Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid to the Arthur K. Bierman Papers
larc.ms.0108
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Arthur K. Bierman papers
Date (inclusive): 1957-1984
Creator:
Bierman, A. K. (Arthur Kalmer), 1923-
Extent:
4.45 Cubic Feet
(12 boxes)
Collection number: larc.ms.0108
Accession number: 1991/026 and 1986/002
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Abstract: The Arthur K. Bierman Papers consist of the papers of San Francisco State University Professor Arthur K. Bierman for the years
1957 through 1984. The collection documents Bierman's early organizing for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), his
involvement in the 1968-1969 strike at San Francisco State College, his work to abolish the House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC), and his other efforts to defend civil liberties.
Physical Location: Collection available on site.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English.
Collection is open for research.
Some materials are in the public domain; transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed
by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. 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.
[Identification of item], Arthur K. Bierman Papers, larc.ms.0108, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State
University.
The Archive also has an oral history interview with Arthur K. Bierman on the San Francisco State College Faculty Strike conducted
by Peter Carroll, 1992.
The following title was transferred to the book collection of the Labor Archives and Research Center: President's Commission
On Campus Unrest. The Report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest. Washington: GPO, 1970.
Arthur K. Bierman donated this collection to the Labor Archives and Research Center in 1986 (accesion number 1986/002) and
1991 (accession number 1991/026); additions to the collection were made in 2022, following Bierman's death.
Processed by Labor Archives and Research Center staff; reprocessed by Luca Facchin in 2023 to incorporate larc.ms.0036 and
a donation of newspaper clippings.
The collection is arranged into four series: Series 1: Civil Liberties Campaigns; Series 2: American Federation of Teachers
(AFT); Series 3: United Professors of California (UPC); and Series 4: Newspaper Clippings.
Biographical Notes of Arthur K. Bierman
Arthur K. Bierman was professor in the philosophy department at San Francisco State College, where he also became a leader
in the faculty strike of 1969. He was a political activist on a variety of levels and author of numerous books on philosophy.
In 1959, 140 California teachers were subpoenaed by House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Though this hearing
was later postponed and ultimately canceled, Bierman was instrumental in forming a group called San Franciscans for Academic
Freedom and Education (SAFE) to protect the civil rights of the subpoenaed teachers. The following year, in May 1960, HUAC
again focused on California and held hearings at San Francisco City Hall which provoked mass opposition from students, teachers
and other groups who demonstrated at City Hall. The Committee limited attendance at the hearings by issuing passes; on the
second day, the demonstrators were attacked with water hoses and the resulting riot was a dramatic beginning of the 1960s,
a forerunner of the student "Free Speech" movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests which followed. Bierman collected material
reflecting the acceleration of opposition to HUAC following the 1960 City Hall riots with the goal of abolishing HUAC. His
participation is recorded as a member of many different groups, and his name appears on public petitions. There are also papers
from other campaigns for civil liberties from the early 1960s: Californians Against State Executions (1960-1961); an ad opposing
Richard Nixon's campaign for California governor (1962); support to Pacifica Foundation (KPFA), an investigative target of
the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (1963), and support to victims given harsh sentences in the San Francisco sit-in
trials (1964).
Bierman's papers on union organizing on California State University campuses include the major issues of collective bargaining
for teachers, the organizing of state college professors, studies on teachers' salaries, and academic freedom. The focus of
the collection is the organizing of San Francisco State College Federation of Teachers, Local 1352. There is additional material
from the AFT State College Council which reflects organizing activity throughout the state college system during that time.
Scope and Contents of Collection
The Arthur K. Bierman Papers consist of the papers of San Francisco State University Professor Arthur K. Bierman for the years
1957 through 1984. The collection documents Bierman's early organizing for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), his
involvement in the 1968-1969 strike at San Francisco State College, his work to abolish the House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC), and his other efforts to defend civil liberties.
The bulk of the collection documents the organizing of San Francisco State College Federation of Teachers, Local 1352, and
Bierman's organizing activity on the AFT State College Council. Additional materials in the collection pertain to the United
Professors of California (UPC), the newly formed organization that was founded in 1970 as the result of an alliance between
the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Association of California State College Professors (ACSCP) and of which
Bierman served as one of the first presidents.
Series 1, Civil Liberties Campaigns, documents Bierman's campaigns against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC),
and is comprised of the records of an organization called San Franciscans for Academic Freedom in Education (SAFE), including
correspondence, fund raising actions, bank statements, mailing lists, and a survey made of subpoenaed teachers. Also included
in this series are correspondence, drafts of articles and reports, and other materials related to Bierman's activities with
anti-HUAC groups, as well as printed materials from these groups. There are two additional folders on films: HUAC's "Operation
Abolition," and a proposed video series for PBS titled "The Vocal Generation" (not produced). Additional materials in this
series pertain to other civil liberties campaigns from the early 1960s, in which Bierman participated concurrently with his
anti-HUAC activities.
Series 2, American Federation of Teachers, includes Bierman's papers on union organizing on California State University campuses.
The papers document issues of collective bargaining and organizing, studies on teachers' salaries, and academic freedom. The
focus of the series is on the organizing of Local 1352, the San Francisco State College Chapter of the American Federation
of Teachers, of which Bierman was college council member. Additional material reflects organizing activity throughout the
state college system. It includes a draft constitution, correspondence, circular letters, and membership and faculty lists.
There is also printed material and publications generated by the California Federation of Teachers and two files of newspaper
clippings.
Series 3, United Professors of California (UPC), pertains to the newly formed organization that was founded in 1970 as the
result of an alliance between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Association of California State College Professors
(ACSCP) and of which Bierman served as one of the first presidents. The series presents a number of UPC union activities from
1970 to 1984. Both basic academic concerns for this period and a wider union-oriented perspective emerge from these files.
Grievance cases related to promotion and retention, matters of tenure, of academic freedom, of legal counsel services and
of affirmative action and discrimination reveal the newly discovered support for a more labor-oriented approach within the
academic community. Additional materials include correspondence on the San Francisco State College strike, documents on the
Constitutional convention, on the California State University budget, on political activity, and on the organizing of San
Francisco State College Federation of Teachers, Local 1352.
Series 4, Newspaper Clippings, contains articles from local newspapers on the 1968-1969 San Francisco State College strike
of which Bierman was one of the faculty leaders.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco State College -- Faculty.
College teachers' unions
San Francisco State College -- Student strike, 1968-1969.
San Francisco State College -- Faculty -- Political activity.
San Francisco State College -- Faculty -- Civil rights.
College teachers -- Civil rights -- California.
Collective bargaining -- College teachers -- California.
American Federation of Teachers. Local 1352 (San Francisco, Calif.)
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
United Professors of California