Topic Three Gallery
Cannery Decline
When fruit processing operations began to decline in the 1970s, the growth of manufacturing in the electronics industry and new housing tracts provided opportunities for displaced workers in construction, railroads, warehouse, and assembly work. Unfortunately, these new jobs were not comparable to the higher-wage union jobs in the canning industry. For many workers, the cannery closures meant the end of secure jobs with benefits and the long-term working relationships they had created. By 1987, only eight canneries existed in the valley, the era ended when, in 1999, Del Monte closed its largest cannery, Plant #3, the site of the 1893 San Jose Fruit Packing Company.
0 of 12

- Title
- Cannery Decline
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Cannery Last Day
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 021
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
The History of Cannery Development in Santa Clara County
Early promoters called San José “The Garden City.” To take advantage of bumper crop years, keep their product fresh after the season, and utilize distant markets, orchard ranchers preserved their fruit through canning and drying. In 1871 at his home on The Alameda, Dr. James Dawson, a local doctor/fruit grower, formed Dawson & Company, which In 1875 was renamed the San Jose Fruit Packing Company (SJFPCO), located at the corner of Fifth and Julian Streets. In 1893 the company, relocated to the west side of the Guadalupe River south of Auzerais Street, was the largest cannery in the world. By 1900 canned food production had become the second largest industry in California, with Santa Clara County in the lead. During the 1930s, 38 canneries hiring up to 30,000 people at peak season operated in the county, several run by huge corporations such as Libby’s, Hunt’s, Richmond-Chase, and Calpak.
Commercial sales of fruit increased with the construction of the San Jose Fruit Packing Company facility in 1875. Workers at the first canneries included local residents and seasonal migrants. Some employers offered company housing for skilled workers, though individually rented boarding house rooms and hotel rooms were more typical. Worker neighborhoods with small family homes soon appeared adjacent to packing houses and canneries. San José's Eastside grew after the Mayfair Fruit Packing Company was constructed in 1944, in the largely Mexican neighborhood known as the Mayfair district.
1 of 12

- Title
- The History of Cannery Development in Santa Clara County
- Scholar Talk
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 001
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County
Cannery operations were large facilities, with warehouses, processing facilities, railyards, garages, shops, and offices, employing several hundred to several thousand people. As a regional hub for the food processing industry, local canneries received produce not only from the Bay area but from much of Northern and Central California. Historian Glenna Matthews states that by the 1930s Calpak was the largest canner in California and Santa Clara County had become the fruit processing capital of the world. This photo shows women packing prunes at Calpak Plant No. 51 on Bush Street, south of The Alameda.
2 of 12

- Title
- Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Packing Plant History
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 002
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women Dominate the Ethnic White Cannery Labor Force Pre-WWII
By the 1930s, Santa Clara County’s 38 canneries were the largest employers of women in California. Historian Glenna Matthews divides these canneries into three categories: the large corporate canners of Libby’s, Hunt’s, or Calpak; the smaller joint firms such as Richmond-Chase (2,073 peak season workers); and the marginal single canneries, including Garden City Canning Company (197 peak season workers).
In the 1930s, white ethnic women had risen to supervisory positions as floor ladies, with full authority over subordinates. During WWII, many of these women moved to better paying positions in defense industries and jobs vacated by men. By the mid-1940s, the percentage of women in the American workforce had expanded from 25 to 36 percent. With the wartime labor shortages, more Mexican women were recruited to work in the canneries.
3 of 12

- Title
- Women Dominate the Ethnic White Cannery Labor Force Pre-WWII
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Cannery Life: Del Monte in the Santa Clara Valley - History of San José
- Looking Back: Canning in the Valley of Heart's Delight | San Jose Public Library
- Cannery Tour | Campbell Museum
- Santa Clara Valley Women Cannery Workers
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 003
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII
In response, Mexican women and braceros filled cannery jobs. During peak periods, canneries operated non-stop, and many provided transportation during the night shift or allowed women to work until 6:00 a.m., when public buses began to operate.
From 1948 to the 1970s, among cannery women workers, Mexicans comprised the largest ethnic group, with Mexican women working on the line under the supervision of older Italian and Portuguese women, while Mexican men worked in the higher-paying year-round warehouse jobs. Second-generation, English-speaking Mexican American women moved easily from the cannery line to higher- paying supervisory positions and front-office jobs.
4 of 12

