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IntroductionIntroduction
By LeRoy Chatfield

Cesar Chavez was a man with many visions – his credit union, newspaper, death benefit program, service centers, co-op gas station, medical clinics, legal department, statewide communication network, and retreat center come readily to mind, but there were many others. One of the most interesting was his desire to create a Taller Grafico – a print/graphics workshop whereby the farmworker movement could print in-house its own newspaper, magazines, educational brochures, political flyers, and stationery. He also envisioned this graphic workshop would create and produce posters, flags, picket signs, buttons and all the other kinds of paraphernalia his farmworker movement would need.

Cesar recruited Frank and Elizabeth Rodriguez along with Ruben Montoya - all active boycott supporters in the San Jose area – to develop the Taller Grafico. Frank and Elizabeth would handle the marketing side of the operation, and Ruben, the printing. Ruben quit his job and along with his wife Daneen, and their two sons, he moved to La Paz – the second family to reside there. When he left La Paz four years later, more than 100 farmworker movement volunteers lived at La Paz.

Ruben also took photographs. Beginning in the late 60’s when he first became an active UFW supporter in San Jose, he took hundreds of UFW-related photos: San Jose activists and supporters, food caravans to Delano, meetings at the Filipino Hall, the march from Indio to Calexico, San Jose boycott picket lines, La Raza conventions, political rallies and more.

The director of labor archives at Wayne State University in Detroit prevailed upon Ruben to give his negatives to the archive. Reluctantly, he did so. Many years later, he asked the archive to return his negatives but was told he would have to come in person to Detroit to reclaim them.

In 2006, I contacted the archivist at Wayne State and asked to borrow Ruben Montoya’s negatives to publish them on the Website. Bad news to report: the negatives could not be located, apparently they had been lost. At my urging, a complete search of the archives was undertaken, and there is good news to report: the archivist found the negatives (they had been misfiled) and with multiple sighs of relief, the archives sent Ruben’s negatives to the Documentation Project.

All is well that ends well: Ruben’s historical photos have now been published on the Website, the negatives and digital copies have been returned to him – and you, dear viewer, are the beneficiary.

GEORGE BALLIS


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_31.jpg

1 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 612 times

CESAR CHAVEZ


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_36.jpg

3 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 636 times

CROP DUSTING


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_46.jpg

2 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 574 times

JIM DRAKE


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_34.jpg

1 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 565 times

ERNIE ABEYTIA FOR ASSEMBLY - SAN JOSE


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62 files, last one added on May 28, 2006
Album viewed 675 times

FILIPINO HALL WEEKEND CARAVAN c.1969


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37 files, last one added on May 28, 2006
Album viewed 640 times

DOLORES HUERTA


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_69.jpg

2 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 597 times

INDIO-CALEXICO UFW MARCH 1969


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_02.jpg

43 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 647 times

TED KENNEDY


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_07.jpg

1 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 560 times

MIKE KRAKOW


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_54.jpg

1 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 555 times

LA PAZ 1970 / KEENE CA


WEB_RUBEN_MONTOYA_52.jpg

34 files, last one added on Aug 27, 2007
Album viewed 654 times

LA RAZA SAN JOSE CONVENTION c.1968


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22 files, last one added on May 27, 2006
Album viewed 622 times

27 albums on 3 page(s) 1