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Preliminary Guide to the Calamba Sugar Estate - Philippines Collection
Wyles Mss 137
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Table of contents
Title: Calamba Sugar Estate - Philippines Collection
Date (inclusive): 1928-1943
Collection number: Wyles Mss 137
Extent: .2 linear feet (1 half-size document box)
Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical location: Del Sur
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
None.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Calamba Sugar Estate - Philippines Collection. Wyles Mss 137. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Purchase, 2005.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of 51 items from the papers of Hazel Kenward Pfleuger (whose husband was the forester O. W. Pfleuger)
of Mont Alto and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, relating to investments in the Calamba Sugar Estate, in the Philippines, dated
between 1928-1943.
In June of 1912, a group of American businessmen from California organized the Calamba Sugar Estate and in this corporate
name purchased an old estate owned by a series of religious orders (Jesuits and Dominicans) from the government. It started
production in 1914. The corporation also planted coconuts and was quite successful with this. By 1934, 300,000 coconut trees
had been with a yield of over 12 to 15 million coconuts yearly. After the Japanese takeover, the estate was plundered, looted
and burned. The main office was burnt down together with all the records and books of accounts. It was later reopened after
the war by local businessman Vicente Madrigal, then later sold to José Yulo.
Most of the papers of this Philippine sugar plantation were destroyed during the Japanese occupation. The later letters of
1943 mention this. (Additional background information regarding the early history of the estate can be found in the collection
file.)