Baja California Mexico-1952: Farmer Harvesting Cotton by Hand

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1952
Decade1950s
LocationBaja California, Mexico
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Farmer Harvesting Cotton by Hand — Clip Details

A farmer in a wide-brimmed hat and blue work clothes bends over in a sun-drenched cotton field, harvesting fluffy white bolls by hand. Shot on 8mm film in 1952, this vintage home movie captures the labor-intensive process of cotton picking under harsh summer heat. The dusty, dry landscape and the worker's focused movements convey the physical demands of agricultural work in mid-century Baja California, Mexico. The footage shows natural film grain and slight color fading, preserving the authentic look of a personal 1950s home movie.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 123337687

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Editorial use is the safest path. For commercial use, a clearance review is recommended for the flags below.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1650 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Reel-level year note: 1952
Reel-level location note: mexico
Date: 1952 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: Baja California, Mexico Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: This 1952 Baja California 8mm clip supports documentary or museum edits needing mid-century agricultural labor footage of cotton harvesting by hand.
Period detail: The wide-brimmed hat, work clothes, hand-picking method, cotton sack, dry field rows, and soft 8mm color may show rural agricultural practice and home-movie filming style from the early 1950s.
Home-movie behavior: The value is in the unstaged observation of a worker bending, reaching, and gathering cotton while the camera stays close enough to preserve the physical rhythm of the task.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include a lone cotton picker, white cotton bolls, a brimmed hat, blue long-sleeved work shirt, pale trousers, a cloth harvesting sack, dry soil, and dense field rows.
Film character: The clip carries warm faded color, visible grain, slight softness, uneven exposure, and handheld framing that read as authentic 8mm home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as an insert, labor-process cutaway, agricultural context shot, or quiet memory beat within a sequence about farming, travel, cotton, or rural work.
Historical context: The footage visually documents labor-intensive cotton picking in a dry field setting without proving the worker's identity, employment status, land ownership, or broader economic conditions.
Research note: A visible adult worker appears in the footage, so likeness and contextual use should be reviewed separately from copyright, with no logos or private property clearly visible in these frames.
Research search match: Useful researcher phrases include 1950s 8mm cotton picking, Baja California farm labor, hand harvesting cotton, mid-century agricultural worker, and vintage home movie cotton field.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with other shots from the same reel, then with 1952 Baja California or Mexico travel footage, and then with broader archival material on cotton farming, field labor, and mid-century agriculture.

Still Frames From This Clip

In 1952 Baja California home-movie footage, a worker in a wide-brimmed hat and blue shirt bends low among cotton plants while harvesting by hand. — Cotton picker bends over field rows.

The worker stands partly bent in a sunlit Baja California cotton field, reaching toward white bolls with a cloth harvesting sack behind him. — Worker reaches into cotton plants.

A worker in hat and work clothes gathers cotton by hand near a pale cloth sack in the dry rows of a 1952 Baja California cotton field. — Hand-picked cotton is gathered near a sack.

The final frame shows the cotton picker bent over the plants, with white bolls and a cloth sack visible in the sunlit Baja California field. — Picker bends low among cotton bolls.

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