75th Anniversary Grapes of Wrath Celebration

01/04/2018

The title of Walker Evans and James Agee’s extraordinary work of literary photojournalism, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, may have lost some of its ironic edge with subsequent acclaim and the fame of its writer and photographer.

04/06/2016

😢

Merle Haggard composed the soundtrack of a generation of displaced Okies, Arkies and Texans — the rootlessness, the poverty, the field work — but he did it with such towering artistry that the Oildale native, the son of a railroad man and God-fearing mother, belonged not just to Bakersfield but the…

05/06/2015

Yes, we haven't forgot our celebration. It continues.

1940: John Steinbeck, Author's Dust Bowl novel The Grapes of Wrath wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. http://bit.ly/Yzyo2o

First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.

01/20/2015

Merle Haggard's childhood home is finding a new home at the Kern County Museum.

“Crews are numbering every piece of wood for eventual reconstruction of boxcar home at museum”

12/05/2014

Great to hear this that Dave Alvin has been nominated for a Grammy. We enjoyed having him kick off our 75th Anniversary Grapes of Wrath Celebration at the Fox Theatre in February 2014.

12/03/2014

The expansion of Dust Bowl Brewing Company is no doubt due to the great success of our Grapes of Wrath celebration in Bakersfield, where we featured Hops of Wrath IPA at at least one of our receptions.

Beer is a large part of Dust Bowl Company owner Brett Tate’s life, and with the addition of a 30,000 square-foot production facility in Turlock, it’s about to become an even bigger part.

11/23/2014

Symphony warming up for tonight! Join us at 4pm for final Grapes of Wrath event!!!

11/10/2014

Not surprising!

"Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound," a long documentary, took Best in Show on Sunday in the second annual Outside the Box Bakersfield Film Festival.

11/08/2014

Packed house for Gerald Halsam this morning! Great conference happening right now!

11/04/2014

The ghost of Johnny Cash for governor!

11/04/2014

Too bad this time conflicts with Peter La Chapelle's and Bob Price's talks on the Bakersfield Sound at CSUB's 75th Anniversary Grapes of Wrath Celebration.

Join us for Outside the Box Bakersfield Film Festival November 7, 8, and 9, 2014!

10/30/2014

Don't miss these free speakers, music, and movies offered next weekend on Campus!