Description
This collection, measuring 18.5 linear feet, comprises the personal and professional papers of the McPherson family of Orange,
California, 1846-1964. The collection primarily documents the professional and family life of teacher and farmer Stephen McPherson
(1839-1917), his wife Jennie, their three children, Vincent, William, and Lulu, and members of Stephen's immediate family
living in Southern California, New York State, and New Hampshire. Included are the papers of William McPherson who became
a respected local historian that amassed a great collection of Californiana. The collection also documents the McPherson Bros.,
an agricultural business enterprise started by brothers Stephen and Robert McPherson, that became a prosperous viticulture
business until the Anaheim grape blight destroyed grape crops throughout Southern California in the late 1880s. Materials
in this collection include correspondence, diaries, notebooks, photographs, writings, business records, ledgers, account books,
receipts, genealogies, legal documents, deeds, and ephemera.
Background
The McPherson family lived in what is now the city of Orange located in Orange County, California and became established farmers
in the Southern California. Having migrated west from Chaumont, New York in the 1860s, brothers Stephen and Robert McPherson
established McPherson Bros., circa 1872, and planted some of the first raisin vineyards in the region. They built a thriving
viticulture business that became so successful that they established the town of McPherson, California (now part of the city
of Orange).
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their
heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.