Frank F. Latta Collection: Skyfarming

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 One of the series contains drafts of the unpublished manuscript Sky Farmers and Mule Skinners with Something about Hay Muckers, Buckaroos, and Bindle Stiffs and a Sheepherder or Two.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. 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.