The bulk of this collection of the personal papers of Arthur K. Bierman is divided into two major series: 1) American Federation of Teachers, and 2) Anti-HUAC Activities. The AFT material is focused primarily on organizing activities in Local 1352, San Francisco State College Federation of Teachers, and includes a draft constitution, correspondence, circular letters, a membership list, and various faculty lists. There is printed material and publications generated by the California Federation of Teachers and two files of clippings--one covering collective bargaining rights for teachers.

This material was collected during a very turbulent period in San Francisco history. It covers the proposed visit of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1959 when 140 California teachers were subpoenaed. (This hearing was later postponed and ultimately canceled.) Bierman was instrumental in forming a group called San Franciscans for Academic Freedom and Education (SAFE) to protect the civil rights of the subpoenaed teachers. The following year, in May 1960, HUAC again focused on California and held hearings at San Francisco City Hall which provoked mass opposition from students, teachers and other groups who demonstrated at City Hall. The Committee limited attendance at the hearings by issuing passes; on the second day, the demonstrators were attacked with water hoses and the resulting riot was a dramatic beginning of the 1960s, a forerunner of the student "Free Speech" movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests which followed.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives & 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 & 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.

Collection is open for research.