Kristin Ockershauser Papers,
1965-1987
Processed by Cassandra Stearns
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org/
© 2004
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
The Register of the Kristin Ockershauser Papers,
1965-1987
Collection number: MSS 082
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 South Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA, 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org/
- Processed by:
- Cassandra Steans
- Date Completed:
-
May 2004
- Encoded by:
- Susan Jones
© 2004 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Kristen Ockershauser Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1965-1987
Collection number: MSS 082
Creator:
Ockershauser, Kristin
Extent:
7.5 legal boxes;
2.75 linear feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Abstract: These are papers of community organizer Kristin Ockershauser, primarily documenting efforts in the early 1970s organizing
residents in two public housing projects in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles: the Park Western Organization for Positive
Action (at Park Western) and Neighbors United for Action (at Barton Hill).
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research
query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single
copies of any portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed only with the express written
permission of the Library's director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Kristen Ockershauser Papers, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles,
California.
Provenance
Donated to the Library in the late 1980s by Kristin Ockershauser.
Biography
Kristin Ockershauser became involved in organizing among low-income communities after receiving her master's degree in social
work from UCLA's School of Social Welfare in 1967, where she studied under long-time organizer Warren C. Haggstrom. As an
advocate at the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach, she worked with such groups as the Welfare Rights Organization.
In 1969 Ockershauser and colleagues Howard Uller, Squire Lance, Lauro Garcia, and Hollis Stewart joined with Warren and Lois
Haggstrom to establish the board of the Institute of Socio-Analysis (ISA). The nonprofit ISA was dedicated to helping low-income
people organize to improve their lives. It provided intensive educational programs in grassroots community organizing.
Between 1970 and 1973 Ockershauser founded self-help organizations in the San Pedro area, including two at public housing
projects, the Park Western Organization for Positive Action (at Park Western) and Neighbors United for Action (at Barton Hill).
These organizations succeeded in preventing the demolition of a low-income housing project, getting full-day sessions for
students of a neighborhood elementary school, registering voters in unprecedented numbers, and instituting English classes
for Spanish-speaking adults. Inadequate funding plagued the success of ISA from the outset and the organization was officially
dissolved as a nonprofit corporation in the summer of 1975.
In the fall of 1973 Ockershauser traveled to Europe where she lived for three months in Rome and met Danilo Dolci at his Centro
Studi e Iniziative in Western Sicily. After having read most of Dolci's writings she had become interested in the Centro's
work and its similarities with the grassroots organizing efforts of the ISA.
Uncertain about what to do after ISA disbanded, Ockershauser returned to Europe in 1976 visiting Italy and Switzerland. Between
1977 and 1978, Ockershauser continued her activism as the Director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
for the Pacific Southwest. She returned to Europe and between 1978 and 1979 lived in Paris for six months and Morocco for
one month.
Ockershauser's work with the Unitarian Universalists continued through the early 1980s where she served on the Haspl Visit
Committee to bring the Reverend Bohdana Haspl to the United States for the 40th anniversary celebration of the UUSC. Bohdana
Haspl was the daughter of Reverend Norbert Capek, who founded the Czech Unitarian Society in 1939 and later perished at the
hands of the Nazis. The Czech Unitarian Society's rescue and relief efforts during the Nazi advance became the genesis of
the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Bohdana Haspl wrote about her father's work in a 100 page unpublished manuscript
which Ockerhauser attempted to get published through 1982.
Ockershauser's other organizing efforts include joining organizing colleague Michael Silver in 1981 to put together a proposal
and funding for a school for organizers aimed ultimately at creating neighborhood governments.
Colleagues
Warren C. Haggstrom - entered the University of Minnesota in 1947 and graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1949. During the late 1940s
he helped start a variety of efforts to create union, political, farm and community organizations. He received his master's
degree in social welfare from the University of Minnesota and his doctorate in social work and social psychology from the
University of Michigan. In 1962 while employed at Syracuse University he founded and directed the Community Action Training
Center that was devoted to the organization of low-income populations. In 1966 he moved to Los Angeles to become associate
professor at UCLA specializing in the teaching of grass roots organization to graduate students. He co-founded the Institute
of Socio-Analysis along with his wife Lois and colleagues Kristen Ockershauser and Lee Staples. He withdrew from participation
in ISA a few years later following the death of his wife. In the 1980s he worked with Kristen Ockerhauser and Michael Silver
on the creation of a graduate level school for community organizers.
