Finding Aid to the California Surveillance Collection
larc.ms.0124
Finding aid prepared by Robert Cherny, revised by Labor Archives and Research Center staff.
Labor Archives and Research Center
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA, 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
1986, revised 2013
Title: California surveillance collection
Date (inclusive): 1929-1940
Collection number: larc.ms.0124
Accession number: 1999/028
Extent:
3.0 cubic ft.
(6 boxes)
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Abstract: The California Surveillance Collection consists primarily of undercover agent reports and other materials documenting the
activities of labor organizations and organizations on the left, 1934-1940, including the Communist Party of San Francisco,
and labor leader Harry Bridges. The materials were possibly gathered or created by Harper Knowles during his tenure as director
of the Subversive Activities Committee of the American Legion in San Francisco, and Stanley M. Doyle, an associate of Harper
Knowles. A second series in the collection contains household and financial records of Harper Knowles from 1901-1954.
Location: Collection is available onsite.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], California Surveillance Collection, larc.ms.0124, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco
State University.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Availability
Collection is open for research.
Custodial History
The materials were given to the MeikleJohn Civil Liberties Institute by an anonymous donor, and nothing is known regarding
the provenance of these materials. Some of the materials came in large (8 1/2" x 11") envelopes with the return address of
the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Company, with two addresses: G7B South Anderson Street, Los Angeles, and 634 Townsend Street,
San Francisco.
Acquisition
The California Surveillance Collection was donated to the Labor Archives and Research Center by the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties
Unit, March 19, 1999, accession number 1999/028.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series: Series 1: California Surveillance Files, and Series 2: Harper Knowles Personal
Papers.
Biographical Information
Harper L. Knowles and Stanley M. Doyle, prominently represented among the documents, were both associated with the Radical
Research Committee, later the Subversive Activities Committee of the American Legion. Knowles, nicknamed "Moke," was the head
of that committee before he became executive secretary of the Associated Farmers. Doyle, also known as Larry Doyle and Stanley
Morton, was designated as a special investigating agent by the governor of Oregon; he worked closely with Knowles, especially
in investigating Harry Bridges.
Scope and Contents
The California Surveillance Collection consists primarily of undercover agent reports and other materials documenting the
activities of labor organizations and organizations on the left, 1934-1940, including the Communist Party of San Francisco,
and labor leader Harry Bridges. The materials were possibly gathered or created by Harper Knowles during his tenure as director
of the Subversive Activities Committee of the American Legion in San Francisco, and Stanley M. Doyle, an associate of Harper
Knowles. A second series in the collection contains household and financial records of Harper Knowles from 1901-1954.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American Legion. Subversive Activities Committee.
Bridges, Harry, 1901-1990
Doyle, Stanley M.
Industrial Association of San Francisco.
Knowles, Harper L.
Anti-communist movements--California--History--20th century.
Communism--United States.
Labor unions and communism.
Subversive activities--United States.
Series 1:
California Surveillance Files,
1934-1940
Extent:
3.0 boxes
Scope and Contents
This series consists primarily of undercover agent reports and other documents, documenting the activities of labor organizations
and organizations on the left, 1934-1940, including the Communist Party of San Francisco, and labor leader Harry Bridges.
The materials were possibly gathered or created by Harper Knowles during his tenure as director of the Subversive Activities
Committee of the American Legion in San Francisco, and Stanley M. Doyle, an associate of Harper Knowles.
Correspondents include William Hynes of the Los Angeles Police Department, head of that department's anti-radical unit; John
Keegan of the Portland Police Department, and Raphael Bonham of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. For additional
information on Knowles, Doyle, Haynes, Keegan. and Bonhan, see Knowles's testimony at the 1939 hearing regarding Harry Bridges's
citizenship; box 1 and box 11, folder 30 of the Harry Bridges Legal Collection, Southern California Library for Social Studies
and Research, Los Angeles; Stanley I. Kutler,
The American Inquisition: Justice and Injustice in the Cold War (New York: Hill and Wang. 1982), chapter 5; Charles P. Larrowe,
Labor in the United States (New York: Lawrence Hill Bnd Co, 1972), pp. 191-201; Estolv E. Ward,
Harry Bridges on Trial (New York: Modern Age Books. 1940), chapter 10.
