October 31

Link to Family Tree to understand family relationships.

In this application letter to the California Redwood Association, we learn about Harry’s life after being discharged from the army.

October 31, 1951

Dear Sir:
I am very much interested in the position we discussed today and should like to give you a summary of my qualifications, as you suggested.

I am 28 years of age, graduate of Mission High School in San Francisco and of the University of California at Berkeley, with a major in Communication and Public Policy and a minor in science and foreign languages.

After graduation from high school in 1941 I worked as general office clerk and city collector for the Triangle Produce Company in Sacramento until my induction into the Army in March 1943. My army experience included among other duties that of personnel and information and education noncom for battalion headquarters in the South Pacific area. Honorably discharged in November 1945, I entered the employ of Wm. Taaffe & Company, San Francisco as bookkeeper and assistant to the secretary treasurer and worked there until February 1947. I then began my studies in the College of Agriculture, switched to the College of Letters and Science a year and a half later, and graduated in January 1951. At the present time I am working as technical translator for the Institute of Engineering Research at the University of California.

The major of Communication and Public Policy covered the study of the nature of language and the nature of the media of mass communication: radio, press, and film, as well as the role played by informative and persuasive communication in modifying the character of public opinion and public institutions. The curriculum included courses in the social sciences, public speaking, content analysis, and journalism. Extra-curricular activities included those of social chairman and president of a students’ living group.

During the last two and a half years of my college career I worked as library assistant in the library of the departments of Engineering and Architecture, doing general library and reference work.

I shall be happy to answer any questions concerning my qualifications and am at your disposal at any time.

Yours sincerely,
Harry L. Lowell

References:….


Harry got the job and worked for the California Redwood Association for several years. The position allowed him to travel all over the United States and not be stuck at a desk. The students’ living group he mentions was the University Student Cooperative Association (the USCA, now called the Berkeley Student Cooperative), which offered cheap housing for students in exchange for them working several hours a week, thus saving money on cleaners, cooks, etc. The USCA was an important part of Harry’s life. Through the co-op, he met his future wife. After working for the Redwood Association, he had a job for several years at the USCA. Through that job he met a small Oakland printer, which led him to buying the printer’s shop when he retired, thus following in his mother’s and grandfather’s footsteps by providing printing and stationery services.