United Farm Workers News Clippings Collection, 1972, 1982-2006, undated

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Summary

Creators:

Abstract:

The United Farm Workers (UFW) is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States headquartered in Keene, California. The news clippings collection was created by UFW staff member Dolores Velasco as a way to disseminate information to union field offices. Velasco collected and copied the news clippings and then faxed them to the field offices before filing them away for future reference.

Extent:

10.33 Linear Feet (9 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Special Collections and Archives

3801 West Temple Avenue Pomona, CA 91768 speccollections@cpp.edu

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes clippings from a variety of publications. Most clippings are from newspapers, including the Bakersfield Californian, the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee, the Los Angeles Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Wall Street Journal, the Watsonville, California Register-Pajaronian, the Catholic Agitator, and several Spanish-language publications.

The clippings concern issues that impacted the UFW both directly and indirectly, including pesticide use, low wages, immigration, bilingual education, affordable housing, and medical care. The clippings focus on California, but also include news items from across the country.

Other materials include UFW press releases, martyr histories, flyers for events, and fundraising materials.

Biographical / historical:

The United Farm Workers (UFW) was formed on August 22, 1966 with the merger of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by César Chávez.

In 1965, the mostly Filipino members of AWOC walked out on strike against grape growers in the Delano, California area. The members of the NFWA voted to join the strike, sparking the five-year Delano Grape Strike that would end when union contracts were signed with the major grape growers in California.

The United Farm Workers Clippings Collection was originally intended as a way to keep separate and distant UFW field offices informed of news relevant to the organization in its efforts on behalf of farmworkers. UFW staff member Dolores Velasco collected and copied the clippings and then faxed them to various UFW offices before filing them for future reference. Dolores Velasco is the widow of Pete Velasco, who served in a number of positions in the UFW, including Director of the Stockton Field Office, Director of the Strike Defense Fund, member of the Farm Workers Credit Union board, and the third Vice President of the National Executive Board.

Acquisition information:

In 2005, Dolores Velasco donated the collection to Professor José Calderón while he was working on a project on the history of the UFW at La Paz, the UFW's Keene, California headquarters. Prof. Calderón brought the collection back to Cal Poly Pomona, where it was stored in the César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education. The collection was transferred to the University Library's Special Collections and Archives in Fall of 2006 for permanent storage.

Processing information:

The collection was initially processed and cataloged by Alfredo Lafarga in 2007 with the support of a Title V Hispanic Serving Institutions grant that was awarded to the University Library in 2005.

The collection underwent further processing in 2016 by Rodney Cox and Keena Hildebrandt under the supervision of Alexis Adkins to enhance findability and access. The finding aid was revised in 2016 by Alexis Adkins and Rodney Cox.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into two series: 1. Clippings and 2. Other Materials.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: United Farm Workers
Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993.
Agricultural laborers--California.

Access and use

Restrictions:: Advance notice required for access.
Terms of access:: Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.