Great Depression Focus of Exhibits by Cal Poly History Students

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Two exhibits produced by students in Cal Poly Professor Emeritus Dan Krieger's California history class will give residents and tourists insight into the Great Depression.

The exhibits, titled “Behind a Lens: The Photography of Dorothea Lange” and “The Civilian Conservation Corps, A Bridge to Recovery,” will run May 19 through June 17 in the new Historic Hall in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall in Arroyo Grande. The photography exhibit includes several photographs taken by Lange near Nipomo.

Cal Poly students Ashley Fletcher and Joseph Walker organized the display, the first in a series of summer shows created by Krieger’s students.

Krieger will be at the May 19 opening from 2 to 5 p.m. to introduce the two exhibits with a short talk on the Depression and its effects on local communities. The exhibits were put together by Fletcher and Walker as part of a collaborative effort with the newly formed Exhibit Committee of the South County Historical Society.

Additional exhibits by Krieger's students will be open throughout the summer at the IOOF Hall, located at 128 Bridge Street in Arroyo Grande. The Historic Hall is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with special programs scheduled at 2 p.m. on the opening dates of new exhibits. Upcoming exhibits include:

June 23 - July 22

* “Architecture in San Luis Obispo County”
* “Mexican Migrant Workers”

July 28 – Aug. 22

* “Japanese American Internment Camps - Children in Internment Camps”
* “Fishermen in San Luis Obispo County”

Sept. 1-22

* “Santa Barbara 's Film Industry”
* “Hollywood in the 1920s”
* “Disney Studios”

Sept. 29

* Loren Nicholson exhibit on “The History of Avila”

For more information, contact Krieger at dkrieger@calpoly.edu or Craig Rock at
489-8282 or e-mail mailcenter@southcountyhistory.org

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