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Object Description
| Title | Finding aid for Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming, 1802-1982 (bulk 1860-1975). |
| Creator | Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892-. |
| Extent | Approximately 17,320 items. 121 boxes. |
| Biographical Note | Frank Forrest Latta, son of Presbyterian minister Eli C. Latta and teacher Harmonia Campbell, was born September 18, 1892 in Stanislaus County, California. As a young boy Latta worked on several ranches in the San Joaquin Valley and became interested in the stories of the early pioneers, and in 1906 began interviewing people and gathering research regarding early life and early farming in California. Latta also spent much time researching the farming corporation Miller & Lux and its founders Henry Miller and Charles Lux. Latta married Jeanette Allen in 1919; they had four children. When Latta was not traveling the San Joaquin Valley interviewing pioneers or writing at home, he taught drafting and carpentry at high schools in Gustine, Porterville, Shafter and Bakersfield, California. Latta helped found the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield in 1941 where he worked both as a curator and as its director. Latta, who was president of the League of Western Writers in 1938, is the author of several publications including Black gold in the Joaquin, California Indian folklore, Dalton gang days, Handbook of Yokuts Indians, and Joaquín Murrieta and his horse gangs. Latta died in Santa Cruz in May 1983. |
| Scope and Content | The collection contains Frank F. Latta's research material from his five decades of researching the history of California's San Joaquin Valley and Miller & Lux, in particular dry farming known as skyfarming. Subjects include: agriculture and farming in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of agricultural machinery (combines, plows, reapers, scrapers, threshing machines, tractors and various types of harvesters), livestock, ranches, cattle, and crops, mostly wheat. Also covered are: early aviation, early automobiles, bears, crime, the Dalton Gang, the Donner Party, earthquakes, education and schools in the San Joaquin Valley, floods, freight and steamships on the San Joaquin River, gold mines, irrigation, canals and water rights in San Joaquin Valley, land grants, livestock, lumber, outlaws, pioneers, the Presbyterian Church in California, ranches, rivers, roads, saddlery, sheepherding in California, overland journeys to California and California politics, government and history. Also talked about are women, African Americans, Chileans, Chinese, Mormons, Native Americans and Jews in California. The collection contains roughly 180 oral interviews with people living in the San Joaquin Valley in the 1930s through the 1970s. One of the series contains drafts of the unpublished manuscript Sky Farmers and Mule Skinners with Something about Hay Muckers, Buckaroos, and Bindle Stiffs and a Sheepherder or Two. Frank F. Latta worked on this manuscript for five decades. Individuals covered or represented in the collection: Grizzly Adams, George S. Berry, San Brannan, Robert Maitland Brereton, J. P. Collyer, John Charles Fremont, James Ben Ali Haggin, William H. Hall, Obed Hussey, Jesse James, Cyrus McCormick, C. Z. Merritt, Heny Miller, Rufus R. Moore, Joaquin Murieta, George W. Nickel, J. Leroy Nickel, Harriet Quimby, Lovell Alexander Richards, Frank Day Robinson, Edward Francis Treadwell, Tiburcio Vazquez, Eli Whitney and William M. Wiley. Corporations covered or represented in the collection: Butterfield Overland Stage Line, California Department of Public Works, Caterpillar Tractor Company, Central Valley Project, Death Valley '49ers, Deere & Co., Early Birds of Aviation, H. C. Shaw Company, Holt Manufacturing Company, International Harvester Company, Kern County Land Company, Lux College, McCormick Harvesting Machinery Company, Miller & Lux, Pacific Live Stock Co., San Joaquin and King's River Canal and Irrigation Company, San Joaquin Pioneer & Historical Society, the United States Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, and Department of Agriculture. Latta's research also concerns the development and history of Stanislaus and Kern counties and several California cities including: Bakersfield, Buttonwillow, Crows Landing, Fresno, Grayson, Gustine, Hill's Ferry, Los Banos, Merced, Modesto, Newman, Orestimba, Sacramento, San Francisco, Stockton, Tulare, and Visalia. The collection is made up of articles, Miller & Lux business and financial documents and records, catalogs, brochures, clippings, legal document, oral interviews, correspondence, manuscripts for publication, newspapers, notes, official reports, receipts and research material in general. The collection also contains hundreds of photographs, both color and black and white, slides, panoramas and glass plates. The Huntington Library also has a collection of material relating only to Miller & Lux that also came from the Latta Family Trust: Frank F. Latta Collection: Miller & Lux Papers. |
| Notes | All inquiries about this collection should be directed to the Curator, Hispanic, Cartographic, & Modern Western Manuscripts. |
| Date | 1802-1982. |
| Provenance | Purchased from Latta Family Trust, October 1987 and gift of Monna Latta Olson, October 1987. |
| Subject |