- Title
- Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Plant #3 Overview (1999)
- "Rainbow Harvest" - Dole Fruit Cocktail
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 005
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Seasonal Work and the Shape-Up
Having a connection in the cannery workforce–friends or family–often resulted in a hiring preference, and these ties were also helpful on the job as experienced workers provided support and instruction to newcomers. Because employment was seasonal, workers maximized income while jobs were available, working daily and often overtime. This might mean hiding a pregnancy (because pregnant women were not hired), working when sick, or staying on the job even after an injury. Workers wanted to make sure that they would be asked to return for the next season.
5 of 12

- Title
- Seasonal Work and the Shape-Up
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 007
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
- Media
Eastside Plant
Gender Division in Cannery Work
Due to these gendered job categories, women also suffered from limited opportunities for advancement. Not until the 1970s, after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, would they move into higher-paying, year-round jobs traditionally reserved for men.
6 of 12

- Title
- Gender Division in Cannery Work
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley on JSTOR
- Women's Work and Chicano Families
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 009
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Ethnic and Immigrant Division in Cannery Work
While ethnic white women might do the same jobs as Mexican women, they were often segregated by their supervisors, who sometimes helped members of their own group secure better jobs. Combined with the language barrier, Mexican women found little basis for solidarity with these co-workers and sometimes perceived comments from supervisors as racially biased. In addition, although they all might speak Spanish, relations between American-born Mexicans and Mexican immigrants could sometimes be strained.
7 of 12

- Title
- Ethnic and Immigrant Division in Cannery Work
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 011
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women's Work Culture
Women workers, no matter their background, shared mutual concerns about wages, working conditions, and poor supervisors. There was no time to socialize while on the assembly line or during brief breaks, and the noise made it hard to converse. In the 1930s, shared concerns over workplace safety and low wages led some Mexican women to become involved in union organizing efforts, including strikes, and to rely on social networks for support. “Women’s cannery work culture” made the daily routine easier because women shared their experiences, helping each other adjust to the challenges of the workplace.
8 of 12

- Title
- Women's Work Culture
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley on JSTOR
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 013
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
A Day on the Cannery Assembly Line
On the floor, workers stood at their stations sorting fruit as it came down the conveyor. Cans on conveyors filed by the seam-inspectors, and women “checkers” sealed the cans before they were loaded into cookers. Women concentrated on doing their jobs quickly in order to meet required quotas. Processing areas were noisy, with the constant clamor of machinery and cans running along conveyor belts. Chemicals such as lye and chlorine were used to wash and clean the fruit. Some women who worked in steaming and canning spinach complained of their nails falling off due to prolonged submersion into the spinach vats. Fruit and vegetable processing required a great deal of handwork to sort, weigh, and fill cans with sometimes steaming hot produce. Once canned, some women looked for dented cans before they were boxed up. The work was demanding and exhausting, constantly proceeding at a pace set by the conveyor belt. When the women got home, their bodies smelled like the fruit or vegetable in which they worked all day, particularly tomatoes. It was difficult to get adequate rest. Many women cannery workers complained about hearing the clanking of the machines even in their sleep.
By the 1940s, shifts usually lasted eight hours but could be longer during peak harvest periods, when some canneries operated on a 24-hour schedule. Companies facing labor shortages encouraged regular employees to work overtime, and despite the demands of the job, many welcomed the opportunity to earn extra money.
9 of 12

