The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) was born of a merger of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) in 1966. Cesar Chavez led farm workers through a series of historic organizing drives, strikes, and boycotts, from the founding of the NFWA in 1962, through the 1973 founding of the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO in 1973, and after. The United Farm Workers Administration Department records are especially rich in the correspondence, agreements, negotiations, and grievances that the UFW had with the southern California grape growers in the early 1970's. Perhaps equally important, this collection will allow the researcher to delve into the actual workings at the base of the union: the local ranch committees, the regional support committees, and the boycott groups around the country.

A substantial group of documents relating to contracts and grievances illustrates in great detail the type of working conditions faced by farm labor and the relationship of forces on the ground as the UFW gained in authority. The Administration Department also kept track of support work around the country and helped to lead the Boycott Committees from Arizona to Wyoming, as well as in Denmark, Sweden, and France. The preparation and execution of the First Constitutional Convention of the United Farm Workers are fully documented. Especially noteworthy are a large series of files which detail the rich relationship between the UFW and Art Torres, at that time a California Assemblyman supportive of farm labor issues.

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