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Finding Aid to the Florence Richardson Wyckoff Papers, 1869-2000 (bulk
1940-1990)
BANC MSS 78/55 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Florence Richardson Wyckoff papers
Date (inclusive): 1869-2000
Date (bulk): 1940-1990
Collection Number: BANC MSS 78/55 c
Creator:
Wyckoff, Florence Richardson,
1905-
Extent:
Number of containers: 32 cartons, 9 boxes, and 2 volumes
Linear feet: circa 45
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Papers of Florence Richardson Wyckoff document Wyckoff's
personal and professional life. Raised in Berkeley, California and trained as an artist,
Wyckoff became interested in social service during the Great Depression. Over the course of
her life, this early interest led to her involvement on a number of fronts, from public
health and housing to literacy and children's rights. She remained active in national,
state, and local politics until her death. Wyckoff described herself as a "packrat" and her
papers give great insight into her personal character and childhood that further leads to an
understanding of the development of her social consciousness. Her work with various Boards
and Committees, including the State Board of Public Health, the Migrant Health Project
Review Committee, and the Governor's Advisory Committee on Children and Youth are especially
well documented in the collection. Manuscripts in the collection date from 1869, in the form
of family papers collected by Wyckoff in the course of her genealogy research, and continue
on through her death in 2000 at the age of 94. The bulk of the collection spans from the
1940s to 1990s, documenting the most active periods of Wyckoff's professional career.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite
and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17,
U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of
University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and
publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of
the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited
without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively
with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], Florence Richardson Wyckoff Papers, BANC MSS 78/55 c, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Title: Fifty Years of Grassroots Social Activism: Oral History Transcript, Florence
Richardson Wyckoff,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 89/51 c
Title: Berkeley Culture, University of California Highlights, and University
Extension, 1892-1960: Oral History Transcript, Leon Josiah Richardson,
Date: BANC MSS C-D 4048
Title: Leon Josiah Richardson Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS C-B 1001
Title: Warring Wilkinson Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS C-B 815
Title: Photographs Relating to the Leon J. Richardson and W.W. Wilkinson families,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1983.140-AX
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog
Brown, Edmund G. (Edmund
Gerald), 1905-
Olson, Culbert Levy, 1876-
Richardson, Leon Josiah,
1868-1964.
Wilkinson, Warring, 1834-1918.
Wyckoff, Florence Richardson,
1905- --Archives.
California. Dept. of Public
Health.
California. Governor's Advisory
Committee on Children and Youth.
California. Governor's Advisory
Committee on Children and Youth. Subcommittee on the Migrant Child.
Conference on Families who
Follow the Crops.
Children of migrant laborers.
Housing, Rural--United States.
Migrant agricultural laborers--California.
Public health--California.
Berkeley (Calif.)--History.
California--Politics and
government--1951-
Santa Cruz County
(Calif.)
The Florence Richardson Wyckoff Papers were donated to The Bancroft Library in
increments, ending in 2001, by Florence Richardson Wyckoff.
Processed by Teresa Maria Mora in 2006.
Florence Richardson Wyckoff dedicated her long life to social reform. Raised in Berkeley,
California and trained as an artist, Wyckoff became interested in social service during the
Great Depression. Living in San Francisco in the 1930s, Wyckoff worked with and befriended
many key figures in the local labor movement. This work piqued her interest in the political
process and she campaigned for Culbert L. Olson in the 1938 gubernatorial election. Upon his
election, Olson invited Wyckoff to take a position in the State Relief Administration (SRA),
which became her first formal job in the social services profession. Over the course of her
life, Wyckoff's commitment to the rights of children and laborers led to her
involvement on a number of fronts, from public health and housing to literacy and
women's rights. She remained active in national, state, and local politics until
her death in 2000.
Wyckoff was born in 1905 to Leon Josiah Richardson and Maude (Wilkinson) Richardson. Her
father was a classics professor at the University of California and her mother the daughter
of William Wilkinson, director of the Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Berkeley from
1865-1909. The Richardsons were progressive parents and their children were given numerous
opportunities. Although not wealthy, the family was well respected within the community and
the Richardson children were raised among the intellectual and social elite of the time;
family friends included Phoebe Apperson Hearst and John Dewey. Leon took his children on
backpacking trips in the Sierras and the family traveled during Leon's sabbatical
years, living in New York in 1921 and touring Europe from 1929-1930.
