The Desert Rat Scrap Book (or DRSB) was a roughly quarterly southwestern humor publication based in Thousand Palms, California. DRSB was published in editions of 10,000 to 20,000 copies, whenever its creator, Harry Oliver had sufficient material and enough money to pay the printer. Forty-six issues were printed and distributed via Southern California bookstores and newsstands, and by mail worldwide. DRSB was devoted to lore, legends, lies and laughs of the American Southwest region, especially featuring prospectors and other desert rats. The publication was launched in late 1945 and ran through early 1967.
The DRSB was published in a unique format, printed on both sides of heavy creme-colored stock of about 17 x 22 inches (43.3 x 55.5 centimetres) (Demy) paper size, folded double three times to yield "the smallest newspaper in the world and the only 5-page one... only newspaper in America you can open in the wind." Pages 1 and 5 (the front and back) are about 5.5 x 8.5 inches; page 2 is about 8.5 x 11 inches; page 3 is about 11 x 17 inches; page 5 is the full 17 x 22 inches. See these images, from the March 1953 issue of Arizona Highways magazine, for an illustration of the expansion.
Each issue was a 'packet'; each volume was a 'pouch'. The first issue, dated Fall 1946 (but possibly printed on Oliver's birthday of 4 April 1946) was not numbered. The second issue, dated Winter 1946–47, was numbered PACKET TWO OF POUCH ONE. All further editions were undated, and numbered as PACKET XXX OF POUCH YYY. Sometimes more than three months passed between editions, which is why PACKET TWO OF POUCH TWELVE (the final issue) appeared in 1967, over 20 years from the first.
PAGE ONE usually featured an Oliver woodcut or a cartoon (sometimes by Walt Disney or Hank Ketcham), and would often announce a theme for that issue – see Themes below. The issue contents might (or might not) generally follow that theme. In just a very few issues, a full-cover illustration would spread over both the first and last pages.
PAGE TWO would usually (but not always) contain the masthead and boilerplate, something like the following:
This paper is not entered as 2nd class mail.
It's a first class newspaper.
Packet xxx of Pouch yyy
Smallest newspaper in the world
and the only 5 paged one.
Published at Fort Oliver
1000 Palms, California
Four Times a Year
ON THE NEWS STANDS 10¢ A COPY
But sometimes they don't have them.
ONE YEAR BY MAIL – 4 COPIES 50¢
Darned if I am going to the trouble of mailing it for nothing.
10 Years ..................... $5.00
100 Years .....................$50.00
This offer expires when I do.
Asbestos editions will be forwarded in case you don't make it.
Published by
HARRY OLIVER
1888–1999
Fort Commander, Publisher, Distributor, Lamp Lighter, Editor, Artist, Gardener, Janitor, Owner
Following would be an 'editorial', various 'news' items and gags and aphorisms or factoids (original or clipped from other sources) under old-time fonts headings, interspersed with small block prints and/or cartoons of desert characters.
PAGE THREE usually contained more of the same, with some slightly longer text pieces, by Oliver or other writers. Many of these items were recycled from previous Oliver publications – Oliver was his own best plagiarist.
PAGE FOUR had yet more of the same, often with even longer pieces (including a complete play once) that might address the issue's theme. Along the bottom of this largest page might be a few advertisements, for ghost towns and publications and date farms and rock shops.
PAGE FIVE, above the mailing address block, might contain a list of conversation starters, or more gags and news and quotes, or a promotion for Oliver's audio album of readings, or maybe just a large woodcut and an essay or mini-epic poem.
Just one issue, Packet Four of Pouch Four, named DESERT RAT HARRY OLIVER'S JOKE BOOK, did not follow the above formats. This is a 32-page book (plus covers), sized about 5.5 x 8.5 inches, folded and stapled. The contents are primarily the usual short gags. The heading on page one says FIRST DESERT JOKE BOOK. This was apparently an unsuccessful experiment.
Each issue bore on the front cover the name of a supposed theme for that issue, such as: Desert Burros, Death Valley, Good Old Desert Fun, Ghost Towns, Along the Border, Simplicity, Indians, Desert Folklore, Peg-Leg Smith's Gold, Lost Mines And Buried Treasure, Frontier Wild Women, Desert Rats & Hermits, Death Valley Scotty, etc. Besides these, Oliver would also deal with such themes as: The Lost Ship of the Desert; his Desert County secession movement and Keep the Desert Beautiful campaign; outlaws and lawmen; communicating with animals; and what others had written about him.
Just as Oliver's design of Gold Gulch, at the San Diego World's Fair (California Pacific International Exposition) of 1935–36, strongly influenced the development of Western theme parks and frontier village reconstructions, so his DRSB can be seen to help shape subsequent Western Americana literary ephemera. The DRSB can also be seen as an ancestor of zine culture
Dating any specific issue has always been problematic. Postmarks on mailed issues are not always helpful. Harry Oliver produced all issues ('packets') of the first 11 pouches, often at very irregular intervals. Later issues depended heavily on reprinted items. Due to failing health and attitude, Oliver ceased publication in 1965. In 1967 he gave his operation to ex-merchant seaman Bill Powers, who produced two more issues (Packets One and Two of Pouch Twelve) and reprinted a few old issues, then abandoned the DRSB forever and disappeared, possibly returning to sea.
