Inventory of the Stanley Lathen Collection, 1928-1995

Processed by Kim Klausner; machine-readable finding aid created by James Lake
Labor Archives and Research Center
San Francisco State University
480 Winston Drive
San Francisco, California 94132
Phone: (415) 564-4010
Fax: (415) 564-3606
Email: larc@sfsu.edu
URL: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/special/larc.html
© 1999
San Francisco State University. All rights reserved.

Inventory of the Stanley Lathen Collection, 1928-1995

Accession number: 1997/075

Labor Archives & Research Center



San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California

Contact Information:

  • Labor Archives & Research Center
  • San Francisco State University
  • 480 Winston Drive
  • San Francisco, California 94132
  • Phone: (415) 564-4010
  • Fax: (415) 564-3606
  • Email: larc@sfsu.edu
  • URL: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/special/larc.html
Processed by:
Kim Klausner
Date Completed:
July 1997
Encoded by:
James Lake
© 1999 San Francisco State University. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Stanley Lathen Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1928-1995
Accession number: 1997/075
Creator: Lathen, Stanley
Extent: .5 cubic feet
Repository: San Francisco State University. Labor Archives & Research Center
San Francisco, California 94132
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Center's online catalog.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives & 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 & 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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Stanley Lathen Collection, 1997/075, Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Introduction

These records were donated by Stanley Lathen in June 1997. They were processed by Kim Klausner in July of that year.

Biographical Note

Stanley Lathen is a labor union and political activist living in Vallejo. Lathen (known as Stanley Sapp until the early 1950s when he changed his name) was the secretary-treasurer, the executive officer, for the Retail Clerks International Association, Local 373; President of the Plasterers' Union, Local 631; and one of the founding Directors of the A.F. of L. Ball Park Board (Athletic Friends of Labor). He was active in Democratic Party politics and with the Congress of California Seniors. An oral history conducted by Harvey Schwartz is at the Labor Archives.

Scope and Content

The collection is comprised of documents and photographs from Lathen's labor and political activities in Vallejo. It ranges from a 1928 Plasterers' & Cement Finishers' Union Constitution to a 1995 holiday card from Bill and Hillary Clinton. Also included are brief letters to and from politicians Lathen supported, including Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Estes Kefauver, Edmund "Pat" Brown, and Alan Cranston in the "Correspondence - Political" folder. "The Plasterer" folder preserves two issues of the Plasterers' Union publication that contain letters from Stanley Sapp. There are undated papers opposing the use of sheetrock in construction in the "Lathing and Plastering" folder.
The collection includes photographs from most of the groups Lathen worked with including many of the Athletic Friends of Labor Ball Park and the Vallejo Builders, its home team. National figures, such as Gene Autry and Lady Bird Johnson, appear in some of the photos.
Researchers interested in labor in Vallejo in the 1950s through 80s, including unions for retail clerks, plasterers, butchers, and builders, will find material here. Other topics are labor's relationship to local and state politics, especially the Democratic Party; labor's commitment to community projects such as the ball park; and the growth of the political influence of retired trade unionists through its Congress of Seniors.

Material Cataloged Separately

Relocated to the Stanley Lathen Photograph Collection

  • "A.F. of L. Ball Park" 194?, n.d.
  • "California Federation of Labor" 1965, n.d.
  • "Central Labor Council" 194?, 1959, n.d.
  • "Democratic Party" 1956-1969, n.d.
  • "LLPE Fundraisers" 194?, 1959
  • "Plasterers' & Cement Masons' Union" 1936, 1940
  • "Retail Clerks Union" 1953-1975, n.d.
  • "Retirement Dinner, Everett Nelson" n.d.

Relocated to Photograph Collection 1

  • "California State Federation of Labor" OVERSIZE 1956-1967
  • "Retail Clerks Union" OVERSIZE 1959, 1964

Box-folder 1/1

A.F. of L. Ball Park 1942-1943, n.d.

Box-folder 1/2

American Federationist 1967-1977

Box-folder 1/3

Building Materials Catalog 1937

Box-folder 1/4

California Labor COPE Convention 1972

Box-folder 1/5

Congress of California Seniors 1977-1982

Box-folder 1/6

Correspondence - Political 1944-1995

Box-folder 1/7

Democratic Party 1950-1980

Box-folder 1/8

Greater Vallejo Recreation District 1944-1991

Box-folder 1/9

Lathing & Plastering n.d.

Box-folder 1/10

Meat Cutters & Butchers Union Ruler n.d.

Box-folder 1/11

NRA Collective Bargaining Agreement 1935

Box-folder 1/12

Newsclippings 1943-1952

Box-folder 1/13

Pamphlets - AFL-CIO 1968-1971

Box-folder 1/14

Pamphlets - Department of Labor 1940

Box-folder 1/15

Pamphlets - Various Labor 1970-1980, n.d.

Box-folder 1/16

The Plasterer 1938-1939

Box-folder 1/17

Plasterers' & Cement Finishers' Union 1928-1939, n.d.

Box-folder 1/18

Retail Clerks Union 1963, n.d.

Box-folder 1/19

Solano Labor Center 1961

Box-folder 1/20

Specifications, Lathing 1935-1939

Box-folder 1/21

Vallejo Labor Temple 1955