Los Angeles Resistance collection, 1960-2015 (bulk 1967-1969)

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Summary

Creators:
Los Angeles Resistance
Abstract:
Extent:
3.336 cubic feet (8 boxes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Los Angeles Resistance collection. Los Angeles Public Library

Background

Scope and content:

Consists of papers, correspondence, writings, legal records, newsletters, news clippings, datebooks, prints, photographs, digital still and moving images, audiotapes, and ephemera chronicling the non-violent anti-draft activities of the Los Angeles chapter of the Resistance. The collection includes documents related to the national Resistance movement, as well as other local chapters. Also includes materials related to collaborations with other anti-war organizations. Materials date from the founding of the L.A. Resistance in 1967 to the screening of L.A. resistance documentaries at the 2015 Monaco Charity Film Festival. Most of the materials are concentrated between the years 1967-1969, when the group was most active.

Biographical / historical:

The Resistance was an organization dedicated to non-violent non-cooperation with the federal Selective Service System, the federal government agency which administered the Vietnam War draft. The first Resistance chapter was founded in Palo Alto by David Harris, a former Stanford University Student Body President, in 1967. The Los Angeles Resistance was founded in Westwood in 1967 by Donald “Don” Kalish, the former Chair of the UCLA Philosophy Department. It was part of a national network of local Resistance chapters which coordinated their efforts to stop the draft. From 1967 to 1968, the L.A. Resistance regularly held peaceful protests outside of the downtown Los Angeles Selective Service office, where busloads of young men were taken for induction into the armed services. Members of the L.A. Resistance worked with the national Resistance network to organize four national draft card turn-in events. After many resisters were imprisoned for refusing induction, various national Resistance groups worked together to form the Resistance Prison Project, in order to aid and advocate for those imprisoned for non-compliance. This collection chronicles the activities of L.A. Resistance and the anti-war organizations they collaborated with such as: the Orange Grove Friends (Quaker) Sanctuary, (Quaker) Friends of the Resistance, Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, Peace Action Council of Southern California, San Francisco Resistance, Palo Alto Resistance, Alpha House Resistance Commune, Westside Committee of Concern on Vietnam, the Quaker Action Group, Committee for Draft Resistance, and the War Resisters League of Southern California.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research on an appointment basis. Video and audio footage created by Neil Reichline, Norman Witty, and Charles Domokos are restricted.

Preferred citation:

Los Angeles Resistance collection. Los Angeles Public Library

Location of this collection:
Central Library
630 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071, US
Contact:
(213) 228-7355
specialcollections@lapl.org
Website