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C. Howard Sweatt Papers, 1938-1984

 

Summary

Extent:
6.25 Linear Feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Sweatt's papers are arranged in five series – Canning and Processing, Companies (he worked at), Foreign Trade, Marketing, and Personal. The materials reflect his professional life, with some photographs and documents of his personal life. Sweatt worked at several Citrus focused companies as well as volunteered at several Citrus canning associations. He was influential in taking the Florida orange juice trade overseas, especially to Japan, and this is reflected in the Foreign Trade series. The files contain correspondence, reports, brochures, and studies. The Canning and Processing series includes, reports, correspondence, research files, and information about the soft serve industry at the time. Marketing files are about marketing various aspects of the citrus industry. Within the Company series, for Golden Gem, there are membership newsletters dating from 1967 to 1984, and stockholder meeting files from the 1960's and 1970's.

Biographical / historical:

C. Howard Sweatt (1909-1993) was a leader in the Florida citrus industry, especially the citrus canning industry. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Sweatt moved to the Central Florida area in 1942; he became the owner of BESCO Products Company in Orlando in 1946. From 1947- 1948, he was President of the Florida Canners League, and then served as the President of the Florida Canners Association from 1949-1950. In 1951, he sold his BESCO cannery and started at Fosgate Citrus Concentrate Cooperative as their sales manager. He left Fosgate in 1957 and eventually joined Golden Gem Growers in 1962 as their marketing director. Because of his position at Golden Gem, Sweatt was one of the original founders of Citrus Central Inc. He joined the company in 1968, when Citrus Central took on all marketing responsibilities for Golden Gem and other affiliated companies. In 1974, Sweatt retired from the citrus industry. In addition to his leadership in the citrus industry, Sweatt was a leader in many organizations around Orlando such as the Rotary Club, Central Florida Sales Executive Club, and the Country Club of Orlando.

Acquisition information:
The materials in this collection were donated to the Thomas B. Mack Citrus Archives in 1993 by George Harsh, Sweatt's son-in-law. The Thomas B. Mack Citrus Archives were transferred to the Roux Library in 2005 then to the McKay Archives Center in 2009.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions on this collection.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from the C. Howard Sweatt Papers must be obtained from Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Archives Center or the appropriate (published) copyright holder. Please inquire if you have questions at 863-680-4453.

Location of this collection:
Florida Southern College
111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr.
Lakeland
FL
33801
USA