A History of Claremont in 100 Objects: #7 Citrus Packing Label
Cooper Crane
Claremont Heritage
A History of Claremont in 100 Objects: #7 Citrus Packing Label
Artifact Description: Various lithographed packing labels depicting scenes from California and exotic locations advertising citrus and lemons. Labels either affixed to citrus crates or printed for application.
What are the reasons why people move to California? California is the largest state in the US by population, and for decades, symbolized the quintessential ideal of the American dream, in literature, music and in film. Many are familiar with the California Gold Rush and the scramble to the state in search of golden riches, either overland or via the famous California Clipper ships. The sudden growth prompted California’s rapid and unprecedented transition to statehood, skipping the normal process of becoming a territory first, so early in its inclusion in the United States. Economic opportunities then, certainly are a strong explanation for immigration into California, given California’s natural resources and its proximity to the coast. Both during and after World War Two, millions moved to California for its rapidly expanding industrial job base. Military bases along California’s coast, and their demand for war material worked hand-in-hand in burgeoning California’s population, enabling a boom in the southern half of the state, just as the gold rush had enabled in the north. Kaiser Steel in Fontana for example, built liberty ships to support war-time logistics, requiring tens of thousands of workers, laying down the industrial foundations for the Inland Empire. California also hosted countless aerospace companies, including eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes’s Hughes Aircraft Corporation. Returning veterans would stay in California and become employees for many of these companies originally built to supply war material, now transitioning to civil aviation. These companies formed the backbone of the American aviation industry and jet propulsion research during the Cold War. NASA set up its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for these reasons, and to also have easy access to California’s diverse pool of talent from its world renown polytechnical institutions.
Claremont was certainly not unfamiliar to these “pull” factors. The neighboring cities of Pomona and La Verne both were major manufacturing centers for Lockheed, Republic, and General Electric. Harvey Mudd College was established in the 1950s to meet the growing demand for engineers and scientists during the mid-century aviation boom, attracting both students and faculty to come to California, and not far from Claremont is Cal-Tech in Pasadena. Los Angeles itself today remains a major center for tech and software and although most of the aviation industry in California has since moved North, it continues to be a major center of innovation, manufacturing, trade and finance.
But there are other reasons than jobs that encouraged people to come to California. Jobs and economic opportunities were available elsewhere and were not unique to just this state. Economic expansion occurred all over the country during the Second World War: the automotive industry expanded dramatically, constructing the giant sprawling facilities of the Midwest to meet the demand for trucks, tanks, jeeps and other combat vehicles, and many of these facilities also produced aircraft as their lines were retooled for production of aircraft engines and components. There were steel mills across the Ohio River valley and the Great Lakes, including the largest of them all, the Gary Steel Mill in Gary, Indiana. While jobs and economic advancement was one reason many came to California, there were other reasons influencing people to move here that are worth examining historically.
The subject of this month’s blog is one example of what those reasons were. These labels, intended for use on citrus packing creates originated here in Claremont. These labels are important because they represent something much more than an advertisement for fruit grown in California. Instead, they also represented a larger process of mythmaking about California, part of a narrative that rendered the California landscape into the dream for many Americans. For many Americans, the reasons for coming to California were because California represented something else entirely. It represented an imagined paradise. Through these labels California came to be exoticized and turned into a subject of desire. Coming to live in California became through this narrative, a status of success; the ultimate goal of the American dream.
When William Wolfskill planted the first commercial citrus orchard in 1841, citrus was to many Americans, an exotic rarity. Originating in China, the fruit had been cultivated since at least the 2nd century BC but was at that point uncommon in the US. Citrus was a luxury good, and only readily available for those who lived near where it grew. Citrus had been growing in orchards in the California Missions since at least the early 1800s, and some of the first citrus sourced for commercial purposes in California came from these plantings, including orchards at Mission San Gabriel. Wolfskill’s orchard was itself planted from seedlings he had acquired from San Gabriel’s padres. Over the next two decades Wolfskill developed his orchard, and developed the Valencia Orange for which Valencia California is named. Selling citrus via ships to San Francisco, and overland to Los Angeles Wolfskill eventually oversaw more than 100 acres dedicated to citrus orchards on his land near present-day Valencia. Wolfskill died in 1866 but passed his orchard to his son, Joseph.
