Valerie J. Bower photographs and zines | Collections | The Huntington

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Visual Materials

Valerie J. Bower photographs and zines

Description

Gelatin silver prints and photograph-based zines created by Valerie J. Bower. The We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) portfolio includes eighty 8"x12" gelatin silver prints with a custom box: photographs 2021, printed 2024. Bower produced this set of prints from the photographs used in the We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) zine, a homage to food distributors, farmworkers and the Manong generation of Filipino immigrants to Central California in the 1920s-1970s. For the zine, Bower visited the town of Delano, north of Los Angeles, to photograph the grape farms and historic Filipino Community Hall, where much of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike organizing took place. While researching the zine, Bower also had conversations with her mother, an immigrant to California from Butuan, Philippines, about the roots and significance of food in Filipino culture. She also photographed restaurants and cultural signage of Historic Filipinotown near downtown Los Angeles, Filipino markets in Long Beach and Carson, a major Filipino food product distributor, and followed volunteers who were preparing and delivering food to Filipino elders.

Other prints include seven miscellaneous prints from 2016-2019, and eight 8"x12" gelatin silver prints: photographs 2015, printed 2024. These photographs were originally reproduced in Gusmano Cesaretti's Fotofolio publication featuring car club and lowrider scenes taken around Watts, North Hollywood, Crenshaw, and East Los Angeles.

Also included are copies of eleven of Bower's zines: Girls L.A., 2016; Homegirls, 2017; Tonight, 2019; Picture Us, 2021; We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo), 2021; Watts (revisited), 2023; Now and Forever, 2023; JP17: photographs 2017, published 2024; Philippines Street: photos 2016, published 2024; Blue Line: photographs 2014, 2015, published 2024; and Tropikal: photographs 2009, 2011, 2016, published 2025.

