Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Preferred Citation
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Contents
Organization and Arrangement
Separated Materials
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Museum of Ventura County
Title: Patterson Ranch papers
Identifier/Call Number: MVC060
Physical Description:
2.64 Cubic Feet
(2 boxes, 1 ledger)
Date (inclusive): circa 1880-1987
Date (bulk): 1900-1941
Abstract: The Patterson Ranch Company was a livestock, dairy, and agricultural farm originally located on the Oxnard plains. The ranch
was owned by New York farmer John D. Patterson, who hired managers to run the farm for him. Peter Hartveld, a Dutch immigrant,
was the ranch foreman and responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the ranch. Hartveld and his family lived in the
main ranch house between 1917 and 1987. The collection covers the day-to-day management of the Patterson Ranch Company and
the ranch's business dealings with local businesses and persons. Materials include correspondence, dissolution papers, newspaper
clippings, time books, harvest record cards, inventories, poll tax and wage garnishment sheets, invoices and receipts, maps,
titles and deeds, photographs, monographs and catalogs, and ledgers.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Physical Location: Stored off-site and advance notice required for timely retrieval. Please contact the Research Library reference desk prior
to your visit: library@venturamuseum.org
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Open for research. Collection is minimally processed. All requests to access materials must be
made in advance by contacting the Research Library staff via email: library@venturamuseum.org
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Museum of Ventura County. Literary rights, including copyright, have
not been determined. Contact the Research Library for further information: library@venturamuseum.org
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Patterson Ranch papers, (MVC060), Museum of Ventura County, Research Library, Ventura, California.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Donna Lee Taylor; gift; 2014.
Processing Information
Processed by Krystell Jimenez, 2020.
Biographical / Historical
The Patterson Ranch Company was a livestock, dairy, and agricultural farm originally located on the Oxnard plains, near Wooley
and Patterson Roads. Peter Hartveld, an immigrant from Holland, was the ranch foreman and responsible for much of the day-to-day
running of the ranch. The 5,000-acre ranch was named for New York farmer John D. Patterson who arrived in California in 1854,
and in 1866 he purchased land from Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara, or La Colonia. Patterson never lived on the ranch, but hired
managers to run the farm.
Horses and cattle were raised on the property, but much of the acreage was devoted to grains. Following Patterson's death
circa 1902, his heirs sold their interests to the Patterson Ranch Company, the president of which was Robert Oxnard. Functioning
basically as a subsidiary of the American Beet Sugar Company, which was owned and operated by the Oxnard family, the new manager
installed a drainage system to improve the arability of the soil so it was suitable for growing sugar beets and a variety
of other crops, including lima beans, pumpkins, potatoes and citrus. In 1913, 1800 acres of the northern portion were sold
in 40-acre tracts to local citizens.
The main ranch house was built around 1905 for John Roupe, the manager of the company at the time. Peter Hartveld moved to
Oxnard in 1904 and was ranch foreman until 1914. He was born on October 6, 1883 in Nieuwe-Tonge, Holland. He moved his wife,
Anna, and family to Oxnard around 1910. The Hartvelds settled on the Patterson Ranch and within a few years Mr. Harveld became
the ranch manager, a position he held for many years. After the ranch was subdivided, Hartveld bought the ranch house and
153 acres surrounding it. He and his family lived in the house until 1987.
Scope and Contents
This collection covers the day-to-day management of the Patterson Ranch Company and any transactions the ranch had with other
persons and/or corporations. Materials include correspondence to and from the Hartveld brothers, the dissolution papers for
the Patterson Ranch Company, newspaper clippings, cancelled checks, time books and timesheet forms, harvest record cards,
inventories, tax rate booklets, poll tax and wage garnishment sheets, invoices and receipts, maps, titles and deeds, photographs
of life on the ranch, monographs and catalogs, and ledgers.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has been minimally processed and has box-level description.
Separated Materials
The following items have been separated from the archival collection and are housed with MVC's objects collection: turnip
hook, veterinary needle kit and syringe, and cabbage slicer.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Dairy farming -- California -- Oxnard
Ranches -- California -- Oxnard
Patterson Ranch Company -- Records and correspondence