Frank Sullivan III Papers, 1962-1976, 1990-2021, 1952

Summary

Extent:

1.5 Linear Feet

Language:

English

Background

Scope and content:

The materials in this collection have been organized into the following series: The Company Awards series contains awards and honors given to the Sullivan-Victory Groves company. The Company History series contains materials documenting both the history of Victory Groves and Sullivan-Victory Groves companies. Of note is a plaque containing a photograph of Frank Sullivan II alongside a copy of the first railroad manifest for the company. The Marketing Materials series contains materials used in marketing by both Sullivan- Victory Groves and its Competitors. In this series are materials such as catalogues, advertisements, and crate labels. The Sullivan Family series contains materials related to the Sullivan family or materials collected by members of the family.

Biographical / historical:

The Sullivan-Victory Groves began as Sullivan Packing Company in the 1930s and was founded by Frank and Amelia "Molly" Sullivan. Molly's father Felix D'Albora had moved to Brevard County, Florida in the 1920s with Frank and Molly soon following in 1935. The family specialized in shipping fruit to not only juice companies, but also consumer gifts. The first train car shipment of fruit left Sullivan Packing Co. in 1952. However, not too long after, in 1959, a fire destroyed the family business. Frank Sullivan then bought Marion S. Whaley's Victory Groves and packinghouse in 1960. Through this purchase, the two companies merged to create the Sullivan-Victory Groves company. Frank Sullivan III took over the family business when his father retired; however, multiple freezes in quick succession and the devastation citrus canker led to the closure of the packinghouse in 1991. Frank Sullivan III continued his family business as a smaller mail-order gift fruit business with a smaller storefront. The old packinghouse was placed on National Register of Historic Places in 1993 and later demolished in 2020.

Acquisition information:

The materials in this collection were donated to the McKay Archives in October 2022 by Brenda Burnette, the Executive Director of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related

Other descriptive data:

Many of the companies in the Competitors subseries were members of the Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association alongside Sullivan-Victory Groves. Both Frank Sullivan II and Frank Sullivan III served as President of the organization. The Boy-Gan Brand Orange Wine Bottle in Box 3 is glass, so it and the box should be handled with care.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Sullivan, Frank, III
Sullivan-Victory Groves
Citrus industry--Florida--History
Citrus fruits--Packing--Florida
Fruit industry--Florida--Marketing
Mail-order business--Florida
Citrus canker--Florida
Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association
African Americans in the citrus industry--Florida
Photographs
Business records--Florida

Terms of access:

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

Location of this collection:

Thomas B. Mack Florida Citrus Archives

Florida Southern College

111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr.

Lakeland

FL

33801

USA

Contact:

https://www.flsouthern.edu/library/archives