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Raul Peña Collection, 1968-2005

By Natalia Fernández and Daniel Loera

Collection Overview

Title: Raul Peña Collection, 1968-2005

ID: MSS Peña

Primary Creator: Peña, Raul Javier (1951-)

Extent: 12.0 gigabytes

Arrangement: The Raul Peña Collection consists of one series that includes two digital files.

Date Acquired: 00/00/2015

Languages of Materials: English [eng], Spanish;Castilian [spa]

Abstract

The Raul Peña Collection consists of Peña’s personal scrapbook and a compilation of video-recorded news stories depicting the struggles of migrant farm workers in Oregon during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Peña served in the U.S. Army and Oregon Army National Guard in the 1970s and 1980s, and advocated for migrant worker rights through his work for the Bureau of Labor and Industries in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Materials in this collection have been digitized and are available upon patron request.

Scope and Content Notes

The Raul Peña Collection consists of Peña’s personal scrapbook and a compilation of video-recorded news stories. The scrapbook (digitized) consists of personal documents and memorabilia belonging to Raul Peña. The documents include military records, unit photos, awards, training certificates, graduation diplomas, newspaper clippings, photographs, and letters spanning the years 1968-2005. The majority of the scrapbook consists of materials pertaining to Peña’s service in the U.S Army and the Oregon National Guard; also included are materials related to Peña’s education, as well as content specific to Peña’s work with and for the Latinx community. The compilation of news stories, originally video recorded by Peña via a VHS tape, consists of twenty-two stories, including various multi-part stories. The news stories depict the struggles of migrant farm workers in Oregon during the late 1980s and early 1990s in locations throughout the Willamette Valley. The stories illustrate the life and work of Raul Peña, who worked for the Bureau of Labor and Industries and was interviewed for several of the news stories, while bringing focus to struggles faced by migrant workers in Oregon. SCARC digitized the VHS tape and created an .mp4 file.

These digitized materials are available for reference use upon patron request

Biographical / Historical Notes

Born in Texas in 1951, Raul Javier Peña moved to Gervais, Oregon with his family when he was nine years old. As a child, he worked in the fields with his family picking a variety of fruits and vegetables. After his father passed away in 1969, Peña dropped out of high school and worked in Hillsboro and Beaverton until 1970 when he was drafted by the U.S. Army. He served at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, was stationed in Georgia with an Army Airborne Unit, and received an honorable discharge in 1976. After earning his GED in 1972, he attended Chemeketa Community College and received an Associate in Science degree, specializing in Law Enforcement, in 1974. He then attended Oregon College of Education (OCE) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences degree in 1977 (Oregon College of Education is now Western Oregon University). During his time at OCE, he was awarded the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, and was the first Chicano at Oregon College of Education to be awarded this honor. During the mid-to-late 1970s, Peña worked for the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. In 1981, he re-enlisted in the armed forces with the Oregon Army National Guard; he served until receiving an honorable discharge in 1989 and then received an extension for three years, 1992-1995. In 1988, Peña began working for the Bureau of Labor and Industries and he advocated for migrant worker rights. He worked as a Field Representative and in 1990 was promoted to Compliance Specialist for the Farm Labor Unit and Wage and Hour Division. Peña married in 1970 and had two sons.

Author: Natalia Fernández and Daniel Loera.

Administrative Information

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research. All materials held in this collection are protected by copyright and are not for publication without written permission of Raul Peña.

Physical Access Note: This collection is accessible at the researcher terminal in the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center reading room.

Acquisition Note: During the summer of 2015, Raul Peña loaned a copy of a VHS tape and personal scrapbook to the OMA. Both items were digitized and the physical items were returned to Peña.

Related Materials: This collection is a part of the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA). Other collections documenting the Latinx experience in Oregon can be found on the OMA Latino/a People and Culture page.

Preferred Citation: Raul Peña Collection (MSS Peña), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Creators

Peña, Raul Javier (1951-)

People, Places, and Topics

Hispanic Americans.
Migrant agricultural laborers--Oregon.
Oregon. National Guard.
Oregon Multicultural Archives
United States. Army--Military life.

Forms of Material

Digital moving image formats.
Scrapbooks.


Box and Folder Listing