Michael Silver - good friend and organizing colleague of Kristin Ockerhauser's and a former student of Warren Haggstrom, Michael Silver received
his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. He spent several years on the East Coast where he organized with
ACORN, edited the journal "The Organizer", and taught community organizing at the University of Maryland Graduate School of
Social Work. He returned to Los Angeles in the early 1980s where he worked with the California Action League as an organizer.
He also worked with Ockershauser and Haggstrom on starting a graduate level educational program for organizers in Los Angeles.
Lee Staples - before arriving in California, Staples worked for the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) in Ohio, Massachusetts
and Rhode Island. He also trained new organizers as well as conducted workshops at NWRO conferences throughout the country.
In 1970 Staples moved to Los Angeles to begin work with the ISA studying under Warren Haggstrom at UCLA's School of Social
Welfare. In 1972 he helped organize Neighbors United for Action in San Pedro with Kristin Ockershauser. In 1975 Staples returned
to Massachusetts where he helped found Massachusetts for a Fair Share Alliance and taught organizing at the Boston University
Graduate School of Social Work.
Howard Uller - received his master's degree in social work from UCLA studying under Warren Haggstrom. As one of the original ISA board members,
along with Haggstrom and Ockershauser, Uller helped organize the Organization for United Brothers in central Los Angeles.
Scope and Content
The bulk of the collection documents Ockershauser's organizing efforts during the 1970s in San Pedro and 1980s. There are
administrative, publicity, and training materials consisting of organizational documents, fliers, newsletters, election material,
newspaper clippings, articles, notes and memos. The collection also documents Ockershauser's long-time activism in the Los
Angeles area through her work with the Legal Aid Foundation, the Welfare Rights Organization, and the Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee. Other materials included in the collection are the unpublished manuscripts of organizing colleagues that
detail the theory and practice of organizing for social change.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into 4series:
1. PERSONAL PAPERS,
2. ORGANIZATIONS,
3. ORGANIZERS and
4. REFERENCE MATERIAL.
Arrangement
Original order was maintained as much as possible and original folder titles were incorporated where appropriate.
Separated Material
No materials have been separated from this collection.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Title: 20th Century Organizational Files,
Date (inclusive): 1912-1980s
Physical Description:
49 legal archival document boxes; 16 linear feet
A copy of the collection register is kept in the first box of the collection (1/0).
Series I.
Personal Papers,
1965-1981
Physical Description:
25 folders
Scope and Content Note
This series includes class schedules, syllabi, outlines, course material, and notes from Warren C. Haggstrom's courses at
UCLA. Also included is a course outline from Haggstrom's action seminar course at Syracuse University. In addition, there
is later material not directly related to organizing activities, but in support of Ockerhauser's activism and includes information
about her travels in Europe, her visit to Danilo Dolci's El Centro, news clippings of personal interests, and general correspondence.
Box-folder 8/9
Class schedules, UCLA,
1966-1967
Box-folder 8/14-8/15
Course outlines,
1965-1968, n.d.
Box-folder 8/14
Syracuse University,
1965-1966, n.d.
Box-folder 8/16
Reading lists (bibliographies), UCLA,
1966-1970
Box-folder 8/20
Outline and article,
n.d.
Box-folder 8/21
Fliers and pamphlets,
n.d.
Box-folder 8/22
General correspondence,
1975-1982, n.d.
Series II.
Organizations,
1968-1987
Physical Description:
79 folders
Scope and Content Note
Organizational files, reports, memos, correspondence of social work and organizing activities arranged chronologically.
This series is divided into six subseries: Legal Aid Foundation, Welfare Rights Organization, Park Western Organization, San
Pedro Organization/Neighbors United Association, the Institute of Socio-Analysis and Other organizations, which includes:
Organization of United Brothers, La Vecindad Unida/United Neighborhood and California Action League.
Subseries A.
Legal Aid Foundation,
1968-1970
Physical Description:
4 folders
Box-folder 1/1
Activity reports,
1967-1970
Box-folder 1/2
Correspondence,
1968-1971
Box-folder 1/4
Newsletter "Annual Report, Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach,"
1968
Subseries B.
Welfare Rights Organization (WRO),
1969 - 1970
Physical Description:
2 folders
Box-folder 1/5
Organizational materials,
1969
Box-folder 1/6
News clippings,
1969-1970
Subseries C.