First packet was printed on 4 April 1946.
Packet 4, Pouch 5, printed on 4 April 1953.
NOTE: Following is a necessarily incomplete summary of DRSB 'articles'. This list may merely give a taste of the fractally-complex contents of each issue. Unless credited otherwise, text and art are presumably by Oliver.
Death Valley National Park is a national park of the United States that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley and most of Saline Valley.
Bombay Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, United States. It is located on the Salton Sea, 4 miles (6.4 km) west-southwest of Frink and is the lowest community in the United States, located 223 feet (68 m) below sea level. The population was 231 at the 2020 census, down from 295 in 2010, down from 366 in 2000. It is part of the El Centro, California, metropolitan statistical area.
Salton City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California. It is the largest Imperial County development on the Salton Sea coast. It is part of the El Centro, California Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,763 at the 2010 census, up from 978 in 2000. The reported population for 2020 was 5,155.
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline endorheic lake in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough, which stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. The lake is about 15 by 35 miles at its widest and longest. A 2023 report put the surface area at 318 square miles (823.6 km2). The Salton Sea became a resort destination in the 20th Century, but saw die-offs of fish and birds in the 1980s due to contamination from farm runoff, and clouds of toxic dust in the current century as evaporation exposed parts of the lake bed.
Bone is an American fantasy comic book limited series written and illustrated by Jeff Smith, originally serialized in 55 irregularly released issues from 1991 to 2004. The series is primarily self-published by Smith's Cartoon Books; it was also briefly published by Image Comics. The issues were collected into nine volumes, as well as a single omnibus volume. From 2005 to 2009, color editions of the original volumes were published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint. The series intertwines comedy and dark fantasy.
The historical Burro Schmidt Tunnel is located in the El Paso Mountains of the northern Mojave Desert, in eastern Kern County, southern California.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 American animated anthology film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It consists of two segments: the first based on Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows and narrated by Basil Rathbone, and the second based on Washington Irving's 1820 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and narrated by Bing Crosby. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, and James Algar.
Thomas Long "Pegleg" Smith was a mountain man who, serving as a guide for many early expeditions into the American Southwest, helped explore parts of present-day New Mexico. He is also known as a fur trapper, prospector, and horse thief. Peg Leg Smith Monument, is a historical site in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. Peg Leg Smith Monument site is a California Historical Landmark No. 452, listed on October 11 ,1960.
North Shore is a census-designated place in southeastern Riverside County, so named because of its location along the northeast shore of the Salton Sea. It was once a popular vacation destination spot before ever-increasing salinity and pollution of the Salton Sea shut the tourist trade down. North Shore is flanked to the north and south by the Salton Sea State Recreation Area. The population was 3,585 at the 2020 census, up from 3,477 at the 2010 census.
The Rat Patrol is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers – three Americans and one British – who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".
Ghost Circles is the seventh book in the Bone series. It collects issues 38-43 of Jeff Smith's self-published Bone comic book series and marks the beginning of the third and final part of the saga, entitled Harvest. The book was published by Cartoon Books in black-and-white in 2001 and in color by Scholastic Press in 2008.
Walter Edward Perry Scott, also known as Death Valley Scotty, was a prospector, performer, and con man who was made famous by his many scams involving gold mining and the mansion in Death Valley, known as Scotty's Castle.
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane is the second book in Suzanne Collins's children's novel series The Underland Chronicles. Published in 2004, the novel contains elements of high fantasy. The novel focuses on a prophecy mentioned at the end of Gregor the Overlander which the Underlanders believe requires the protagonist Gregor to hunt down and kill an evil white rat known as the "Bane". The novel has been praised as a sequel and for showing the maturation of Gregor in the face of continually dark events.
Ord's kangaroo rat is a kangaroo rat native to western North America, specifically the Great Plains and the Great Basin, with its range extending from extreme southern Canada to central Mexico.
Harry Oliver was an American humorist, artist, and Academy Award nominated art director of films from the 1920s and 1930s. Besides his outstanding work in Hollywood, he is now best remembered for his humorous writings about the American Southwest, and his publication (1946–1964) of the Desert Rat Scrap Book, an irregular broadsheet devoted to the Southwest. He was born in Hastings, Minnesota and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.
The Calico Print was a newspaper, established in 1882 and published during the heyday of the silver mining camp of Calico, California prior to 1902. The Calico Print was also the name of a monthly, later bi-monthly, periodical of the mid-20th century, and contained "Tales and trails of the desert West."
Gold Gulch was the largest concession stand built for visitors at the California Pacific International Exposition, a world's fair open from 1935 to 1936 in San Diego, California. Gold Gulch was a section celebrating the California gold rush and the American frontier.
The Panamint kangaroo rat is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is endemic to the Mojave Desert in eastern California and western Nevada, in the United States.
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