Guide to the Historic American Buildings Survey Report on the Yorba Orange Growers Association Packing House MS.R.145

Processed by Joanna Lamb;machine-readable finding aid created by Joanna Lamb
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
(cc) 2009
The UCI Libraries
P.O. Box 19557
University of California, Irvine
Irvine 92623-9557
spcoll@uci.edu


Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Title: Historic American Buildings Survey report on the Yorba Orange Growers Association Packing House
Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.145
Physical Description: 1.8 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1934-2000
Date (bulk): 2000
Abstract: This Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report documents the Yorba Orange Growers Association Packing House in Anaheim, California with machinery in place, an important element for understanding the historical operation of such packing houses.
Language of Material: English .

Access

The collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

Preferred Citation

Yorba Orange Growers Association Packing House Records. MS-R145. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Roger and Laura Hatheway of Hatheway & Associates and Robert W. Guthrie of Guthrie Development, 2008.

Processing History

Processed by Hatheway & Associates and Joanna Lamb, 2008-2009.

Processing Note

Prior to their donation to UC Irvine, the materials were compiled and organized by Hatheway and Associates. Hatheway's original arrangement has been retained.

Historical Background

The first orange trees were planted in California in 1804 at the San Gabriel Mission, but Californians did not begin to export citrus to the east in significant quantity until 1877, after the opening of the transcontinental railroad. Soon after, citrus fruit became California's chief export and provided a significant economic base for the young state. The earliest California orange crops, Navel and Valencia oranges, were grown and harvested in Riverside and Orange County.
Distribution complications in the early 1890s resulted in financial hardship for many growers, which led to the emergence of local association packing houses, known as grower's cooperatives, allowing growers to pool their resources and crops for the sole purpose of improving the outcome of sales. The Southern California Fruit Exchange was established in 1893 to unite local grower's associations into one general marketing cooperative, which sought to establish high production standards for both growers and packers in order to obtain the highest sale prices back east. In 1908 at the advice of an advertising agency, the Exchange adopted the Sunkist trademark, and in 1952 the organization officially changed their name to Sunkist Growers, Inc. As part of Sunkist's federated structure, local associations like the Yorba Orange Growers Association were licensed to pack only the fruit of the Sunkist growers belonging to the association.
The Yorba Orange Growers Association (YOGA) emerged to replace the Associated Anaheim Growers after the AAG packing house was destroyed by fire in July 1943.The AAG board acted swiftly to establish YOGA with the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company and construction progressed rapidly on a new packing house which was operational by October 1944. At that time the YOGA Packing House was a state-of-the-art packing facility, which remained technologically competitive through the next three decades. No significant additions or upgrades were made after 1979. The YOGA Packing House closed on April 28, 2000. By the end of 2001 the packing house had been torn down and a business park had been built on the property.
The historic significance of the packing house led to a Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) project in 2000 in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. HABS is administered by Heritage Documentation Programs, the Federal Government's oldest preservation program. HABS was created in 1933 to document America's architectural heritage by recording the history of significant built environments prior to their destruction.

Collection Scope and Content Summary

This Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) report documents the Yorba Orange Growers Association Packing House in Anaheim, California with machinery in place, an important element for understanding the historical operation of such packing houses. The report includes a collection inventory; photographic prints of the Packing House and its closure; architectural drawings; interviews; photocopies of historical documents, including correspondence, incorporation documentation, telegrams, and other business related documents; and a book.

Collection Arrangement

This collection is arranged in general accordance with Historic American Building Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Report (HAER) guidelines.

Related Collections

Related materials can be found in the following collections:
  • Irvine Valencia Growers Packing House Records. MS-R114. . Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Slides -- 20th century.
Architectural drawings -- Californnia -- Orange County
Photographic prints -- California -- Orange County -- 21st century.
Film negatives -- California -- Orange County -- 20th century.
Orange growers -- California -- History
Photographic prints -- California -- Orange County -- 20th century.
Packing house workers -- California -- Anaheim -- Interviews
Citrus fruit industry -- California -- Anaheim -- History -- Sources
Land use -- California -- Orange County -- History -- Sources.
Historic buildings -- California -- Anaheim
Citrus fruits -- Cooperative marketing -- California -- Anaheim -- History -- Sources
Yorba Orange Growers Association (Anaheim, Calif.) -- Archives
Associated Anaheim Growers (Calif.) -- Archives
Historic American Buildings Survey
Sunkist Growers, Inc.
Irvine Valencia Growers -- Archives

box 1, folder 1

Index - inventory of contents 2000

box 1, folder 2

Documentation report text 2000

box 1, folder 3-29, box 2, folder 1-22

Photographs 2000

General Physical Description note: 49 8x10 black and white photographic prints

Scope and Contents note

Photographs were shot by Tom Zimmerman.
box 2, folder 23-41

Historic architectural drawings 1944 and 1956

General Physical Description note: photocopies
 

Interview transcripts 2000

box 3, folder 1

Kraemer, Gilbert U.: YOGA Grower and Founding Family Member

box 3, folder 2

Gomez, Jo Anne: YOGA Office Manager

 

Historical documents 1935-1981

General Physical Description note: Photocopies
box 3, folder 3

AAG/YOGA by-laws/articles of incorporation and amendments 1935

box 3, folder 4

AAG adopted by-laws and minutes of board of incorporators 1935-1945

box 3, folder 5

Real Estate Option (YOGA Property) 1944

box 3, folder 6

Santa Fe Land Imp. Co. letter 1944 March 27

box 3, folder 7

Wm. P. Neil Co. (Engineers and Contractors) correspondence 1944

box 3, folder 8

War Production Board correspondence and applications 1944

box 3, folder 9

Brogdex Company correspondence 1944

box 3, folder 10

YOGA appraisal report 1947

box 3, folder 11

YOGA appraisal report 1975

box 3, folder 12

YOGA appraisal report 1981

box 4, folder 1

YOGA appraisal report 1994

box 4, folder 2

Trademark records 1935

box 4, folder 3

YOGA employee job descriptions undated

box 4, folder 4

Hume, Citrus Fruits and Their Culture 1957

box 4, folder 5

Non-archival photographs, "Last Day at YOGA" 2000 April 28

General Physical Description note: 55 color photographic prints provided by Jo Anne Agundez Romo Gomes, the YOGA Office Manager
box 4, folder 6

Heritage of Gold (Sunkist) Circa 199?, 1994

box 5, folder 1

Non-archival copy of report 2000