Labor Archives & Research Center

Occupation!
Economic Justice As A Civil Right in San Francisco, 1963-64

Opening Reception for Exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library
January 21, 2010

San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch
100 Larkin, 6th Floor, outside the San Francisco History Center.
Reception begins at 6:00 p.m.

Labor Archives and Research Center
24th Anniversary Celebration
February 26, 2010 ~ 6:00 p.m

Featuring Guest Speaker:
Francine Moccio, discussing her latest work
"Live Wire: Women and Brotherhood in the Electrical Industry"

Dance Performance:
"The Ballad of Polly Ann"
by Flyaway Productions

Light Refreshments served at 6:00 p.m., program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Free and Open to the Public. This event is wheelchair accessible.

Map and directions.

Labor Folklorist Archie Green

On June 21, 2009, the Labor Archives and Research Center hosted a celebration of the life and work of Archie Green. The event was open to the public and was attended by over 300 people. The attendees honored Archie as a proud union man and scholar who pioneered the field of ‘laborlore’ and successfully fought for the creation of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. 

Archie was a good friend to the Labor Archives, serving as an advisory board member from its founding in 1985 and spearheading the San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book project.

More on Archie's Life:
“Archie Green (1917-2009): Called to Labor”
Daily Yonder, March 24, 2009

The celebration included a musical tribute by the following legendary bluegrass artists:
Hazel Dickens
Mike Seeger
Elaine Purkey
Jody Stecher

The San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book

A Worker’s Guide to San Francisco:

Take a tour of San Francisco’s labor past and present working class neighborhoods, labor hangouts, monuments, murals, memorials, and buildings that reflect the history of the people who built the “City by the Bay.” Discover 88 different sites and five neighborhood walking tours covering an array of landmarks from the unique point of view of those who work in its stores, labor in its hotels and run its cable cars.

Learn about:

• The building of the Golden Gate Bridge and the “Halfway to Hell Club.”
• The first public electrical power station in
the United States.
• The site of the first union labor strike in Chinatown.
• Two blue collar cafes from the 1930s still
open for business.
• The oldest statue in San Francisco of
a person at work.
• How the death of two workers touched off a city-wide general strike.

San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book is packed with historical photographs and easy-to-follow maps. It includes lesser known landmarks as well as famous sites re-examined from a worker perspective. The guide is an educational and fascinating excursion into the hidden history of one of America’s favorite tourist destinations.

Excellent guide for students and teachers in labor studies, history, social studies, political science, architecture and geography!

Read more about the Landmarks Book:

“Discover San Francisco’s labor landmarks”
SF State News, March 4, 2009

“Project of the Month: The San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book”
 News and Updates, Ink Works, March 2009

Listen to interviews about the Landmarks Book:

The Morning Show, KPFA, February 26, 2009
Listen to LARC Director Catherine Powell and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte talk about the creation of the Landmarks Book and some of the interesting sites described in it. The interview begins approximately 1 hour, 36 minutes, into the program.

Against the Grain, KPFA, April 20, 2009
Listen to San Francisco State University History Professor Robert Cherny and LARC Director Catherine Powell discuss many of the important labor sites depicted in the Landmarks Book. The interview begins approximately 42 minutes into the program.

View an online photography slide show presentation inspired by the Landmarks Book:

San Francisco Labor Landmarks Photography by Wendy Crittenden and Tom Griscom

How to order the Landmarks Book:

The Landmarks Book is available through the Labor Archives (order form). The book can also be purchased at the following San Francisco bookstores:

Occupation!
Economic Justice As A Civil Right in San Francisco, 1963-64

Exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library

1963 saw the beginning of massive civil disobedience actions in San Francisco.

Demonstrations at Mel's Diner, Lucky Grocery, Sheraton Palace Hotel and Auto Row focused on discriminatory hiring practices that excluded African-Americans from employment equal to white workers. While appearing mild in light of later riots and militancy, these actions shook the city's liberal image at the time, resulted in the formation of the Human Rights Commission and over 260 employment agreements for minority workers, and forever changed the way we define "freedom of speech."

Featuring photographs by Phiz Mezey, this collaborative exhibit presents selections from the archives at the San Francisco History Center and Labor Archives and Research Center. Curated by Nancy Arms Simon.

Exhibition: January 16 - March 27, 2010
San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch
100 Larkin, 6th Floor, outside the San Francisco History Center.
Opening reception is January 21st at 6:00 p.m.

Look for the Union Label:
A Celebration of Union Logos and Emblems

Online Exhibit

by Jeff Rosen and Susan Parker Sherwood

This collection of over 150 images surveys union labels, their history, and related artifacts. American Union labels evolved from the seals and coats of arms of European craft unions and were a great source of tradition and pride. Beginning as early as 1880, the union label movement became an important economic tool as organized workers looked for ways to support union jobs and to protest unfair working conditions through tactics other than strikes.

For more on the topic of union logos, see the online slide show presentation, Evolution of an Emblem: The Arm and Hammer. Art historian Kim Munson shares her investigation of the origins of the arm & hammer from Greco-Roman myth and its role as an early union label to its current usage as the Socialist Labor Party emblem and as the baking soda trademark.

Cultivating Creativity:
The Arts and the Farm Workers' Movement
During the 1960s and 1970s

Online Exhibit

Farm workers and the world of art? It may not seem to be a natural pairing, yet the migrant farm workers’ movement of the 1960s and ‘70s generated artistic symbols of such iconic power that they not only fixed a small struggling union’s (the United Farm Workers) plight in the American public consciousness, but also helped launch a new style of Chicano art.