Harvey Richards

Early life

Richards was born in Sumpter, Oregon in 1912. He grew up in Eugene, Oregon and left school in eighth grade to work. Richards began his career as a merchant seaman at the age of 18, sailing the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean seas, taking his first ship across the Pacific to China in 1930. He became a member of the National Maritime Union and later settled in Boston where he worked as a union organizer for the WPA and Worker's Alliance in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

Richards moved to San Francisco, California in 1940. Once in San Francisco, Richards worked as a machinist in the shipyards for Bethlehem Steel Corporation, installing gun turrets, diesel engines, and propellers on Liberty ships during World War II. He did not begin his career in film and photography until his mid-forties.

Career

Richards began photography in the 1950s, beginning with a 35-millimeter still camera. During the 1950s, he built his own studio and darkroom, developing film and print pictures. He began using motion picture cameras and supplemented his work with sound and film editing equipment. Between 1958 and 1978, Richards produced 22 documentaries, many of which deal with politics and civil rights during that era.

Much of Richards's early work dealt with California farm workers and the California Farm Worker Movement. His documentaries captured worker conditions and were later distributed to union organizers. The films were not sponsored by the unions so Richards did all the filming and editing independently. The documentaries focused on working conditions and the anticipated end to the bracero labor program that began in the 1940s. He also documented the rush to implement machinery into farms in anticipation of higher labor costs.

From the late 1950s to mid-1960s, Richards focused his documentaries on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He filmed in various locations including San Francisco and the southern United States in places such as Mississippi. He covered protests in the San Francisco Bay Area in support of civil rights. Richards also documented the stories of sharecroppers who fought for voting rights in the State of Mississippi.

Richards filmed a series of documentaries in the 1960s and 1970s dealing with environmental issues, mainly Deforestation in the United States and pollution in the San Francisco Bay. He also covered various protests of the Vietnam War, and documented the founding of the Women for Peace Organization in 1961. His documentary Warning Warning was also used to help build support for the nonprofit organization Save the Bay.

Richards died in 2001, survived by his wife Alice Schott Richards who died in 2011.

Legacy and the Harvey Richards Media Archive

In 1987, Richards turned his films and photos over to his son Paul Richards who formed Estuary Press to license and publish the films and images. Harvey Richards still images are archived on the Harvey Richards Media website. His most famous photo of Dolores Huerta during the 1965 grape strike was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in its "One Life: Dolores Huerta" exhibit. Paul also authored Critical Focus, The Black and White Photographs of Harvey Wilson Richards, a book with images of his father's work from the 1960s and 1970s. The book was published in 1987, the same year the photos and films became available for licensing through the Harvey Richards Media Archive.

Since 1978, his film and photos have been licensed for use in more than 70 documentaries, books, magazine, exhibits, and television productions. Two featured films that used his footage include Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Eyes on the Prize, a 14-hour PBS Documentary.