Collection Guide
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Holt, Rod subject file collection
HLL.2019.018
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Contributing Institution:
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
Title: Rod Holt subject file collection
Creator:
Holt, Frederick Rodney
Identifier/Call Number: HLL.2019.018
Physical Description:
4.33 Linear Feet
5 boxes
Physical Description:
5 boxes
4 cartons, 1 box
Date (inclusive): 1959-1997, undated
Date (inclusive): 1987-1997, undated
Abstract: The Rod Holt subject file collection, 1959-1997, bulk 1987-1998, contains files on various political and scientific subjects
that were created and maintained by Rod Holt, who was Apple employee #5 as well as a socialist, political activist, and the
founder of the Holt Labor Library in San Francisco, California. It contains newspaper clippings and photocopies, correspondence,
notes, flyers, leaflets, notices, one audiocassette, one floppy disk, and other materials.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and Russian.
The Rod Holt subject file collection, 1959-1997, bulk 1987-1998, comprises files regarding political and scientific subjects
that include newspaper clippings and photocopies, correspondence, notes, flyers, leaflets, notices, one audiocassette, one
floppy disk, and other materials. Files regarding environmental subjects such as acid rain, agriculture, carbon dioxide, global
warming, ocean atmosphere, pollution, and solar energy are present, as are other files on topics regarding environmental impacts
on society, such as radiation and farmworkers. Files related to atomic and nuclear power are present, as are files related
to various diseases including AIDS, cancer, the bubonic plague, flu, lead poison, and malaria. Files concerning technology
and society are present, such as one file about video display terminals (VDT), as are files that reflect the history of political
events in various countries such as Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Serbia, East Germany, Ukraine, Romania, and South Africa.
Files that document the activities and statuses of various political organizations, such as the Bay Area Coalition for our
Reproductive Rights (BACORR), Committees of Correspondence (CoC), the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Fourth Internationalist
Tendency, the Hayward Peace Action Council, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish Peace Union Project, the Union of
Concerned Scientists, and the Political Rights Defense Fund (PRDF) are included. Files containing correspondence with and
materials about David Wald, Don Paul, Mike Alowitz, Milton and Thelma Genecin, Norman Solomon, Shirley Pasholk, and other
individuals are present, as are files regarding political publications and publishers such as the Bulletin in Defense of Marxism
(BIDOM) and Pathfinder Press. Subject files concerning labor organizations such as Labor Party Advocates, the Trotskyist League,
and the World Socialist Party are present as well.
The collection is arranged alphabetically in one series.
Allison Ransom processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in ArchivesSpace in December 2020.
The Rod Holt subject file collection was donated to the Holt Labor Library in San Francisco, California between 1992 and 2019,
and was acquired by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections at California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2019.
There are no access restrictions except for Folder 36 in Box 4 which is restricted due to the presence of medical records.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
For information about citing archival material, see the
Citations for Archival Material guide, or consult the appropriate style manual.
Frederick Rodney Holt was born in 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Ohio State University, where he majored in mathematics.
While a graduate student at Ohio State University in 1958, he became involved with the free speech movement and was an editor
of the Free Speech Press. In 1959, he joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) which he was a member of until he left to join
Socialist Action with other dissenting members of the SWP in 1983. In 1992, Holt founded the Holt Labor Library in San Francisco,
California, and in 2001 he joined the Socialist Workers Organization, which was formed by expelled members of Socialist Action
in 1999.
Holt worked as an electronics engineer with the Hickok Electrical Instrument company after graduate school, until he moved
to California where he worked as an analog engineer at Atari. In 1976 he was recruited by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to
develop the switching power supply for the Apple II, one of the first successful microcomputers in the world. After the creation
of the Apple II in 1977, Holt became Apple employee #5, and was the Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering at Apple
Computer until 1983.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Trotskyism -- United States
Environmental issues
Socialism