In the 1870s, several major events occurred in making California central in the public imagination. The first was in 1873, when Eliza Tibbets in Riverside California received two Navel Orange trees from a friend in Washington DC to plant in her gardens at her Riverside home. These two trees came to be known as the “Parent Trees” for they are the direct ancestors of all the Navel Orange groves planted across Southern California. The trees were especially well adapted for the climate of California and were seedless, making them more appealing to consumers and growers but more importantly allowed citrus to be grown in California year-round. Of the two trees, one was replanted at Riverside’s Mission Inn at a celebration attended by President Theodore Roosevelt, surviving until 1921. The other remains at a park along Riverside’s Magnolia Avenue, where it survives to this day. Next, in 1875, the Southern Pacific Railroad extended its railroad through Southern California to Los Angeles. With the extension of the Santa Fe later in 1885, Southern California’s citrus growers had easy access to markets overland east. Excess citrus that could no longer be sold locally could in theory be shipped via rail to customers in the east, if they could be found. In 1876, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia brought varieties of California’s agricultural product to display for the cities of the East Coast, and it helped to ensure that those customers could be found. California vineyards produced grape vines of an unparalleled size, and the public became captivated by the super-fertility of California, creating demand for agricultural goods from California that could only grow there. In some cases, there was a demand for California’s agricultural goods if for no reason that they were from California. The displays and the exposition established California as a land of exceptional abundance. And finally, in 1877, Joseph Wolfskill shipped several crates of Valencia Oranges to St. Louis. It was the first time any citrus grower had attempted to ship their fruit east to the Mississippi and it demonstrated that shipping citrus by rail was possible. When the citrus arrived one month later, although it had to be packed in ice that required changing more than eleven times, it was still edible and presentable for market.
Initially, railroads were quite amicable to citrus growers and offered very low rates for shipping citrus. While the construction of railroads west to Los Angeles though the valleys of Southern California had given the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe many land grants, the construction was highly speculative. The railroads were betting on the expansion of future industries and passengers, and it was very expensive. Citrus had two effects for these railroads. The first was that citrus growers in Southern California and their freight provided some of the clientele the railroads were hoping for, and the second was that the railroads, who were shrewdly aware of the mystique of California developing in the east, believed that they could use the relationship to their advantage. If the railroads could ship citrus east, they might attract passengers who would be willing to pay to come to California to themselves partake in California’s citrus promise. If people did come, the railroads could then sell their land for a massive profit margin through railroad towns. The plan resulted in the creation of many railroad towns throughout the 1880s. Claremont itself is one of these railroad towns, with the Santa Fe railroad heavily marketing plots of land that it owned through the construction of what is now the Metrolink San Bernadino Line.
People began to come west to partake in the rapid growth of citrus in California, hoping to participate and earn a spot in the promise that the California landscape was offering. California’s agriculture was offering wealth, independence, and through the imagery of the exotic fruit, citrus, a garden landscape that could simply not be found anywhere else in the west. This however quickly created problems for citrus growers. The influx of new residents all looking to start their own orchards rapidly resulted in a glut, and railroads who were initially favorable began to increase the rates for shipping citrus. Overproduction of citrus and fierce competition between the independent growers who each negotiated with distributors on their own drove the price of citrus down to a point where orchards rapidly became unsustainable. The cost of growing rose as land and more importantly, water (control of which was also equally as important in this process of myth-making) became more valuable. It seemed as if California’s citrus industry was on the verge of collapse.
Intervention however came through the thinking of two leaders within the citrus industry in Southern California. In Riverside, there was T.H.B Chamblin, and from Claremont, Peter J. Dreher. Chamblin and Dreher had each independently established fruit grower cooperatives. In Claremont, this was the College Heights Fruit Association. Chamblin and Dreher understood the problem facing the citrus growers and had an idea that could solve the problem. If the citrus growers of Southern California could be organized together and bargain collectively with sellers, then they could obtain a fair price for their product and negotiate with railroads who would be much more willing to offer better prices to ship in bulk. Chamblin and Dreher understood the logistical problem very well, and proposed dividing the citrus grown in Southern California according to the amount of citrus that a region could produce. They carefully drew up their mappings for the regions, organized into citrus exchanges. They based their map on the amount of fruit required to fill a standard railroad box car. But more than the logistical benefit, Dreher and Chamblin had hoped that they could standardize the entire process of growing, packing, and selling citrus, down to a science. In 1893, at a conference in Los Angeles, the two oversaw the creation of the Southern California Fruit Exchange. It would merge in 1896 with the Ontario-based Lemon Growers Exchange, representing practically all the citrus growers in Southern California. However, as Dreher himself explained at the conference where his and Chamblin’s proposal was made, the primary issue for citrus growers was not growing citrus but marketing it.
