This collection consists of the personal papers of researcher Henry P. Anderson. The materials cover agricultural labor conditions; corporate agriculture and farm economy; pesticide use and effect on workers; agriculture-related legislation; farmer associations; and labor, religious and political organizing efforts to improve agricultural working conditions. Includes extensive correspondence and news clippings, and Anderson’s research into the Bracero Program during his graduate program at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley.

The Bracero Program was a binational agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to import temporary agricultural workers to fill labor shortages. Also known as Public Law 78, it began in 1942 under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Labor. In California, the California Dept. of Employment managed the program which primarily served corporate agriculture. On paper, the bi-national agreement guaranteed decent living conditions and a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour. However, there was little oversight and Anderson discovered many violations.

This collection contains extensive documentation on the California program, and the millions of Mexican men, mainly from rural communities, who participated in it. In the collection, they are mostly unnamed numbers but there are a few instances of interviews and photographs documenting names and voices.

The collection also contains documentation of Anderson’s communication and work with key people who worked with the agricultural workers. These include Fathers Thomas McCullough and Donald McDonnell, Catholic priests who served Spanish-speaking farm workers, Ernesto Galarza, one of the first Mexican scholars and labor organizers to write about the problems in the Bracero Program; and H. L. Mitchell, president of the National Agricultural Workers Union and co-founder of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.

Series 1: Personal contains biographical material, including transcripts from several oral history interviews, his research and writings as a university student, and his work as a contract researcher on several studies.

Series 2: U.C. Berkeley includes Andersons’s thesis research on the Bracero Program, including interviews with braceros, camp employees, growers and health workers; copious notes, and a wide range of related research documents on farm work, foreign labor, child labor and the perspective of labor organizations and governmental agencies. It also includes several drafts and versions of his thesis on the California Bracero Program.

Series 3: Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee includes records Anderson produced during his tenure as the Director of Research, including numerous newsletters, research results, and surveys, in addition to extensive research and news clippings he collected.

Series 4: Citizens for Farm Labor contains administrative documents, the quarterly CFL journal, news clippings on agriculture labor, legislation and testimonies given before governmental bodies.

Series 5: Pesticides contains records produced during Anderson’s research assistant work on the Community Study on Pesticides and the Task Group on Occupational Exposure to Pesticides. This series includes administrative records (correspondence, minutes, recommendations, etc.) research documents on re-entry periods, farm worker health issues (sudden death syndrome, child and worker poisoning, and morbidity), pesticide producer documents, government publications on pesticide use, health insurance and Workers' Compensation, and studies on pesticide use and residue on various crops.

Series 6: Publications consists of drafts and rewrites of Anderson’s published books in addition to some copies of his self-published books.

Series 7: Correspondence and Collaboration includes correspondence between Anderson and individuals he considered mentors and partners in his work supporting farm worker rights. These include Ernesto Galarza, Father Thomas McCullough, H. L. Mitchell and Eugene Nelson, Prof. Gilbert Gonzalez, and Ben Yellen. This series also includes documents from the Community Service Organization and the National Sharecroppers Fund.

Series 8: Photography consists of mostly black and white images of Bracero Program activities (intake centers, health inspections, processing), farm worker housing; families; fieldwork; pickets; the Delano to Sacramento march; AWOC's Strathmore conference featuring labor leaders and farm workers, and the U.C. Berkeley Free Speech Movement. Photographers identified are Ernest Lowe, George Ballis, Harvey Richards, and Henry Anderson.

Series 9: Sound Recording consists of interviews, meetings, speeches and events. Featured people include Ernesto Galarza, Father Thomas McCullough, Maria Moreno, bracero workers, Prof. Paul Taylor, Norman Smith, Santa Cruz Filipinos, Vangie Buell speaking about Pete Velasco and more.

Series 10: Video Recordings consists of braceros, AWOC Strathmore conference, Podesta strike, National Farm Worker Association pilgrimage, Pete Velasco, and Vincent St. John's graveside.

Content Warning: This collection contains derogatory terminology to describe Mexican agricultural workers in the Bracero program and which was used to disempower them. The language is in the UC Berkeley series. If you have questions or comments about this language or description, please email us at larc@sfsu.edu