Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Indexing Terms
History
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: United Church of Christ, Northern California Conference records
Date (inclusive): 1961-1986
Creator:
United Church of Christ. Northern California Conference.
Extent:
2.0 cubic feet
(1 carton, 1 box)
Collection number: larc.ms.0055
Accession number: 1990/050
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: Minutes, correspondence, resolutions, reports, and newsletters, demonstrating the role of the United Church of Christ, Northern
California Conference and affiliated religious organizations in the farm labor movement, California farming communities, and
the Conference's strong support for farm workers and small growers, from 1964 to 1986. The collection contains minutes from
the California Migrant Ministry (CMM), which co-sponsored programs with the Conference, such as the Tulare County Community
Development Project, which focused on economic and political issues. The bulk of the material from the CMM consists of resource
materials about farm workers compiled by Chris Hartmire and mailed to the Conference, and reflects the debates about the worker-priest
program proposed by the CMM. Resource material from the CMM and the United Board for Homeland Ministries demonstrates the
information available to the leaders of the Conference. The files include material such as the statements of Cesar Chavez
and Dolores Huerta before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Labor; the resolutions in support of the grape boycott
sponsored by the United Farm Workers in 1968; and the records of the Goshen Project, a small community development program.
Location: Collection is available onsite.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], United Church of Christ, Northern California Conference Records, larc.ms.0055, 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.
Acquisition Information
John R. Deckenback, Associate Conference Minister of the Northern California Conference of
the United Church of Christ, donated selected records of the Conference to the Labor Archives
and Research Center in August 1990, accession number 1990/050.
Processing Information
Processed by Glenn Humphreys in October 1990. Collection folders renumbered in 2014 by Tanya Hollis.
Indexing Terms
Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993.
Hartmire, Chris.
Huerta, Dolores, 1930-
Agricultural laborers--California--History.
Agricultural laborers--Labor unions--United States--History.
Church records and registers--California--Tulare County.
Churches--California--Tulare County.
California Migrant Ministry.
Goshen Project.
Tulare County Community Development Project.
United Farm Workers.
History
The Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ played a significant role in
the agricultural communities in the Central Valley of California, most notably in the 1960s. In
1962, after ministering for decades to members of the small valley towns, the Conference
began a dramatic new program in Goshen, a small town in Tulare County. The Goshen
Project specifically sought to minister to farm workers, whose needs moved the Conference
into nontraditional programs. Working with other organizations throughout the decade, the
Conference struggled to serve farm workers as well as other members of Northern California's
agricultural communities.
The leaders of the Conference recognized the plight of the farm workers was one of the most
divisive issues in California as they sought to minister to groups on all sides of the situation:
growers, shippers, laborers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. The position
of the Conference became more difficult as it developed new programs to serve the farm
workers. The programs attacked problems such as wages, housing, and lack of county
services. Staff members participated in demonstrations, strikes, and voter registration drives.
Staff members also developed close ties with leaders of other groups such as Chris Hartmire,
the dynamic leader of the California Migrant Ministry, and Cesar Chavez, who organized and
guided the United Farm Workers. Some members of the churches in the valley towns
complained that the Conference had overstepped its boundaries. In response Richard Norberg,
the Conference Minister, and Walter Press, the Assistant Conference Minister, wrote letters
and spoke publicly about the position of the Conference. In 1966 the Board of Directors
issued a position paper explaining once again the theological base for its new programs: "To
say God should have a voice in our prayer life and our Scripture reading but not in the way we
earn our living or treat other people is to depart from the declaration of the Christian faith that
God reigns." Throughout the 1960s and the next two decades the Church has developed
programs that addressed the needs of farm workers.
During this time the Conference was acutely aware, too, of the needs of small growers and
participated in programs to help them as well as farm workers; for example, Norberg served
on the Committee on Economic Justice in the Agricultural Community, an ad hoc advisory
group to the California Church Council. The Committee reviewed the rising number of
corporate farmers, mechanization, and the 160 acre limitation on water rights, among other
issues. It sponsored seminars, reports, and open discussions. In 1968 when the California
Church Council voted to support the grape boycott sponsored by the United Farm Workers
committee members agonized over the problems of small growers.
