Oregon Emergency Farm Labor Service oral history collection, 1992.

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Oregon Emergency Farm Labor Service oral history collection, 1992.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/456301485

The Oregon Emergency Farm Labor Service Oral History Collection consists of five interviews conducted in 1992 of individuals familiar with farm labor in Oregon during World War II. The interviews were conducted by Oregon State University students in cooperation with the University Archives in preparation for the exhibit: Fighters on the Farm Front: The Emergency Farm Labor Service in Oregon, 1943-1947. Interviews of the following individuals are included in the collection: Leonard Adolf; Eldon Earl Bevens; Lena Burien; George and June Kalb; and O.E. Mikesell. The primary topics addressed in the interviews are rural and farm life; work in canneries, mills, and a tannery; and life on the Oregon homefront during World War II. The interview with Leonard Adolf address his work on farms in eastern Colorado and Washington as a child and young adult; his education and career as a history professor; his research in Asian history; and his participation in protests against the Vietnam War. Bevens' interview includes information about the role of his tannery in the war effort and the use of emergency farm labor on farms in the Dallas, Oregon, area. Lena Burien describes home and farm life during the Great Depression and war years, gardening, canning, and growing crops for the local canneries; and her own children and grandchildren. The interview with George and June Kalb includes information about work in canneries and mills during World War II, rationing and sources of food during wartime, and their own experiences picking berries and hops as children. O.E. Mikesell describes his work with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and as an Extension Agent, especially in food production during the war and the recruitment and assignment of farm workers. The collection includes audiocassette tapes of the interviews, transcripts, brief biographical information, and interview logs for some of the interviews. There are two tapes each for three of the interviews (Adolf, Bevens, and Kalbs) and one tape for each of the other two interviews (Burien and Mikesell). A CD use copy of the Mikesell interview is also available in the Archives. The interviews were conducted during fall term of 1992 by students in the Oral Traditions course (Anthropology 498) taught by Joan Gross. Interviewers were Tere Herrera (interviewed Burien and the Kalbs), Candace Johnston (interviewed Adolf), Dawn A. Stetler (interviewed Bevens), and Daniel Pike (interviewed Mikesell).

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Oregon State University Libraries

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SNAC Resource ID: 7555720

Oregon State University Libraries

Related Entities

There are 16 Entities related to this resource.

Oregon State University. University Archives.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64k169t (corporateBody)

The University Archives was established at Oregon State University in 1961 as a department of the Library. From the early 1970s until 2000, the Archives was part of the OSU central administration. In 2000, the Archives became a department of the University Libraries and moved into the Valley Library in 2003. The Archives had a short-lived oral history program in 1980 and acquired recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews conducted by Oregon State students and faculty beginning in the...

Adolf, Leonard Allen, 1921-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d25kgf (person)

Oregon State College. Federal Cooperative Extension Service

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6284ptr (corporateBody)

On July 24, 1911, Oregon Agricultural College's Board of Regents organized the Oregon Extension Service in response to requests from citizens of Oregon for assistance (particularly in agriculture) from the college. In May of 1914, nearly three years after Oregon had established its Extension Service, President Woodrow Wilson signed the federal Smith-Lever law, which provided federal money for the establishment of extension services in all states for developing off-campus programs, primarily in a...

Bevens, Eldon Earl.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67695b1 (person)

Mikesell, O. E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6837f45 (person)

Stetler, Dawn A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p598n0 (person)

Oregon Emergency Farm Labor Program.

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Johnston, Candace G.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b044m5 (person)

Burien, Lena.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6131jwt (person)

Kalb, George.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66m8xdg (person)

Oregon State university

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xm246h (corporateBody)

Herrera, Tere Lynn.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n4xnt (person)

Oregon State University. Dept. of Anthropology.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sg1d95 (corporateBody)

The Emergency Farm Labor Service in Oregon was sponsored by the Oregon State College Extension Service to ensure an adequate farm labor supply during World War II and the years immediately after. Between 1943 and 1947, Oregon's Emergency Farm Labor Service assisted with over 900,000 placements on the state's farms, trained thousands of workers of all ages, and managed nine farm labor camps. Farm laborers included urban youth and women, soldiers, white collar professionals, displaced Japanese- Am...

United States. Agricultural Adjustment Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p898vq (corporateBody)

Kalb, June.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xq10hj (person)

Pike, Daniel.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qn9vck (person)