The collection offers a glimpse into the world of a maritime organizer's life during the late 1940s. The bulk of the material spans from 1940 to 1950. Possibly the most valuable portion of the collection can be found in the folder entitled "Ship Log Sheets" (Folder 7). The log sheets are records of Santos' visits on board ships that had been organized by the M.E.B.A. They detail the names of the members and crew on the ship, note the status of the members dues and also whether or not there were sailors on the ship who were not M.E.B.A. members. The logs also include notes made by Santos regarding issues that the members wanted to see addressed in the next contract. Also included in the collection is a folder of organizing notes that Santos kept. While some of the notes are cryptic individually, taken as a whole, a picture of an aggressive organizer is produced. However, the scattered nature of the notes is indicative of the reason why Santos was an organizer for such a short period of time. It is apparent from some of the letters included in the "Organizing Correspondence" folder that Santos had a difficult time completing his official reports in a detailed and timely manner. This produced a colorful exchange of letters between Santos and the M.E.B.A. International President, S.J. Hogan.

The collection contains limited biographical materials, the bulk of the material centers around Edward Santos' organizing activities in the late 1940s. Santos was a native of the Bay Area who sailed on Union Oil ships in the early 1930s and was active in the onboard ship committees. Santos joined the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (M.E.B.A.) Local 97 in 1943. He sailed in World War II, the Korean War and Operation Freedom in the Indo-China Wars. He was a representative organizer from 1946 to 1947 in the New York Area. He was also a national tanker organizer for Locals 79 and 97 from September 1947 to November 1947. He served as a National and Consolidated Great Lakes Organizer from December 1947 to April 1948, during which time he was involved in the effort to consolidate all of the M.E.B.A. Locals on the Great Lakes into one unit. In the early 1960s, Santos became an employee of the State of California. He worked at U.C. Berkeley's Lawrence Berkeley Lab, although the exact nature of his work is not specified.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives & Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives & Research Center 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.

Collection is open for research.