For this reason, Dreher and Chamblin envisioned that each of the citrus growers in Southern California would develop their own unique labels and iconography which would be recognized by customers by name. Labels would serve as a symbol of quality and help to create demand at auctions, where grocers would bid on the highest grades of fruit. The issue of quality was especially critical to Dreher and Chamblin. Grading the quality of citrus affected which citrus would be sold and which others would be used for “secondary uses” which included juices, candles, and soaps. Presentation was everything, even if citrus was still edible, if it had any visual deformities, they believed that it should not go to market. Ideally, customers would become familiar with the taste and characteristics of the fruit as well as its look, grown in the different exchanges and ask for them by name.
The College Heights Fruit Growers in Claremont, frequently opted to use imagery of college athletes, or vignettes depicting the Claremont Colleges to advertise both themselves and their fruit. Linking the imagery of citrus with health, and fitness, both mental and physical created a specific brand that promoted citrus as a way that one could improve their wellbeing, and which also catered to specific customers. Many Americans already were accustomed to California and its supposed health benefits, thanks to Charles Nordhoff’s book, California: for Health, Pleasure, and Residence. Linking the state and its agricultural product brought the relationship into view and associated the two ideas. Eating citrus, the advertising implied, showed that one was a refined person, educated, well-read like a college scholar. Other brands, such as citrus packers in Riverside or Corona chose to cater to people’s sense of adventure, depicting oranges and other citrus fruit such as lemons or limes in exotic or “foreign” settings. Citrus was different, citrus was exotic, citrus was adventurous, and it could only be found in California.
Many of these adverts were therefore both playing into specific narratives about California and California as a “Golden State” and helping to create them. The effectiveness of these advertisements and their widespread appeal was used by many others, not just the citrus industry. The railroad, again taking advantage of a symbiotic relationship with the citrus industry participated in this dramatic description of the state to attract more people to it. Railroads, such as the Santa Fe Railroad, also created and published pamphlets, brochures and vouchers that depicted California as a land of plenty, golden sun, and warm calm lands, all to help their efforts to sell land. The Southern Pacific Railroad for example, regularly published articles and advertisements for destinations in California in their magazine, Sunset. While Northern California may have attracted many American settlers through promises of literal gold, Southern California’s boom in the late 19th century was brought through metaphorical gold. Wide numbers of people came to California for the promise of wealth in agriculture, in the state’s booming citrus industry and in the inherent value of the land and the healthier living that the state offered.
Citrus labels also helped to protect the brand integrity of growers associated with Dreher and Chamblin’s exchange. Fruit grown by members of the Southern California Fruit Exchange could be trusted to be more flavorful, and of better quality than those grown by other growers. The complexity and intricate artwork of many of the early labels prevented their replication and from other growers selling sub-grade fruit under the label of another. The Fruit Exchange developed a system of regulations for growers on what to do in situations when their labels were stolen, or when they had bad seasons that produced a sub-standard harvest. Moreover, the Southern California Fruit Exchange developed their own trademark that was sealed on all labels of growers belonging to the exchange. In 1907 they filed the trademark for their first “sunburst” logo, reading “SUNKIST ORANGES.” In 1952 the Southern California Fruit Exchange legally changed its name to Sunkist Incorporated, the name it still uses today.
The mass production of citrus labels was made possible through a technique known as lithography. Lithography is a technique that uses a chemical process taking advantage of the immiscibility of water and oil. First an artist draws the image on a stone with a grease or oil-based medium. When the stone is made wet with water, the grease applied to the stone does not mix. A permanent plate could then be made using acid etching and the impression could be used to lift mirrored copies from the stone with a roller. This basic principle was how many of the labels in California were made. In the 1870s, German lithographer Max Schmidt and his company, Schmidt lithography was the primary source for the needs for the citrus industry. Schmidt had developed his company earlier making gold certificates for miners in Northern California before turning to other ventures.