Adams, Grizzly, 1812-1860. Berry, George S. Brannan, Sam, 1819-1889. Brereton, R. M. (Robert Maitland), 1833-1911. Collyer, J. P. Frémont, John Charles, 1813-1890. Haggin, James Ben Ali, 1822-1914. Hall, Wm. Ham. (William Hammond) Hussey, Obed, 1792-1860. James, Jesse, 1847-1882. Latta, Frank Forrest, 1892-. McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809-1884. Merritt, C. Z. Miller, Henry, 1827-1916 Moore, Rufus R. Murieta, Joaquín, d. 1853. Nickel, George W. Nickel, J. Leroy. Quimby, Harriet, 1875-1912. Richards, Lovell Alexander. Robinson, Frank Day. Treadwell, Edward F. (Edward Francis), 1875-1955. Vazquez, Tiburcio. Whitney, Eli, 1765-1825. Wiley, William M. Butterfield Overland Stage Line. California. Dept. of Public Works. Caterpillar Tractor Company. Central Valley Project (Calif.) Death Valley '49ers. Deere & Company. Early Birds of Aviation (Organization) H. C. Shaw Company. Holt Manufacturing Company. International Harvester Company. Kern County Land Company. Lux College, San Francisco. McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Miller & Lux. Pacific Live Stock Co. San Joaquin and King's River Canal and Irrigation Company. San Joaquin Pioneer & Historical Society (Stockton, Calif.) Geological Survey (U.S.) United States. Bureau of Reclamation. United States. Dept. of Agriculture. African Americans -- California. Agricultural machinery -- United States. Agriculture -- California. Authors, American -- California -- Archives. Automobiles -- California. Aeronautics. Bears -- California. Boats and boating -- California. Canals -- California. Cattle -- California. Cattle trade -- West (U.S.) Chileans -- California. Chinese -- California. Combines (Agricultural machinery) Crime -- California. Dalton Gang. Donner Party. Dry farming -- California. Earthquakes -- California. Education -- California. Farmers -- California. Floods -- California. Freight and freightage. Gold mines and mining -- California. Indians of North America -- California. Irrigation. Jews -- California. Land grants -- California. Livestock. Lumber. Mormons -- California. Outlaws. Overland journeys to the Pacific. Pioneers -- California. Plows. Presbyterian Church -- California. Ranches -- California. Harvesting machinery. Rivers -- California. Roads -- California. Saddlery -- California. Scrapers (Earthmoving machinery) Sheepherding -- California. Steamboats -- California. Threshing machines. Tractors. Wheat -- Harvesting machinery. Water rights -- West (U.S.) Women -- California. Bakersfield (Calif.) Buttonwillow (Calif.) California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources. California -- History -- 20th century -- Sources. California -- Politics and government. Central Valley (Calif. : Valley) -- Description and travel. Crows Landing (Calif.) Fresno (Calif.) Grayson (Calif.) Gustine (Calif.) Hill's Ferry (Calif.) Kern County (Calif.) Los Banos (Calif.) Merced (Calif.) Modesto (Calif.) Newman (Calif.) Orestimba (Calif.) Sacramento (Calif.) San Francisco (Calif.) San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) -- Description and travel. Stanislaus County (Calif.) Stockton (Calif.) Tulare (Calif.) Visalia (Calif.) |
| Form/Genre |
Articles California 20th century. (aat) Business letters California. (aat) Business records California. (aat) Catalogs United States. (aat) Clippings. (aat) Color photographs California. (aat) Financial records California. (aat) Legal documents California 19th century. (aat) Letters (Correspondence) California. (aat) Manuscripts for publication California 20th century. (aat) Newspapers California. (aat) Official reports California. (aat) Oral histories (document genres) California 20th century. (aat) Panoramas California 20th century. (aat) Photographic plates California 20th century. (aat) Receipts California 19th century. (aat) Research (document genres) California 20th century. (aat) Slides California 20th century. (aat) |
| Contributors |
Brereton, R. M. (Robert Maitland), 1833-1911. Robinson, Frank Day. Treadwell, Edward F. (Edward Francis), 1875-1955. Caterpillar Tractor Company. Deere & Company. Kern County Land Company. Miller & Lux. San Joaquin and King's River Canal and Irrigation Company. |
| Department | Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscripts Department. |
| Call Number | mssLatta Skyfarming |
| Accession Number | mss 01397. |
| Physical Collection | Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming. |
| Digital Collection | Finding Aids, Huntington Digital Library |
| Physical Description | 77 p. |
| Digitization Specifications | Original finding aid converted into PDF document by B. Black, 2011-12-12. |
| Date Digital | 2011-12-12 |
| DCMI Type | text |
| Digital Format | |
| Original Finding Aid | Finding aid prepared by Brooke M. Black, June 29, 2007. |
| Citation Information | Finding aid for Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming, Huntington Digital Library, San Marino, California. |
| Restrictions | Images in this collection are for scholarly research; please review the Huntington Library's copyright information: http://cdm16003.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/about. For purchasing images for publication please review our permission to publish policy: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=590. |
| Cataloging Notes | The collection is organized in the following manner: Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery and Farming (Boxes 1-31); Book: Sky Farmers and Mules Skinners (Boxes 32-45); Pioneers (Boxes 46-90); Waterways (Boxes 91-109); Glass Plates (Boxes 110-177); Oversize (Boxes 118-120); Oversize Panoramas (Box 121). |