WAUMensalvasChrisPHColl1145.xml Guide to the Chris Mensalvas and Silme Domingo Family Photograph Collection approximately 1920-1981 Mensalvas (Chris) Family Photograph Collection Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries © 2013 (Last modified: 1/31/2020)
Seattle, WA 98195
Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections PH1145 Mensalvas, Chris D.,  -1977 Chris Mensalvas and Silme Domingo family photograph collection approximately 1920-1981 approximately 1952-1981 22 photographic prints and 14 negatives, 2 contact sheets and 1 collage (1 box and 2 folders) ; sizes vary Collection materials are in English. Photographs of Filipino-American president of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Silme Domingo, workers of the union and their families and friends.

Between 1910 and 1930, a wave of Filipino immigrants came to the United States. Instead of better opportunities, many encountered discrimination, poor living conditions, and oppressive labor practices. Chris Delarna Mensalvas (1909-1978) immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1927. He became an important figure in the Filipino labor movements of the 1940s and '50s, organizing unions and initiating strikes for just working conditions and fair wages for farm and cannery workers.

Between the years 1949 and 1959, Mensalvas was president of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) Local 37 in Seattle - the Filipino Alaska cannery workers union. He was publicity director of the local from 1948 to 1949, when it was Local 7 of the Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union. Mensalvas actively opposed the deportation of Filipinos under the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952. The noted Filipino author and activist Carlos Bulosan and fellow activist Philip Vera Cruz were among his friends. He was an inspiration for later Filipino activists Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, who consulted him about his labor organizing experiences. Mensalvas died in 1978.

Photographs of Chris Mensalvas, Silme Domingo, Gene Viernes and their families and friends.

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The collection was separated from the Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, Local 7 photographs, PH Coll 1044. The photographs are personal in nature, and do not appear to relate to the union.

Donor: Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, Local 7, December 1, 1987.

Processed by Erin Berg; processing completed in 2013.

Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington) Mensalvas, Chris D.,  -1977--Photographs Mensalvas, Chris D.,  -1977--Family--Photographs Domingo, Silme,  -1981--Family--Photographs Domingo, Silme,  -1981--Photographs Viernes, Gene, -1981--Photographs Viernes, Gene, -1981--Family--Photographs Photographs Labor Unions Photographs Labor History

 

Chris Mensalvas & Family 1/1 1 Chris Mensalvas and son Topper Mensalvas 1952

Chris Mensalvas was president of International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local 37 (previously Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union, Local 7) from 1949 to 1959 and served as publicity director of Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union, Local 7 from 1948 to 1949.

 1/1 2 Chris Mensalvas, son Topper Mensalvas, daughter Patsy Mensalvas, wife Irene Mensalvas, and two others at a park in Blaine, Washington 1952 1/1 3 Mensalvas Family 1952?-1953

Contact sheet for 10 9x13cm negatives.

 1/1 3a-b Boy and girl playing indoors 1952 1/1 3c Two girls on woman's lap 1952? 1/1 3d Man in plaid shirt and hat sitting at dining room table 1952? 1/1 3e Two boys and a girl sitting on man's back on a lawn 1952? 1/1 3f Man in suit touching wire with boy crawling on grass behind him 1952? 1/1 3g-h Man and woman sitting on a bench in back yard 1952? 1/1 3i Chris Mensalvas and wife Irene Mensalvas deboarding United Airlines airplane in Washington, D.C. 1953 1/1 3j Chris Mensalvas and wife Irene Mensalvas in front of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. 1953 1/1 4 Chris Mensalvas sitting with son Topper Mensalvas, daughter Patsy Mensalvas and another child circa 1956 1/1 5 Punaluu September 1961

Ten photographs depicting the activities of the Mensalvas family in Punaluu, Hawaii. Punaluu is a rural community in the Koʻolauloa District on the Island of Oahu, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Photographs are bound in an album.

 1/1 5a Mensalvas family on lanai with sting ray September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: Enlarged view of same lanai with our home-grown hanging plants..the sting ray at our feet, 100 lbs. The Black cat we tamed from the jungle, has a brother a yellow cutie we named Nicky...not in picture.

 1/1 5b Tony wearing tabungao hat and palm raincoat September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: The "Wild man from Borneo" himself, wearing my tabungao hat and palm raincoat / A natural without shirt and pants- just a muffler between the legs. Tony forgot to wear my calasiao bolo.

 1/1 5c Double exposed photograph depicting Mensalvas family on lanai with Datsun station wagon, and Tony and Patsy Mensalvas September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: This one is a puzzler..one shot was taken in our front lanai, and one in my garden, Tony's ghost hiding in front of my opu (belly) and Patsy's ghost peeping with her Philippine hat in background...Little car is our Datsun station wagon

Handwritten on verso of photograph: double-exposure

 1/1 5d Mensalvas family under coconut tree September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: Believe or not Coconut, fruits reaching the ground. We have five trees of da kine [sic] in our yard.

Handwritten on verso of photograph: Same tree was in colored picture

 1/1 5e Samoan coconut tree September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: A taller Samoan coconut tree - only 10 ft. high, bearing all year round fruit and heavy. Guess who is peeping around the corner..did not make it on time!

