Minutes, correspondence, resolutions, reports, and newsletters, demonstrating the role of the United Church of Christ, Northern California Conference and affiliated religious organizations in the farm labor movement, California farming communities, and the Conference's strong support for farm workers and small growers, from 1964 to 1986. The collection contains minutes from the California Migrant Ministry (CMM), which co-sponsored programs with the Conference, such as the Tulare County Community Development Project, which focused on economic and political issues. The bulk of the material from the CMM consists of resource materials about farm workers compiled by Chris Hartmire and mailed to the Conference, and reflects the debates about the worker-priest program proposed by the CMM. Resource material from the CMM and the United Board for Homeland Ministries demonstrates the information available to the leaders of the Conference. The files include material such as the statements of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Labor; the resolutions in support of the grape boycott sponsored by the United Farm Workers in 1968; and the records of the Goshen Project, a small community development program.

The Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ played a significant role in the agricultural communities in the Central Valley of California, most notably in the 1960s. In 1962, after ministering for decades to members of the small valley towns, the Conference began a dramatic new program in Goshen, a small town in Tulare County. The Goshen Project specifically sought to minister to farm workers, whose needs moved the Conference into nontraditional programs. Working with other organizations throughout the decade, the Conference struggled to serve farm workers as well as other members of Northern California's agricultural communities.

2.0 cubic feet (1 carton, 1 box)

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Collection is open for research.