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Finding aid to the California Labor School Negative Collection
larc.pho.0013  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
This collection of negatives contains images of people, programs, and events related to the California Labor School from 1944 to 1957. The purpose of the progresive California Labor School was to train the influx of new workers into a wartime economy in trades, the humanities, and in various aspects of labor relations. Includes images of lectures, performances, workshops, symposia, festivals, and portraits of administrators, faculty, and students.
Background
The California Labor School (CLS) was originally founded as the Tom Mooney School in San Francisco in 1942. In 1944, the school changed its name to the California Labor School. The California Labor School was a cultural hub for the Bay Area's progressive and labor communities during the 1940s and 1950s. The school's curriculum included training in various trades, along with history, philosophy, and other humanities courses taught from a working class perspective. The art programs were among the most popular and many leading artists, musicians, and actors taught at the school. The school also hosted an annual artists' ball, as well as exhibitions and cultural symposia. Because the school was ethnically diverse during the Jim Crow era and many of the students and faculty were politically progressive, it was targeted as subversive during the anti-Communist 1950s, which led to its closure in 1957.
Extent
1 Cubic Feet (2 boxes)
Restrictions
Copyrighted. Rights are owned by Labor Archives and Research Center. Copyright Holder has given Institution permission to provide access to the digitized work online. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Availability
Collection is open for research.