Consists of the correspondence and personal papers of Pele (Phyllis) deLappe, amassed during the years 1938-2002. Correspondence includes a large collection of letters from Decca Treuhaft, also known as Jessica Mitford, Steve Murdock, and with various publishers. Papers include typescripts of deLappe's memoir; oral history and interview transcripts; subject files on Byron Randall, Anton Refrigier, Emmy Lou Packard and Anita Whitney; deLappe's files released under the Freedom of Information Act from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and sketches of the 1966 United Farm Workers march from Delano to Sacramento.

Pele deLappe was born in San Francisco on May 4, 1916 to Wesley and Dorothy Sheldon deLappe. In her teens, she studied art in San Francisco and in New York, where she befriended Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera during his composition of the controversial Rockefeller Center mural. When she returned to San Francisco in 1934, she became active in the San Francisco Maritime Strike as a member of the Women's Auxiliary. In addition to picketing and raising money, deLappe contributed political cartoons to Fo'csle Head, the newsletter of the Maritime Workers Industrial Union, and The Waterfront Worker, the rank and file longshore newsletter. She joined the Communist Party in 1934.

0.8 cubic ft. (2 boxes)

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Collection is open for research.