- Title
- A Day on the Cannery Assembly Line
- Scholar Talk
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 015
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Cannery Injuries and Hazards
A high percentage of women working in canneries at that time were immigrants who spoke limited English, so receiving adequate training was difficult, and safety instructions were printed only in English. Assembly-line labor was repetitive, and women stood at their stations for hours working with their hands in acidic fruit. Many women reported severe damage to their hands and fingers from operating swiftly-running machinery. Many reported severe damage to their hands, not from traumatic injuries but from nicks and cuts received while cutting fruit by hand. As cans rattled along conveyors in buildings that were sometimes the size of four football fields, noise was also a constant problem. Industrial chemicals were hard on the skin and a hazard to eyes and lungs. At the peak of the season, workers might put in ten hours a day, six days a week, leaving them exhausted and dehydrated at the end of their shift.
Women continued to bring health and safety concerns to management and their unions. During and after WWII, some larger canneries, such as Del Monte, created an infirmary with a nurse near the processing line. While conditions generally improved over time, anthropologist Patricia Zavella, in her book Women’s Work and Chicano Families, noted that in 1978, canneries were still considered one of the most dangerous industries, second only to lumber manufacturing according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
10 of 12

- Title
- Cannery Injuries and Hazards
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 017
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women's Double Work Day
A major challenge for cannery women was finding appropriate and affordable childcare. During the 1940s and 1950s, CalPak operated a nursery at the Del Monte Plant #3, providing childcare during the day and second shift. However, as childcare was unavailable at most canneries, mothers left their children with family members or neighbors, while others paid for babysitters or bartered for care with co-workers. Husbands and wives who worked at the same plant might arrange complicated shift schedules.
Working mothers believed that, in easing their husbands’ responsibility as providers, they could ask for more assistance with housework. However, men often found it difficult to participate in many of these domestic chores, so cooking and childcare were often handled by older children.
Women cannery workers knew that their paychecks enabled them to provide more assistance to their children, send their kids to college, allow their husbands to attend trade school, start their own business, or have a higher standard of living, and they wanted a say in how household money would be spent. Women made time to do the necessary household chores by extending their day, staying up late or waking early.
11 of 12

- Title
- Women's Double Work Day
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 019
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Cannery Decline
When fruit processing operations began to decline in the 1970s, the growth of manufacturing in the electronics industry and new housing tracts provided opportunities for displaced workers in construction, railroads, warehouse, and assembly work. Unfortunately, these new jobs were not comparable to the higher-wage union jobs in the canning industry. For many workers, the cannery closures meant the end of secure jobs with benefits and the long-term working relationships they had created. By 1987, only eight canneries existed in the valley, the era ended when, in 1999, Del Monte closed its largest cannery, Plant #3, the site of the 1893 San Jose Fruit Packing Company.
12 of 12

- Title
- Cannery Decline
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Cannery Last Day
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 021
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
The History of Cannery Development in Santa Clara County
Early promoters called San José “The Garden City.” To take advantage of bumper crop years, keep their product fresh after the season, and utilize distant markets, orchard ranchers preserved their fruit through canning and drying. In 1871 at his home on The Alameda, Dr. James Dawson, a local doctor/fruit grower, formed Dawson & Company, which In 1875 was renamed the San Jose Fruit Packing Company (SJFPCO), located at the corner of Fifth and Julian Streets. In 1893 the company, relocated to the west side of the Guadalupe River south of Auzerais Street, was the largest cannery in the world. By 1900 canned food production had become the second largest industry in California, with Santa Clara County in the lead. During the 1930s, 38 canneries hiring up to 30,000 people at peak season operated in the county, several run by huge corporations such as Libby’s, Hunt’s, Richmond-Chase, and Calpak.
Commercial sales of fruit increased with the construction of the San Jose Fruit Packing Company facility in 1875. Workers at the first canneries included local residents and seasonal migrants. Some employers offered company housing for skilled workers, though individually rented boarding house rooms and hotel rooms were more typical. Worker neighborhoods with small family homes soon appeared adjacent to packing houses and canneries. San José's Eastside grew after the Mayfair Fruit Packing Company was constructed in 1944, in the largely Mexican neighborhood known as the Mayfair district.
13 of 12

- Title
- The History of Cannery Development in Santa Clara County
- Scholar Talk
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 001
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County
Cannery operations were large facilities, with warehouses, processing facilities, railyards, garages, shops, and offices, employing several hundred to several thousand people. As a regional hub for the food processing industry, local canneries received produce not only from the Bay area but from much of Northern and Central California. Historian Glenna Matthews states that by the 1930s Calpak was the largest canner in California and Santa Clara County had become the fruit processing capital of the world. This photo shows women packing prunes at Calpak Plant No. 51 on Bush Street, south of The Alameda.
14 of 12