 1/1 5f Topper Mensalvas climbing papaya tree September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: A Prize shot of PAPAYA TREES growing in abundance around our house. The mighty mountain is just 1,000 ft. back of the house, where sugar cane, bread fruit, plumerias, and bananas abound, Note the clouds gathering up in sky- when it rains here, it pours to last at least five minutes, then sunshine. Topper, the expert climber of papayas, mangoes, mabulos, coconuts, and guavas.

 1/1 5g Tony, Topper Mensalvas, and Patsy Mensalvas in living room September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: Taken in front of living room door leading to the west lanai. One hat is anito hat made by Moros, the other a regular women's nipa hat..below nipa hut is Topper's drawing of a fighting chicken. Note coral in front of Tony, Patsy and Topper dug from the ocean...the fruits, abis, caburao, guavas..and red giner in vase. Carved carabo Patsy holding and Topper serenading.

Handwritten on verso of photograph: Stuffed birds with nest from the Phil. below Topper.

 1/1 5h Tony playing ukelele September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: THE OLD DON JUAN HIMSELF with his OOkulele...note our floor cement is covered with woven palm mats- hala leaves, very durable- instead of rugs. We have a few small rugs- mostly hala mats for our floors, mostly rattan chairs including our couch.

Handwritten on verso of photograph: Punee couch in picture / Hybiscus flower (state flower) on Home-made coconut vase- back of me.

 1/1 5i Mensalvas family and Tony sitting at kitchen table September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: Lomboy party with Tony taken in one corner of our kitchen. Broom in background is Igorot made from wild grass in Philippines...we have two. Tony says they are from the Trino or tanubong grass...very soft, just for inside. Topper wearing Diego Silang hat. Tony ate a lots of Lomboy swallowing seeds.

Handwritten on verso of photograph: Igorot [?] hanging on mirror

 1/1 5j Chris Mensalvas and Tony in front of Ala Moana Building in Honolulu, Hawaii September 1961

Typed on verso of photograph: Tallest building in Honolulu- 25 stories high, right in downtown Honolulu- Only building in the world with a revolving restaurant on top. Adjacent is the Alamoana Shopping Center biggest in US. Irene works on the 14th floor in said building, afew blocks from ILWU Building and close to Waikiki. Tony and I are standing on top of the Shopping Center up and down.

Handwritten on verso of photograph: (2 levels of shops & parking) / Seattle will be second soon, we hear.

 1/1 6 Chris Mensalvas and wife Irene Mensalvas near waterfall in Maui, Hawaii 1970? 1/1 7 Chris Mensalvas and young girl 1980? 1/1 8 Chris Mensalvas with crutch standing next to a Filipino man holding a camera 1980? Silme Domingo & Family 1/2 9 Silme Domingo sitting in a Monte Carlo car 1972? 1/2 10 Sue Williams (center), Terri Mast (right) and an unidentified woman (left) walking on King Street in Seattle, Washington 1980?

Terri Mast was the wife of Silme Domingo until his death.

 1/2 11 Sue Williams and Nemesio Domingo 1980? 1/2 12 [Boyet] Orcilla, Sue Williams, Ricky Farinas, Jr. and Terri Mast standing on a sidewalk 1980? 1/2 13 Ricky Farinas, Jr. 1980?

Ricky Farinas, Jr. was probably a friend of Terri Mast.

 1/2 14 Silme Domingo in Tukwila, Washington 1981? 1/2 15 Terri Mast and Nemesio Domingo sharing a toast September 30, 1982 John Stamets

Nemesio Domingo was the father of Silme Domingo.

This photo was likely taken at either the gathering for the recall election of Baruso or a special election.

UW 27683

 Gene Viernes & Family 1/3 16 Gene Viernes in Tukwila, Washington 1981? 1/3 17 Portraits of Gene Viernes and Greg Della. between 1960-1979?

Contact sheet for 6 photographs. Items 17.1A, 17.2A, 17.3A, 17.4A and 17.5A are Gene Viernes. Item 17.6A is Greg Della.

 1/3 18 Men preparing for pig roast in backyard between 1960-1979?

Man in second photo from left of second row is Eddie Daba, Seattle activist. Woman in second row, right photo is Betty Viernes, Gene Viernes' mother.

Contact sheet for 12 photographs.

 Unidentified People 1/4 19 Collage with 24 photos of men and women of different races between 1920-1949? 1/4 20 Man near a dressing table with mirror between 1920-1949? 1/4 21 Three men walking through bushes 1980? 1/4 22 Group of young Filipino women on benches outdoors at Seattle University 1980?

This photo was possibly taken at the Far West Convention at Seattle University. The woman in the center holding a purse is possibly Becky Cordona.

 1/4 23 Group of young people walking on lawn 1980? 1/4 24 Two young Filipino men, one waving his arm, at unknown outdoor celebration 1980? 1/4 25 Two women dancing at unknown outdoor celebration 1980? 1/4 26 Four negatives depicting outdoor scenes in Rosemead, California 1980?

Items 26.12A and 26.13A depict a highway. Items 26.14A and 26.15A depict three men standing outside.

 1/4 27 Passport photographs of young Asian man with moustache 1980? DeAsis Studio, Seattle, Washington