Florence graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1926 with a degree in
sculpture and furthered her studies at the California School of Fine Arts (1928-1929). In
1931, she married Hubert Coke Wyckoff, Jr., a U.S. deputy attorney, and the couple moved to
San Francisco. It was there that Florence became involved in the San Francisco Theater
Union, which led to her work with other local labor groups. During the Second World War,
Hubert Wyckoff served as a Deputy Administrator in the War Shipping Administration in
Washington, D.C. While living in Washington, Florence Wyckoff continued to dedicate herself
to social service, working for Food for Freedom and serving on the Board of the National
Consumers' League. After the war, the Wyckoffs moved to Hubert's hometown
of Watsonville, California, a rural farming community. Florence soon became interested in
the plight of migrant laborers, specifically the effects of the migrant lifestyle on
children. Once again, her work was noticed and Governor Earl Warren appointed her to his
Advisory Committee on Children and Youth in 1948. Wyckoff went on to serve on the committee
for twenty years under four separate administrations until its dissolution in 1968 by
Governor Ronald Reagan.
During her tenure on the Advisory Committee, Wyckoff was instrumental in developing and
organizing the Conference on Families Who Follow the Crops as well as securing passage of
both the California and Federal Migrant Health Acts. In 1963, Governor Edmund G. Brown
appointed Wyckoff to the State Board of Public Health. She continued to serve the state in
various other capacities, including representing California at the White House Conference on
Children and Youth. In addition to her involvement at the state level, Wyckoff served as a
member of the U.S. Department of Public Health, Education and Welfare's Migrant
Health Program Review Committee. She also served on President Kennedy's Study
Committee for the War on Poverty.
In her later life, Wyckoff focused on local reform. Between 1970 and her death in 2000, she
served on the boards of a number of Santa Cruz County based organizations including The
Environmental Community Housing Organization, the Santa Cruz County Housing Authority, the
Santa Cruz County Community Foundation, the Corralitos Valley Community Council, Migration
and Adaptation in the Americas, Inc., and the Friends of the Freedom Public Library. Her
husband died in 1979 after a long period of declining health, which had caused Wyckoff to
focus her attentions on more local matters. Wyckoff continued to become involved in new
issues, from the promotion of organic farming to the preservation of local history. Wyckoff
was a well known figure in the Watsonville community, receiving numerous awards for her work
and continuing her active participation in the community until her death on September 20,
2000 at the age of 94.
| 1905 Oct. 5 | Born, Berkeley, California |
| 1926 | B.A. in art (sculpture), University of California, Berkeley |
| 1926-1927 | Travel in Mexico |
| 1928-1929 | Attended California School of Fine Arts |
| 1929-1930 | Travel in Europe |
| 1931 | Married Hubert C. Wyckoff, Jr.; moved to San Francisco |
| 1933-1934 | Worked for the San Francisco Theater's Union |
| 1934 | Member, Board of Directors, Pacific Coast School for Workers |
| 1937-1938 | Coordinated San Francisco/ Northern California Democratic gubernatorial campaign of Culbert L. Olson |
| 1938 | Culbert L. Olson elected governor of California; Wyckoff appointed to California State Relief Administration |
| 1941 | Moved to Washington, D.C. |
| 1942-1946 | Assistant Director, Food for Freedom; member, National Consumer Advisory Committee |
| 1947 | Moved to Watsonville, California; established Pajaro Valley Community Council |
| 1948-1968 | Served on Governor's Advisory Committee on Children & Youth |
| 1959 | Member, President's Committee on Migratory Labor; first Conference on Families Who Follow the Crops |
| 1963-1968 | Served on California State Board of Public Health |
| 1963-1967 | Member, Migrant Health Project Review Committee |
| 1970-1980 | Member, Santa Cruz County Housing Authority |
| 1975-1985 | Member, Board of Directors, TECHO |
| 1992 | Freedom Public Library opened |
| 1979 May 30 | Hubert Coke Wyckoff died |
| 2000 Sep. 20 | Died, Watsonville, CA |
Scope and Content of Collection
The Papers of Florence Richardson Wyckoff document Wyckoff's personal and
professional life. Raised in Berkeley, California and trained as an artist, Wyckoff became
interested in social service during the Great Depression. Over the course of her life, this
early interest led to her involvement on a number of fronts, from public health and housing
to literacy and children's rights. She remained active in national, state and local
politics until her death. Wyckoff described herself as a "packrat" and her
papers give great insight into her personal character and childhood that further leads to an
understanding of the development of her social consciousness. Her work with various Boards
and committees, including the State Board of Public Health, the Migrant Health Project
Review Committee, and the Governor's Advisory Committee on Children and Youth are
especially well documented in the collection. Manuscripts in the collection date from 1869,
in the form of family papers collected by Wyckoff in the course of her genealogy research,
and continue on through her death in 2000 at the age of 94. The bulk of the collection spans
from the 1940s to 1990s, documenting the most active periods of Wyckoff's
professional career.
