Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, and Latinx History in the Archives

AR 55
1946 - 1971
2 boxes

Papers contain correspondence, newspapers, newspaper clippings, photographs, leaflets, flyers, newsletters, articles, and booklets. Materials document Medrano's political and union activities. Included are copies and clippings from Spanish language newspapers and newsletters including LULAC News, La Causa, Encuentro, El Sol de Texas, and Papel Chicano. There are newspapers and newsletters produced by the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, information on local United Auto Workers unions, clippings concerning Mexican American agricultural workers in Texas and California, and clippings on the farm workers strikes in the late 1960s. Photographs are of Medrano, UAW groups, Mexican American farm workers and families, strikes, and union and political activities. Also present are materials relating to Thomas Rodriguez and police brutality in Dallas, national elections, civil rights, Mexican Americans in Dallas, as well as materials on Medrano's two sons, Ricardo and Roberto, who were activists in Dallas.

AR 46
1951-1977
14 boxes

The Independent Workers Association was organized by Eugene Nelson in the Rio Grande Valley in 1966. It affiliated that year with the National Farm Workers Association which then merged soon after with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. Though represented heavily with Mexican-Americans the migrant farm workers movement also included white and black farm workers.

Collection includes correspondence, newsletters, newspaper clippings, speeches, reports, map, ballots, booklets, leaflets, brochures, reprinted articles, tape recordings, photographs, and a scrapbook. Includes papers of Eugene Nelson, 1966-1967; newsletters and other materials from several groups that supported collective bargaining for farm workers; clippings and articles about the farm workers organizing movement, strikes, boycotts, living conditions, and the economic situation of farm workers in California and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, especially Starr County, 1966-1967.

AR 110, Series VII
1951-1971
6 boxes
The Collection is in 29 series.

The Texas AFL-CIO was formed on July 29, 1957 when the Texas State Federation of Labor and the Texas State CIO Council merged. The organization, a federation of local unions and central labor councils in Texas, is a central body that represents labor interests and acts as the policy-making, educational, and legislative arm of AFL-CIO labor at the state level. Although it does not negotiate collective bargaining contracts for its members, it does serve as the voice for all Texas AFL-CIO labor in the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress.

The Mexican American Affairs Committee, formerly the Latin American Affairs Committee, was a convention committee until August 1961, when it was set up as a permanent committee. The name was changed to Mexican American Affairs Committee in 1967.

Collection includes correspondence, legal documents, minutes, reports, newsletters, photographs, lists, essays, notes, newspaper clippings, and booklets. Included are correspondence and reports to officers from various international affairs advisors, notably Andrew C. McLellan, author of What Price Wetbacks?, and photographs of Mexican workers used in his publication; records of committee directors; and additional materials. Topics include labor's efforts to combat the Mexican commuter worker problem including the case the Texas AFL-CIO brought against Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service; the rights of migrant workers in the United States; and economic conditions along the border. Also included are reports and correspondence from Texas AFL-CIO public information officers regarding organizing efforts throughout the state.

AR 408
1969-1987
3 boxes

The collection consists of three manuscript boxes of material. The original donation included three books: Ministry of the Dispossessed, Long Road to Delano, Conquering Goliath-Cesar Chavez at the Beginning; which were transferred to the circulating collection; 27 issues of Ya Mero (1971-1972) and 56 issues of El Malcriado (1969-1975), which were transferred to the newspaper collection; and 18 issues of Food and Justice (1986-1990), which were added to the pamphlet file.

The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, newsletters, newspaper clippings, material on illegal aliens, migrant workers, farm workers, farm worker ministries, the Teamsters, Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers, the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, and the various strikes and boycotts conducted by the union. Records cover the period from 1969-1994.

AR 36
1937-1947
14 folders

Records consist of correspondence, clippings, printed material, proceedings, and press releases. Much of the correspondence is between Donald G. Kobler, Texas Regional Director, and W.M. Aiken and P.F. Kennedy, of the Texas State Industrial Union Council, and the officers of the national union. Records also include correspondence of the Pecan Workers Union of San Antonio, Local 172. Many materials including correspondence, articles, essays, clippings, flyers, and publicity materials pertaining to San Antonio pecan shellers and the San Antonio Pecan Workers' strike of 1938 are present. The organization of labor and the imprisonment of Christopher Clarich are other frequent topics of correspondence. Also included are the 1937 proceedings of the first national convention and a 1938 program for the second national convention of what was then the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America.

AR 278
1938-1976, bulk 1957-1972
96 boxes

Records consist of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, financial records, legal documents, reports, news releases, photographs, speeches, newsletters, radio scripts, constitutions, manuals, handbooks, surveys, lists, newspaper articles and clippings, pamphlets, sound recordings, and miscellaneous printed materials. These are the files of the officers and department directors of the Texas AFL-CIO, Austin, Texas, primarily from 1957-1972, and of particular note are those of Equal Opportunity Director Henry Muñoz, Jr.

AR 110, Series XXVIII
7 boxes
1952-1972

Collection contains audio recordings (reel-to-reel and audiotape cassette). Included are recordings of annual conventions, meetings, conferences, debates, political speeches by and about national and state candidates, excerpts of radio broadcasts, discussions, lectures, and commentary on a variety of labor topics. Also included are audiotapes of some Texas State Federation of Labor and Texas State COPE conventions and filmstrips.

9 boxes
1966-1993

Texas Civil Rights Project Records consist of administrative and operational materials, often showing the daily functions, outreach and objectives in running a public assistance legal clinic. Also included is the original charter, constitutional by-laws, volunteer outreach and attorney outreach information, mailing lists used, a biography of James Harrington, materials pertaining to the Comal, Carver and EALC clinics. The bulk of the collection consists of case files, including correspondence between defense and plaintiff attorneys, between courts of law and both parties in the sundry civil and criminal cases documented. Legal cases primarily encompass first and fourth amendment conflicts between citizens or organizations and local, State or Federal authorities. The magnitude of cases are detailed in the container list accompanying this finding aid. There are published articles and brochures covering a wide range of high profile cases, press releases and essays associated with TCRP legal defense achievements. There are also several booklets, brochures and bumper stickers promoting the purposes, outreach and goals of the organization. The collection's scope and detail allows research and rare glimpses into the workings, preparation, investigations and final outcomes of many of the precedent-setting cases. The records also include extensive statistical data from Federal, State and legal clinic client demographics.

Relevant materials:
Box 5, Folder 10 MALDEF v. Uher-Trial Exhibits,

Box 6, Folder 2 McNamara v. Barajas & Thompson

Box 7, Folder 3 Price, Samantha v. Austin ISD

AR 110 Series 1
17 boxes
1952-1973

The Texas AFL-CIO was formed on July 29, 1957 when the Texas State Federation of Labor and the Texas State CIO Council merged.

Collection includes correspondence, minutes, financial records, reports, lists, speeches, clippings, biographical sketches, photographs, manual, applications, printed material, and memorabilia. Office files of executive board (officers and department directors) and district vice-presidents. Includes personal papers of Hank Brown, 1958-1969 and material on right-to-work laws.