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Finding Aid to the Judith Sutliff Collection on the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the United Farm Workers (UFW)
larc.ms.0016  
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Collection Details
 
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  • Availability
  • Restrictions
  • Preferred Citation
  • Seperated Materials
  • Processing Information
  • Biographical Information
  • Scope and Contents

  • Title: Judith Sutliff collection on the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the United Farm Workers (UFW)
    Creator: Sutliff, Judith
    Date (inclusive): 1962-1982
    Collection number: larc.ms.0016
    Accession number: 1988/072
    Extent: 1.25 cubic ft. (2 boxes)
    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
    Location: Collection is available onsite.
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English.
    Abstract: The Judith Sutliff collection consists of personal papers donated by Sutliff, gathered while working as a volunteer with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), and the United Farm Workers (UFW) during the years 1962-1982. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, fliers, fact sheets, press releases, photographs, and a scrapbook.

    Availability

    Collection is open for research.

    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.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Judith Sutliff Collection on the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the United Farm Workers (UFW), larc.ms.0016, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.

    Seperated Materials

    United Farm Workers banner from the 1982 Bertoluccio Boycott has been added to the Artifacts Collection.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Labor Archives and Research Center staff.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    United Farm Workers Organizing Committee.
    National Farm Workers Association.
    United Farm Workers.
    Agricultural laborers--California--Labor unions.
    Agricultural laborers--California.
    Agricultural laborers--California--Pictorial works.
    Grape Strike, Calif., 1965-1970.

    Biographical Information

    Judith Sutliff worked with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which merged with the Agricultural Workers of California (AWOC) in 1965 to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). Sutliff was a full time volunteer in the NFWA and UFW from 1965 to 1968. She was involved with organizing and fund-raising activities in Lamont, California; Denver; Chicago; and New York. She was an office organizer in Bakersfield, California, and was involved in setting up a hiring hall in Lamont, California. She also served on the UFW grape boycott committee in Chicago in 1968.

    Scope and Contents

    The Judith Sutliff collection consists of personal papers donated by Sutliff, gathered while working as a volunteer with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), and the United Farm Workers (UFW) during the years 1962-1982. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, fliers, fact sheets, press releases, photographs, and a scrapbook.
    At the time of Sutliff’s main involvement in the UFW, the union was attempting to force growers who would not sign a union contract into negotiating with strike and boycott actions. The strike on grape growers began in 1965 and lasted for five years. The UFW boycott of table grapes and lettuce took on a national scale and resulted in union victory. Major issues included: the UFW’s exclusion from the National Labor Relations Board because the language of the National Labor Recovery Act excluded farm workers from being considered industrial trade unions, police violence against strikers (especially the Texas Rangers), the use of illegal aliens as strikebreakers and the refusal of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to enforce immigration laws against illegal strikebreakers, the poor living and labor conditions of farm workers, the effects of pesticides on the health of farm workers, and the poor sanitary conditions that the farm workers were subject to in the fields.