Aleph Number:
Collection is open for research.
Original audiovisual materials are closed to use. Use of these materials may require production of listening or viewing copies. Please contact a reference archivist before coming to use this collection.
Collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
[Identification of item], Joan Preiss Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The Joan Preiss Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 2009.
Processed by Meghan Lyon, January 2010
Encoded by Meghan Lyon, January 2010
This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Joan Papert Preiss (pronounced Jo-anne Pa-pert Price) was born in New York City on January 4, 1925, and lived throughout the country before settling with her husband, Jack Preiss, in Durham in 1959. She attended an organizational meeting for a United Farm Workers support group on August 23, 1973, that resulted in the formation of the Triangle Friends of the United Farm Workers, which she chaired until her retirement in the 2000s. Preiss also joined the National Farm Worker Ministry as a board member, and was a member of the N.C. Council of Churches' Farmworker Ministry Committee. Other organizations that she and the Triangle Friends have worked with include the Student Action for Farmworkers, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, and the Farmworkers Advocacy Network.
Abbreviations of organizations frequently found in the collection:
Materials in this collection represent both Joan Preiss's personal papers as well as organizational materials from the various groups that she worked with throughout her career. Heavily represented are the activities of the Triangle Friends of the United Farm Workers, which Preiss managed from her house in Durham, N.C. Materials from the TFUFW include meeting minutes, administrative files, publicity and flyers, newsletters, and other miscellaneous papers. Preiss's own organizational notes and agendas are heavily mixed in with official materials from the organization, reflecting the large role that she played in its activities. The majority of files center around the TFUFW's various campaigns and boycotts, which included California grapes, Gallo wine, Prime brand mushrooms, Driscoll and other brands of strawberries, Campbell's products, Red Coach lettuce, and Mt. Olive pickles. Of these, the largest amount of material appears to be from the Mt. Olive boycott, presumably because it lasted for about five years and was one of the last boycotts that Preiss participated in. Materials from these boycotts include leaflets, news clippings, flyers, posters, petitions, endorsements, and photographs of TFUFW members (including Preiss) demonstrating and distributing literature at area grocery stores, frequently wearing costumes or tiaras to draw attention. Along with protesting to the companies themselves, TFUFW frequently targeted the sellers of boycotted products, resulting in a plethora of material about various North Carolina grocery stores and supermarket chains, including Kroger, Wellspring/Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, and Food Lion. Preiss's correspondence with store owners and managers, copies of customer petitions, and information about the various chains are present in the collection. In a similar vein are the materials regarding Duke University's participation (or lack thereof) in both the Red Coach lettuce and the Mt. Olive pickle boycotts, and the Preiss's lobbying towards both students and Duke administration to stop selling and serving boycotted products.
Other labor advcocacy groups are also well-represented in the collection, and frequently the materials from different organizations are mixed together, as Preiss worked with each of them. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee was another organizer of consumer boycotts and protests, and TFUFW activities were often in support of FLOC's goals. FLOC was heavily involved in the Mt. Olive pickle boycott. Also included in the collection are administrative and organizational materials from the National Farm Worker Ministry, such as board meetings, conferences, and publications. In addition, Preiss was very involved in the Farmworker Ministry Committee, and its publications, newsletters, and meeting minutes are also present in the collection.
Aside from boycotting products, these labor groups were active in attempting to improve working conditions for farm workers, through petitions, educating the public through publications and protests, lobbying for legal protection, and marching and organizing to gain attention from the media. Farmworker issues heavily represented in the collection include the use of pesticides and its harmful effects on farm workers and consumers; the H-2A program, undocumented workers, and the abuse of immigrants on North Carolina farms; the attempts to establish a North Carolina anti-slavery law; child labor, particularly of migrant children; occupational safety and hazards in agriculture; violence towards farmworkers attempting to unionize; and obtaining fair contracts for farmworkers to prevent employer abuse. Material formats for documenting these campaigns include newspaper clippings, brochures and leaflets, copies of proposed laws, reports from farm bureaus and other government authorities, and other administrative files such as meeting minutes. Along with Preiss's local organizations, she frequently received updates on these issues from national groups like the UFW, and those newsletters and correspondence are present in the collection as well.
Along with her involvement in different local and national labor organizations, the collection also reflects Preiss's interests in the city of Durham. Although materials from her community involvement in Durham revitalization, Duke Campus Ministry, political campaigns, community health, and human rights issues are not overwhelmingly large, they are substantive enough to offer insights into her activities outside of (or in parallel to) the labor movement.
This collection has been minimally processed; items have have only been refoldered when required for preservation or access. The materials and files were organized by Preiss in her Durham home office, and although different filing cabinet drawers have been grouped together in the finding aid, in general the collection is fairly loose in its arrangement. Loose series have been created intellectually in this finding aid to help researchers interested in only one portion of the collection. Due to the minimal processing, folders have not been united across boxes, and therefore different series are sometimes spread across several boxes. Preiss appears to have maintained name and subject files, but these folders often included a broad scope of information. Similar subjects frequently appeared in several different drawers in her filing cabinets, and organizational files appear to have been spread around the room; therefore, different chronological pieces of the same organization or subject are often present in several boxes throughout the collection.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
There are two subject file series in this collection--Subject Files A, and Subject Files B--reflecting the organization that Preiss maintained in her home office. Subject Files A appears to be better organized and the majority of materials date from the mid-1980s through 2006. Subject Files B is more loosely organized and dates largely from the 1970s-1980s. Subjects are repeated in both series and elsewhere throughout the collection.
Regarding Preiss's involvement in a protest against the NC Department of Motor Vehicles discrimination against immigrants, especially Spanish-speaking populations.
Includes expense reports, meeting minutes, and handouts/flyers/brochures.
Includes reports, resolutions, human billboarding, and press articles.
Subject Files B is more loosely organized that Subject Files A and dates largely from the 1970s-1980s. Subjects are repeated in both series and elsewhere throughout the collection.
Wide range of materials relating to Preiss's involvement in various organizations, consumer campaigns, and boycotts.
Includes pro-union materials, as well as pro-boycott materials from the grape, Mt. Olive, Gallo, Prime, Taco Bell, and Campbell's boycotts.
Includes some overlap with the general subject files and organizational files, but largely relates to Preiss's personal activities outside of her labor activities. Subjects include the improvement of Durham, political campaigns (both local and national Democratic campaigns), anti-tobacco materials, and human rights materials.
Includes correspondence to and from Joan Preiss and her various organizations, as well as mailings from a variety of labor groups.
Includes boycott posters for the Prime mushrooms, Campbell's, grapes, Mt. Olive, and Gallo wine boycotts, as well as general pro-union materials. Also includes posters addressing Wellspring (Whole Foods) grocery about labor issues and 2 fabric flags (1 FLOC and 1 UFW).