A Guide to the Sidney Octavius and Joshua Coffin Chase Family Papers
Finding aid created by Chris Baker and Department Staff
University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections
December 2007
Descriptive Summary |
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| Provenance: | Chase family. | |
| Title: | Sidney Octavius and Joshua Coffin Chase Family Papers | |
| Dates: | 1883-1984 | |
| Abstract: | Family and business records of pioneers in the Florida citrus industry, the Chase family, along with correspondence and photographs of related kin. | |
| Extent: | 155.75 linear feet. (369 boxes and 30 volumes) | |
| Identification: | MS 14 | |
Biographical/Historical Note
The story of the Chases in Florida began in 1878 when Sydney Octavius Chase (1860-1941), having read about orange groves in Scribner's Magazine, came to Florida from Philadelphia. His brother, Joshua Coffin Chase (1858-1948), joined him in 1884 and together they formed Chase & Co. The Chase brothers came to Florida at the right time for Florida citrus and at the right time for them as investment entrepreneurs. Strong family ties in the North provided them with additional financial backing for their citrus venture. The Chases were great experimenters and entrepreneurs, pioneering in the field of citrus through the dangerous freezes of the 1890s, and making Florida competitive with the emerging orange production of California. Subsequently they branched into other aspects of agriculture as well as into banking, phosphate mining, railroads, land development, and production of tung oil. Sydney and Joshua were also important civic leaders who took part in community development, especially in Sanford, Jacksonville and Orlando. They supported the development of Rollins College, worked with the Florida Historical Society, and were the benefactors of numerous charities.
Source: A Guide to The Chase Papers in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, compiled by Dena Snodgrass (Gainesville, University of Florida: 1990).
Scope and Content
The Chase Family Papers and the records of Chase & Company trace the development of Florida's commercial citrus industry from the 1880s to 1980s. As such, they document a century that transformed the Florida peninsula from pine forest and cattle ranches into prime citrus groves and Boom-era towns. About half of the collection covers the career of Sidney Octavius Chase, founder of the Chase & Co. citrus enterprise in Sanford, and that of Joshua Coffin Chase, his brother and partner, as they pioneered in the area of citrus growing and packing. The collection also contains the business records of Chase & Co., a firm that dominated the Florida citrus market for many years. The records of the firm provide a year by year history of the ups and downs in the citrus industry in Florida, as well as information about the Chases' diversification into other fields and the rapid growth and development of Florida in the decades after World War II.
Chase & Company of Sanford was an umbrella organization for all Chase business ventures. Three factors render the Chase & Co. records unique: the longevity of Chase & Company, its coverage of agricultural and economic development in Florida, and the fact its records have survived virtually intact and in their original order.
Within the citrus side of the business, the company records cover all aspects of the growing and packaging of citrus fruits, from the early citrus culture of the 19th century into the era of refrigeration and frozen orange juice concentrate. Logical expansion moved Chase & Company into fertilizer, grower's supplies, real estate, banking and foreign trade. Investments were made in Gulf Coast fishing and shipping, and in tung oil and pineapple growing. Celery production, which began as a stopgap during freeze recovery intervals, became a profitable activity of the firm. Researchers will find each of these subjects covered in significant depth.
The Chases were also a mobile family and their travels are documented throughout the correspondence and other records. Members shuttled back and forth from Florida to Maine to Hawaii, South America, Europe, and Russia. Photographic records are significant not only to Florida (e.g., photos of their expedition into the Everglades in 1892 and of the impact of the 1926 and 1928 hurricanes on South Florida) but also to citrus and farming ventures in California and Hawaii, places the family visited in their quest for investment and markets.
The Papers came to the University of Florida in two accessions. The First Accesssion is largely concerned with the careers of Sidney Octavius and Joshua Coffin Chase as they set up their business and continued to run it through the boom and bust of the 1920s and into the early 1940s. The Second Accession, traces out the fortunes of Chase & Co. under the operation of the second generation of the family. These records pertain largely to Sidney O. Chase, Jr., who came to prominence in managing the firm after World War II.
One of the first challenges the Chases' confronted was the impact of the freezes of the 1890s on Florida's citrus industry. In an effort to develop frost hardy strains of citrus, and to test the viability of Florida in competition with California, the Chases traveled west to see the citrus industry of California and the pineapple industry of Hawaii. Upon their return, they began to put their Florida business on a strong competitive footing and interested themselves in all aspects of pest control, testing of new varieties of oranges, and opening of markets for citrus. They also began to diversify into other enterprises.
The Florida land boom of the 1920s instigated a general improvement in transportation, allowing citrus growers quicker and easier access to markets. As citrus fruits flooded into southern market places, growers began to turn to the Florida Citrus Exchange to regulate the industry. The Chase correspondence from this period is marked by their stormy relationship with the Exchange and its head, C.C. Commander, over the matter of regulations.
