Labor Archives and Research Center

Few regions can rival the rich, lively labor history of the San Francisco Bay Area. This history is preserved in primary source and vintage history materials at the Labor Archives and Research Center (LARC). Founded in 1985 by trade union leaders, historians, labor activists and university administrators, the Labor Archives is a unit of the J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University. The Labor Archives has an Advisory Board drawn from the labor, academic and community leaders of the Bay Area.

Hours

Monday-Friday: 1-5pm
By appointment / 2 days in advance
Check hours for exceptions

Exhibits & Events

San Francisco Archives Crawl 2019

Saturday, October 19, 2019, 1:00-5:00 PM

Join San Francisco archival repositories for San Francisco’s third Archives Crawl in celebration of American Archives Month in October.

More Exhibits & Events

Contact

larc@sfsu.edu
(415) 405-5571
Library 460
Staff Directory

Advisory Board

Board members (Word)

Address

Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132

Collections

The Labor Archives collection includes materials from the counties surrounding San Francisco Bay, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. More than 6,000 feet of primary source material is available for research. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, a wide scope of Bay Area labor activity is represented. Many unions have made the Labor Archives the official repository for their historical records -- minutes, office correspondence, membership files, publications and contracts. Labor leaders, attorneys, arbitrators, and rank-and-file workers have donated their personal papers. Personal memorabilia, photographs, ephemera, and oral histories document the lives and stories of working men and women. Visual material, in addition to photographs, includes cartoons, banners, posters, prints, handbills, picket signs, and buttons.

Search Online Archive of California

Holdings List

List of Collections at this site (PDF). Printed copy also available.

Access

Some material is stored off-site and may need advance notice to retrieve. For inquiries, please call or e-mail.

Online Access

Digital Special Collections

Labor Archives in the Internet Archive

YouTube

The San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book

Take a tour of San Francisco’s labor past and present working class neighborhoods, labor hangouts, monuments, murals, memorials, and buildings that reflect the history of the people who built the “City by the Bay.”  Discover 88 different sites and five neighborhood walking tours covering an array of landmarks from the unique point of view of those who work in its stores, labor in its hotels and run its cable cars.

To order, please call or e-mail.