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Maryland Food Collective records

 Collection 0087-UA

In August 1975, Matt Mayer, a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, submitted a proposal to the Student Government Association (SGA) for the formation of the Maryland Food Collective, which is today also known as the "Maryland Food Co-operative" or the "Co-op." The Maryland Food Collective collection covers the years 1972 to 2009, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1980s and 2000s. The collection focuses primarily on preserving the culture of the Co-op and the voices of the workers and volunteers. Document types include correspondence, in the form of postcards and letters; collected artwork; awards won by the Co-op; photographs; newspaper clippings and other writings about the Co-op; and flyers from outside institutions placed in the Co-op to appeal to Co-op customers, workers and volunteers. Also included are examples of product signage and recipes. Business records include phone lists, IOU sheets, ledgers, meeting and work procedures, and price lists.

Dates

  • Creation: 1972-2009
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1980-2005

Use and Access to Collection

This collection is partially processed and unprocessed. This means that materials are in the same state we received them and have not been reviewed for content or condition. The collection may need to be screened prior to use. Please contact us before visiting the Special Collections reading room to view this collection. A preliminary inventory is available under the Inventories/Additional Information section.

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the special collections reading room staff.

Extent

7 Linear Feet

64 Photographs

1 Items (T-shirt)

1 Folders

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Content of Collection

The Maryland Food Collective records cover the years 1972 to 2009, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1980s and 2000s. The collection focuses primarily on preserving the culture of the Co-op and the voices of the workers and volunteers. Document types include correspondence, in the form of postcards and letters; collected artwork; awards won by the Co-op; photographs; memorabilia; newspaper clippings and other writings about the Co-op; and flyers from outside institutions placed in the Co-op to appeal to Co-op customers, workers and volunteers. Also included are examples of product signage and recipes. Business records include phone lists, IOU sheets, ledgers, meeting and work procedures, and price lists.

Administrative History

In August 1975, Matt Mayer, a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, submitted a proposal to the Student Government Association (SGA) for the formation of the Maryland Food Collective, which is today also known as the "Maryland Food Co-operative" or the "Co-op." Agitation for the formation of a campus-based food cooperative began in 1972 as the university began to consider mandatory board for all students. Diamondback Editor-in-Chief Chad Neighbor wrote in an editorial on March 2, 1972, that students wanted "viable alternatives to the starch, paper plates, lines, heat, and tired menus the food service offers." In the spring of 1974, a member of the SGA Executive Committee approached John Goecker, the Director of the Department of Food Services, for advice on setting up a food co-op. By the fall, the Department of Food Services decided that inflation made a grocery store untenable, so the SGA planned a record store co-op instead. At a mid-September meeting with Goecker, students living in the residence halls expressed their displeasure with the food quality, sanitation standards, and customer service they experienced while patronizing food service. The following week, news broke that the food facilities within the Stamp Student Union were in danger of being closed down for not meeting Prince George's County sanitation standards. In October 1974, the Rainbow Food Co-op, located in Riverdale, Maryland, considered relocating to College Park with funding help from the SGA, though the plan ultimately failed. In August 1975, Matt Mayer submitted an official proposal for a food co-op was to the SGA. It is believed that the precursor to this official proposal was a "Guerrilla sandwich line" that formed in 1975, prior to the offical sanctioning of the Co-op by the SGA, as a protest to the monopoly of the University Dining Services. It supposedly consisted of people making sandwiches at home and selling them out of baskets in the Student Union.

The Co-op operated on the University of Maryland campus until 2019, independent of the university and the Department of Dining Services. It was a member of NASCO, the National Association of Student Collectives. Every weekday, a vegan hot lunch was prepared with available fresh vegetables. Cooking, whether of hot lunch or of meals for packaging in glass-display refrigerators, and baking were also important parts of the Co-op's day-to-day activity. There was a deli-style sandwich line with over fifty available spreads, vegetables, cheeses, meats, and condiments. In addition, the Co-op sold grocery items and produce, both of which were mostly organic. During the 2004-2005 academic year, the Co-op experienced sales of $3,000-$4,500 a day during the regular semester and $2,000-$3,000 a day during the summer and winter sessions.

The Co-op was staffed by both paid workers and volunteers. The volunteer program allowed anyone to work in exchange for credit that could be used within the store. As a worker's collective, all decisions were made by the workers through equal voting. Meetings were held weekly and were open to anyone. The chair of the meeting and the minutes taker rotated every meeting between all paid workers. Anyone attending the meeting could introduce a motion, which was then voted on by paid workers. Menus were decided upon by each shift. They could prepare whatever they wanted for hot specials or for the case. Sandwich line recipes followed an oral tradition, with workers adding their own flair. Since the nature of a collective is to give an equal voice to all who work there, workers often used the Co-op as a platform for politics and creative expression. This created what many workers, customers, and volunteers saw as a unique work atmosphere.

Arrangement

The Maryland Food Collective collection is divided into six series.

Series 1
Correspondence
Series 2
Administrative Files
Series 3
History Documents and Interviews
Series 4
Art
Series 5
Photographs
Series 6
Memorabilia

Custodial History and Acquisition Information

The Maryland Food Collective records were kept within the Collective and in storage at Cole Field House until fall 2005, at which time they were transferred to the University of Maryland Libraries. Additional materials were donated in 2009, 2014 and by Valerie Matthews in 2023.

Related Material

The University of Maryland archives, University Publications collection, includes a box titled "Food Co-op." The box contains the original charter for the Maryland Food Collective and a collection of newsletters, ranging in date from 1975 to 1978. In addition, The Diamondback published a number of articles from the spring of 1974 through the fall of 1974, documenting the atmosphere of frustration among the student population and the attempt to form an on-campus food co-op in response.

Processing Information

Metal fasteners were removed and replaced with acid-free paper covered with plastic clips. All of the newspaper clippings, except the ones on blue paper, were photocopied onto acid-free paper as a result of the fragile, deteriorated condition of the originals. The newspaper clippings on blue paper are original photocopies. Some of the newsletters were originally taped onto highly-acidic scrap paper. Those were also photocopied.

In 2025, Evangeline Giaconia split Box 2 into Boxes 2 and 3 to improve housing. She re-housed several folders of papers in bad condition and removed paperclips.

Title
Guide to the Maryland Food Collective records
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Vakil Smallen.
Date
2006-12-01
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Revision Statements

  • 2007-04-15: EAD markup checked and verified using JEdit software by Jennie A. Levine.
  • 2011-03-01: Guide revised by Ally Raines.
  • 2017-11-07: Revised post-ArchivesSpace import by Kendall Aughenbaugh.
  • 2018-01-16: Finding aid reviewed and minor edits made by Caitlin Rizzo.
  • 2019-04-15: Preliminary Inventory for 2015-002 added to finding aid by Kendall Aughenbaugh.
  • 2025-04-28: 2023-0048-UA accession incorporated by Evangeline Giaconia.

Library Details

Part of the Special Collections and University Archives

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
Hornbake Library
4130 Campus Drive
College Park Maryland 20742
301-405-9212