GOYA FOODS, INC. COLLECTION 1960-2000
#694

(20 cu. ft.: 59DB, 1 F/O)

History

Prudencio Unanue (1886-1976) was born in the Basque region of northern Spain. He emigrated to the island of Puerto Rico in 1902 and married Carolina Casal (1890-1984) in 1921. In 1916 he moved to New York where he studied business and worked for a customs agency. Missing the tastes and smells of home cooking, the Unanues believed that there was an expanding immigrant market for the ingredients of "authentic Spanish cuisine." In 1936 they opened Unanue, Inc., a warehouse on Duane Street in lower Manhattan, to supply corner stores or bodegas. Over thirty years, the Unanue and Sons import business grew tremendously. Eventually, the business began to do its own food processing, canning, and packaging. In 1958, Goya Foods bought its first factory in Brooklyn, NY.

The Unanues and Sons company purchased the name "Goya"⁽¹⁾ in 1936 from a Moroccan sardine supplier for one dollar. In 1946 the company changed its name to Unanue and Sons, Inc. It assumed the name Goya Foods, Inc. in 1961, although it had used the name Goya for its products since 1936.

The Goya Foods company continued to innovate, pioneering television advertising in Puerto Rico. During the 1960s, Goya Foods sought out opportunities to expand its customer base as larger numbers of Caribbean immigrants moved into the United States. By sponsoring music festivals, sports teams, and other activities Goya Foods supported the cultural life (e.g. parades, beauty pageants, festivals) of various communities in the United States and Puerto Rico.

In 1974, Goya Foods moved to its current office headquarters and factory building in Secaucus, NJ. By 2000, Goya owned factories in upstate New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, as well as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.

Scope and Content

The Goya Foods, Inc. Collection documents the history of the company from the 1960s to 2000. (A few earlier documents pertaining to Unanue and Sons and family photographs can be found in the collection, as well.) Materials include: photographs, calendars, sales promotional materials, cookbooks, recipe packages, point-of-purchase items, box and can labels, scrapbooks, and clippings files. Sound recordings, televisions advertisements, and anniversary video productions are also included. The material documents sales meetings, plant activities, and workers' events as well as the office life of the company and the philanthropic efforts and community activities of Goya Foods, Inc.

The collection is arranged in eight (8) series:

Series 1: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, 1960s-1990s - Photographs and biographies of the Unanue family members. Also includes company anniversary programs.

Series 2: UNITED STATES PUBLICITY MATERIALS, 1970-2000 - Contains extensive files of news clippings (compiled by an outside agency) arranged in chronological order. Also, press releases and publicity materials and copies of the newsletter La Voz Femenina⁽²⁾,1982-1989.

Series 3: UNITED STATES PHOTOGRAPHS, 1960s-1990s - Photographs of Goya "sponsored" activities which took place in the United States. The majority of the photos are unlabeled and undated. The series is divided into twelve (12) subseries:

Subseries A: Parades and Festivals, 1966-1999 - Parades and festivals which Goya participated in, mainly in New York City and NJ. For many parades Goya created a special float for participants to ride on. Many parades feature pageant contestants (see Subseries D). Tito Puente is a frequent performer.

Subseries B: Parties and Banquets, 1970s-1990s - Many of the banquets and parties included are related to the various parades and pageants, this may or may not be obvious from looking at the photographs. Also included are employee parties.

Subseries C: Community Events, 1970s-1990s - Goya prides itself on its civic work within the Hispanic communities of the United States. This subseries reflects many of the events Goya has sponsored or been a part of, including its support of the Manhattan Valley Golden Age Senior Center and Casa de Don Pedro, a home for children.

Subseries D: Pageants, 1980s-1990s - Goya sponsored beauty pageants throughout the 1980s and 1990s, usually associated with a community parade (for example, a Dominican Parade Pageant). Sometimes the photos from the pageants and related events are included, though the parades themselves can be found in Subseries A.

Subseries E: Employees, Plants, and Offices, 1960s-1990s - Photographs of Goya employees (both line workers and executives), offices, and plant facilities. Events in which employees participated (dances, parties, and picnics) are included here.

Subseries F: Awards, 1970s-1990s - Awards given to the Unanues or Goya Foods, Inc. by various organizations and awards given to others by Goya.

Subseries G: Celebrities, 1980s-1990s - Mainly events with celebrities in attendance. Prominent people include: Cardinal Cooke, Gloria Estefan, Michael J. Fox, Ed Koch, Spike Lee, David Letterman, Olga Elena Mattei, and Tito Puente.

Subseries H: Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards, 1970s-1990s - Soccer, baseball, bowling, volleyball, and softball teams are included, as well as little league teams and sporting workshop participants (mainly children with "professional" players). Teams are mostly Goya sponsored, though some professional players appear.

Subseries I: Concerts, 1980s-1990s - Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Willie Colón concerts at Penns Landing, plus multi-city Festival de Musica Goya, 1990.

Subseries J: Trade Shows, 1966, 1980s - Food expositions, trade shows, and demonstrations.

Subseries K: Travel, 1970s-1990s - Trips taken by [presumably] Goya employees. Santo Domingo, Peru, and Haiti were destinations.

Subseries L: Unidentified, 1970s-1990s

Sub-subseries 1: Parade related events, 1980s-1990s

Sub-subseries 2: Other, 1970s-1990s

Series 4: UNITED STATES CORPORATE MATERIALS, 1960s-1990s [bulk dates] - Includes product labels and packaging, advertising materials, press kits, and memos.

Series 5: PUERTO RICAN PUBLICITY MATERIALS, 1980s-2000 - Consists of publications arranged chronologically within each title.

Series 6: PUERTO RICAN PHOTOGRAPHS, 1960s-2000 - Photographs of Goya "sponsored" events in Puerto Rico. The majority are unlabeled and undated. There are two (2) boxes of photos divided into eight (8) subseries:

Subseries A: Parades - One parade, Reina el Dario la Prenza, from 1977.

Subseries B: Parties and Banquets - Included are employee parties which may or may not be obvious.

Subseries C: Community Events - This subseries shows several ways in which Goya continues to stay involved in the Puerto Rican community.

Subseries D: Employees, Plants, and Offices - Photographs of Goya employees (both line workers and executives), offices, and plant facilities. Events in which employees participated (dances, parties, and picnics) are included here.

Subseries E: Awards - Awards given to the Unanues or Goya Foods, Inc. by various organizations and awards given to others by Goya.

Subseries F: Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards - One (1) folder of sporting events and teams sponsored by Goya.

Subseries G: Travel - Trip(s) taken by [presumably] Goya employees to Boca Cagrejos, Puerto Rico, in the 1960s.

Subseries H: Products - Photographs of Goya products and of a photo shoot for an advertisement.

Series 8: AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS, 1990s and n.d. - Consists of commercials and biographical programs on the Unanues. **This series is unprocessed; please see the Reference Archivist for availability in viewing.

Provenance

This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in 1999 by Goya Foods, Inc. through Rafael Toro, Director of Public Relations.

Related Collections

• The Division of Cultural History holds items related to this collection including promotional items, display props, a neon sign, products and containers, and clothing.
• #615 Government of Puerto Rico Division of Community Education Posters
• #712 Teodoro Vidal Collection
• Various other food related collections (please see the Reference Archivist for help in locating these collections).

Container List

1. Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) was an influential Spanish artist whose paintings reflected the historical upheavals of his time. For many, the art of Francisco de Goya truly revealed Spain because he painted all of its people.

2. Note that words in Spanish are set off in italics; periodical titles are underlined.

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