The Ecke collection consists primarily of the business and administrative records documenting the operations, sales, strategic planning, correspondence and marketing efforts of The Paul Ecke Ranch, Inc., from its origin in the early 1900s to its eventual sale to the Dutch-based Agribio Group in 2012. The bulk of the records reflect business operations from 1923 (when the business moved from Los Angeles to Encinitas, CA) to 2012, and cover business operations across the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia and South America.

Types of records include: Business records – These records document the transactions, decisions and activities that informed daily business operations, and facilitated growth, expansion, and strategic planning. They include meeting files and minutes, financial records, administrative documents, legal documents (agreements with international affiliates, patent applications, royalty payments, real estate sales), business plans, correspondence, memoranda, purchase orders and invoices, shipping receipts, and procurement and supply records. Some records are in German, including correspondence, marketing materials and reports;

Marketing and publicity material – Catalogs, brochures, press clippings, TV spots, and informational material about plant types and care;

Research material – Plant care guides, research into the trials and advancement of horticulture by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Colorado State University, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, recommendations to treat plant disease, guidelines provided by the Center for Disease Control etc.;

Trade magazines – Encinitas Magazine, Quail Botanical Gardens magazine, Agricultural Research magazine, Grower Talks magazine etc.;

Prints and photographs – These include color and black-and-white photographs of various sizes and types of poinsettias, greenhouse operations, aerial photographs of the ranch and other growing areas, staff and key employees at the ranch, family members, postcards, negatives and slides;

Artifacts – These include textiles (shirts with the Ecke logo), plaques and awards, framed memorabilia, ranch signs, artwork, model train, commemorative shovel, coffee cups, an empty metal safe, vintage machines such as a receipt printer, etc.;

Aerial pictures and maps - depicting ranch land, maps filed with county tax form submissions, maps filed with insurance policies, maps of offsite production facilities in Guatemala etc., and of real estate holdings, including Carltas;

Family papers – These include personal correspondence, photographs, family memorabilia, awards and medals, personal trips, ephemera from birthday and anniversary celebrations, school papers etc..

Subjects include: - Business growth and development - Trends and developments in the floriculture and horticulture industry - Employee-worker relations, including impact of the Bracero program - Impact of World War II on business - Real estate developments in Encinitas and the local region - Ecke family history