California Surveillance Collection, 1929-1940

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Summary

Title:
California surveillance collection
Dates:
1929-1940
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.
Extent:
3.0 cubic ft. (6 boxes)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], California Surveillance Collection, larc.ms.0124, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:
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.
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.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into two series: Series 1: California Surveillance Files, and Series 2: Harper Knowles Personal Papers.

Physical location:
Collection is available onsite.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Robert Cherny, revised by Labor Archives and Research Center staff.
Date Prepared:
1986, revised 2013
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-05-06T09:42-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], California Surveillance Collection, larc.ms.0124, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Location of this collection:
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722, US
Contact:
(415) 405-5549
specialcollections@sfsu.edu
Website