Pat Johns, a volunteer at the Agricultural History Project, views a collection of apple-crate labels Thursday that were recently donated to the Agricultural History Project by Allan Molho. (Photos by Tarmo Hannula)

The Agricultural History Project’s apple-crate label collection grew exponentially last week when Allan Molho, a longtime volunteer, donated nearly 300 apple-crate labels.

In the early history of the Pajaro Valley, apples dominated the agricultural scene and the area boasted more than a million trees on 14,000 acres.

The fruits, all shapes, sizes and colors, were shipped out in wooden boxes festooned with colorful crate labels that identified the growers and allowed them to personalize their products. The labels were nearly all brilliantly colored and depicted a variety of scenes that featured images such as apple orchards, animals, dancing women and sunsets.

The labels were used from just before World War I until the early 1950s, when cardboard boxes — much lighter and easier to use — came into favor.

Since then, the labels have become a collectors’ items, and volunteers from the Agricultural History Project at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds have gathered hundreds. Mohlo said his collection ranges from the 1920s to the 1950s and was recently appraised at $10,000.

Eventually, volunteers from the Agricultural History Project want to make the labels available for researchers, and scan them and put them online, Molho said.

“What I’m hoping is that we’ll get a collection of as many images as we can,” he said. “It was an important part of our history here, and it’s going, almost gone.”

Molho said the collection could be helpful for people who wish to research their own history.

“There are a lot of people still here whose families were involved in the apple business,” he said.

It was the diversity of the apple-crate labels that in part led to the decline of the local apple industry, Agricultural History Project volunteer Pat Johns said.

Growers who wanted to maintain their own brand identity couldn’t agree on a unifying theme under which to market Pajaro Valley apples. Meanwhile, growers in Washington state began marketing Washington Apples, which became one of the most recognized brands, she said.

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Anyone wishing to view the labels may call the Agricultural History Project at 724-5898.



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