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John Medley at home in his office with some of his favorite crate labels on display.
John Hernandez | Copper Area
John Medley has been collecting crate labels for close to 40 years. He has one of the largest collections in Arizona and has an extensive knowledge about crate labels, their art and history as well as the history of produce growing in Arizona. John’s desire to acquire and preserve produce box labels originate from his family’s work history as well as John’s work experiences and his connection to the arts through his wife Karen. Karen is an artist/potter and taught art at San Manuel High School for many years before retiring.
John’s parents worked directly in the fresh produce industry. John worked as a produce manager while his wife was attending school, studying to be an art instructor. The Washington State Apple Commission supplied stores with vintage apple crate labels from the 1950s for in store advertising. John liked the art work and took some extra ones home to show his wife. He then became interested in collecting labels.
He went to retired managers and foremen from various citrus packing companies. Some of them gave him multiple copies of labels, allowing him to trade with other collectors. As he met more collectors his interest grew. He also developed a curiosity in about the history of the produce business which he saw in the changing of the art work of the labels.
John has collected over 550 different sweet potato labels. His oldest label is an Arizona Brand by the Arizona Orange Association. It was created in 1900. John considers the crate labels as “some of America’s best examples of 20th Century commercial art. He has a book that has been published “Images of the Sweet Potato: An American Art Form”.
John will be giving a lecture at the Acadia Ranch Museum on Sunday Nov. 15, 2015 at 2 p.m. The award winning presentation “An Illustrious History of Commercial Row Crops in the Arizona Desert” won the Barry Goldwater at the 2015 Arizona History Convention for Best Convention Paper.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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