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Register of the Mettler (Raymond) Bear Creek Winery Collection, 1934-1974
Ms33  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Access Points
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Mettler (Raymond) Bear Creek Winery Collection,
    Date (inclusive): 1934-1974
    Collection number: Ms33
    Creator: Raymond Mettler
    Extent: 0.5 linear ft.
    Repository: San Joaquin County Museum.
    Lodi, CA 95241
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Collection is open for research by appointment only.

    Publication Rights

    The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Mettler (Raymond) Bear Creek Winery Collection, Ms33, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum.

    Access Points

    personal name

    Nixon, Richard Milhous (1913-1994)
    Ford, Gerald R. (1914- )
    Reagan, Nancy Davis

    corporate name

    Bear Creek Winery Association (Lodi, Calif.) - Records and correspondence

    subject

    Wineries - California - Lodi
    Politicians - Correspondence
    Wine industry - California - Lodi
    Vintners - California - Lodi

    geographic name

    Lodi (Calif.) - History - Sources

    Biography

    Raymond Mettler was the son of a Russian German farmer, Henry Mettler, who settled in Lodi (Calif.) in 1905. He was a charter member of the Lodi Future Farmers of America and was a member of the state champion tree judging team (1930). A past President of the Victor Farm Bureau, member of the Board of Directors of the Lodi Grape and Wine Festival, Raymond Mettler was plant superintendent at the Bear Creek Vineyard Association. The Association began bulk wine production shortly after the repeal of Prohibition (1933) and, in an effort to improvement marketing, later joined the Del Rio Winery Association of Lodi and the Muscat Cooperative Winery Association of Fresno in a cooperative known as California Wine Sales (1937). The tremendous success of the newly formed sales agency during the 1940s led to the idea of bottling a variety of products from all member wineries under a single bottling label. This was accomplished in 1944 when the Guild brand was created and the cooperative name was changed to Wine Growers Guild. The company subsequently established a central bottling plant at Lodi (1947). By the 1960s Guild Wineries & Distilleries was the third largest wine producer in the United States, with eight wineries and nearly 500 grower/owners.

    Scope and Content

    The Mettler Bear Creek Winery Collection consists of payroll, tax and other financial records of the Winery dating from its earliest years (1934-1957). The collection also contains thank you notes to Raymond Mettler from three Republican politicians: Richard Nixon (1960); Gerald Ford (1967); and, Nancy Reagan (1970).