The San Francisco State College Strike

Overview

During 1968-1969, San Francisco State College was a focus for national attention as the campus erupted in turmoil. Initially students threatened to strike to stop the College's cooperation with the draft but discontent broadened to embrace the concerns of minority students and the eventual strike is often referred to as the Third World strike. Publications, broadsides, flyers, scrapbooks, student newspapers, and other memorabilia of that event are available in Special Collections/Archives, as well as published materials concerning the strike. In addition, KQED and KPIX newsfilm concerning the strike is available in the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archives.

Individuals interested in researching the strike should review the comprehensive San Francisco State College Strike Collection Guide links in the left column of this page, before making an appointment to work with the collection. The guide includes a chronology, comprehensive bibliographies of secondary sources, finding guides to the archives, and photographs as well as text and images from the 30th anniversary exhibit On strike! Shut it down! : a revolution at San Francisco State.

The existence of the San Francisco State College Strike Collection is primarily due to the efforts of Helene Whitson, Archivist Emerita, who retired in the summer of 2004. As a junior reference librarian, she personally collected much of the materials in the collection. She also created the scrapbook, the comprehensive finding guides and bibliographies, and served as unofficial historian of the strike for more than 30 years.