Community Partners and Allies -- General Information and Event Fliers, 2003-2007, undated

The Andolan (Organizing South Asian Workers) Records (dated 1992-2012) consists of materials created and collected by Andolan documenting the organization's activism and advocacy on behalf of South Asian workers in New York City in the domestic work, restaurant, and retail industries. Materials in this collection include photographs, administrative records, legal aid files, financial records, funding source files, and banners from demonstrations and protests.

The majority of files in the collection consists of legal aid files documenting Andolan's role in legal services on behalf of low-wage South Asian workers related to wage compensation, political asylum, and domestic violence. Individual's files typically include client intake forms, court filings, attorney correspondence, affidavits of support, and other documents describing the client's personal background. These documents are in English, with some in Hindi and Bengali.

Photographs in this collection date from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s and contain not only Andolan images, but also images from events for Workers' Awaaz, an earlier workers' rights group founded by Gulanar (Nahar) Alam. The majority of the images in this collection document Andolan members meetings and informal gatherings, workshops, discussion panels, and international conferences including the South Africa for Urban Racism Conference in 2001. Photographs from this collection also include members attending protests and demonstrations outside employer homes, detention centers, restaurants, the UN, and larger demonstrations in Washington, DC and Philadelphia. This collection also contains photographs of award presentations to the organization and also the founder, Nahar Alam.

Administrative files include member identification cards and forms; contact lists; timesheets; press releases and media packets; Board of Director agendas and by-laws; newsletters; and staff profiles. Financial records include budgets, reports, and analysis. Press clippings in this collection are in Bengali and English and relate to activities surrounding Andolan and its founder Nahar Alam, as well as issues related to the organization which include worker's rights, specific legal cases, and demonstrations. Event files contain both Andolan-created events such as self-defense courses and legal aid informational workshops, and also events in partnership with similar community allies and organizations. These files include primarily promotional flyers and information sheets; sign up sheets and guest book entry pages; related correspondence; and planning notes. Material can also be found on the Yoni Ki Baat stage performance by Andolan members which was also made into a documentary film, Claiming Their Voices.

Funding files reflect Andolan's pursuit of financial support through private organizations for basic organization administration costs and also special projects. These files often include applications containing vital financial, promotional, and historical information on Andolan, including staff lists, historical summaries, budgets, and samples of event announcements. Funding files can also contain correspondence and regularly submitted reports to the funding organizations.

Andolan also retained a small collection of material relating to local and global partner and ally organizations, including informational brochures, press clippings, and advertising for events. Three large cloth banners in the collection were created by members and typically carried during protests and demonstrations. This collection documents a group that has been less visible in the traditional labor history of white-dominated labor union activities, due to their identities and the type of work they perform.