Heidi Swarts Collection of PICO and PACT Materials, 1989-2005

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Summary

Abstract:
The Heidi Swarts Collection spans the years 1989-2005 and contains letters, government documents, flyers, memos, and other organizational records from the People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) and the People Acting Together in Community (PACT) organizations, acting, in this case, in the San Jose, California area.
Extent:
2.25 linear feet 5 archival document boxes
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Heidi Swarts Collection of PICO and PACT Materials, MS110, Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.

Background

Scope and content:

Professor of Political Science at Rutgers-Newark, Dr. Heidi Swarts donated this collection consisting of materials that she used for her research on community organizing.The Heidi Swarts Collection contains printed documents and copies of newspaper articles that detail the activities of community organizing agencies People Acting in Community Together (PACT) and People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO). PICO started as the Pacific Institute for Community Orgainzing, but changed its name once it became a national organization. PICO or PACT originally created the materials and then gave them to Dr. Swarts.

Within the collection one will find information on the various actions, meetings, and projects of these two organizaitons that took place within the city of San Jose in the years 1989-2005.

Biographical / historical:

Donated by Dr. Heidi Swarts who conducted research on community organizations, this collection details the actions of two organizations in the San Jose area. PICO (Pacific Institute for Community Organization), of Oakland, California, is dedicated to organizing local communities--usually low-income--for social action. Founded by Jerry Helfrich, S.J., and John Baumann, S.J., PICO carries on the tradition of community organizing developed by Saul Alinsky, the person responsible in the United States for this type of social activism. PICO started as the Pacific Institute for Community Organizing, but as PICO grew into a National Network it changed its name to People Improving Communities through Organizing.

PACT was established in the San Jose area in 1985 under the direction of PICO. PACT is a faith-based community organization that reaches out to communities through religious institutions in an effort to inflict positive social change. PACT began to impacted siginificatly community life in the mid to late 90s, the reason most of this collection's documentationnon of PACT's activities dates from this era.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Dr. Heidi Swarts. Accession Number 2013.27
Arrangement:

This Series is arranged based on original order and content. The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:
-Series 1: People Acting in Community Together
-Subseries 1: PACT Records
-Subseries 2: PACT Media
-Subseries 3: PACT Churches
-Series 2: People Improving Communities through Organizing
-Series 3: Other Research

Physical description:
Good condition.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections.

Terms of access:

Materials in the Department of Archives and Special Collections may be subject to copyright. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, Loyola Marymount University does not claim ownership of the copyright of any materials in its collections. The user or publisher must secure permission to publish from the copyright owner. Loyola Marymount University does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or of publication rights held by the original author or artists or his/her heirs, assigns, or executors.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Heidi Swarts Collection of PICO and PACT Materials, MS110, Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.

Location of this collection:
1 LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659, US
Contact:
(310) 338-5710
Special.Collections@lmu.edu
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