Some material refers to the Industrial Association, a San Francisco organization of banks and employers created in 1921 to
promote the so-called American Plan, an anti-union effort based on the open shop. For information on the Industrial Association,
see the hearings of the La Follette Committee (74th Congress. Senate. Committee on Education and Labor. Hearings. Part 60,
pp. 21943-22263); Frederick L. Ryan,
Industrial Relations in the San Francisco Building Trades (Norman. Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1935); and William IsseI and Robert W. Cherny,
San Francisco, 1865-1932: Politics, Power, and Urban Development (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1986), pp. 95-99. Some of the material refers to the La Follette
Committee; for more information (but none touching on this material), see Jerold S. Auerbach,
Labor and Liberty: the La Follette Committee and the New Deal (lndianpolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., lnc., 1966).
Box 1, Folder 1
Reports of Undercover Informant "A.X."
1934 June 25-October 30
Contents
Subjects of the reports include the Communist Party, the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union, and Upton Sinclair's
EPIC campaign. Most focus on the Communist Party.
Box 1, Folder 2
Reports of Undercover Informant "A.X."
1939 April 15-1940 April 15
Contents
The informant was by then a high officer, perhaps vice-president, of the Communist Party in San Francisco; the informant claimed
to have been a charter member of the Workers' Party of America (predecessor of the Communist Party), to have come to San Francisco
in 1934, and to have been a member of the "Inner Circle" of party leadership. Most reports focus on activities at the Communist
Party headquarters at 121 Haight Street, other party activities, activities of the American Civil Liberties Union, unions,
and the California Youth Congress meeting in Los Angeles.
Box 1, Folder 3
Reports of Undercover Informant "Tommy"
1937 April 5-1937 December 27
Contents
The informant was employed by the Industrial Association, apparently beginning in 1934. He circulated through the city regularly
each day, beginning on the waterfront. Subjects include union activities and Communist Party activities.
Box 1, Folder 4
Reports of Undercover Informant "Tommy" [continuation of the previous file]
1938 January 5-June 10
Box 1, Folder 5
Reports of Undercover Informant in Carmel
1936 June 30-August 28
Contents
The informant sought to infiltrate the group of radicals centered in Carmel around Lincoln Steffens and Ella Winter. During
this period Steffens died and the reports include accounts of his funeral. Also refers to the Bakcay effort to infiltrate
this group previously; for which, see
Western Worker, May 21, 1936.
Box 1, Folder 6
Coded letter to Knowles
1938 June 28
Box 1, Folder 7
Reports of Informant on La Follette Committee Activities in San Francisco
1938 December 29-1939 February 8
Box 1, Folder 8
Reports from Various Informants
1935 August 3-1939 February 8
Contents
Reflects the activities of several informants; most concentrate on the Communist Party. Other subjects include the Simon J.
Lubin Society, the defense of Harry Bridges.
Box 1, Folder 9
Affidavit of H. G. Mayes, undercover informant for the Industrial Association
Box 1, Folder 10
Transcript of a conversation on May 27, 1937; participants identified as Slaby, Phillips, and Blank
1937
Box 1, Folder 11
Reports on Activities
1934 June 29-1935 January 27
Contents
Mostly summaries of meetings, with occasionally additional information; concentrates on agricultural organizing, the San Francisco
maritime and general strikes, other strikes.
Box 2, Folder 1
Reports on Radical and Union Activities outside California, most provided by "Advisory Associates"
1933 February 16-October 19, undated
Box 2, Folder 2
Reports on Radical and Union Activities outside California
1935 July 8-1939 October 25, undated
Contents
Includes a report on Louise Bryant.
Box 2, Folder 3
"Report of Communist Party Activity in the U.S.A ."
1937 June 24
Box 2, Folder 4
Reports on Radical and Union Activities in California
1934 October 17-1939 October 13, undated
Contents
Includes reports on Upton Sinclair, Donald Ogden Stewart, Helen Everett Meiklejohn, Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn.
Box 2, Folder 5
Correspondence and Reports
1936 May 1-November 23
Contents
Includes advertising for conservative publications, campaigns against taxes, "A Professor Quits the Communist Party" (reprinted
by the Industrial Association).
Box 2, Folder 6
Materials from Left Groups
1935 April 17-1939 June 29, undated
Contents
Includes meeting notices, appeals for support; organizations include anti-war groups, EPIC, Mooney-Billings.
Box 2, Folder 7
Correspondence from Left Groups
1934, 1938
Contents
Apparently consists of correspondence acquired from inside the Communist Party organization, dated 1934; includes a letter
from an IWW members, dated 1938.
