Inspections

This form was used by state inspectors who traveled the state visiting more than 1,500 labor camps. Offenders were given plans for improvements but, because of local politics, were seldom fined or closed down. Poor sanitary conditions were usually the major write-up.  Ratings varied from “good,” “fair,” or “bad.” The inspections also recorded the national origins of camp residents. Filipinos were among many nationalities represented in the labor camps. By 1926, they were the third largest population residing in the camps, after native-born Americans (which include children born here regardless of ethnicity) and Mexicans.The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley houses the forms completed by the CCIH inspectors for all labor camps visited, as well as the letters sent to camp operators pointing out any failures to meet health and safety standards. The data from these inspection forms were used to construct a map of Central Coast vegetable labor camps for the Routes and Roots exhibit. See the "Guide to the California. Dept. of Industrial Relations. Division of Immigration and Housing records, 1912-1939."For Further Reading:Annual Reports of the California Commission on Immigration and Housing. (Second Annual Report, printed in 1916, is available through Google Books. Though preceding the influx of Filipinos to the U.S. mainland, the 2nd annual report gives a history of the CCIH and its work on immigrant and labor housing.)

Croutch, Albert. Housing Migratory Agricultural Workers in California, 1913-1948. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, 1975.