Haggard Family Trunk
date: label: Date made
content: unknown
name: label: user
content: Haggard, Merle R.
label: user
content: Haggard, Flossie
label: user
content: Haggard, James F.
notes: label: Description
content: In the 1930s, drought and a decline in crop prices forced thousands of rural midwestern families to leave their farms and follow Route 66 to California seeking work. James and Flossie Haggard carried this trunk and these household and personal items when they moved along with their children, Lillian and Lowell, from eastern Oklahoma to southern California in 1935. These belongings were donated to the museum in 2003 by James and Flossie’s grandchild, James Lowell Haggard, Jr. and their children, Merle Haggard and Lillian Haggard Hoge.
label: Description
content: This collection of objects documents the momentous decision of a family to relocate from their family farm in the Midwest United States to the west coast in the mid-1930s in search of work. A 1934 drought that devastated the family’s crops was followed by a fire that destroyed the family’s barn along with a wagon, plow, horses, cows and their 1931 Ford Model A automobile. After leaving their rented farm in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, the Haggard family settled in Oildale, California. They never returned to Oklahoma. Two years after the family settled in California, their third child, Merle, was born in 1937. Merle Haggard would go on to become a successful singer, songwriter, and guitar player.
place: label: used
content: United States: Oklahoma, McIntosh
label: used
content: United States: California, Oildale
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of James Lowell Haggard, Jr., Merle R. Haggard and Lillian Haggard Hoge
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2003.0183.01
label: accession number
content: 2003.0183
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0183.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: trunk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal clad (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 in x 36 in x 18 in; 55.88 cm x 91.44 cm x 45.72 cm