Gloria Arellanes Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS-2010-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This scope and content note represents two initial accessions with the last additions comprising a variety of materials, plus photographs. Gloria Arellanes and Dionne Espinoza [Professor of History, Cal State LA] identified a large percentage of the contents of the files. They placed documents and materials into folders that were assigned topical categories within Series I, Subject Files. The topical categories in Series I were maintained throughout the processing of the collection.

Series I: Subject/Topical Files, 1968-2002, arranged chronologically, Box 1.

The Subject Files are arranged in alphabetical order and reflect Gloria Arellanes’ associational and activist activities as well as memberships, interests, events and other subjects of interest.

Also includes correspondence when Arellanes served as Minister of Finance and Correspondence for La Causa, the East Los Angeles based Brown Beret Newspaper. Includes letter in which “all of the Brown Beret women” resign from the organization. “Chicano Power” statement, Chicano Moratorium mailing lists, and other related documents.

Series II: Programs, Flyers and Broadsides, 1967-1989, Box 2.

Series III: Newspapers, 1968-1973, arranged alphabetically, Box 2.

The newspapers in this series document the Chicano Movement in East Los Angeles. They are unique and offer insight into the issues, concerns and activities of the Chicano Movement during this time period.

Series IV: Clippings, 1963-1999, arranged chronologically, Box 2.

Series V: Publications, 1944-1997, arranged alphabetically, Boxes 3-4.

Publications include El Grito, a literary journal published by University California, Berkeley, and El Espejo, a literary journal. These publications illustrate the variety of literary works dedicated to Chicano studies.

Series VI: Photographs, Boxes 5-6. The bulk of photographs are undated but most date to the 1960s and 1970s.

Series VII: Posters, undated. No arrangement, Box 7 and map cases [Palmer, Room 2081].

Series VIII: Ephemera, 1960s-1970s, no arrangement, Box 8.

Included in the Ephemera series are a large number of political buttons, flags, banners, ribbons, brown berets and other textile materials.

Dates

Creation: 1967 - 1979

Language of Materials

English .

Conditions Governing Use

The Gloria Arellanes Papers is the physical property of California State University, Los Angeles, John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Special Collections and Archives.

Biographical / Historical

Gloria Arellanes (1946- ) was born in East Los Angeles and raised in El Monte, California. She attended El Monte High School in the early 1960s and in the mid1960s she worked in the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project in South Los Angeles. In the late 1960s she became Minister of Finance and Correspondence of the Chicano Brown Beret organization’s founding East Los Angeles Chapter. As Minister of Finance and Correspondence she wrote press releases, letters, and edited La Causa, the East Los Angeles based Brown Beret Newspaper. She also served as administrator of El Barrio Free Clinic and was a member of the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (1969-1970). She attended the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C. (1968), and the Denver Youth Conferences (1969 and 1970). After leaving the Brown Beret organization in early 1970, she organized the women’s group, Las Adelitas de Aztlán. She also coordinated la Clínica del Barrio and continued as a health care worker through the late 1970s.

The bulk of the collection includes political flyers and broadsides, newspapers, books, buttons, posters and photographs dating from 1967 to the late 1970s. Documents also include materials related to her role as Minister of Finance and Correspondence and Free Clinic Coordinator, as well as to the founding of Las Adelitas de Aztlán and her involvement in the coordination of La Clínica Familiar del Barrio.

Extent

13.75 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Abstract

The East Los Angeles Archives (ELAA) is comprised of collections which document the lives and events of ahistorical community central to the social, political, and cultural history of the Chicano/Latino community in the United States. The ELAA is a program that advances scholarship in Chicano/Latino studies and Los Angeles history through its varied collection of primary research materials. This archives has a special interest in materials documenting the Chicano and Civil Rights movements in East Los Angeles during the 1960s and 1970s.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into eight series: I. Subject/Topical Files; II. Programs, Flyers and Broadsides III. Newspapers; IV. Clippings V. Publications; VI. Photographs; VII. Posters; VIII. Ephemera.