William J. Lewis collection
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence from the period of the 1934 Pacific Coast Maritime strike, when Lewis was International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) district president for the West Coast; scrapbooks from the 1934 strike era that document his strike leadership, his attempts to quash insurgent rank and file strike leaders like Harry Bridges, and the funeral procession for the two San Francisco strike supporters. Collection also contains the ILA district periodical Pacific Coast Longshoreman, August 12, 1935-April 20, 1936 and records from the 1934-1935 arbitration between the ILA and the Waterfront Employers Union that led to a strike settlement.
Dates
- [1919-1959] 1933-1936
- Majority of material found within 1933 - 1936
Creator
- Lewis, William J. (Person)
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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
Before becoming International Longshoremen's Association President, Pacific Coast District(District 38), William Lewis worked on San Francisco docks as a longshoreman for nearly 25 years. In 1933 he became a business agent for the newly chartered ILA 38-79. In the short space of six months the organization grew from nothing to a claimed membership of nearly 4,000.
Extent
0.5 Cubic Feet ( (1 box))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Includes correspondence from the period of the 1934 Pacific Coast Maritime strike, when Lewis was International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) district president for the West Coast; scrapbooks from the 1934 strike era that document his strike leadership, his attempts to quash insurgent rank and file strike leaders like Harry Bridges, and the funeral procession for the two San Francisco strike supporters. Collection also contains the ILA district periodical Pacific Coast Longshoreman, August 12, 1935-April 20, 1936 and records from the 1934-1935 arbitration between the ILA and the Waterfront Employers Union that led to a strike settlement.
Location
Collection is available onsite.
Acquisition
Accession number 1997/021
Separated Materials
Photographs have been removed to Photograph Collection. Images include: Joseph Ryan, John Bjorklund and group photo: "Conference on Dock Strike," Saturday, May 6, 1934; Michael J. Casey, Colbert Coldwell, Dave Beck, J.J. Finnegan, Albert E. Boynton, Dr. J.L. Leonard, A.H. Pederson, Herman Phleger, Judge C.A. Reynolds, William J. Lewis, John P. McLaughlin, Joseph P. Ryan, Mayor Angelo Rossi, Thomas G. Plant and John F. Forbes.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Leon Sompolinsky in the Spring of 1997.
Creator
- Lewis, William J. (Person)
- Title
- Inventory of the William J. Lewis Collection, [1919-1959] (bulk 1933-1936)
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Leon Sompolinsky, revised by Labor Archives and Research Center staff.
- Date
- © 1997, revised 2013
- 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
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722 USA
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu