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Account book. 1838–53.
452 p.; 34 cm.
A. Merrill & Sons made headwear, including cloth caps, fur caps, moleskin hats, palm hats, tarpaulin hats, velvet caps, etc., in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Volume contains accounts between the firm and its customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts who usually made payment with other products.
Document 118.
Drawings. Ca. 1890.
12 items: ill. (some col.)
A. H. Davenport operated a furnituremaking firm in Boston and had a showroom in New York City. The company eventually merged with Irving & Casson, also of Boston.
Consists of twelve pen-and-ink and pencil drawings of various furniture forms, including a bed, sideboards, tables, and chairs. Drawings show English and ecclesiastical influences.
Collection 154.
Scrapbook. 1893–99.
84 p.: ill.; 23 x 28 cm.
Daughter of George M. Abbot, young Elsie resided in the Germantown section of Philadelphia when she created her scrapbook.
Volume includes many kinds of items that document Abbot’s social life, including letters from her friends, invitations to social events, programs from concerts, playbills, pencil sketches, pressed flowers, tickets to football games, etc. Early pages cover her trip to the World’s Columbian Exposition. There are photographs and other remembrances of trips to Mount Vernon, Virginia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Jamestown, Rhode Island; and Kennebunkport, Maine.
Document 156.
Account books. 1759–1802.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
Abiel Abbott worked as a cooper and part-time farmer in Wilton, New Hampshire. He also served as the town’s constable beginning in 1767 and trained soldiers for duty in the Revolutionary War. Abbott and his wife, Doreas, married in 1764 and had six children.
Manuscript volumes document the products Abbott made, including sap barrels, meat barrels, butter churns, beer barrels, hooped tubs and churns, etc. In addition, Abbott’s agricultural pursuits are noted.
An index of names appears at the front of each volume.
Document 1037; Microfilm M711.
Account book. 1872–75, 1886.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Jackson J. Abbott was a civil engineer. He probably lived in Englewood, New Jersey, and may have moved to Denver, Colorado. By 1886 he resided in Lake City, Colorado.
Volume records a full range of domestic products that Abbott purchased during a four-year period in the 1870s on his salary of $125 per month. In addition, he noted trips to New York City, paying for leisure activities, engaging a woman to do his wash, etc. A letter that he wrote to his mother in 1886 is laid in.
Document 459.
John Abbott, his booke. 1662–65.
1 microfilm reel.
John Abbott was probably from Langtree, England.
Manuscript includes sketches, architectural drawings, and patterns for plasterwork as well as recipes for making paints and comments on gilding.
Original manuscript belonged to the Devon County Council, Exeter, England, at the time of filming.
Microfilm M265.
Records. 1821–93.
3 boxes.
Abraham Bell and Co.—later Abraham Bell and Sons—was a mercantile firm headquartered in New York City and established at least by 1804. Most of the material in this collection relates to the Abraham Bell who was born in 1813 and who took charge of the family business around 1835. Although the firm imported and exported a number of commodities, cotton seems to have been its mainstay. During the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, Bell transported thousands of immigrants from Ireland to the United States.
Items in the collection (account books, letterpress books, correspondence, bills, etc.) provide records of sailing vessels, customers, cargoes, shipments of goods, and costs of doing business. Eighteen diaries kept by Abraham Bell between 1867 and 1892 document his activities in retirement. In addition, there are other Bell family manuscripts.
Organized into four series: Diaries, Correspondence, Financial Documents, and Miscellaneous Family Material.
Finding aid available.
Collection 194.
1 microfilm reel.
Abstracted by Vernon I. C. Smith in 1888, the documents in this collection summarize the wills of English colonists, all property holders in Jamaica. Most individuals were either big planters or successful merchants.
Contains an introduction, contents summary, and index.
Original manuscripts located in the British Museum and as part of a series entitled British Records Relating to America in Microform.
Microfilm 1892.
138 p.; 21 cm.
Volume is a manuscript account book later used as a scrapbook for recipes. Account book records sales and purchases by a cabinet-, coffin-, and basketmaker in Nunda, New York, perhaps T. Atwood & Company. First half of book contains recipes, both handwritten and clipped from newspapers, mostly for cakes and desserts. Other instructions are for household cleaning.
Document 142.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
The person who kept this volume was a carpenter and windmill builder from Scotland.
Manuscript records framing activities, work on houses and barns, the construction of enclosures, and the building of windmills. Farm products are mentioned, and there are directions for making ink and for preparing medicinal remedies, including ointment, a cure for scurvy, a preparation to reduce swelling, etc.
Document 563.
21 p.; 18 cm.
The keeper of this manuscript was a tailor whose initials were W. M. He probably resided in New York or in New England.
Accounts reflect the work of a tailor, with references to types of clothing repaired and cloth and ribbon purchased. Personal accounts are also included.
Document 271.
46 leaves; 11 cm.
Manuscript kept by the owner of a sawmill at Bartlet’s Brook, near Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Entries note the amount of oak, cedar, and spruce timber that was sawed into planks and boards and sold to various customers. Mention is also made of renovations and other work performed on the mill.
Document 1077.
6 leaves; 16 cm.
This brief account book, kept by an unidentified person from an unnamed location, records the kinds of fabrics a weaver produced: plaid, wool, ticking, linings, etc. Entries indicate that the weaver made cloth for both commercial and household use.
Document 1045.
27 leaves; 17 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this manuscript recorded sales at a general store in the vicinity of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A variety of products, including dry goods, food and drink, building materials, etc., is mentioned. The shopkeeper occasionally bartered for large quantities of sugar and flour.
Document 1031.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Volume was kept by a merchant in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to record the sale of a wide variety of products: food, textiles, tea, sugar, nails, spices, etc. It was later used to record genealogical data pertaining to Hugh Orr and his family.
Document 758.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
This volume appears to have been kept by a blacksmith who was associated with an iron forge in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, that was owned by Thomas Potts or a member of the Rutter family.
Manuscript notes blacksmithing activities and sales of iron products. Entries mention shoes, nails, links, hinges, hooks, chains, collars, etc. Agricultural products and services are also mentioned.
Document 884.
1 vol.: ill.; 15 cm.
Manuscript was kept by an unidentified furnituremaker (perhaps Thomas Miller or James Allen) who worked in Fredericksburg and Falmouth, Virginia, until 1773 and then moved to Orange County.
Volume includes mentions of a full range of furniture products: chairs, beds, tables, chests, cradles, bookcases, etc. Customers included prominent Virginians, such as James Madison. Volume features a sketch of a clock case with dimensions.
Name index available.
Document 533; Microfilm M933.
1 microfilm reel.
The keeper of this account book was an unidentified merchant from Williamsburg, Virginia.
Included are accounts related to the sale of a variety of goods: textiles, sewing supplies, bowls, sugar, saddles, books, knives and forks, brushes, blankets, etc.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M1401.
186 p.; 14 cm.
Volume includes references to purchases, remarks on weather and wind conditions during a trip to Nantucket in January 1790, and a recipe “for the Rumatics.” Dartmouth and South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, are both mentioned once.
Writing appears on pages interleaved in Fleet’s Pocket Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1789 … , published in Boston by T. & J. Fleet.
Document 31.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
An unidentified student from Boston noted his various purchases, including books, paper, sleeve buttons, meals, a ticket to Hingham, etc. In addition, he included a record of cash that he received from his father and other individuals.
Document 772.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
The keeper of this account book was an apothecary who supplied drugs and other remedial goods to physicians and individuals alike.
In addition to supplying information on the kinds of medicines purchased during the last decade of the eighteenth century, this manuscript notes that the druggist also inoculated children and bled people.
Partial name index at front of volume.
Folio 75.
1 microfilm reel.
This manuscript, kept by an unidentified furnituremaker and upholsterer, perhaps from London, includes references to furniture, upholstery, carpeting, and other household furnishings that he supplied to his various customers.
Original account book located at the Public Record Office in London.
Microfilm M1415.
1 microfilm reel.
The unidentified compiler of this account book may have been John Hewitt, a furnituremaker from Savannah, Georgia.
Accounts relate to furnituremaking and carpentry. There are drawings of furniture, including a bookcase and table.
Name index available.
Original manuscript located at the New Jersey Historical Society.
Microfilm M491.
48 leaves; 20 cm.
This account book was kept by an anonymous watchmaker and repairer, probably from Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Manuscript contains extensive notes regarding business transactions, watches bought, and daily income as well as records of a personal nature.
Manuscript appears on pages interleaved in Isaiah Thomas’s Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire & Vermont Almanack … 1802, published in 1801 by Thomas in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Document 6.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Ezekiel Whitman, Dexter Beane & Co., and Beane & Chandler were general merchants in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
Volume kept in three parts: the first by Ezekiel Whitman, 1804–5; the second by Dexter Beane & Co., 1805–15; and the third by Beane & Chandler, 1815–17. All parts document a wide range of household products—textiles, kitchenwares, cleaning supplies, dressmaking material, etc.—traded by these merchants.
Document 935.
89 leaves: ill.; 33 cm.
Accounts not only cover farm work and agricultural commodities but also include such entries as “to repairing an old spinning wheel,” “to a washing machine,” and “to making one Coffee Mill box.” In addition, newspaper clippings have been pasted onto thirty-nine of the volume’s leaves. Though usually of a general nature, some clippings illustrate women’s and girls’ clothing and depict World War I scenes.
Document 91.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Manuscript was used by a woolenmaker somewhere in New Hampshire.
Account book records the activities of a wool factory: making cloth, dyeing, spinning, dressing cloth, weaving, and carding wool. Frequently mentioned products include broadcloth, flannel, and cotton yarn.
Document 579.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Account book records the debits and credits of a blacksmith from the Boston area. Clients included local artisans, most notably William C. Hunneman, a coppersmith.
Bound with a ledger from Box & Austin, proprietors of a rope yard and warehouse in Boston during the 1740s.
See entry 270.
Folio 79.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
The keeper of this account book operated a brewery, probably in or close to Worcester County, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the transactions associated with brewing and include mention of the raw materials used in the brewing process.
Document 444.
138 p.; 20 cm.
Volume contains the accounts of an unidentified cabinetmaker from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with more than sixty-five of his customers. Entries include: “to trundle Bedstid,” “to one Beauro,” “to Six Citchin Chairs,” “to one Candle Stand.”
Index to persons and objects named available.
Document 78.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Manuscript records transactions in a hardware store located in Pittsburgh and later New Lisbon, Pennsylvania, from 1818 to 1823. Entries made from 1842 to 1861 are in a different hand and note expenses associated with a farm and purchases of household goods.
Folio 161.
11 leaves; 34 cm.
Manuscript documents the activities of an unnamed furnituremaker from Strasburg, Virginia. Provenance suggests that the worker may have been Peter Smith.
Items the craftsman made include dining tables, coffins, cradles, pine chests, button boxes, beds, brick molds, candle stands, bureaus, etc. He made many pieces from walnut.
Document 1052.
14 leaves; 17 cm.
This short book includes the personal and business accounts of an unnamed Massachusetts furnituremaker during much of the 1820s. He made tables, work stands, beds, etc., and repaired various items. The maker used maple, pine, and birch in much of his work. He supplemented his income by taking in boarders, including several African American children, and by maintaining a school for the Central School District.
Document 1047.
148 p.; 42 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this volume was a saddler, probably from Massachusetts.
Manuscript volume records working with such products as bridles, whips, harnesses, saddles, and trunks in exchange for payment in supplies for his business and in cash.
Folio 96.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Book includes an account of goods purchased from the cargo of the brig Hercules. Products included cashmere, silk, shawls, hats, shoes, gloves, etc. Other entries relate to sales of flour, cheese, peas, beans, and other food items.
Document 888.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Account book records the activities of a firm of metal molders. Caleb Wright was very active in the business and may have been the proprietor.
Molders made such items as griddles, kettles, pots, ladles, plates, etc. Much of the molding was done for Ellis Murdoch & Co.
Document 288.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
Volume was kept by a carpenter who lived in Plymouth, Vermont. Either L. Swain or Abraham Harding may have been the keeper. Whoever he was, he probably died in 1829.
Manuscript records carpentry, wagon work, painting and varnishing, and furnituremaking and repair performed by the artisan. References are made to purchases of supplies. An executor settled many accounts after September 1829. In 1864 Thomas F. Hammond used the volume to document his auction sales in West Windsor, Vermont.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 726.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Manuscript lists millworkers’ names, days worked, and the total value of each week’s work, January 11–June 8, 1829. There are a few entries for later years. Information is recorded in The Workmen’s Account Book on an Easy and Economical Plan, published and sold by Theodore Abbot in Boston.
Document 792.
220 leaves; 39 cm.
Manuscript contains the accounts of an anonymous hardware merchant in or near Boston who dealt in fishing supplies. In addition, leaves 73 through 139 contain drafts of seven stories or essays on such topics as the havoc wreaked by an escaped merino lamb, voting and buying votes, a fishing trip taken by two boys, revivals and religion, and women’s rights.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 33.
9 p.; 15 cm.
Brief manuscript records clocks and watches cleaned and repaired by an unidentified watchmaker who may have lived in Newburyport, Rhode Island.
Document 839.
547 p.; 33 cm.
A general merchant kept this volume, possibly in Ontario, Canada.
Entries document the sale of a variety of goods: textiles, spices, groceries, combs, clothing, pocketknives, bedsteads, etc. Discounts are noted.
Document 578.
12 leaves; 17 cm.
This unidentified cabinetmaker’s account book is from the Manchester, New Hampshire, area. The craftsperson who kept it made beds, window blinds, chairs, chests, tables, wardrobes, coffins, and clock cases.
Entries record hours worked for other people as well as time spent on individual furniture pieces.
Document 1014.
320 p.; 38 cm.
An unnamed shoemaker and tanner from Canton, New York, kept this account book.
Manuscript records tanning and shoemaking activities and lists supplies of the trade. Also mentioned are whips and harnesses, suggesting that the keeper engaged in other forms of leatherwork. Volume was later used as a scrapbook.
Folio 123.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Volume contains accounts kept by an unidentified tinsmith and coppersmith from either Shenandoah County or Rockingham County, Virginia. Most entries supply the date and the customer’s amount of indebtedness. A few entries mention specific items, such as stew kettles, pipes, cake cutters, and house gutters.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 164.
70 leaves; 40 cm.
Volume contains records of an anonymous metalworker that worked in Warwick, New York. Book records many of his transactions, including the repair of teakettles and stoves, the fabrication of tin pails, and the creation of a door for the stove at a school.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 17.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Records debits and credits of a Keene, New Hampshire, dealer of stoves, kitchenware, general household goods, and metalware.
Document 252.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Includes accounts related to the construction, furnishing, and repair of four buildings in Nashua, New Hampshire: the Pearl Street House; a dwelling on Olive Street; a new house on Main Street; and a house owned by I. Spalding. Also included is a menu for the Pearl Street House dated December 24, 1865.
Name index available.
Document 848.
62 p.; 20 cm.
Whoever kept this volume resided in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records miscellaneous accounts. Many entries refer to work done on a dwelling, including carpentry, masonry, pipe installation, etc. Manuscript also notes purchases of supplies for this work.
Document 589.
1 microfilm reel.
Records personal financial transactions of an unidentified person living in the vicinity of Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Entries list accrued interest, cash spent, travel expenses, family expenses, and bills receivable. No detail accompanies the entries.
Original manuscript located at the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Volume, kept by an unidentified woman, records expenses for food, coal, wood, house repairs, clothing, taxes, travel, and other miscellaneous items.
Document 901.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Book was maintained by an unidentified tinsmith from New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records work identified with tinsmithing as well as transactions and products associated with a general store.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 644.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
An unnamed seamstress maintained this volume.
Book records such work as making, mending, and finishing skirts, collars, frocks, drawers, dresses, and skirts. Includes references to embroidery and the making of curtains.
Document 892.
16 leaves; 15 cm.
Manuscript records the activities of a coachmaker. It is unclear where he worked.
Entries contain the dates of transactions, descriptions of work done, and costs. Many different styles of coaches are mentioned.
Document 994.
67 p.; 34 cm.
Although the name of the account-book keeper is not known, evidence suggests that he was a blacksmith working in either New Haven, Connecticut, or southern Vermont.
Book includes the names of customers, work done for them, the date, and cost. The smith made shoes, fixed wagons, repaired harnesses, and mended chains.
Name index at front of volume.
Bound with a diary.
See entry 616.
Document 235.
54 p.; 33 cm.
The anonymous keeper of this account book operated a sawmill in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. His writings reflect the work of a sawyer.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 618.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Consists of personal and household expenses for a New England family. A wide range of products and services is documented, including magazine subscriptions, life insurance, medicine, articles of clothing, fabrics, clothes washing, mending jewelry, etc.
Document 876.
25 p.; 34 cm.
Consists of sparse entries in an unidentified hand recording lumber- and millwork. Two small pieces of paper are laid in, one of which contains a rough sketch for a piece of machinery.
Document 199.
139 p.; 32 cm.
Contains accounts of an unidentified harnessmaker who sold and repaired harnesses, bridles, halters, and collars. References made to other books not contained within this collection.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 181.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
These volumes were kept by an unidentified blacksmith in or near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The debits and credits recorded in this volume note such work as making and repairing farm tools, wheels, and horseshoes. Text is in Pennsylvania German dialect.
Document 666.
20 p.; 20 cm.
The keeper of these pages was a furnituremaker or dealer from New England.
Ledger contains lists of pieces of furniture (candle stands, bureaus, bookcases, chairs, washstands, etc.), woods, veneers, and varnishes. One page contains entries with names of customers and details of their accounts. Ledger represents only a fragment of a larger manuscript.
Document 259.
96 p.; 17 cm.
Recordkeeper and place of origin unknown.
Contains weekly labor costs for preparing, spinning, dressing, and weaving cloth. A typical week’s labor would cost around $1,950. There are also figures for yards spun, boxes spooled, beams warped, and cuts dressed.
Document 229.
27 items.
Accounts and receipts of several Newbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts, joiners, including Joseph Rolfe and William and Paul Gerrish.
Manuscripts record carpentry done on ships: building and repairing rails, planks, window frames, doors, etc. Mention is also made of finishing rooms and making coffins and clock cases.
Document 292.
Trade cards. Ca. 1890.
41 items: ill.; 8 x 6 cm.
The Acme White Lead & Color Works, maker of Neal’s enamels, was located in Detroit, Michigan.
Cards in collection depict different kinds of furniture and other domestic objects that could be decorated with the firm’s paints, including tables, a refrigerator, chairs, beds, embroidering frames, etc.
Collection 312.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1775–90.
12 microfilm reels.
Robert Adam was from a family of architects. He studied at Edinburgh University, traveled to Rome during the 1750s, and made his reputation as a classical architect. Active almost until his death, Adam designed thirty-three buildings in 1791. Adam was also a landscape painter.
Drawings are for both private and public buildings and their furnishings. Most were located in Great Britain, although a few were in Rome.
Finding aid available.
Original drawings located at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London.
Microfilm M210–M218, M222–M224.
Diary. 1886–91.
4 vols.: ill.; 21 cm.
Charles E. Adams was a woodcarver who worked throughout New England. His home base appears to have been Boston.
In his diary Adams recorded his work on the Loring-Emmerton House in Salem, Massachusetts; business dealings in Providence, Rhode Island; involvement in his union; and educational activities. As a student of art, Adams studied drawing under George Hartnell Bartlett, modeled clay, cast figures in plaster, and helped an uncle design a dwelling and public buildings. He wrote of his admiration for the work of Luigi Frullini, an Italian known for his carvings in the Renaissance style.
Document 258.
Berlin woolwork patterns, 18--.
12 patterns, mounted; 60 cm.
Consists of floral patterns of four German printers—Louis Glüer Konigl. Hofmaler u. akademischer Künstler, Grünthals Verlag, Hertz & Wegener, and A. Todt—for Berlin woolwork embroidery. The patterns are hand painted in opaque watercolor on printed card stock.
Collection 3.
The game of kings. 1845.
1 deck of cards: ill.; 10 cm.
Josiah Adams ran a publishing business at Brick Church Chapel opposite City Hall in New York City. He engaged William Van Norden to print this game.
Consisting of thirty-eight cards plus an instruction booklet, this is an educational game of cards that “comprise a brief history of the English monarchs, from the Conquest to the present time, with an engraved figure of each.”
Document 62.
The new world: a game of American history from discovery to James K. Polk. 1845.
1 deck of cards: ill.; 10 cm.
Josiah Adams ran a publishing business at Brick Church Chapel opposite City Hall in New York City.
Half of the forty cards in this game feature depictions of famous people in American history and the other half feature questions and answers relating to the individuals. The object of the game is to match a text card with its illustrative companion.
Collection 220.
Letter book. 1819–35, bulk 1819–25.
112 p.; 20 cm.
Julia Adams taught school in Dedham and Medfield in her native state of Massachusetts and later in New York City.
Consists of copies of about forty letters, many to Sarah Ellis, describing Adams’s experiences teaching school, religious and social conditions in New York City, temperance activities, the Peale Museum, her reading interests, an encounter she had with missionaries about to leave for Jerusalem, and an 1819 meeting with some Hawaiian natives who were about to return home accompanied by religious missionaries.
Document 131.
Daybook. 1835–39, bulk 1836.
99 leaves; 33 cm.
Adee & Schell sold textiles from a store at 242 Pearl Street, New York City.
