Browse the Collection
View a database that includes artifacts, photographs, and documents in the History San José collection which relate to Del Monte Plant #3 in San José, California.
In Their Own Words
Learn about Del Monte Plant #3 from the people who worked there. See videos of former Del Monte employees sharing their memories.
Continued Mechanization
The post-World War II boom in the Santa Clara Valley was founded on technological innovation. Del Monte was a leader in applying new technologies in its canneries and production lines. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, cannery machines became more efficient and less reliant on individual workers. Seasonal cannery workers – still mostly women – were skilled machine operators.
Shipping and inventory operations were computerized. Eventually, even the difficult work of sorting small pieces of fruit would be handed over to a massive computer-controlled machine, which ran on the technologies invented in Silicon Valley.