Records from the latter part of the 1920s document the impact of the Depression and of the 1927 and 1934 freezes on Chase & Co. The advent of Word War II brought both new difficulties for the Florida citrus and vegetable industries and a new prosperity. The vastly increased demand for foodstuffs (with the government as the major purchaser) insured a steady market and stabilized prices. During this time W.A. 'Billy' Leffler served as president of Chase & Co., guiding the company through a series of war-related difficulties with labor, transportation, and supply. He was also responsible for introducing a new agricultural product that would change the face of central Florida, sweet corn in Seminole County, and later in the Zellwood and Glades areas.
The Chase & Co. records offer glimpses of the working conditions of World War II, when farming interests relied heavily on immigrant labor from Jamaica and the Bahamas. They also cover the lobbying efforts at the conclusion of WWII that led to the H-2 programs of the following decades, establishing migrant workers as an integral part of the state's agricultural industries.
During the late 1940s two major events occurred that changed the character of the citrus industry. The first, and most important, was the perfection of the frozen juice concentrate process. This greatly increased the demand for citrus products, and even more importantly gave the industry a new marketing medium-a food product with an indefinite shelf-life for both the processor and the merchandiser. The second was the formation of the Florida Citrus Mutual. The establishment of this industry-wide cooperative organization brought rationale to the previously chaotic marketing of Florida citrus and created a basis for the industry to start collective lobbying of agriculturally friendly legislation at the state and national levels.
Cautious as ever the Chases entered into this cooperative effort in a manner similar to the way they did with the Florida Citrus Exchange. For the Chases their citrus operations were the spiritual center of their business enterprises, and any relinquishing of direct control was not easily done. By the end of the 1950s a large percentage of their citrus was being sold to processors; and with the catastrophic freeze of December 1962 they closed down their remaining fresh fruit packinghouses. Thereafter their products were sold directly to processing co-ops, in which their fruit was pooled with that of other growers and accounts settled months later.
Source: A Guide to The Chase Papers in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, compiled by Dena Snodgrass (Gainesville, University of Florida: 1990). Source for information about the Second Accession: A Guide to The Chase Papers: Second Accesion, 1883-1984, Robin Lauralt, 1990.
Access or Use Restrictions
Access
Collection is open for research.
Related or Separated Material
Several related collections augment the materials found in the Chase Family Papers. These include holdings at the University of Florida's Lake Alfred Experimental Station and the General Henry S. Sanford collection at the Sanford Public Library. A small but related collection is the James E. Ingraham Papers, a Chase family friend and employee of Henry Flagler.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Sidney Octavius and Joshua Coffin Chase Family Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Sydney O. Chase, Jr., Frank W. Chase, Julia G. Chase, and Cecilia C. Lasbury, 1981.
Processing History
The materials in the collection were donated in two separate parts (accessions). Descriptive information for both accessions can be searched by subject, name, date, etc. Materials in the first accession (1883-1940) are also indexed in A Guide to The Chase Papers in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History: The University of Florida Libraries, a copy of which is available as an online PDF document.
Contents List
First Accession - Record Group I: Chase & Company Records |
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| This Group is divided into five (5) Series, consisting of the records of Chase & Company, primarily contained in the correspondence files of Sydney Octavius Chase (SOC) and Joshua Coffin Chase (JCC). The records extend from the company's earliest activity through growing, packing and shipping fresh citrus produce, and the improvement of methods used in each process. Significant impediments to successful citrus agricultural development, such as freezes and the Mediterranean fruit fly, are covered. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for First Accession - Record Group I | |||||||||||||
First Accession - Record Group II: General Business Records |
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| This Group is divided into five (5) Series, made up of the correspondence of Sydney Octavius Chase (SOC) and Joshua Coffin Chase (JCC) in developing and improving their own citrus groves, financing their businesses, participating in a wide range of trade association activities, improving distribution, and by branching out experimentally into Tung oil and pineapple growing. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for First Accession - Record Group II | |||||||||||||
First Accession - Record Group III: Personal Correspondence and Family Papers |
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| An extensive interest in life, mankind and in the joys of family relationships are recorded in this Group. The Group relates the early history and genealogy of the family, trips abroad, annual visits from Florida to Philadelphia and Maine, and describes community celebrations. Dairies, memoirs, photographs and personal letters contain extensive biographical information and reveal personal business matters, community, charitable and civic work which played an important part in their lives. The Papers of Laura Du Val Chase (Mrs. Sydney O. Chase), a great-granddaughter of William P. Du Val, concern genealogy, biography and patriotic work. The Memoirs of Mary Justice Lee Chase (Mrs. Joshua C. Chase) cover the life of the family in Jacksonville. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for First Accession - Record Group III | |||||||||||||
Second Accession - Record Group I: Business Records, 1899-1960 |
