Faculty

Margo McBane

Ph.D. University of California Los Angeles, History.

M.A. University of California Davis, History. Stanford University, Education.

B.A. University of California Santa Cruz, Community Studies.

Office: Dudley Moorhead Hall
(DMH) 218
Email: fosterbane@earthlink.net
Phone: 408-924-5530

Areas of Interest

U.S. Women's History
U.S. Gender History
California History
Public History
American Social/Labor History
History of the West
Social History of American Culture
U.S. Comparative Ethnic/Racial History
Immigration History

Publications

• Co-authored with Anthea Hartig, “’Oranges on the Plains of Id’: The Influence of the Citrus Industry on San Gabriel Valley Communities.” California Politics and Policy, California State University Los Angeles, 1998.
• The Way We Were: Pico Rivera’s Citrus History, 1920-1945. (booklet) City of Pico Rivera: Pico Rivera Arts and Culture Commission, 1997.
• “The Role of Gender in Citrus Employment; A Case Study of Recruitment, Labor, Housing Patterns at the Limoneira Company, 1893-1940.” California History, 1995.
• “The History of Women Farmworkers in California.” Frontiers, 1983.
• “Labor Pains: The History of Women Farmworkers in California.” California History, 1978.
• History of California Agriculture: Focus on Women Farmworkers. Watsonville: Watsonville Press, 1976.

Public History Projects

• Public Historian, County of Tuolumne, Phase 2 and Phase 3 of historical architectural survey and cultural landscape retrieval of Twain Harte.
• Oral Historian, City of Rancho Cucamonga, citrus and viticultural history retrieval project.
• Oral Historian, City of Pico Rivera, coordinator of high school oral history retrieval of citrus history and history curator for temporary exhibit, “The Way We Were: Pico Rivera’s Citrus History, 1900-1945. • Oral Historian, City of La Verne, directed oral history retrieval project of citrus history.
• Oral History Editor, Free Speech Project, Regional Oral History Office, University of California Berkeley.
• Planning Director, Citrus Gold Project: The Citrus Legacy of California and Arizona, Partnership of Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, and the Riverside Municipal Museum.
• Writer and Producer, “Looking Back: An Oral History Series,” Bi-weekly radio program for public radio on history issues facing the Central Coast Region during the 20th century.
• Writer and Producer, “Talkin’ Farmwork Blues: An Oral History of California Agricultural Workers,” two part, two hour series developed for public radio.

Selected Achievements

• Co-Founder Award, SF Bay Area Labor History Workshop.
• Focused Issue Award of L.A. Branch of American Planners Association, Citrus Oral History Project for City of La Verne.
• California Council in the Humanities, Annual Most Distinguished Project Award, “Talkin’ Farmwork Blues”.
• Rural Policy Dissertation Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
• Woman’s National Farm and Garden Association Dissertation Fellowship.
• Inter-Ethnic Studies Dissertation Fellowship of Institute of American Cultures, UCLA.
• U.C. Mexus Dissertation Fellowship.
• Graduate Division Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences, U.C.L.A..

Biography

As an historian, I am interested in working within the academy as well as the surrounding community. I am interdisciplinary in my approach to history. My interest in history formed through the lens of community studies, my undergraduate major at UCSC. After conducting field work with the United Farmworkers of America, I wrote my B.A. thesis, “Labor Pains: The History of Women in California Agriculture.” I then received a grant from the Youth Project to convert this thesis into a union organizing book for the United Farmworkers of America.

I pursued a high school teaching credential and M.A. in Education from Stanford University. I taught high school social studies at Palo Alto High School and Carmel High School. Unfortunately Proposition 13 passed soon after I received my credential, resulting in the dismissal of all recent hires, so I ventured into the world of public history. I have worked in museums, public radio documentary production, non-profit history development, and municipal history projects (known as Cultural Resource Management). In one such project, I received grants from several foundations including the California Council in the Humanities and the Kellogg Foundation to produce an award-winning two part, two hour radio documentary for public radio, “Talkin’ Farmwork Blues: An Oral History of California Farm Labor.” I also served as the LA Program Officer for the California Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. My public history specialty is oral history.

I completed my M.A. in History from UC Davis, with my thesis, “The Role of Women in Determining the California Farm Labor Structure: A Case Study of the Woman’s Land Army During World War I.” Subsequently I obtained an History Ph.D. from UCLA. I received honors in my field with my dissertation, “The House that Lemons Built: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Citizenship, and the Creation of a Citrus Empire, 1893-1919.”