Gary Monroe Citrus Label Collection

Citrus labels were a form of commercial or advertising art that existed from the late 19th century until World War II. The citrus label industry emerged with the growth of railroads, which led to citrus fruits being shipped around the country, and growers needing a way to differentiate their products both to distributors and to consumers. This led to the advent of citrus labels, which not only identified products that would otherwise be nearly identical, but also served to draw attention to the products and create a recognizable brand. The labels were applied to the ends of the wooden crates which contained the citrus, and the crates would be auctioned off to retailers and wholesalers in the Northeast. To catch the eye of these buyers, these labels were often elaborately-drawn and featured dazzling imagery. Growers also used pre-made or "stock" labels, with a standard image, to which their own brand and name was added.

Citrus labels saw their heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. With World War II demanding more materials, the wooden crates were replaced with cheaper and more readily-available cardboard boxes and names and labels could be directly printed onto the cardboard. This reduced the need for paper labels. Despite the end of the war in 1945, cardboard remained the primary shipping medium for citrus fruits. This development, combined with the rise of orange juice concentrate and direct-to-consumer selling, also lessened the need for fancy labels, leading to the rapid decline of citrus labeling.

Today, these historic relics are still valued by collectors, who assign various values to them based on size, year, origin, and rarity.

Sources:

Jerry Chicone Jr. Florida Citrus Label Collection. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/citruslabel

Schmidt Oral History. https://archive.org/stream/schmidtlithographco01teisrich/schmidtlithographco01teisrich_djvu.txt

Yorba Linda History. http://www.yorbalindahistory.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00---0tescol--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-0l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-001-1-1utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=CL1&d=HASH010c5e70487ace4f70c78a83.14#start

Citrus Label Society (California). http://www.citruslabelsociety.com/citrus-label-history.html

The Autry Museum. http://collections.theautry.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=PE208196;type=701

Florida's Natural - https://floridasnatural.com/who-we-are/our-growers/lake-wales-citrus-growers-association.php

Florida's Natural - https://floridasnatural.com/who-we-are/our-growers/waverly-growers-cooperative.php

Florida Citrus Labels: An Illustrated History by Jerry Chicone, Jr. and Brenda Eubanks Burnette (1996)

Classic Crates from Florida by Marilyn C. Russell (1985)

"Florida's First Billboards": Florida Citrus Create Labels by Jerry Chicone, Jr. and Brenda Eubanks Burnette (2014)