Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Jay T. Last Collection of Food: Fruit and Vegetable Labels: Finding
Aid
priJLC_FOOD_FtVeg
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Jay T. Last Collection of Food: Fruit and Vegetable Labels
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1870-1975
Bulk dates: 1890-1950
Collection Number: priJLC_FOOD_FtVeg
Collector:
Last, Jay T.
Extent:
9,120 items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Prints and Ephemera
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract:
The Jay T. Last Collection of Food: Fruit and Vegetable Labels contains over 9,000 printed produce labels from the 1870s to
the 1970s, with the majority of items
dating from 1890 to 1950. The collection is comprised mainly of color lithographs.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on August 28, 2017.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of Food: Fruit and Vegetable Labels, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
This collection forms part of the Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, which was
donated to the Huntington Library by Jay T. Last in 2005 as a gift in progress. The bulk of the fruit and vegetable labels were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012.
The Jay T. Last Collection is an unparalleled archive of printed paper artifacts that documents American lithographic, social,
and business history. The collection began in the early 1970s when
physicist and Silicon Valley pioneer Jay Last moved to Southern California and started collecting citrus box labels he found
at local flea markets and rummage sales. As his collection grew,
Last realized that these labels conveyed important information about commercial printing, graphic design, and social history,
and he expanded his collection to include other forms
of American visual culture. Today this collection contains more than 200,000 lithographic prints, posters, and ephemera of
mostly nineteenth- and early twentieth- century American
origin and represents works by more than five hundred lithographic companies.
The Jay T. Last Collection of Food: Fruit and Vegetable Labels contains over 9,000 printed produce labels from the 1870s
to the 1970s, with the majority of items
dating from 1890 to 1950. The collection is comprised mainly of color lithographs.
Materials are arranged in two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (more than 11 x 14 inches).
Small-size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items are fully inventoried and all printers,
artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection includes over 30 large-size product labels for produce. Small-size
labels number approximately
8,350. Materials include barrel and can labels as well as multiple kinds of box labels.
While the collection is primarily American, it does contain
a small quantity of foreign produce labels. Most notably, Boxes 9-11 contain Spanish citrus labels, while other boxes and
binders have fruit and vegetable labels from Australia, Canada, Mexico and New Zealand.
Also of note are three boxes of Blue Goose brand labels produced for American Fruit Growers, Inc. Other A.F.G. labels can
be found throughout the collection, but Blue Goose items were isolated by the
collector to create a comprehensive look at the brand.
PLEASE NOTE: Most California citrus labels collected by Jay T. Last are in the finding aid for the
Jay T. Last Collection of Food: California Citrus Box Labels.
Overall the collection identifies produce growers and merchandisers, reveals advertising trends and consumption habits, and
provides a resource for studying the history
of American fruit and vegetable production, including the canning, packing, and shipping industries that evolved in the late
19th and early 20th centuries. Many labels predictably depict colorful images of fruits or vegetables,
but pictures of women, children, animals, flowers, and views of farms, orchards, and vineyards also sold the product.
As graphic materials, these labels offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists,
engravers, lithographers,
and publishers involved in the creative process.
Alternative Form of Materials Available
Visit the
Huntington Digital Library: Jay T. Last Collection
to view digitized items from this collection.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
- Huntington Library Citrus Label Collection
- Jay T. Last Collection of Food: California Citrus Box Labels
- Jay T. Last Collection of Food Prints and Ephemera
The collection is arranged in the following 2 series:
- Series I. Fruit and Vegetable Labels (small size)
- Subseries A. Fruit Labels (small size)
- Subseries B. Vegetable Labels (small size)
- Subseries C. American Fruit Growers Inc. Blue Goose Labels (small size)
- Series II. Fruit and Vegetable Labels (large size)
- Subseries A. Fruit Labels (large size)
- Subseries B. Vegetable Labels (large size)
- Subseries C. American Fruit Growers Inc. Blue Goose Labels (large size)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Chromolithographs.
Ephemera.
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th century.
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th century.
Fruit crate labels.
Intaglio prints.
Labels.
Lithographs.
Printed ephemera.
Relief prints.
Advertising -- Farm produce.
Citrus fruit industry.
Fruit -- Pictorial works.
Vegetables -- Pictorial works.
Printer, Publisher, Artist Index
The following is a complete list of printers, publishers, and artists represented in the large-size items in this collection.
A.L. Bancroft & Company.
Dickman-Jones Co.
F.A. Read (Firm)
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company.
H.S. Crocker & Co.
National Bureau of Engraving (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Schmidt Label & Litho. Co.
Schmidt Litho. Co.
Simpson & Doeller Co.
Stecher-Traung.
W.W. Elliott & Co.