This small collection has only one series: Teamsters Local 85. Included within it are minutes, office correspondence, and contracts and agreements.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 85 of San Francisco was founded in August 1900, with an initial membership of thirty-five men. The teamsters organized in response to the appearance of the Draymen's Association, an alliance of San Francisco team-owners, which had been founded in January of that year. 1 Prior to the formation of the union, San Francisco teamsters toiled under conditions the Labor Clarion described as "among the most slavish in the west." The average work day was from 5 a.m. to after 8 p.m., and "there was no such thing as regulation of hours, or working men in shifts. The problem of the employer was to get as much work as he could out of the flesh and blood of his hired men; the problem of the teamsters was to keep alive." 2

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives & Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives & Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection is open for research.