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Edgar T. Monk scrapbooks

 Collection
Identifier: larc-ms-0198

Scope and Contents

Consists of three scrapbooks compiled by Edgar T. Monk; Volumes I and II relate to organizing California farmworkers in the mid 1970s, including the struggle between the Teamsters and the United Farmworkers (UFW), and the Gallo and Lucky Stores boycotts/campaigns. Volume III contains clippings from various mainstream and labor papers, including the East Bay Labor Journal and News and Views (published by the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America) relating to Richard Nixon’s economic policies, farmworker issues, health and safety issues, welfare, working women and American Indians.

Dates

  • 1967 - 1976
  • Majority of material found within 1973 - 1974

Creator

Availability

Collection is open for research.

Restrictions

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and 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 and 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.

Biography of Edgar T. Monk

Edgar Tietjen Monk was born February 29, 1917 in Cowley, Wyoming. His mother, Augusta Tietjen Monk died when he was 10 and he was sent to live with his paternal grandparents, devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was a cowboy on his grandfather’s ranch until 1937, when he became an elder in the Church and went on missions to Norway and the UK until his return in 1939.

He met and married Cledyth A. Marshall of Lovell, Wyoming in 1940. They were married for 48 years until her death in 1988. Mr. Monk volunteered for service in the Army early in 1942, but was honorably discharged just before his first child, Ferol Maxine was born. In the last years of the war, he worked in the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA.

Through the last of the 1940's and early 1950's he worked at many occupations including driving a taxi, store clerk, and shoe repairman.

In 1957 he was employed with Clearprint/Dietrich Post, a company that produced specialty papers for engineering firms. He joined the Printing Specialties Local 1, and became Shop Steward for the company's plants in Emeryville and in San Francisco and thus sat on both the San Francisco as well as the Alameda Central Labor Councils where a few people know of him today. The family moved from Oakland to Richmond in 1959 and Mr. Monk started work on the Santa Fe Neighborhood Council in 1961 and was its first president. Neighborhood Councils eventually became Model Cities and he served on this organization too.

In the late 1940's he and Cledyth joined the Consumers Co-operative of Berkeley. More than just a Co-operative grocery store, this group included many other services, including consumer education.

Edgar served on many elected positions in this co-operative. Perhaps it was experience at picking crops, or perhaps it was the co-op and his union background, but he became an advocate and activist with the United Farmworkers and proudly mentioned that he had dinner with Cesar Chavez at his house.

He participated in civil rights and peace marches through the 1960s and in 1977 he helped to form the Society for Soviet-American Friendship, which folded in 1991. Many cultural programs were held during these years.

After retirement in 1982, he pursued hobbies like painting and writing, and spent much of his time in senior concerns. He drove his own car to deliver Meals On Wheels in Contra Costa County, and was on the Board of the Contra Costa Senior Nutrition Project. In 2006 he was honored by Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin for his over three decades of service to the City of Richmond. Edgar T. Monk passed away in Oakland in 2010.

-From obituary published in The Berkeley Daily Planet, written by Edith Monk-Hallberg, published March 18, 2010

Extent

0.5 Cubic Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Consists of three scrapbooks compiled by Edgar T. Monk; Volumes I and II relate to organizing California farmworkers in the mid 1970s, including the struggle between the Teamsters and the United Farmworkers (UFW), and the Gallo and Lucky Stores boycotts/campaigns. Volume III contains clippings from various mainstream and labor papers, including the East Bay Labor Journal and News and Views (published by the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America) relating to Richard Nixon’s economic policies, farmworker issues, health and safety issues, welfare, working women and American Indians.

Acquisition

The Edgar T. Monk Collection was donated by Edith Monk-Hallberg in 2007, accession number 2007/027.

Accruals

No additions are expected.

Separated Materials

Issues of El Macriado have been added to the Periodicals Collection.

Processing Information

Processed by Labor Archives and Research Center staff. The collection was originally received as three binders, and the contents are loose leaf sheets, newspaper clippings glued on paper, pamphlets etc. Volumes I and II were removed from their binders and placed in folders. Volume III remains in its binder.

Title
Finding Aid to the Edgar T. Monk Scrapbooks
Status
Completed
Author
Labor Archives and Research Center staff.
Date
2012
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in: English

Repository Details

Part of the Labor Archives and Research Center Repository

Contact:
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722 USA
(415) 405-5571