Finding aid of the Clair A. Weast Collection
Processed by Michael Wurtz
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University of the Pacific Library
3601 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
Fax: (209) 946-2942
URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html
© 2006
University of the Pacific. All rights reserved.
Finding aid of the Clair A. Weast Collection
Collection number: MSS 292
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University
of the Pacific Library
Stockton, California
- Processed by:
- Processed by Michael Wurtz
- Date Completed:
- 2005
- Encoded by:
- Michael Wurtz
© 2006 University of the Pacific. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Clair A. Weast collection
Dates: 1931-1996
Collection number: MSS 292
Creator:
Weast, Dr. Clair A.
Collection Size: .5 linear feet
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Dept. of
Special Collections
Stockton, California 95211
Abstract: The collection consists of Weast biographical
material and a significant assortment of photos and slides that document Tillie
Lewis Foods and Weast's interest in Spanish Missions.
Physical location: For current information on the location
of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as
the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
Clair A. Weast collection. MSS 292. Holt-Atherton Department of Special
Collections, University of the Pacific Library.
Biography / Administrative History
Dr. Weast and his wife Elsie are credited with developing and patenting
low-calorie and low-sugar diet foods in the early 1950s while working for
Tillie Lewis Foods. They pioneered canned diabetic foods, low salt vegetables,
low cholesterol eggs, low cholesterol pancake mix, low calorie carbonated
beverages, and new processes for canning.
Dr. Weast was born in 1913 in Modesto, California, grew up in Big Oak
Flat near Yosemite National Park and attended high school in Sonora. He met
Elsie Orr while attending Modesto Junior College in 1933 and they were married
seven years later while pursuing graduate degrees in nutrition and agricultural
chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley.
In 1946, Weast joined Flotill Products Inc., which changed its name to
Tillie Lewis Foods in 1961, and was purchased by Ogden Corporation in 1965.
Tillie Lewis built her first tomato cannery in Stockton in 1935 and eventually
controlled a 100 million dollar a year business. Lewis had a special lab built
in the attic of the Weast's home in Manteca so Elsie could develop diet foods
and still take care of their two daughters. Dr. Weast was sent by Lewis to
Australia and Paraguay to help those operations in the southern hemisphere. He
had served as plant manager, Vice President Technical Director for Lewis's
plants in Stockton, but spent most of his tenure in the laboratory developing
new foods. Weast retired in 1978.
Dr. Weast briefly assisted with the College of Pacific food science
program in the late 1940s.
The Weast family vacations frequently took them to the historic Spanish
missions from the tip of Baja California in Mexico to the San Francisco Solano
Mission in Sonoma, California. Dr. Weast documented the missions through his
extensive slide photography collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of Weast biographical material and a significant
assortment of photos and slides that document Tillie Lewis Foods and Weast's
interest in Spanish Missions. The biographical materials shed light on Weast's
career and include some of his published work and a bibliography of his
articles. Many of the diet plans that the Weasts developed are also available
in this collection. The photography documents the work and conditions at the
canning factories in the Valley and in Australia and Paraguay. The balance of
the collection contains dozens of slides taken in the 1950s and 1960s of the
Spanish Missions of Baja California, Mexico and California. These mission
images provide a snapshot of building conditions and interpretation that may be
useful for historic preservation.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Tillie Lewis Foods, Inc.
Missions - California - Pictorial
works
Canning and preserving - United States
- California
Canned foods industry - California -
San Joaquin County
Related Material
The Far-Westerner Volume 38, Number 1-2 includes a history of Tillie
Lewis and mentions of Weast's role in her success.
1.1: Biographical Material, 1931-1996
1.2: Oral Histories. 1998 conversation. 2005 transcribed
interview.
1.3: Patents, Diet Plans, Articles, and Lesson Plans,
c.1955
1.4: Photographs, 1950s, 1960s, c.1995
Scope and Content Note
Tillie Lewis Foods plant and employees ( Tillie Lewis,
Al Leiser, L.E. Vaugh, Claude Young, Sal Jacobson, Al Sider, Jody Spring,
Miriam Lewis, Matthew Lewis, Wagonheim, Al Heiser), Weast and his daughter
Edith, stove/refrigerator, and tasti-diet labels.
1.5.1-5: Slide show of Tillie Lewis Foods, c.1955 –
c.1975
Scope and Content Note
Original show designed to show foods from crops to
canning. Includes images of Flotill Inc plants, food processing, Paraguay and
Australia operations.
1.6.1-3: California Missions slides, c.1955 –
c.1975
Scope and Content Note
Includes images of Spanish missions throughout
California and Baja California, Mexico (Bautista, Capistrano, Carmel, Dolores,
Gabriel, Inez, San Antonio de Pala, Purisima, San Antonio, San Fernando, San
Jose, San Luis Obispo, San Luis Ray, San Raphael, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Santa Cruz, Soledad, Sonoma, Ventura, Descanso, Guadalupe, San Miguel, Santa
Domingo, Santa Tomas, San Vincente).