We invite CSUDH students, faculty, staff, visiting researchers, and community members to explore primary sources in the Gerth Archives & Special Collections!
Our hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00am-12pm and 1pm - 4:30pm.
LIB South 5039, 5th floor
The Holt Labor Library was established in 1992 by Fredrick Rodney "Rod" Holt, who was credited with engineering the power supply for Apple's first computer. Rod Holt became a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in 1959 and continued to be a member until he left in 1983 to join Socialist Action. He later became a member of the Socialist Workers Organization in 2001.
In 1992, Rod Holt opened the Holt Labor Library on the New College of California School of Law campus in San Francisco. The library was then relocated to Geary Street in San Francisco's Richmond District in 2010. According to a blog posted by then director of the library, David Walters, in 2011, "The Holt Labor Library was established in 1992 to provide a working library for labor and progressive studies accessible to the general public. Our collections and services are geared to labor and community activists as well as students, researchers and anyone interested in the materials."
The Holt Labor Library was donated to the Gerth Archives and Special Collections in 2019 as one of the largest archival donations in the university's history. Most of the archival material is available and open for research.
Photograph of the Holt Labor Library at it's first location on the New College of California School of Law.
Bulletins, newsletters, correspondence, press releases, news articles, ephemera, and other materials that reflect the activities and statuses of various political organizations.
Personal papers collected by labor, political, and civil rights activists.
Materials accrued by the Holt Labor Library between 1992 and 2019 relating to labor union organizing, political activism, and various social justice and civil rights causes.