Park Western Organization for Positive Action (PWOPA),
1970-1972
Physical Description:
24 folders
Box-folder 1/7
Agendas and minutes,
1970, n.d.
Box-folder 1/8
Benefits and services,
1970, n.d.
Box-folder 1/9
Background material,
1968, 1971
Box-folder 1/11
Legal documents,
1971, n.d.
Box-folder 1/12
Pamphlets,
1970-1971, n.d.
Box-folder 1/13
Community information,
1970-1971, n.d.
Box-folder 2/4
Fact sheets,
1970-1971, n.d.
Box-folder 2/6
Housing issues,
1968, 1970, n.d.
Box-folder 2/9
Meeting attendees,
1970, n.d.
Box-folder 2/12
News clippings,
1969-1971, 1980, n.d.
Box-folder 2/15
Organizational documents,
1970, n.d.
Box-folder 2/16
Petition, sample letters, surveys,
1970, n.d.
Box-folder 2/18
Press releases,
1970, 1971, n.d.
Subseries D.
San Pedro Organization / Neighbors United for Action (SPO/NUA),
1971-1973, n.d.
Physical Description:
28 folders
Box-folder 2/19
Barton Hill tunnel action,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 2/20-2/21
Benefits and services,
1971-1972
Box-folder 2/21
Order forms and lists,
n.d.
Box-folder 2/25
Community information,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 2/26
Constitution and committee notes,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 3/1
Correspondence,
1971-1973, n.d.
Box-folder 3/4-3/5
Get-out-the-vote effort,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 3/6
Harbor General Hospital action,
1973, n.d.
Box-folder 3/7
House meetings and committee notes,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 3/11
Membership drive and committee notes,
1972, n.d.
Box-folder 3/12
News clippings,
1972-1973
Box-folder 3/13
Newsletters,
1972-1973, n.d.
Box-folder 3/14
Notes and lists,
1971, 1972, n.d.
Subseries E.
Institute Socio-Analysis (ISA),
1970-1980, n.d.
Physical Description:
10 folders
Box-folder 3/21
Benefits and services,
1971, n.d.
Box-folder 3/22
Correspondence,
1970-1975
Box-folder 4/1
Miscellaneous documents (agenda, newsletter, funding proposal, letterhead/ folder),
1970,1973, n.d.
Box-folder 4/4
Slides (ISA? students in class),
1972
Box-folder 4/5
Student recruitment,
n.d.
Subseries F
Other Organizations,
1967-1982
Physical Description:
9 folders
Box-folder 4/7
Organization of United Brothers, Political Power Program, voting results, blank membership agreement,
1967-1974, n.d.
Box-folder 4/8
La Vecindad Unida/United Neighborhood (LVU/UN), newsletters, fact sheets, fliers,
1973, n.d.
Box-folder 4/9-4/14
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Box-folder 4/9
Bodhana Hapsl visit, memos, notes,
1978-1980, n.d.
Box-folder 4/10
Correspondence,
1979-1982
Box-folder 4/15
California Action League (CAL), mixed documents, fliers,
1981-1982
Series III.
Organizers,
1966-1982
Physical Description:
22 folders
Scope and Content Note
This series contains unpublished manuscripts and correspondence relating to the theory and practice of grassroots organizing
written by colleagues of Kristin Ockershauser: Warren C. Haggstrom, Michael Silver, Lee Staples and Howard Uller.
Box-folder 4/16
Correspondence,
1979-1980
Box-folder 5/6
Correspondence and memos,
1981
Box-folder 5/14
Lee Staples, writings,
1973, n.d.
Box-folder 5/15
Howard Uller, writings,
n.d.
Series IV.
Reference Material,
1970-1982
Physical Description:
46 folders
Scope and Content Note
This series includes articles related to grassroots organizing, famous organizers, action samples, and publications; alphabetically
arranged by topic.
Box-folder 6/3
Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC),
n.d.
Box-folder 6/18-7/3
Benefits and services,
n.d.
Box-folder 7/4
Common Ground Garden Program,
n.d.
Box-folder 7/12
Liberty Hill Foundation,
1980
Box-folder 7/13-7/15
Massachusetts Alliance for a Fare Share,
n.d.
Box-folder 7/16
Miscellaneous issues (fliers and pamphlets),
n.d.
Box-folder 7/23
Organizational documents,
n.d.