UCLA-West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Veterans Archives Collaboration, September 2019 -

Temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Anne J. Gilliland

Development of the National Chavez Center (NCC) Archives, Keene, California

In partnership with the National Chavez Center and under the direction of Dr. Anne Gilliland, archival studies students from the UCLA Department of Information Studies have been working since 2012 to develop an archive that will support the National Chavez Center through collecting, preserving, and making accessible materials documenting the life and work of Cesar Chavez. 

Recognizing the importance of the Center’s mission to improve the lives of farm worker and Latino families and other communities, the archives seeks to provide access to materials that exemplify the empowering ideas and actions of Cesar Chavez and his fellow community leaders. As the needs of these communities continue to change with each successive generation, the archives also aims to evolve as a facility that collects and preserves materials that reflect these new generations of farm workers, community leaders, organizers, and Latino families. The archives will accomplish these goals by adhering to the core principles that have guided the Cesar Chavez Foundation for more than 40 years: quality, integrity, and sustainability. 
Quality: The archives will employ appropriate and best professional practices in the collection and preservation of, and in making available materials relating to the life and work of Cesar Chavez in order to ensure that the NCC and archives patrons receive quality archival service and access. 
Integrity: The archives will conduct its affairs, including its preservation and collection efforts, in a manner that maintains the integrity of the National Chavez Center and the Cesar Chavez Foundation and also in accordance with national and international professional codes of archival ethics. 
Sustainability: The archives will enact policies that ensure the efficient, ethical and sustainable operation of an archival facility, including policies that encourage community engagement and support.
 Following these core principles, the archives will serve as a key component of the National Chavez Center by enhancing the mission and purpose of the Cesar Chavez Foundation through supporting its organizational, leadership, educational, and research activities and needs, as well as the activities and needs of scholars, educators, future leaders, and the general public.