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Guide to the Fred Hirsch Ephemera Collection
MSS-2007-07-01
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Title: Fred Hirsch Ephemera collection
Dates: 1955-1973
Collection number: MSS-2007-07-01
Creator:
Hirsch, Fred, 1933-
Collection Size:
1 box
1.3 linear feet
Repository:
San Jose State University Library.
San Jose, California 95192-0028
Abstract:
The Fred Hirsch Ephemera collection documents local civil rights activist organizations in San Jose and Santa Clara County.
This collection documents the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the National Farmworkers
Association, and Santa Clara County Friends of SNCC, the Mexican American Political Association, and Congress
of Racial Equality (CORE). The collection includes correspondence, petitions, flyers and miscellaneous
ephemera.
Physical location: Vault 1, Range 22B
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
The collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of
Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives 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. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original
materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Fred Hirsch collection, MSS-2007-07-01, San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processed by Mark Rivas, Revised by Veronica Cabrera, EAD encoded by Mark Rivas, Revised by Veronica Cabrera.
Gift of Fred Hirsch, July 2007.
Fred Hirsch (1933-), a retired plumber is well known to the national leadership of the AFL-CIO and very widely in San Jose.
As vice president of Plumbers and Fitter, Local 393, Hirsch worked as a plumber and rank and file worker in
construction as well as a union activist and organizer. Hirsch helped transform his union into a dynamic force
on issues of AFL-CIO intervention in the political and trade union life of sovereign nations and specifically the
organizations in Latin America.
Hirsch is particularly known in the Chicano community, where he founded and served as Secretary of the Law and
Police Committee Model Cities Program. He has been involved in political, labor and community activism in San
Jose and he served as Co-Chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Friends of the Student Non Violent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC).
Hirsch also wrote the first pamphlet exposing CIA machinations in the Latin American labor movement.
Committed to civil rights, Hirsch participated in the Mississippi Freedom Summer project to help register African
American voters in Mississippi.
In addition, he worked with Cesar Chavez and the National Farmworkers Association. He played a part
in the Angela Davis’ trial by helping with the research of over 2000 potential jurors to guarantee a fair trial.
Hirsch is currently on the Executive Board of Plumbers and Fitters Local 393 in San Jose, a delegate to
the South Bay Labor Council and a longtime activist in the Latin America Solidarity Coalition.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Fred Hirsch Ephemera Collection contains civil rights era materials documenting the activities of civil
rights organizations in San Jose and Santa Clara County. A Major focus of this collection is police
brutality, and the development of the Community Alert Patrol (CAP). The collection consists of printed
materials, ephemera, and publications. Topics include, Voter Registration and the Selma March in Alabama, Fair Housing issues,
community alert patrols in San Jose and the effort to free Angela Davis.
This collection is arranged in one series. I. Public Relations and Printed Matter, 1955-1973.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Hirsch, Fred, 1933--
SNCC--California--Santa Clara
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements
African Americans Civil Rights Movement--California--San Jose