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Finding Aid to the Selden Osborne Papers, 1933-1988
BANC MSS 90/45 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Selden Osborne papers
Date (inclusive): 1933-1988
Collection Number: BANC MSS 90/45 c
Creators :
Osborne, Selden
Extent:
Number of containers: 1 carton, 1 box, 1 oversize box
Linear feet: 2
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The collection highlights Osborne's extensive involvement in labor organization and the attempt to reform and reveal what
he saw as an undemocratic union structure. The collection consists of three series. Series 1 consists of various materials
relating to labor organizations including meeting minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, election materials, correspondence
and other miscellaneous items. The series also includes materials on the Socialist Party, Communist Party, and the Anti-War
Movement. Series 2 consists of personal writings by Osborne, including typed manuscript drafts, handwritten notes and correspondence.
The majority of Osborne's personal writings, located in focus on the history of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's
Union and its leader, Harry Bridges. Series 3 consists of materials pertaining specifically to Harry Bridges. These records
include newspaper clippings pertaining to various court trials that involved Bridges, including a scrapbook, as well as other
miscellaneous documents.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English and Spanish
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Selden Osborne Papers, BANC MSS 90/45 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Osborne, Selden--Archives
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Pacific Maritime Association
Bridges, Harry, 1901-1990
Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
International Longshoremen's Association
Labor unions--United States
Labor unions and communism--United States
The Selden Osborne Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Selden Osborne on January 10, 1990.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Crystal Miles in 2013.
Selden Osborne was a long-time member of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU). He dedicated much
of his adult life to labor reform through leadership in various labor organizations and by trying to reveal what he saw as
hypocrisy in the upper ranks of union politics, particularly involving the co-founder and president of the ILWU for forty
years, Harry Bridges. Osborne was a resident of San Francisco, California from 1934 and worked as a longshoreman beginning
in 1943 until his retirement in the mid 1970s.
Born in Bisbee, Arizona in 1911 and raised in San Diego, California, Osborne excelled in academics and would eventually earn
a college degree from Stanford University. While still in college he became very active in social reform, leading him to union
organization. Shortly after graduation he became a union organizer of agricultural workers in the San Joaquin and Imperial
Valleys of California. He then became a member of the Socialist Party, becoming president of their local Palo Alto, California
chapter at the age of twenty-one in 1932. In 1935 Osborne left the Socialist Party with the Trotskyites and formed the Social
Worker's Party, which would drive him towards working for issues of union democracy. He would go on to fight for union rights
and against what he deemed injustices in the labor union system.
During World War II Osborne spent time in the army and worked as a merchant seaman. He went on to become a pacifist in the
1950s and protested against nuclear armament during the Cold War. Osborne also joined the War Resister's League in civil disobedience
and completed the first coast-to-coast disarmament walk across the United States in 1976.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection highlights Osborne's extensive involvement in labor organization and the attempt to reform and reveal what
he saw as an undemocratic union structure. The collection consists of three series. Series 1 consists of various materials
relating to labor organizations including meeting minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, election materials, correspondence
and other miscellaneous items. The series also includes materials on the Socialist Party, Communist Party, and the Anti-War
Movement. Series 2 consists of personal writings by Osborne, including typed manuscript drafts, handwritten notes and correspondence.
The majority of Osborne's personal writings, located in focus on the history of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's
Union and its leader, Harry Bridges. Series 3 consists of materials pertaining specifically to Harry Bridges. These records
include newspaper clippings pertaining to various court trials that involved Bridges, including a scrapbook, as well as other
miscellaneous documents.