Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members (April 8, 1925)

Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members (April 8, 1925)

Chase Correspondence (April 8, 1925)

Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941

Citrus fruit industry--Florida

Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)

Florida Citrus Exchange

Citrus--Florida

An original letter of correspondence written by Sydney Octavius Chase to employees at Chase & Company in Orlando. The letter identifies that Chase & Company played an active role in recruiting dissatisfied members from the Florida Citrus Exchange in order to build and extend their own business throughout the state. One marketing strategy Chase & Company implemented included comparing sales numbers between the Exchange and its own production numbers. Members within the company solicited and circulated the information to growers in nearby districts. With an increased membership in the company, Chase hoped that including more growers would help balance out the less productive crops in the previous growing season. The letter also shares some of the doubts and distrust Chase & Company felt toward the Exchange, a state organization comprised of a large number of Florida citrus growers. While members who trusted the Exchange praised the organization as a united group of growers that promoted better distribution and marketing of their citrus products, growers such as Chase & Company were hesitant to hand over all of their power to a larger organization with poor marketing strategies.

Chase & Company was established in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century.

Chase, Sydney Octavius

Original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members, April 8, 1925: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

1925-04-08

Digital reproduction of original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members, April 8, 1925.

Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Florida Citrus Exchange Collection , Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.

application/pdf

242 KB

2 page typewritten letter

eng

Text

Orlando, Florida

28.538084, -81.378593

1925-04-08/1925-04-08

Donation

History Teacher

Economics Teacher

Geography Teacher

Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.

The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.

Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida

Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida

Marra, Katherine

University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections

"The History of Seald-Sweet." Seald Sweet International. http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php.

Warner, S.C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.

"Mayo Dade Offers Helpful Aid on Fruit Picking." Florida Clearing House News, August 25, 1930.

Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.

"The History of Seald-Sweet"

"Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida"

"Mayo Dade Offers Helpful Aid on Fruit Picking"

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)"

2 page typewritten letter