Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office Records, 1969-1977

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Summary

Creators:
Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office
Abstract:
Consists of office files from two collaborating organizations serving U.S. military service personnel primarily in the Bay Area and Asia during and after the Vietnam War. Includes organizational history, correspondence and reports from projects and offices in Asia and West Germany, material related to affiliated groups, and reference files.
Extent:
12.75 linear feet (10 cartons, 1 oversize folder, and 1 volume)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office Records, BANC MSS 86/89 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office Records, 1969-1977, consist of office files from two collaborating organizations serving service personnel primarily in the Bay Area and Asia during and after the Vietnam War.

Materials generated before 1971 document the foundation of the Pacific Counseling Service (PCS) and its role in providing personal counseling to servicepeople in the G.I. Movement in the Bay Area and Asia. The files of the Pacific Counseling Service consist of historical background, recruitment and personnel materials, correspondence, financial records and publications. They include files from the Women's Collectives.

The National Lawyers Guild established the Military Law Office (MLO) in San Francisco next door to PCS in 1971. The MLO provided free legal advice and representation to military servicepeople, while PCS provided counsel to G.I.'s in their efforts at war resistance and/or their individual needs. The Military Law Office files consist of correspondence, reports, National Lawyers Guild Bay Area Chapter files, and communications and literature from National Lawyers Guild offices throughout the United States.

Although they were separate organizations, their cooperative activities produced collective work and their files are inextricably linked. The Pacific Counseling Service/Military Law Office sections represent the joint collaborative work of the two organizations and these files include minutes, reports, and fund-raising contacts. Reports from the various Asia Projects and from the San Francisco offices were issued frequently to each project to keep participants at home and abroad informed of the progress of their mutual work. They paint a vivid picture of the internal and external struggles of the project participants on personal, political, and professional levels.

An extensive collection of clippings documenting the events in the Philippines before, during, and after lawyer Doug Sorenson's arrest in 1972 is noteworthy. The files of the Center for Servicemen's Rights/G.I. Project Alliance, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, the Liberated Barracks, and Stop Our Ship include correspondence and publications that are rich in content. Of particular note is literature generated by the Indochina Peace Campaign, to which Tom Hayden contributed and The Free Theater Associates Show files which include correspondence from Jane Fonda. Vietnam Veteran's Against the War files document its relationship to the Pacific Counseling Service.

Acquisition information:
The Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office Records were given to The Bancroft Library by Jeanne Friedman on December 29, 1985.
Processing information:

Funding for processing provided by Free Speech Movement Project.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright 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 owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Pacific Counseling Service and Military Law Office Records, BANC MSS 86/89 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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