Archives West Finding Aid

Fred Lonidier is a photographer and labor activist. He was born in 1942 in Lakeside, Oregon and attended Yuba College and San Francisco State College. Lonidier and his wife Paulette served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines in 1965 before Lonidier was recalled to the U.S. to be drafted in the Vietnam War. Lonidier traveled to Seattle, Washington and became involved with the Committee of Returned Volunteers (CRV) and co-founded Draft Resistance-Seattle, a local protest group that provided draft resistance tactics and counseling. Fred Lonidier regularly contributed photos to the Draft Resistance-Seattle newsletters and Paulette helped run the Green Lake office. Lonidier formally refused induction in May 1967, and was tried and found guilty of refusing induction in August 1969.

Fred Lonidier later graduated from the University of California San Diego in 1972 with an MFA in Photography and Mixed Media and joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1975. His best known and most exhibited works are “29 Arrests” (1972), “The Health & Safety Game: Fictions based on Fact” (1976), and “N.A.F.T.A. (Not a Fair Trade for All)” (1990s). His works have been exhibited in the Oakland Museum, San Francisco Art Institute, New Museum of Contemporary art in New York, Whitney Museum, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, ACTWU, and NYC Hospital Workers Union, among others.

Source: Donor-authored biographical statement found in collection, Draft Resistance-Seattle newsletters, University of California San Diego Emeriti Faculty website, Whitney Museum website