Harry Crosby Collection, 1966-1992 (MSS 333)

SERIES 1) PHOTOGRAPHS OF UCSD: Black-and-white contact sheets, negatives, and mounted photographs taken between 1965 and 1970. Many of the photographs were taken to illustrate the brochure entitled We Propose to Challenge (1966) and document instruction, laboratories, student life, and some faculty, including philosophy professor Herbert Marcuse. Other photographs show Muir and Revelle Colleges, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University Hospital, an "Electronic Music Happening," and composer Ernst Krenek during his February 1970 visit to UCSD. Arranged alphabetically by subject.

SERIES 2) BAJA CALIFORNIA, 1967-1992: Ninety-two black-and-white and color images of people and places in Baja California, including peninsular mission architecture, historic places, everyday life on remote ranchos, and landmarks along the unpaved transpeninsular highway. The photographs are arranged in the order in which they were exhibited. Arranged in three subseries: A) Pre-history and History of Antigua California, 2) Life at Remote Ranches In Baja California, and 3) Landmarks Along the Trans-Peninsular Highway.

This exhibit is available online: Images of Baja California

The following subseries descriptions were written by Crosby and describe three groups of exhibited photographs.

A) Pre-History and History of Antigua California

"The Native Americans of the central and lower peninsula disappeared after less than two centuries of exposure to alien diseases and European ideological and economic domination. Their material remains are few and, for the most part, inconspicuous. Thirty years ago, during my first major adventure in Baja California, I was guided to magnificent displays of rock art, paintings and engravings. That experience-- and the scant printed information available on the subject-- inspired me to spend fifteen months in the mountains of the mid-peninsula during the next seven years. My investigations resulted in the text and illustrations for The Cave Paintings of Baja California [1975]. The pre-historic art of Baja California now attracts admiring visitors from around the world. The peninsula displays a variety of other remains as well, items worked from or built of stone: hunting blinds, sleeping circles, metates, manos, and other miscellaneous implements."

"The permanent Spanish presence in California began with a toehold established in 1697. During the eighteenth century, the mission-based colony grew to encompass the entire peninsula and expanded onto the mainland to the northwest. I was introduced to peninsular history when I was hired to illustrate a book commemorating the two hundredth anniversary [1969] of Spanish entry into Alta California. My experience did not begin with books or documents, it came in the field in encounters with remains of mission churches, el camino real-- the inter-mission road-- and other masonry constructions resulting from early economic activity: mining, pearling, cattle ranching, and mission agriculture."

"Historic preservation was barely a concept during the peninsula's three Hispanic centuries. Known losses were great, but most went unrecorded and can only be imagined. Since the opening of the paved highway in 1973, I have watched the patrimony of the peninsula suffer accelerating losses from neglect, looting, and development. I hope that my work will stimulate interest in finding, recording, and preserving the historical legacy. That is my appeal to Baja California's leaders and residents- and to sincere aficionados wherever they reside."

B) Life at Remote Ranches in Baja California

"Peninsular California experienced profound changes during the first third of the nineteenth century. Mexican independence [1821] ended Spanish interest and support; the new government lacked finances and was primarily involved in its own organization and solving problems closer to the heart of the republic. By 1830, Baja California languished for lack of money, supplies, and trade. As the numbers of mission Indians declined, missions were abandoned or secularized. The Presidio of Loreto, the peninsula's largest employer, was scaled down, then abandoned. Local men turned to subsistence ranching or farming on small land claims or, more frequently, to squatting on ex-mission properties or at remote water sources in the sierras or their foothills. The population, so dispersed, developed the basis for much of the small economic activity in the area. The few towns and villages became trading centers where merchants dealt with farmers and ranchers."

"This economy, with many of its practices and traditions almost unchanged, persisted to a remarkable degree in 1967 when I first entered the remote areas. However, in half a dozen years, the paved road brought in the outside world and old ways quickly began to fade. Goods and produce from the mainland and tourism from the United States changed the local economy by lowering demand for more expensive local produce and by creating other needs for local labor. I was extremely fortunate to arrive before those events, to travel to many dozens of inaccessible ranches, to know their people, and to experience the last days of a culture hauntingly like that of our own American West in the nineteenth century. My 1981 book, Last of the Californios, set forth my photographs, my experiences, and my research vis-à-vis this remarkable-- and remarkably nearby-- survival."

