Wine and Wine Industry Collection

• Background

• Scope

• Collections

• Contributing

Beginning in 1998, the University Library launched a new collecting area related to the Southern California wine industry. The Wine and Wine Industry Collection is a special collection which documents and honors the Southern California wine industry, including wine-related organizations and events. Cal Poly Pomona is located in an historic winemaking region. Nearby Mission San Gabriel was an active early center for winemaking in California. Later the Cucamonga Valley flourished, and more recently the Temecula and Santa Barbara areas have become recognized for their wine production. Although urban development has made an impact, Southern California remains a significant winemaking area in addition to being home to many important wine competitions, organizations and events.

 

Information is collected on California wine, with emphasis on Southern California. Also included is information on regional wineries, wine selling, wine competitions, wine organizations, and wine events. Business and organization archives, archival records relating to festivals and events, documentation on the history of viticulture and winemaking in Southern California, family histories and reminiscences of local growers and vintners, and archives of individual wineries are collected. Geographic areas include Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. Information may be in a variety of formats:

The Wine Industry Collection includes several hundred volumes, many linear feet of archival materials, and continues to grow. We have also created a number of subject files on Southern California wine and wineries. Included in the collection are current, rare and historic books on wine, California wine and viticulture. There are many oral histories, including all of the California Winemen Oral History Series from the Bancroft Library and wine-related oral histories done by the City of Rancho Cucamonga and the Upland Public Library.

We have all issues of the lovely but short-lived South Coast Wine magazine, a complete run of Wayward Tendrils Newsletter/Quarterly, and newsletters issued by Hi-Time Wine Cellars. We have microfilms of Los Angeles' Wine Review, California Grape Grower, Wines & Vines, and various Wine Institute reports and bulletins. There are research notes and files on Southern California wine and grape history created by wine historian William Heintz. Wine columnist Vick Knight has donated materials, including some of his newspaper columns and a copy of his cable television show on Temecula vintners. We also have detailed documentation on the establishment of the Cucamonga Valley and Temecula Viticultural Areas. The collection includes newsletters and records for local wine clubs such as the Riverside Wine Society, Temecula Valley Wine Society, High Desert Wine Explorers, Redlands Wine Consortium, and Inland Empire Wine Society. There are also files and memorabilia from the Los Angeles County Fair Wines of the Americas competition and the Rancho Cucamonga Grape Harvest Festival, in addition to subject files covering other local wine competitions.

Among our photographic holdings is a historic album, once owned by Garrett & Company, containing over 70 photographs of Guasti and the Italian Vineyard Company. We also have videos, posters, wine, labels, maps, bottles, glasses, medals, and t-shirts. All books and periodicals in the collection are fully listed in the university library catalog.
 

We are excited and delighted to receive donations of wine-related materials, both for our Southern California Wine Industry Collection as well as for the library's general circulating collection. We also happily welcome financial support! To all those interested persons with an enthusiasm for wine, its history and literature, and to those having a keen interest in California's wine industry, we issue the invitation to join with us as we build this new collection.

Here are some ways to help:

• Donate materials

• Give us your advice on the collection. Share ideas with us about sources of information and other people who might be interested

• Contribute toward the purchase of relevant books and magazines, or for other needs such as archival supplies

• Create or contribute to an endowment. Honor a friend or loved one through a named gift to build and sustain the collection

For further information contact Danette Cook Adamson, Special Collections Librarian, at (909) 869-2087 or e-mail at dcadamson@csupomona.edu

University Library Special Collections
Bldg 15 room 4434 •  909-869-2087 • dcadamson@csupomona.edu