The Vacaville Collection consists of: Ronald Limbaugh's research notes; book drafts; photographs; project correspondence and reports; and, fifty-nine taped interviews with long-time residents of Vacaville, California conducted by Limbaugh, together with miscellaneous documentation pertaining to these interviews (1976-78). A few of the interviews have been transcribed.

Ronald H. Limbaugh, history professor at the University of the Pacific and co-author of Vacaville: The heritage of a California community (1978), was commissioned---as part of local United States Bicentennial celebrations---by the Vacaville City Council to interview Vacaville "old-timers" and to write a history of Vacaville. Limbaugh conducted the interviews between fall 1976 and spring 1978 in the preparation of Vacaville. The Vacaville Heritage Council helped initiate the project with suggestions about local resources and persons to interview. Council member, Eleanor Nelson, contacted interviewees and arranged most of the interviews. The interviews describe conditions in Vacaville betwen 1880 and 1976. They contain information about the growth of the fruit cultivation, packing and processing industries which typified the region during those years. They reveal much about the contributions of Chinese and Japanese settlers to these enterprises. The tapes also contain information about race and labor relations and many other local and regional activities.

Access Collection is open for research.