Box 2, Folder 8
"CIO 'Functionaries' Compiled by American Vigilant Intelligence Federation"
1938 August
Box 2, Folder 9
List of Suspected Radicals
1934-1938, undated
Contents
Apparently compiled in part as the result of undercover activities in Communist party headquarters in San Francisco. Includes
some other lists as well.
Box 2, Folder 10
List of Members of International Longshoremen's Association Local 38-44
1936 July 31
Box 3, Folder 1
Notebook
circa 1937 or 1938
Contents
Contains questions for possible witnesses against Harry Bridges, correspondence regarding the investigation of Bridges, instructions
for securing evidence against Bridges. Witnesses include John Leach [sic], Pierre Margolis, Sam Goodwin, Norma Perry, Charles
Cutright/Cuthbert, others.
Box 3, Folder 2
Testimony regarding Harry Bridges
1936 April 11-1937 December 22
Contents
Includes statements by Arthur Scott (also known as Arthur Kent or Arthur Margolis), Herbert Mills, John E. Ferguson, John
L. Leach [sic].
Box 3, Folder 3
Material relating to John Mustak
Contents
Mustak provided evidence against Harry Bridges. Includes two affidavits, one disavowing the other, and correspondence relating
to Mustak's conviction of armed robbery in Los Angeles.
Box 3, Folder 4
Material relating to Ivan Cox
Contents
Cox filed an eloborate lawsuit against Harry Bridges and many others; the suit was probably prepared by Doyle and perhaps
Knowles. Includes undercover informants report.
Box 3, Folder 5
Correspondence of Harper Knowles and Stanley Doyle
1936 April 9-1939 February 14
Contents
Most of the correspondence deals with the investigation of Harry Bridges.
Box 3, Folder 6
Memorandum for the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization
Contents
Subject: activities of Harper Knowles in trying to secure the deportation of radicals, especially Bridges.
Box 3, Folder 7
Statement of George Cavagnaro
1938 January 20
Box 3, Folder 8
Affidavit of Stanley M. Doyle
1940 March 6
Contents
Concerns a conversation of Doyle with Richard Gladstein and Aubrey Grossman, regarding the Bridges case. Gladstein and Grossman
try to buy information from Doyle.
Box 3, Folder 9
Miscellaneous Correspondence regarding Harry Bridges
1936 September 4-1939 September 14
Box 3, Folder 10
Statement by the American Legion to the Dies Committee
1938 October 21
Box 3, Folder 11
Brief prepared by the American Legion, charging Harry Bridges with being subject to deportation
Box 3, Folder 12
Survey Questions regarding Communist Activities
Contents
Includes a response regarding Los Angeles.
Box 3, Folder 13
Letter of Introduction from A.J. Mattei, to Martin Dies, for Harper Knowles
1938 October 20
Box 3, Folder 14
Copy of Subpoena Issued by the La Follette Committee to the Industrial Association
1936 September 22
Box 3, Folder 15
Correspondence from the La Follette Committee to Harper Knowles
1938 September 29-1940 February 9
Contents
Includes a subpoena, and extensions of it.
Box 3, Folder 16
Miscellaneous Correspondence
1931 July 18-1929 March 29
Box 3, Folder 17
Financial Papers relating to travel, most by Harper Knowles
Box 3, Folder 18
Financial Papers relating to the office of Harper Knowles at 1 Montgomery Street (also the office of the Associated Farmers)
1938-1939
Box 3, Folder 19
Brief. Sumner Duncan Dodge v. Arnold Gingrich et al. (libel suit)
1939
Contents
Has no obvious connection to the rest of the collection.
Series 2:
Harper Knowles Personal Papers,
1909-1954
Extent:
3.0 boxes
Scope and Contents
Consists of financial and household papers of Harper and Nora Knowles.
Box 4, Folder 1
Automobile insurance materials for H. Knowles, N. Duffy
1936-1949
Box 4, Folder 2
Household and home insurance, Harper Knowles
1936-1949
Box 4, Folder 3
Miscellaneous insurance papers: Harper Knowles and Nora Duffy Knowles
1943-1949
Box 4, Folder 4
Financial papers
1936-1940
Box 4, Folder 5
Home rental papers
1936-1940
Box 4, Folder 6
Harper Knowles personal papers
1931, 1937-1939
Box 4, Folder 8
Erwin L. Knowles family correspondence and papers
1910-1916
Box 5
Bank account records, Harper L. and Nora E. Knowles
1947-1954
Box 6
Raymond Granite Co. papers
1909-1918, 1925-1928