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| Record Group I contains the business records and correspondence (1899-1960) of the principal members of the complex of Chase firms. The bulk of these records are from Sydney Octavius Chase, Jr., the son of Sydney O. Chase, Sr. Sydney Jr. starts to appear prominently in the records after World War One, assuming more important positions and greater responsibilities up till the death of Sydney Sr. in 1941. He began directing the operations of Chase & Co. and its subsidiaries at this time; with his two uncles involved in other activities (Randall Chase was on active duty with the U.S. Navy and Joshua Chase was spending nearly all his time in the North) Sydney, Jr. came to bear responsibility for one of the largest agricultural concerns in the state, and continued to do so till his own death. | |||||||||||||
| Sydney Jr. began his career in the company in a traditional manner, starting as a citrus buyer in October 1922. His territory consisted of the three Chase packing houses in Polk County, and another independent that packed for Chase & Co. Residing with his wife Margaret in Winter Haven, he spent a good deal of his time on another of his duties, visiting grove owners and growers throughout the area. During the citrus off-season he worked on the company's 'peach deal' in mid-state Georgia. More financially conservative than his father, Sydney Jr. did not invest as heavily in the Florida real estate boom as his father did, and consequently while hurt some it was not to the extent as many others less cautious were. | |||||||||||||
| Record Group I contains a wealth of information pertaining to the sand lands celery growing operations of the Sanford area from the 1920s to the 1960s. Such topics as labor rates, working hours and conditions, crop transportation and marketing are well documented. The establishment of the Lake Okeechobee muck lands celery and winter vegetable growing districts in the late 1950s precipitated a decline in the operations of the sand land districts. Thr various advantages and disadvantages of these production areas are also well documented. By the advent of the Cuban Revolution winter vegetable and celery production had become firmly established in the Everglades region. Chase & Co. cautiously entered into the areas at this time, first leasing land for vegetable growing, and then later purchasing several small sugar lots in cooperation with several established growers in the region. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for Second Accession - Record Group I | |||||||||||||
Second Accession - Record Group II: Subject Files |
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| Contents List for Second Accession - Record Group II | |||||||||||||
Second Accession - Record Group III: Personal Correspondence of Joshua Coffin Chase, Sydney Octavius Chase, Jr., Randall Chase and Others |
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| The correspondence of Sydney Octavius Chase, Jr. reflects the wide-ranging concerns one would expect of a person in a position of power and influence. Of interest for the researcher are the variety of topics about which he communicated, including Florida and Florida's citrus industry, transportation and freight rates, state and national politics, agricultural labor issues, efficiency of agricultural operations, marketing and water management. Among the many other topics covered are crop and weather conditions (both Sydney O. and Joshua C. Chase also included weather synopsis in their routine business correspondence), technical papers (e.g., freeze protection and hurricane prevention), and correspondence with family members and friends. The many letters to and from various business associates, suppliers, retailers, private clubs and resort hotels provide an extremely comprehensive picture of the life-style of a typical affluent businessman during the period. Included are correspondence and memorabilia from several trips to Europe (business and pleasure). | |||||||||||||
| The papers of Randall Chase reveal a man in some ways substantially different from his brother Sydney Octavius Chase, Sr. (SOC). He was vitally concerned with politics on all levels. Like SOC he was politically conservative and was a staunch supporter of conservative policies and causes. But unlike Sydney, Randall was an active member in several organizations which espoused what were for the time extremely right-wing philosophies and platforms, and supported many groups that were labeled as "fanatical." He also was a history buff and amateur genealogist. An avid reader, histories of Florida, New England, the U.S. and the Episcopal Church were some of his favorite subjects. This is reflected in his research, documented in his correspondence, into the Chase family history from its English origins to its establishment in New England. Much of it also reveals a deep concern with both the family's public and private past. More an ideologue and abstract thinker than Sydney, he never-the-less was as interested in the operations of Chase & Co. and its widespread enterprises as Sydney or Joshua. In fact, his direct involvement is reflected and often documented in materials from individuals outside the Chase family who were business associates in the citrus industry. Less interested in matters outside the immediate running of the company such as the routine operations of the various citrus and the Tung oil groves, he left marketing to Sydney and Joshua. | |||||||||||||
| The Group also contains the correspondence of Sydney Octavius Chase's other son, Randall Chase II, who was named for his uncle. Other individuals include Alfred Foster, Charles A. Garrett, William Justice Lee, William J. Leffler, Frank W. Chase, Laura D. Chase, and Joshua C. Chase. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for Second Accession - Record Group III | |||||||||||||
Second Accession - Record Group IV: Bound Records, 1883-1980 |
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| This Group contains bound records of Chase & Company, as well as those of several Chase affiliates, and is divided into five series. | |||||||||||||
| Contents List for Second Accession - Record Group IV | |||||||||||||
Second Accession - Record Group V: Chase Groves, Inc: Business Records and Documents (1999 Addition) |
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| Contents List for Second Accession - Record Group V | |||||||||||||
For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.
