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 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