Micke Grove Road
Lodi, CA 95241
Phone: (209) 463-4119
Fax: (209) 369-2178
Email: dwalker@uop.edu
URL: http://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org/
© 2000
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum. All rights reserved.
Register of the Grabow (Herman G.) Collection, 1922-1987
Collection number: Ms24
San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
Lodi, California
Contact Information
- San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
- 11793 North Micke Grove Road
- Lodi, CA 95241
- Phone: (209) 463-4119
- Fax: (209) 369-2178
- Email: dwalker@uop.edu
- URL: http://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org/
- Processed by:
- Don Walker
- Date Completed:
- October 1998
- Encoded by:
- Don Walker
© 2000 San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Grabow (Herman G.) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1922-1987
Collection number: Ms24
Creator:
Herman G. Grabow
Extent: 0.5 linear
Repository:
San Joaquin County Museum.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research by appointment only.
Publication Rights
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary
property.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Grabow (Herman G.) Collection, Ms24, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum.
Access Points
personal name
Grabow, Herman G. (1898-1993)
corporate name
California Dairymen, Inc
California State Grange
Parkers Prairie (Minn.) Cow Testing Association
subject
Dairying - California
Dairy farmers - California
Dairy laws - California
Dairy inspection - Minnesota
Dairy inspection - California
Dairy cattle - Breeding - California
Agricultural journalists - California
Lobbyists - California
geographic name
California - San Joaquin County - History
California - Ventura County - History
Parkers Prairie (Minn.) - History
Biography
Herman Grabow (1898-1993) was a cow tester, dairyman, radio personality, journalist and lobbyist for the California Grange.
Trained as a cow tester at the University of Minnesota,
Grabow came to California in 1923, where he found work as a tester in Ventura County. After losing his dairy in the midst
of the Great Depression, Grabow came to San Joaquin County where he acquired a spread that was being sold for back taxes.
With financial help from Roosevelt's New Deal, Grabow bought alfalfa seed and twenty cows. By the late 1930s he was well-established
and had became Director of the local artificial insemination association. From the 1940s, Grabow also became a farmers' advocate.
He worked for forty years to advance the cause of the California dairy industry through legislation and advertising as President
of the California Dairymen, Inc. and as a lobbyist for the California State Grange. Grabow also published a regular column
on dairy-related topics in the California Farmer during the 1960s. He will be well- remembered among dairymen in particular
for his contributions to the passage of the California Milk Pooling Act (1969), which gave independent dairymen greater protection
from milk price fluctuations.
Scope and Content
The Grabow Collection contains biographical materials, correspondence, writings and other memorabilia pertaining to the life
and activities of Herman Grabow.
1.1: Biographical Materials
a-"Herman J. Grabow: Cow Commentator" (n.d.) [Grabow's autobiography; 110 pp.]
b-Don Walker. [untitled obituary published in San Joaquin Farm Bureau News] (1993)
1.2: Scrapbook #1, 1922-1985
a-Copy incl. materials (corresp., published writings, reports, clippings, etc.) on Parkers Prairie Cow Testing Assn. [MN]
(1922); California Milk Pooling Act (1969); and, other aspects of Grabow's life [124 pp.]
1.3: Scrapbook #2, 1924; 1962-1986 [2 copies]
a-Scrapbook of letters, essays, poetry & radio broadcasts [2 copies]
b-"Food & fiber," Feb. 196? [radio script; 2 pp.]
c-Testimony before Assembly Committee on Agriculture, 1976
1.5: Correspondence, 1958-1984 [7 items incl. 2 letters from U.S. Rep. John J. McFall]
1.6: Memorabilia [5 items incl. newspaper adv for Grabow's dairy, Calif. Dairymen, Inc. letterhead, etc.]
a-Bureau of Livestock Disease Control. "A brighter future for California Beef & Dairy Cattle," 1958
b-J.E. Stuart. "National Developments as the relate to Animal Disease Control and Meat
and Milk Hygiene in California," 1961
c-Frank H. Burke. "Catalogue of Butter Bred Holstein-Friesian Cattle...," 1900
d-Bureau of Animal Industry. Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture. Monthly Report, 5-79
e-"The De Laval Milker: The Milker that Pleases the Cow," 1920
f-Sorrenti Mfg. Co. [Escalon, Calif.] "The Sorrenti Floating Plow," n.d. [illus. adv.]
g-"Brands get ranchers' stamp of approval," Sacramento Union (10-23-87)
