Materials regarding and collected by Harold G. Oliver (April 4 1888 - July 4, 1973), an Academy Award-nominated art director, as well as a writer on the American Southwest and California deserts.

Born in Hastings, Minnesota, Oliver's parents later moved to Santa Cruz, California. Working in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, Oliver's work included "Seventh Heaven" (1927) and "Street Angel" (1928), nominated for Best Art Direction the 1st and 2nd Academy Awards, respectively.

In the 1940s, Oliver moved to Thousand Palms, California, and in 1946 took up residence in Fort Oliver, an adobe house that he built himself. From there, Oliver printed "Harry Oliver's Desert Rat Scrapbook," a broadsheet newspaper on desert inhabitants, places, events, and lore, published irregularly between 1946 and 1965. Oliver also wrote columns for the Palm Springs "Desert Sun" and other local newspapers, as well as started an anti-littering campaign.

Due to health issues, Oliver later moved to the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, where he died on July 4, 1973.

Collection donated to CSUF by Harry Oliver's daughter Amy Deily in 1978.