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Guide to the William L. Paul papers
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Title: William L. Paul papers
Date (inclusive): 1912-1961, undated
Date (bulk): 1913-1936
Collection Number: 065
Creator:
Paul, William L., 1866-1935.
Extent:
1.5 linear feet
(3 document boxes)
Repository: Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: The William L. Paul papers contain correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other material regarding William L. Paul, a
pioneer date grower in Coachella Valley, California from 1909-1935. Topics include the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association,
Paul's personal date business, and the exhibition and promotion of Coachella Valley, California dates. Records document the
administration and industry activities of the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association, Paul's professional work and involvement
with the Southern California date growing community, and aspects of the commercial date industry in the United States, primarily
Southern California.
Languages: The collection is in English.
This collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & Archives. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections
& Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the
physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by
the researcher.
[identification of item]. The William L. Paul papers, collection 065 University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special
Collections & Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Information unknown.
Processed by Hollie Johnson, 2011.
Processing of the William L. Paul papers was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and administered by the
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The University of California, Riverside was awarded a Cataloging Hidden
Special Collections and Archives grant from 2010-2012, "Uncovering California's Environmental Collections," in collaboration
with eight additional special collections and archival repositories throughout the state and the California Digital Library
(CDL). Grant objectives included processing of over 33 hidden collections related to the state's environment and environmental
history. The collections document an array of important sub-topics such as irrigation, mining, forestry, agriculture, industry,
land use, activism, and research. Together they form a multifaceted picture of the natural world and the way it was probed,
altered, exploited and protected in California over the twentieth century. Finding aids are made available through the Online
Archive of California (OAC).
William L. Paul was born in Andover, Massachusetts in 1866. He purchased 160 acres of land in Coachella Valley, California
in 1902 and moved his family there in 1909. Paul built a ranch on his land with the goal of starting a business growing date
palm trees and harvesting the dates as a commercial crop. The first date trees in the Coachella Valley were planted in the
late 1890s, but did not thrive. In 1904, the United States Department of Agriculture set up a date experiment station in Mecca,
California to study dates as a commercial crop, invigorating the date growing industry.
In 1913, Paul was instrumental in organizing local date growers into a professional association called the Coachella Valley
Date Growers Association, serving as the organization's first president. One of the primary functions of the Coachella Valley
Date Growers Association was to procure new date off shoots from North Africa for association members, and Paul worked tirelessly
at this task. He was responsible for coordinating efforts to import more than 14,000 off shoots to the Coachella Valley between
1913 and 1915.
In 1915, Paul represented the County of Riverside and the California date industry at the World's Fair in San Francisco, where
he exhibited California dates and date products. In addition to promoting the date industry at exhibitions, Paul went on a
six-month publicity tour in 1916, delivering lectures across the eastern United States about the nutritional value of dates
and the Coachella Valley date industry. In 1933, he again represented Coachella Valley, exhibiting dates and date products
at the Chicago World's Fair. Paul spent the remainder of his life working at his date ranch and growing his business. His
daughter, Nina Paul Shumway, continued to operate the date farm after William L. Paul died in Indio, California in April 1935.
| 1866: | William L. Paul was born in Andover, Massachusetts. |
| 1902: | Paul purchased 160 acres of land in Coachella Valley, California. |
| 1909: | Paul and his family moved to the Coachella Valley and built a ranch on the land he purchased in 1902. |
| 1913: | Paul organized local date growers into a professional organization called the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association. |
| 1913: | Paul served as the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association's first president. |
| 1913-1915: | Paul led efforts to procure more than 14,000 date tree off shoots from North Africa and import them to the Coachella Valley. |
| 1915: | Paul managed the Riverside County date exhibits. |
| 1916: | Paul spent six months traveling on the east coast of the United States lecturing about the nutritional value of dates and promoting the Coachella Valley Date industry. |
| 1933: | Paul exhibited Coachella Valley dates and date products at the Chicago World's Fair. |
| 1935: | Paul died in Indio, California in April 1935. |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The William L. Paul papers contain correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other material regarding William L. Paul, a
pioneer date grower in Coachella Valley, California from 1909-1935. Topics include the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association,
Paul's personal date business, and the exhibition and promotion of Coachella Valley, California dates. Records document the
administration and industry activities of the Coachella Valley Date Growers Association, Paul's professional work and involvement
with the Southern California date growing community, and aspects of the commercial date industry in the United States, primarily
Southern California.
This collection is arranged into the following three series:
- Series 1. Coachella Valley Date Growers Association, 1913-1961, undated.
- Series 2. Professional papers, 1912-1938, undated.
- Series 3. Date industry, 1913-1951, undated.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Coachella Valley.
Coachella Valley Date Growers Association.
Dates (fruit).
Paul, William L., 1866-1935.
Uncovering California's Environmental Collections Project.
Clippings (information artifacts).
Correspondence.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Publications.