Unfortunately, many of the artists who created labels for the citrus industry are unknown. Some artists were never properly credited, and others did not wish to have their name associated with the labels as they viewed the art as too commercialized. Nevertheless, the legacy of these citrus labels and the artists who made them cannot be understated. In addition to the effect that these labels had on the popular imagination of California, many of these labels influenced and left behind techniques and methods that would become standard in graphic design in the 20th century. Artists such as C.A. Beck and E.H. Line developed “standard” labels that could quickly be modified to be made unique for specific brands and growers, reducing the amount of time needed to produce new labels. Their standardization influenced principles of stock art design and became an industry standard. Others such as Othello Michetti and Archie Vasquez pioneered bold font faces and abstract forms that drew inspiration from the art deco movement. Their labels frequently featured dramatic fonts, urban scenes and presented images that showed citrus as an “it” product. Their thinking and work were critical for American fruit growers to enter European markets.
Eventually however, Citrus labels gradually fell out of use in the 1950s as other methods of advertising, TV and radio especially, became more popular and became more effective. As many other businesses transitioned to advertising on TV and radio, they became the standard by which products would be judged. Pre-packaged cardboard, refined during the Second World War would also supplant wooden crates for their greater efficiency and lower costs, and as more consumers became familiar with the Sunkist trademark, this eventually was what was stamped on these new boxes. Despite this, citrus labels remain important objects of study for historians and scholars for the sheer variety of examples produced and for their role in California History.
Today many of these labels have become collectors’ items, ephemera from a bygone age where California had a different kind of mystique. Many of these labels today can now be viewed in collections held by archives and libraries across the state. Pomona’s own public library holds one of the largest collections from within the Pomona Valley. The University of California San Bernadino holds examples in their special collections. The Claremont College's Honnold-Mudd Library also holds labels in their special collections. And of course, Claremont Heritage holds examples from Claremont’s own citrus growers, the College Heights Fruit Growers, and neighboring communities.
Examples of other citrus labels:
Acknowledgements
A History of Claremont in 100 Objects is a blog series presented by Claremont Heritage and written and contributed to by its members. Based on the podcast A History of the World in 100 objects by the BBC and the British Museum, presented by former British Museum director Neil MacGregor. A History of Claremont in 100 Objects explores Claremont history through its material cultural legacies, placing objects important to the history and development of Claremont in larger relation to US and World History.
About the author:
My name is Cooper Crane. I am an archivist and researcher with Claremont Heritage. I study history and anthropology with an emphasis on archaeology and environmental history. I was born in Anaheim and have lived my whole life in Corona California, a city with a similar shared history to Claremont. I have degrees in history, anthropology and political science from Norco College California, as well as from Pomona College, Claremont, and am a certified California Climate Steward through the University of California Department of Natural and Agricultural Resources. I write to explore history through the material objects of history, and by exploring the elements of history that are unwritten. My current work at Claremont Heritage includes the curation of artifacts on display at the Garner House and the Claremont Packing House, the creation of artifact descriptions for our archives and contributing to A History of Claremont in 100 Objects.
Citations:
Gendzel, Glen. “Not Just a Golden State: Three Anglo ‘Rushes’ in the Making of Southern California: 1880-1920.” California Quarterly. 90(4): 2009. 349-378.
Gordon, Laurie and Salkin, John. Orange Crate Art: The Story of the Labels that Launched a Golden Era. Warner Books. 1976.
Gordon and Salkin. “’Eat Me and Grow Young!’: Orange Crate Art in the Golden State,” California Historic Quarterly. 56(1): 1977. 52-71.
King, William F. Pomona: The Citrus Empire. Heritage Media Corporation. 2001.
Klein, Shana. “’Westward the Star of Empire’: California Grapes and Western Settlement in the Nineteenth Century. Southern California Quarterly. Special Issue: Edible Matters: The Material and Visual Culture of Food in California. 100(20): 2018. 124-149.
MacCurdy, Rahno M. and Lockaby, V.A. Selling the Gold: History of Sunkist and Pure Gold. Upland Public Library Foundation. Upland, CA: 1999
McClelland, Gordon T. and Last, Jay T. Fruit Box Labels: A Collector’s Guide. Hillcrest Press Inc. Beverly Hills, CA: 1983.
Merlo, Catherine. Heritage of Gold: The First 100 Years of Sunkist Growers, Inc. 1893-1993. Sunkist Growers, Inc. Valencia, CA: 1993.
Moses, Vincent. To Have a Hand in Creation: Citrus and the Rise of Southern California 1880-present. Riverside Municipal Museum. Riverside, CA: 1989.
Orsi, Richard. “Railroads and Water in the Aird Far West: The Southern Pacific Railroad as a Pioneer Water Developer.” California History. 70(1): 1991. 46-61.
Purdy, Tim. “The Wolfskill Factor.” Exploring Lassen County’s Past. 2024.
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