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Pele deLappe papers

 Collection
Identifier: larc-ms-0233

Scope and Contents

Consists of the correspondence and personal papers of Pele (Phyllis) deLappe, amassed during the years 1938-2002. Correspondence includes a large collection of letters from Decca Treuhaft, also known as Jessica Mitford, Steve Murdock, and with various publishers. Papers include typescripts of deLappe's memoir; oral history and interview transcripts; subject files on Byron Randall, Anton Refrigier, Emmy Lou Packard and Anita Whitney; deLappe's files released under the Freedom of Information Act from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and sketches of the 1966 United Farm Workers march from Delano to Sacramento.

In addition to correspondence with Jessica Mitford, the collection contains news clips, manuscripts and articles that deLappe wrote about Mitford, found in the Pele deLappe Writings – General file. The several files on deLappe's memoir, along with the transcripts contained in the Oral Histories and Interviews folder, provide insight into deLappe's experience as a San Francisco artist and activist. The subject file on Anita Whitney contains six unidentified slides from an exhibit or scrapbook relating to Anita Whitney. The file on Anton Refregier contains documents relating to the Rincon Annex murals, painted by Refregier in 1946-1947; deLappe assisted him with some of the panels. A photographic negative of part of the mural has been relocated to the Labor Archives' Photographic Negative Collection.

Dates

  • 1938-2003

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

Pele deLappe was born in San Francisco on May 4, 1916 to Wesley and Dorothy Sheldon deLappe. In her teens, she studied art in San Francisco and in New York, where she befriended Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera during his composition of the controversial Rockefeller Center mural. When she returned to San Francisco in 1934, she became active in the San Francisco Maritime Strike as a member of the Women's Auxiliary. In addition to picketing and raising money, deLappe contributed political cartoons to Fo'csle Head, the newsletter of the Maritime Workers Industrial Union, and The Waterfront Worker, the rank and file longshore newsletter. She joined the Communist Party in 1934.

deLappe continued to be active in the labor movement and to contribute her artistic skill to various political movements throughout her life. She worked as a journalist, editor, and political cartoonist for various publications, including People's World, Daily Worker, Marine Cooks and Stewards Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, and The Beacon. In the 1940s, she taught life drawing at the California Labor School. In 1952, she and several other artists affiliated with the Labor School founded the Graphic Arts Workshop, a cooperative of class-conscious artists working in the spirit of Diego Rivera and his call to produce socially necessary art for the masses. During the course of her friendship with Jessica Mitford, she provided illustrations for two of Mitford's works: a pamphlet entitled "Lifeitselfmanship" and the book, Hons and Rebels. deLappe participated in group and one-person art shows throughout her life. A number of her lithographs are now a part of permanent art collections, including those of the Woodstock Artists Association in New York and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Art at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

deLappe was married to attorney Bert Edises in 1934. She gave birth to a daughter, Nina, in 1940 and to a son, Peter, in 1945. deLappe and Edises divorced in 1949; she re-married in 1953 to Steve Murdock, the political writer for the People's World; they divorced in 1969. She and fellow artist Byron Randall shared a close friendship from 1990 until his death in 1999. deLappe published her autobiography, Pele: A Passionate Journey Through Art and the Red Press, in 2000. deLappe died in 2007, in Petaluma, California.

Extent

0.8 Cubic Feet ( (2 boxes))

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Consists of the correspondence and personal papers of Pele (Phyllis) deLappe, amassed during the years 1938-2002. Correspondence includes a large collection of letters from Decca Treuhaft, also known as Jessica Mitford, Steve Murdock, and with various publishers. Papers include typescripts of deLappe's memoir; oral history and interview transcripts; subject files on Byron Randall, Anton Refrigier, Emmy Lou Packard and Anita Whitney; deLappe's files released under the Freedom of Information Act from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and sketches of the 1966 United Farm Workers march from Delano to Sacramento.

Arrangement

The collection is organized roughly according to the order established by the donor. Folders are arranged alphabetically.

Location

Collection is available onsite.

Location

Vault: 08:05:A

Acquisition

Pele deLappe donated the collection in 2003, accession number 2003/081.

Separated Materials

A photographic negative of part of the Rincon Annex mural painted by Anton Refrigier has been relocated to the Labor Archives' Photographic Negative Collection. An unfiled photograph of the 1949 Western Hemisphere Peace Congress in Mexico has been relocated to the Labor Archives' Photographic Collection.

Processing Information

The collection was processed in 2005 by Heather Cooper, Labor Archives Intern. It was reboxed from one carton into two boxes in June 2014; the original order has been maintained.

Title
Pele deLappe Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Heather Cooper, revised by Labor Archives and Research Center staff in 2014.
Date
2005, revised 2014
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