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Patterson Ranch papers

 Collection
Identifier: MVC060

Scope and Contents

This collection covers the day-to-day management of the Patterson Ranch Company and any transactions the ranch had with other persons and/or corporations. Materials include correspondence to and from the Hartveld brothers, the dissolution papers for the Patterson Ranch Company, newspaper clippings, cancelled checks, time books and timesheet forms, harvest record cards, inventories, tax rate booklets, poll tax and wage garnishment sheets, invoices and receipts, maps, titles and deeds, photographs of life on the ranch, monographs and catalogs, and ledgers.

Dates

  • circa 1880-1987
  • Majority of material found within 1900-1941

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Open for research. Collection is minimally processed. All requests to access materials must be made in advance by contacting the Research Library staff via email: library@venturamuseum.org

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Property rights to the physical object belong to the Museum of Ventura County. Literary rights, including copyright, have not been determined. Contact the Research Library for further information: library@venturamuseum.org

Biographical / Historical

The Patterson Ranch Company was a livestock, dairy, and agricultural farm originally located on the Oxnard plains, near Wooley and Patterson Roads. Peter Hartveld, an immigrant from Holland, was the ranch foreman and responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the ranch. The 5,000-acre ranch was named for New York farmer John D. Patterson who arrived in California in 1854, and in 1866 he purchased land from Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara, or La Colonia. Patterson never lived on the ranch, but hired managers to run the farm.

Horses and cattle were raised on the property, but much of the acreage was devoted to grains. Following Patterson’s death circa 1902, his heirs sold their interests to the Patterson Ranch Company, the president of which was Robert Oxnard. Functioning basically as a subsidiary of the American Beet Sugar Company, which was owned and operated by the Oxnard family, the new manager installed a drainage system to improve the arability of the soil so it was suitable for growing sugar beets and a variety of other crops, including lima beans, pumpkins, potatoes and citrus. In 1913, 1800 acres of the northern portion were sold in 40-acre tracts to local citizens.

The main ranch house was built around 1905 for John Roupe, the manager of the company at the time. Peter Hartveld moved to Oxnard in 1904 and was ranch foreman until 1914. He was born on October 6, 1883 in Nieuwe-Tonge, Holland. He moved his wife, Anna, and family to Oxnard around 1910. The Hartvelds settled on the Patterson Ranch and within a few years Mr. Harveld became the ranch manager, a position he held for many years. After the ranch was subdivided, Hartveld bought the ranch house and 153 acres surrounding it. He and his family lived in the house until 1987.

Extent

2.64 Cubic Feet : (2 boxes, 1 ledger)

Abstract

The Patterson Ranch Company was a livestock, dairy, and agricultural farm originally located on the Oxnard plains. The ranch was owned by New York farmer John D. Patterson, who hired managers to run the farm for him. Peter Hartveld, a Dutch immigrant, was the ranch foreman and responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the ranch. Hartveld and his family lived in the main ranch house between 1917 and 1987. The collection covers the day-to-day management of the Patterson Ranch Company and the ranch's business dealings with local businesses and persons. Materials include correspondence, dissolution papers, newspaper clippings, time books, harvest record cards, inventories, poll tax and wage garnishment sheets, invoices and receipts, maps, titles and deeds, photographs, monographs and catalogs, and ledgers.

Organization and Arrangement

This collection has been minimally processed and has box-level description.

Physical Location

Stored off-site and advance notice required for timely retrieval. Please contact the Research Library reference desk prior to your visit: library@venturamuseum.org

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Donna Lee Taylor; gift; 2014.

Separated Materials

The following items have been separated from the archival collection and are housed with MVC's objects collection: turnip hook, veterinary needle kit and syringe, and cabbage slicer.

Processing Information

Processed by Krystell Jimenez, 2020.

Title
Finding aid for the Patterson Ranch papers, circa 1880-1987
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Krystell Jimenez, 2020.
Date
November 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
This finding aid was made possible in part through funding from the County of Ventura and the Heritage Fund at the Ventura County Community Foundation

Repository Details

Part of the Museum of Ventura County Repository

Contact:
100 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 653-0323