Magnes collection on Levi Strauss and Company, 1950-1974

Levi Strauss, known as the world’s largest clothing manufacturer, was founded by Levi Strauss, who arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Strauss started his business making sturdy trousers for miners at the height of the California gold rush and incorporated the business in 1890. By 1984, there were fifty-six domestic and fifty-seven overseas manufacturing plants. The company is known for social responsibility. For example, it pioneered in the hiring and upgrading of job opportunities for minorities; it developed an affirmative action program for women; and, in 1969, it won the first Business Week magazine citizenship award. Its in-house philanthropic organization, the Levi Strauss Foundation, is staffed by volunteers from the community affairs department, and Foundation committees are linked to Levi Strauss communities throughout the country.

Collection consists of some biographical material on Levi Strauss and his descendants and relations, company ephemera and other business materials mainly from the 1960s and 1970s.