Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Women on the Waterfront Oral History Project
Collection
URB.WOWOH
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Women on the Waterfront Oral History Project Collection
Creator:
California State University, Northridge. University Library
Identifier/Call Number: URB.WOWOH
Extent:
1.60 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1992-2005
Date (bulk): 1992-1997
Abstract: The oral history interviews of female
ILWU members were conducted between the years 1993 and 1997 as part of the ILWU, Local 13
"Women on the Waterfront" Oral History Project. They were conducted as a continuation of the
ILWU Oral History Project which documented the stories of the union's workforce who labored
on the docks of the Southern California Waterfront between the 1930s and 1960s. After the
"1982 Golden et al. Consent Decree" more and more women came to work on the West Coast
docks. These oral histories began to tell the story of waterfront from a female
perspective.
Language of Material: English
The library created this collection of materials for study and research.
The
Women of the Waterfront Oral History Project Collection
consists of oral history interviews of female ILWU members conducted between the
years 1993 and 1997 as part of the ILWU, Local 13 "Women on the Waterfront" Oral History
Project. They were conducted as a continuation of the ILWU Oral History Project which
documented the stories of the union's workforce who labored on the docks of the Southern
California Waterfront between the 1930s and 1960s. After the "1982 Golden et al. Consent
Decree" more and more women came to work on the West Coast docks. These oral histories began
to tell the story of waterfront from a female perspective.
In the early 1990s, Dr. Nancy Fernandez and several of her students from the CSUN History
Department, in cooperation with the Urban Archives Center, undertook the "Women on the
Waterfront" project to collect the personal stories of the women who worked the docks
alongside the men, as well as those women who worked for the union as secretarial workers.
Members of the ILWU Ladies Auxiliary, Local 8 were also asked to participate in the oral
history project.
Some of the issues touched upon in these oral histories include family life of the women
laborers, sexual and racial discrimination on the docks, the yearly picnic commemorating the
"Bloody Thursday" strikes of 1934 and the Modernization and Mechanization Agreement which
brought more women to work on the waterfront. In 1995, the Urban Archives Center was awarded
a generous grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust to continue work on the "Women on the
Waterfront" project. Final accessioning and transcription of this oral history project was
completed in November 2005.
The collection is divided into two series,
Audio Recordings
(1992-1997) and
Transcripts (2005).
Series I: Audio Recordings, 1992-1997
Series II: Transcripts, 2005
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
Jessica Geiser, 2014
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Audiovisual materials