At times the Conference worked so closely with other organizations that it is difficult to
examine the activities of the Conference alone. Not only did the staff of the Conference work
cooperatively, but they frequently served on the boards of other institutions; for example,
Walter Press served as the Chair of the Commission of the California Migrant Ministry, which
was active in the Tulare County projects of the Conference. Richard Norberg, in addition to
serving on the Committee for Economic Justice, was elected President of the Northern
California-Nevada Council of Churches in 1964 and again in 1965. After he completed his
terms as president, he maintained close contact with the Council.
Together these organizations and the Northern California Conference worked together to find
solutions to the problems of farm workers, growers, and other members of the agricultural
communities in the Central Valley. The programs of the Conference at times caused conflict
among the other religious organizations as well as among members of the Church. Much of
the work of the staff of the Conference was to resolve these conflicts while actively developing
programs to serve its constituencies. Above all the Conference sought to serve all members of
the communities in Northern California.
The social activism of the staff of the Northern California Conference was not out of step with
the views of executives in the national bodies of the United Church of Christ. National staff
members such as John Morse, the secretary of the United Church Board for Homeland
Ministries, supported the work of the Conference and regularly sent packets of information
about farm workers. The Church's liberal position on agricultural labor was consistent with
other positions taken in the 1960s, such as advocating economic sanctions against organizations
that discriminated on the basis of race, national background, or ethnic origin (1963). The
Church's social activism can be traced to the progressive work of Horace Bushnell (1802-
1876), Washington Gladden (1836-1918), and William J. Tucker (1839-1926) in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Church also participated in the work of Jane
Addams (1860-1935) at Hull House in Chicago.
The Northern California Conference is one of thirty-nine UCC conferences in the United
States and Puerto Rico. The geographical area of a UCC conference is usually determined by
the boundaries of the state; California, however, has two conferences. The territory of the
Northern California Conference ranges from Fort Bidwell in northeastern California to
Porterville in the Central Valley and includes 120 churches with 360 clergy and seminarians
and 27,000 members. A Board of Directors, consisting of thirty persons serving four-year
terms, manages the Conference between annual meetings. In addition, there is a system of
committees, commissions, and associations. The staff of the Conference is comprised of four
Conference ministers, three secretaries, a part-time bookkeeper, and a part-time clerk. The
charges given to the Conference from the UCC and the member churches of the Conference
include ministering and placing pastors; offering counseling and consulting services, resources,
and outreach efforts to member churches; and working with affiliated organizations, among
other duties. The Northern California Conference can trace its roots to the nineteenth century
but it has existed in its present form since the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church
and the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches in 1957. The merger produced
the current United Church of Christ.
Information for this descriptive guide is from records in the collection and the following works:
Northern California Conference. The United Church of Christ.
San Francisco: Northern California Conference,
undated
Arthur Carl Piepkorn.
Profiles in Belief. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978.
Smith, Sydney D.
Grapes of Conflict. Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1987.
Scope and Content
Minutes, correspondence, resolutions, reports, and newsletters, demonstrating the role of the United Church of Christ, Northern
California Conference and affiliated religious organizations in the farm labor movement, California farming communities, and
the Conference's strong support for farm workers and small growers, from 1964 to 1986. The collection contains minutes from
the California Migrant Ministry (CMM), which co-sponsored programs with the Conference, such as the Tulare County Community
Development Project, which focused on economic and political issues. The bulk of the material from the CMM consists of resource
materials about farm workers compiled by Chris Hartmire and mailed to the Conference, and reflects the debates about the worker-priest
program proposed by the CMM. Resource material from the CMM and the United Board for Homeland Ministries demonstrates the
information available to the leaders of the Conference. The files include material such as the statements of Cesar Chavez
and Dolores Huerta before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Labor; the resolutions in support of the grape boycott
sponsored by the United Farm Workers in 1968; and the records of the Goshen Project, a small community development program.
The records in the collection have been organized by institution to reflect the activities of each group as it worked independently
and in association with the Northern California Conference; the records of the Northern California Ecumenical Council contain
the correspondence and resolution files from Norberg's presidency as well as minutes and financial records from later years,
and the records of the Committee on Economic Justice in the Agricultural Community reflect Norberg's membership on that Committee.