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Photographic prints
Visual Materials
Gelatin silver prints and photograph-based zines created by Valerie J. Bower. The We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) portfolio includes eighty 8"x12" gelatin silver prints with a custom box: photographs 2021, printed 2024. Bower produced this set of prints from the photographs used in the We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) zine, a homage to food distributors, farmworkers and the Manong generation of Filipino immigrants to Central California in the 1920s-1970s. For the zine, Bower visited the town of Delano, north of Los Angeles, to photograph the grape farms and historic Filipino Community Hall, where much of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike organizing took place. While researching the zine, Bower also had conversations with her mother, an immigrant to California from Butuan, Philippines, about the roots and significance of food in Filipino culture. She also photographed restaurants and cultural signage of Historic Filipinotown near downtown Los Angeles, Filipino markets in Long Beach and Carson, a major Filipino food product distributor, and followed volunteers who were preparing and delivering food to Filipino eldersOther prints include seven miscellaneous prints from 2016-2019, and eight 8"x12" gelatin silver prints: photographs 2015, printed 2024. These photographs were originally reproduced in Gusmano Cesaretti's Fotofolio publication featuring car club and lowrider scenes taken around Watts, North Hollywood, Crenshaw, and East Los Angeles.
photCL 747
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Zines
Visual Materials
Gelatin silver prints and photograph-based zines created by Valerie J. Bower. The We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) portfolio includes eighty 8"x12" gelatin silver prints with a custom box: photographs 2021, printed 2024. Bower produced this set of prints from the photographs used in the We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) zine, a homage to food distributors, farmworkers and the Manong generation of Filipino immigrants to Central California in the 1920s-1970s. For the zine, Bower visited the town of Delano, north of Los Angeles, to photograph the grape farms and historic Filipino Community Hall, where much of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike organizing took place. While researching the zine, Bower also had conversations with her mother, an immigrant to California from Butuan, Philippines, about the roots and significance of food in Filipino culture. She also photographed restaurants and cultural signage of Historic Filipinotown near downtown Los Angeles, Filipino markets in Long Beach and Carson, a major Filipino food product distributor, and followed volunteers who were preparing and delivering food to Filipino eldersOther prints include seven miscellaneous prints from 2016-2019, and eight 8"x12" gelatin silver prints: photographs 2015, printed 2024. These photographs were originally reproduced in Gusmano Cesaretti's Fotofolio publication featuring car club and lowrider scenes taken around Watts, North Hollywood, Crenshaw, and East Los Angeles.
photCL 747
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Custom box - We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo)
Visual Materials
Gelatin silver prints and photograph-based zines created by Valerie J. Bower. The We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) portfolio includes eighty 8"x12" gelatin silver prints with a custom box: photographs 2021, printed 2024. Bower produced this set of prints from the photographs used in the We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) zine, a homage to food distributors, farmworkers and the Manong generation of Filipino immigrants to Central California in the 1920s-1970s. For the zine, Bower visited the town of Delano, north of Los Angeles, to photograph the grape farms and historic Filipino Community Hall, where much of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike organizing took place. While researching the zine, Bower also had conversations with her mother, an immigrant to California from Butuan, Philippines, about the roots and significance of food in Filipino culture. She also photographed restaurants and cultural signage of Historic Filipinotown near downtown Los Angeles, Filipino markets in Long Beach and Carson, a major Filipino food product distributor, and followed volunteers who were preparing and delivering food to Filipino eldersOther prints include seven miscellaneous prints from 2016-2019, and eight 8"x12" gelatin silver prints: photographs 2015, printed 2024. These photographs were originally reproduced in Gusmano Cesaretti's Fotofolio publication featuring car club and lowrider scenes taken around Watts, North Hollywood, Crenshaw, and East Los Angeles.
photCL 747
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Claude Gernade Bowers papers
Manuscripts
Primarily correspondence between Claude Gernade Bowers and lawyer Theodore Fred Kuper while Bowers was ambassador to Spain and Chile. Subjects covered include the Spanish Civil War, politics and government of the United States, and United States foreign relations. Also included are two typed manuscripts of Bowers's book My Mission to Spain (approximately 1939 and 1945); and a typed manuscript of My Life, published posthumously in 1962 as My Life: the Memoirs of Claude Bowers. There is also a small amount of publishing related correspondence, photographs, and two books by Spanish politician Manuel Azaña (1880-1940): Plumas y Palabras (1930) and Una Política 1930-1932 (1932).The 2024 addendum contains correspondence from Claude Gernade Bowers to Terry Kuper Gray Kirker, the daughter of Theodore Fred Kuper. Also included are newspaper clippings, a photograph of Bowers, and autographed copies of Bowers' books Beveridge and the Progressive Era (1932), Pierre Vergniaud: Voice of the French Revolution (1945) The Young Jefferson (1945), and My Mission to Spain (1954).
mssBowers
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Claude Gernade Bowers papers, (bulk 1932-1953)
Manuscripts
Primarily correspondence between Claude Gernade Bowers and lawyer Theodore Fred Kuper while Bowers was ambassador to Spain and Chile. Subjects covered include the Spanish Civil War, politics and government of the United States, and United States foreign relations. Also included are two typed manuscripts of Bowers's book My Mission to Spain (approximately 1939 and 1945); and a typed manuscript of My Life, published posthumously in 1962 as My Life: the Memoirs of Claude Bowers. There is also a small amount of publishing related correspondence, photographs, and two books by Spanish politician Manuel Azaña (1880-1940): Plumas y Palabras (1930) and Una Política 1930-1932 (1932). The 2024 addendum contains correspondence from Claude Gernade Bowers to Terry Kuper Gray Kirker, the daughter of Theodore Fred Kuper. Also included are newspaper clippings, a photograph of Bowers, and autographed copies of Bowers' books Beveridge and the Progressive Era (1932), Pierre Vergniaud: Voice of the French Revolution (1945) The Young Jefferson (1945), and My Mission to Spain (1954).
mssBowers
Image not available
Correspondence and photographs
Manuscripts
Primarily correspondence between Claude Gernade Bowers and lawyer Theodore Fred Kuper while Bowers was ambassador to Spain and Chile. Subjects covered include the Spanish Civil War, politics and government of the United States, and United States foreign relations. Also included are two typed manuscripts of Bowers's book My Mission to Spain (approximately 1939 and 1945); and a typed manuscript of My Life, published posthumously in 1962 as My Life: the Memoirs of Claude Bowers. There is also a small amount of publishing related correspondence, photographs, and two books by Spanish politician Manuel Azaña (1880-1940): Plumas y Palabras (1930) and Una Política 1930-1932 (1932). The 2024 addendum contains correspondence from Claude Gernade Bowers to Terry Kuper Gray Kirker, the daughter of Theodore Fred Kuper. Also included are newspaper clippings, a photograph of Bowers, and autographed copies of Bowers' books Beveridge and the Progressive Era (1932), Pierre Vergniaud: Voice of the French Revolution (1945) The Young Jefferson (1945), and My Mission to Spain (1954).
mssBowers