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Hirsch (Fred) Ephemera Collection
MSS.2007.07.01
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Fred Hirsch Ephemera Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2007.07.01
Physical Description:
1 boxes
(1.3 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): 1955-1973
Abstract: The Fred Hirsch Ephemera collection documents local civil rights activist organizations in San Jose and Santa Clara County.
This collection documents the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the National Farmworkers Association, and
Santa Clara County Friends of SNCC, the Mexican American Political Association, and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The
collection includes correspondence, petitions, flyers and miscellaneous ephemera.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives 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. Copyright restrictions
also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
Fred Hirsch Collection, MSS-2007-07-01, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processed and EAD encoded by Mark Rivas, and revised by Veronica Cabrera, 2008.
Fred Hirsch (1933-), a retired plumber is well known to the national leadership of the AFL-CIO and very widely in San Jose.
As vice president of Plumbers and Fitter, Local 393, Hirsch worked as a plumber and rank and file worker in construction as
well as a union activist and organizer. Hirsch helped transform his union into a dynamic force on issues of AFL-CIO intervention
in the political and trade union life of sovereign nations and specifically the organizations in Latin America. Hirsch is
particularly known in the Chicano community, where he founded and served as Secretary of the Law and Police Committee Model
Cities Program. He has been involved in political, labor and community activism in San Jose and he served as Co-Chairman of
the Santa Clara Valley Friends of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Hirsch also wrote the first pamphlet
exposing CIA machinations in the Latin American labor movement. Committed to civil rights, Hirsch participated in the Mississippi
Freedom Summer project to help register African American voters in Mississippi. In addition, he worked with Cesar Chavez and
the National Farmworkers Association. He played a part in the Angela Davis' trial by helping with the research of over 2000
potential jurors to guarantee a fair trial. Hirsch is currently on the Executive Board of Plumbers and Fitters Local 393 in
San Jose, a delegate to the South Bay Labor Council and a longtime activist in the Latin America Solidarity Coalition.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Fred Hirsch Ephemera Collection contains civil rights era materials documenting the activities of civil rights organizations
in San Jose and Santa Clara County. A Major focus of this collection is police brutality, and the development of the Community
Alert Patrol (CAP). The collection consists of printed materials, ephemera, and publications. Topics include, Voter Registration
and the Selma March in Alabama, Fair Housing issues, community alert patrols in San Jose and the effort to free Angela Davis.
This collection is arranged in one series. I. Public Relations and Printed Matter, 1955-1973.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
SNCC--California--Santa Clara
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements
African Americans Civil Rights Movement--California--San Jose