- Title
- Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Packing Plant History
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 002
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women Dominate the Ethnic White Cannery Labor Force Pre-WWII
By the 1930s, Santa Clara County’s 38 canneries were the largest employers of women in California. Historian Glenna Matthews divides these canneries into three categories: the large corporate canners of Libby’s, Hunt’s, or Calpak; the smaller joint firms such as Richmond-Chase (2,073 peak season workers); and the marginal single canneries, including Garden City Canning Company (197 peak season workers).
In the 1930s, white ethnic women had risen to supervisory positions as floor ladies, with full authority over subordinates. During WWII, many of these women moved to better paying positions in defense industries and jobs vacated by men. By the mid-1940s, the percentage of women in the American workforce had expanded from 25 to 36 percent. With the wartime labor shortages, more Mexican women were recruited to work in the canneries.
15 of 12

- Title
- Women Dominate the Ethnic White Cannery Labor Force Pre-WWII
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Cannery Life: Del Monte in the Santa Clara Valley - History of San José
- Looking Back: Canning in the Valley of Heart's Delight | San Jose Public Library
- Cannery Tour | Campbell Museum
- Santa Clara Valley Women Cannery Workers
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 003
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII
In response, Mexican women and braceros filled cannery jobs. During peak periods, canneries operated non-stop, and many provided transportation during the night shift or allowed women to work until 6:00 a.m., when public buses began to operate.
From 1948 to the 1970s, among cannery women workers, Mexicans comprised the largest ethnic group, with Mexican women working on the line under the supervision of older Italian and Portuguese women, while Mexican men worked in the higher-paying year-round warehouse jobs. Second-generation, English-speaking Mexican American women moved easily from the cannery line to higher- paying supervisory positions and front-office jobs.
16 of 12

- Title
- Mexicans Move to Cannery Work During and After WWII
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Plant #3 Overview (1999)
- "Rainbow Harvest" - Dole Fruit Cocktail
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 005
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Seasonal Work and the Shape-Up
Having a connection in the cannery workforce–friends or family–often resulted in a hiring preference, and these ties were also helpful on the job as experienced workers provided support and instruction to newcomers. Because employment was seasonal, workers maximized income while jobs were available, working daily and often overtime. This might mean hiding a pregnancy (because pregnant women were not hired), working when sick, or staying on the job even after an injury. Workers wanted to make sure that they would be asked to return for the next season.
17 of 12

- Title
- Seasonal Work and the Shape-Up
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 007
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
- Media
Eastside Plant
Gender Division in Cannery Work
Due to these gendered job categories, women also suffered from limited opportunities for advancement. Not until the 1970s, after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, would they move into higher-paying, year-round jobs traditionally reserved for men.
18 of 12

- Title
- Gender Division in Cannery Work
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley on JSTOR
- Women's Work and Chicano Families
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 009
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Ethnic and Immigrant Division in Cannery Work
While ethnic white women might do the same jobs as Mexican women, they were often segregated by their supervisors, who sometimes helped members of their own group secure better jobs. Combined with the language barrier, Mexican women found little basis for solidarity with these co-workers and sometimes perceived comments from supervisors as racially biased. In addition, although they all might speak Spanish, relations between American-born Mexicans and Mexican immigrants could sometimes be strained.
19 of 12

- Title
- Ethnic and Immigrant Division in Cannery Work
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 011
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women's Work Culture
Women workers, no matter their background, shared mutual concerns about wages, working conditions, and poor supervisors. There was no time to socialize while on the assembly line or during brief breaks, and the noise made it hard to converse. In the 1930s, shared concerns over workplace safety and low wages led some Mexican women to become involved in union organizing efforts, including strikes, and to rely on social networks for support. “Women’s cannery work culture” made the daily routine easier because women shared their experiences, helping each other adjust to the challenges of the workplace.
20 of 12