C) Landmarks Along the Wheeltracks Grandly Known as the 'Trans-Peninsular Highway'

"Since the second decade of the twentieth century, men have used automobiles to travel over the more level terrain in various parts of the peninsula. Gradually, after truly heroic efforts with hand tools and a little dynamite and blasting powder-- the efforts of various communities, companies, and ranchers made it possible to traverse the entire length of Baja California, usually with aid from local manpower and mulepower to pass through the most difficult terrain. By the 1940s, it was possible, with favorable weather, to drive a high-clearance vehicle from San Diego to San José del Cabo, but few made the trip without long delays due to mechanical problems or shortages of fuel or other wondrous difficulties. Such trips were adventures, often the greatest adventures of the travelers' lives. A cult sprang up around Baja California travel. The individuals or families that offered gas and meals along the way became in-group personalities. Howard Gulick and Peter Gerhard put their experiences to use in creating a truly inspired handbook, Lower California Guidebook-- a historically accurate and geographically sound work that assisted the traveler and educated him as he went."

"The same set of wheeltracks served the slow-growing peninsular economy as an avenue for imports from the U. S. and mainland Mexico and for exports of local produce from fisheries, fields, or herds. Mexican truckers became part of the growing legend; regulars often provided assistance to visitors in distress, sometimes pulling them from mud or sand, sometimes transporting vital vehicle parts, sometimes carrying them to places from which they could get conventional transportation back to their homes. I know at one time or another, I needed and got all of these services and much more. Travel was slow in those days, stops were frequent and there was a lot of camaraderie; friendships were made between fellow travelers and with those who lived or worked along the road. It was an idyll not truly appreciated until the paved road was built and opened in 1973. Changes were sudden and mostly painful to old-timers, whether gringo or peninsular. Much of the romance disappeared. Few of those who had provided services along the old road had the money or political clout to be involved in profits from the new tourism. An era had ended; Lower California Guidebook is a collectors' item. Sic transit gloria mundi...."

Series 3) RURAL LIFE IN SONORA, 1960-1973: Black and white mounted photographs of the Sonora region, including ranch owners and their family, local traditions and crafts, historic or significant buildings, landmarks, and other images of daily life. Arranged alphabetically by photograph title.

SERIES 4) MANUSCRIPTS: Includes Crosby's treatment proposal for a book on Baja California mountain people, cave paintings, and sierra life. The proposal led to his book entitled The Cave Paintings of Baja California (1975). The volume includes Crosby's written proposal, a statement of professional background, his vita, maps of Baja California, and 39 photographs. Also includes a chapter entitled "The Cape Sierra," regarding Crosby's exploration of the Baja California region, and annotated to reflect desired photograph placements.

SERIES 5) NEGATIVES: Black-and-white negatives arranged in three subseries: A) Baja California Sierra, B) Tijuana, and C) Sonora. The first subseries contains negatives in 35mm, 2 1/4 in, 4x6 cm, 6x7 cm, 6x9 cm, and 6x12 cm formats and largely document the ranches and ranch life in the Sierra de San Francisco, Sierra de Guadalupe, Sierra de San Borja, and Sierra de la Laguna. This series does not contain images of cave paintings and mural art. The Tijuana subseries contains images from a study of Tijuana, Mexico, taken in June 1964 and later published in Tijuana 1964: una visión fotográfica e histórica. The Sonora subseries contains images of towns, missions, churches, and people in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

All content in this series has been digitized and is available for viewing on the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections website.

Series 6) NEGATIVES AND SLIDES: Black and white and color negatives and slides, mostly 35mm and 2x2 inches. Baja California is captured in scenes of desert ranchos and daily ranch life, rock art, Sierra de Laguna, Sierra de Guadalupe, Sinaloa, Sonora, and other landscapes. The images are often labeled with Crosby's own numbering system. Many of the negatives can be cross-referenced with Series 7) CONTACT SHEETS. Series is arranged alphabetically by subject.

Series 7) CONTACT SHEETS: Black and white prints of negatives of Baja California, with a run of contact sheets depicting Sonora. Images includes landmarks, ranchos and rancho life, families, buildings, and other natural scenes. Arranged numerically by Crosby's own negative roll numbering systems. Researchers should note that the first half of the contact sheets captures Baja California in general, while the second half focuses on Sonora, which is reflected by a change in how the rolls are numbered.

Series 8) PRINTS: Mounted and un-mounted black and white prints of Baja California, Sonora, and Tijuana. As with the other series, the images include ranchos, landmarks, and daily life. Many prints are labeled with Crosby's corresponding negative number. Arranged chronologically.