The collection has been divided into four series: Organizational Work; Correspondence;
Reference Files; and Personal Papers. The bulk of the collection documents
Wyckoff's work with various organizations and in reviewing the collection, one will
discover much overlap among the individual series.
Wyckoff's early life in Berkeley, as the daughter of a classics professor, was one
of privilege that she documented in correspondence and mementos. Her correspondence and
reference files depict the breadth of her interests, passions, and friendships. She was an
historian of her family and included in the collection are extensive genealogical notes,
correspondence with family, and papers of various family members, including her father Leon
J. Richardson, mother Maud (Wilkinson) Richardson, and grandfather Warring Wilkinson.
The collection arrived at The Bancroft Library in little order; existing folder titles have
been retained, but for the most part the current organizational structure has been imposed
by the archivist. Given Wyckoff's wide range of overlapping interests, material was
often duplicated throughout the collection and for the most part duplicates have been
discarded. Oftentimes areas of interest extended from Wyckoff's professional to
personal life and it may be necessary for the researcher to look at numerous series and
subseries to fully comprehend the extent of Wyckoff's involvement with certain
issues. Wyckoff had no system with which she organized her correspondence and therefore
researchers should look in both subject based series and the General Correspondence series
(Series 2) to locate correspondence from particular individuals or relating to particular
subjects. The most comprehensive series is Series 1, Organizational Work, which has been
further broken out by those individual organizations with which Wyckoff worked most closely,
primarily those for which she served in some official capacity.
Succinct series and subseries descriptions provide a basic outline of the records
available. The researcher should consult the container list to determine if the records
contain a topic of interest as not all subjects are mentioned in these brief descriptions.
The researcher should be aware that many topics might be covered in more than one series or
subseries. For example, materials regarding migrant laborers can be found in records of GACY
(1.3) and SBPH (1.6) as well as Wyckoff's general Reference Files (Series 3). While
SBPH focused on migrant healthcare, GACY was also concerned with issues of education and
housing. Often the series description notes similar materials found elsewhere within the
collection.
It should also be noted that another collection of Florence Richardson Wyckoff papers is
housed at the University of California, Santa Cruz (MS 96). The collection is described as
including "books, periodicals, files, correspondence, research materials,
government publications, and miscellaneous materials related to Florence Wyckoff's
activism in the fields of health, housing, social work, cultural affairs, education, and the
welfare of migrant farmworkers." The guide to that collection can be found
online at http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt9k4009m6.
List of Commonly Used Acronyms
- AFSC
- American Friends Service Committee
- AHP
- Agricultural History Project
- ANC
- Aid to Needy Children
- AFL-CIO
- American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
- APHA
- American Public Health Association
- APHAWA
- American Public Health Association Western Affiliates
- AWOC
- Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee
- CAP
- Community Action Program
- CCC
- California Community Councils
- COF (aka COFMWC)
- Conference on Families Who Follow the Crops
- CSD
- California School for the Deaf
- CSO
- Community Service Organization
- CVCC
- Corralitos Valley Community Council
- FEPC
- Fair Employment Practices Committee
- FFF
- Food for Freedom
- FFPL
- Friends of Freedom Public Library
- FSA
- Farm Security Administration
- GSCCF
- Greater Santa Cruz County Community Foundation
- MAIA
- Migration and Adaptation in the Americas, Inc.
- MHPRC
- Migrant Health Project Review Committee
- NAACP
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- NAC
- National Association of Consumers
- NCALL
- National Council on Agricultural Life and Labor
- NCCY
- National Committee for Children and Youth
- NCL
- National Consumers League
- NFWA
- National Farm Workers Association
- NSC
- National Service Corps
- OEO
- Office of Economic Opportunity
- OPA
- Office of Price Administration
- PVCC
- Pajaro Valley Community Council, Inc.
- RIF
- Reading is Fundamental
- SBPH (aka BPH)
- State Board of Public Health
- SRA
- State Relief Administration
- TECHO
- The Environmental Community Housing Organization
- UFW
- United Farm Workers
- YPCA
- Youth Participation in Community Action, Inc.
- WHCCY
- White House Conference on Children and Youth