- Title
- Women's Work Culture
- Scholar Talk
- Additional Online Information
- Women's Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley on JSTOR
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 013
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
A Day on the Cannery Assembly Line
On the floor, workers stood at their stations sorting fruit as it came down the conveyor. Cans on conveyors filed by the seam-inspectors, and women “checkers” sealed the cans before they were loaded into cookers. Women concentrated on doing their jobs quickly in order to meet required quotas. Processing areas were noisy, with the constant clamor of machinery and cans running along conveyor belts. Chemicals such as lye and chlorine were used to wash and clean the fruit. Some women who worked in steaming and canning spinach complained of their nails falling off due to prolonged submersion into the spinach vats. Fruit and vegetable processing required a great deal of handwork to sort, weigh, and fill cans with sometimes steaming hot produce. Once canned, some women looked for dented cans before they were boxed up. The work was demanding and exhausting, constantly proceeding at a pace set by the conveyor belt. When the women got home, their bodies smelled like the fruit or vegetable in which they worked all day, particularly tomatoes. It was difficult to get adequate rest. Many women cannery workers complained about hearing the clanking of the machines even in their sleep.
By the 1940s, shifts usually lasted eight hours but could be longer during peak harvest periods, when some canneries operated on a 24-hour schedule. Companies facing labor shortages encouraged regular employees to work overtime, and despite the demands of the job, many welcomed the opportunity to earn extra money.
21 of 12

- Title
- A Day on the Cannery Assembly Line
- Scholar Talk
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 015
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Cannery Injuries and Hazards
A high percentage of women working in canneries at that time were immigrants who spoke limited English, so receiving adequate training was difficult, and safety instructions were printed only in English. Assembly-line labor was repetitive, and women stood at their stations for hours working with their hands in acidic fruit. Many women reported severe damage to their hands and fingers from operating swiftly-running machinery. Many reported severe damage to their hands, not from traumatic injuries but from nicks and cuts received while cutting fruit by hand. As cans rattled along conveyors in buildings that were sometimes the size of four football fields, noise was also a constant problem. Industrial chemicals were hard on the skin and a hazard to eyes and lungs. At the peak of the season, workers might put in ten hours a day, six days a week, leaving them exhausted and dehydrated at the end of their shift.
Women continued to bring health and safety concerns to management and their unions. During and after WWII, some larger canneries, such as Del Monte, created an infirmary with a nurse near the processing line. While conditions generally improved over time, anthropologist Patricia Zavella, in her book Women’s Work and Chicano Families, noted that in 1978, canneries were still considered one of the most dangerous industries, second only to lumber manufacturing according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
22 of 12

- Title
- Cannery Injuries and Hazards
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 017
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Women's Double Work Day
A major challenge for cannery women was finding appropriate and affordable childcare. During the 1940s and 1950s, CalPak operated a nursery at the Del Monte Plant #3, providing childcare during the day and second shift. However, as childcare was unavailable at most canneries, mothers left their children with family members or neighbors, while others paid for babysitters or bartered for care with co-workers. Husbands and wives who worked at the same plant might arrange complicated shift schedules.
Working mothers believed that, in easing their husbands’ responsibility as providers, they could ask for more assistance with housework. However, men often found it difficult to participate in many of these domestic chores, so cooking and childcare were often handled by older children.
Women cannery workers knew that their paychecks enabled them to provide more assistance to their children, send their kids to college, allow their husbands to attend trade school, start their own business, or have a higher standard of living, and they wanted a say in how household money would be spent. Women made time to do the necessary household chores by extending their day, staying up late or waking early.
23 of 12

- Title
- Women's Double Work Day
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 019
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley
Cannery Decline
When fruit processing operations began to decline in the 1970s, the growth of manufacturing in the electronics industry and new housing tracts provided opportunities for displaced workers in construction, railroads, warehouse, and assembly work. Unfortunately, these new jobs were not comparable to the higher-wage union jobs in the canning industry. For many workers, the cannery closures meant the end of secure jobs with benefits and the long-term working relationships they had created. By 1987, only eight canneries existed in the valley, the era ended when, in 1999, Del Monte closed its largest cannery, Plant #3, the site of the 1893 San Jose Fruit Packing Company.
24 of 12

- Title
- Cannery Decline
- Additional Online Information
- Del Monte Cannery Last Day
- Identifier
- B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 021
- Item sets
- Before Silicon Valley