Ralph Helstein papers, 1933-1985

Author / Creator

Helstein, Ralph, 1908-1985

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Summary

Personal correspondence, speeches and notes, oral history interviews, labor history teaching materials, and subject files of Helstein, a long-time progressive leader and president of the United Pac...

Personal correspondence, speeches and notes, oral history interviews, labor history teaching materials, and subject files of Helstein, a long-time progressive leader and president of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. Correspondence documents his private law practice (1942-1964), work as general counsel of the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee and as president of the UPWA (1946-1968), and activities and speaking engagements outside the labor movement and after his retirement with organizations such as Israel Histadrut, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, and the Committee for Rural Democracy in Crystal City, Texas (investigating La Raza Unida).

There are also by-laws, minutes, and financial reports of the Rath Packing Company collected while Helstein was a member of the company's board of directors; documents about an internal investigation prompted by A. T. Stephen's charges in 1958 of Communist influence within the UPWA, and a notebook used by Helstein during contract bargaining in the 1960s. Prominent correspondents include Saul Alinsky, Patrick Gorman, Michael Harrington, Hubert H. Humphrey, Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers), Carey McWilliams, George Meany, Leslie Orear, and Edwin Witte.

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