Collection of Citrus Labels
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection contains citrus crate labels from the early 1900s through 1950s with an emphasis on growers in the Inland Empire region of Southern California including cities such as Redlands, Corona, Riverside, East Highland, Rialto, and others. The labels in this collection are primarily citrus (oranges, lemons, and grapefruit), but labels for other fruit and vegetable varieties are also present. Please note that some labels in this collection contain offensive, harmful, or otherwise outdated imagery/language pertaining to race and gender.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1900-1950
Access
This collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright Unknown: Some materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing agreement(s), and/or trademark rights. Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Historical Note
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, paper labels were glued on wooden crates by companies to advertise and identify the grower, packing association, and fruit variety. Labels often included the company name, brand, city/state origin, logo, and other imagery. They were created using a printing method called lithography, a time-consuming process which resulted in bright and detailed designs. Due to a combination of factors including the end of World War II, the beginning of the Korean War, and rising costs for materials the wooden crates were eventually replaced with cardboard boxes featuring integrated label designs that replaced the paper labels. A lot of unused crate labels remained, and despite many being discarded, people began to collect, preserve, and display them for their unique and decorative designs.
Extent
13.5 Linear Feet (21 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Abstract
This collection contains citrus crate labels from the early 1900s through 1950s with an emphasis on growers in the Inland Empire region of Southern California including cities such as Redlands, Corona, Riverside, East Highland, Rialto, and others. The labels in this collection are primarily citrus (oranges, lemons, and grapefruit), but labels for other fruit and vegetable varieties are also present.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged into the following series:
- Series 1. Framed, circa 1900-1950.
- Series 2. Unframed, circa 1900-1950.
Acquisition Information
Information unavailable.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Raquel Rodriguez as part of her archival processing student internship, 2025.
Genre / Form
Geographic
- Corona (Calif.)
- Highland (Calif.)
- Inland Empire (Calif.)
- Redlands (Calif.)
- Rialto (Calif.)
- Riverside (Calif.)
Topical
- Title
- Collection of Citrus Labels
- Author
- Finding aid created by Eric Milenkiewicz.
- Date
- 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- .
Repository Details
Part of the Pfau Library Special Collections Repository
5500 University Parkway
San Bernardino CA 92407 United States
909-537-5112
archives@csusb.edu