• Oral Histories: Blanche Elder Hale

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Blanch Elder Hale was interviewed by Jackie Malone in 1980 for the Fullerton College Oral History Program. She came to California with her family in 1908 when she was ten years old. Her father, George…

  • Oral Histories: Florence Arnold (artist/community organizer)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. “All the yesterdays, no matter how good they were, how bad, they are plowed under; there is nothing we can do about it. They are gone and forgotten. Tomorrow is the great hope. But today…

  • H. Gaylord Wilshire: The Millionaire Socialist

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. I’ve recently been reading Kevin Starr’s excellent book Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era (the second in an epic seven-volume history of California), and came across a section on a colorful character named…

  • Fullerton Tribune: 1902

    Fullerton Tribune: 1902

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Local History Room of the Fullerton Public Library has microfilm from the Fullerton Tribune newspaper stretching back to 1893. I am in the process of reading over the microfilm, year by year, to get a sense…

  • Oral Histories: Dr. Mabel Myers

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Dr. Mabel Myers was interviewed by Anne Riley for the Fullerton College Oral History Program in 1975. Myers attended Fullerton College, graduating in 1919. She returned to the college in 1926 and taught science, geology,…

  • Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California (a book report)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. In my ongoing research into the history of Fullerton, I will occasionally read books that give a broader context for this local history. Such a book is Carey McWilliams’ Factories in the Field: The Story…

  • Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (a book report)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. In my ongoing research into the history of Fullerton, I will occasionally read books that give a broader context for this local history. Such a book is Lisa Mcgirr’s Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the…

  • Fullerton Tribune: 1901 Headlines

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Local History Room of the Fullerton Public Library has microfilm from the Fullerton Tribune newspaper stretching back to 1893. I am in the process of reading over the microfilm, year by year, to get…

  • Oral Histories: Herman Hiltscher

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Center for Oral and Public History in the Cal State Fullerton Library got started back in the 1960s, and for the past 50 years, students and faculty from the history department there have been…

  • Oral Histories: Gordon Melgren (College Teacher/Administrator)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Gordon Melgren was interviewed by Anne Riley for the Fullerton College Oral History Program in 1977. Melgren had retired that year after 31 years with the college. He taught history and political science, and was…