Harvey Richards

Harvey Richards
Harvey Richards in 1962.
Born	Harvey Wilson Richards (1912-08-22)August 22, 1912 Sumpter, Oregon
Died	April 20, 2001(2001-04-20) (aged 88) Menlo Park, California
Known for	Photographer, Filmmaker
Website	Harvey Richards Media Archive

Harvey Richards (1912-2001) was an American photographer and filmmaker. During his career, he produced a total of 22 documentaries of various social and political movements during the 1960s and 1970s. Richards died in April 2001 and his works are part of a collection known as the Harvey Richards Media Archive. Since 1978, his films and photographs have been licensed for use in more than 70 documentaries, books, magazine, exhibits, and television productions.

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.

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.