Contains daily entries for sales of textiles. Because most purchases were for large quantities of material and were made by companies, Adee & Schell was probably a wholesaler. Records end abruptly on August 24, 1836, with a note saying, “Transferred to Rich. Schell’s Book.” Remaining entries refer to his financial affairs.
Document 93.
7 boxes: ill. (some col.)
This artificial and open collection contains printed broadsides, brochures, posters, and other advertising material, the majority of which was produced during the nineteenth century in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. The most numerous advertisements are for furniture, clothing and dress, pottery and glassware, and booksellers/stationers. The many illustrations depict products, mechanical designs, costumes, ethnic groups, commercial architecture, and domestic scenes.
Finding aid available listing the advertiser’s name, address, date, subject, items advertised, and a brief description of the document.
Collection 214.
26 items: ill.
Collection features price lists, letters, bills, and advertising matter on the importation and sale of hair and grooming supplies. Included are items on wigs, hand mirrors, curling irons, brass combs, the making of human hair goods, etc. Also present is a German periodical containing five articles on hair. Material included from firms operated by Leon Pelleray of Paris and C. E. Hartung of New York City.
Finding aid available containing translations of French and German language material.
Collection 190.
Account books. 1771–75, bulk 1775–1800.
2 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
Bartholomew Akin was a furnituremaker and joiner. In 1771 he lived in Dartmouth, Massachusetts; by 1790 he had moved to nearby New Bedford.
Volumes document Akin’s activities as a furnituremaker, mentioning such products as beds, chests, tables, chairs, cupboards, and sinks. To make a living, he also framed houses, laid shingles, built looms, did ship carpentry, and performed other woodworking tasks.
Partial name index in one of the volumes.
Folio 118.
Papers. 1793–1819.
11 items.
Collection consists chiefly of bills addressed to the Albany County Agricultural Society for beer, pipes, tobacco, candles, doorkeeping services, the publication of notices, the engraving of certificates, and the making of plows. A certificate of membership addressed to John Lamb includes an engraving of farm animals and various agricultural implements.
Collection 490.
Photographs and ephemera. 1914–50.
38 items: ill.
Henry Janes Albright was a sculptor, painter, designer, and educator who worked chiefly in Albany, New York. He attended the Art Students League in New York City and the Emma Willard Art School in Troy, New York. Albright became an instructor and later directed the Art Institute in Troy, New York. He exhibited widely.
Collection consists of twenty-seven photographs of items that Albright crafted, principally plates and vases. The ephemera relate to his career and include a clipping about the sale of his work and a copy of a catalogue from the Emma Willard Art School.
Collection 128.
Family papers. 1842–1905.
350 items.
Collection relates to the Albro and Allen families of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Family member Lydia A. Albro generated most of the manuscripts. Members of the Albro family established Albro & Bros., an importing firm located in New York City that dealt in teas, coffees, wines, spices, and other fancy goods.
Included in these papers are records of household expenses and local taxes, letters, photographs, and envelopes. Most of the collection consists of receipted bills, mainly on invoices with printed vignettes, that record Lydia A. Albro’s household expenditures from the 1870s into the twentieth century. Some came from the family business, although most are from local merchants and New York City stores. The earliest manuscript in the collection is a bill for Lydia’s schooling.
Finding aid available.
Collection 236.
Improvements in the manufacture of mouldings and frames for decorative purposes. 1884.
2 leaves: ill.; 30 cm.
Solomon Albu was a carpenter who worked in Goodman’s Fields, Middlesex County, England.
Item is a copy of English patent 4098, given in 1884 to Albu for a new type of molding that featured a covering of fabric. Several illustrations accompany the text, and there is a letter from Albu concerning one of the drawings.
Document 1084.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 20 cm.
Contains twenty engravings and hand-colored lithographs of buildings and other structures located in and around New York City, including Tammany Hall, Harlem Bridge, and a lighthouse on Sand’s Point. In addition there are a few landscapes, marine views, and a street scene depicting a brewery and grocery store.
Document 473.
1 vol.; 25 cm.
This volume was kept by someone who resided in or near Wilmington, Delaware.
Includes poems that often address themes of friendship, religion, and human emotions.
Document 584.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 20 cm.
Volume, on the cover of which is printed “Flower Tokens,” contains six hand-colored flower prints; twenty-two paintings of flowers; and pencil sketches that depict buildings, trees, and sailboats. One sketch bears the date 1847.
Document 369.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 30 cm.
Album contains 198 images on 129 sheets of French candy wrappers that depict a wide variety of subjects, including transportation, scenery, animals, and historical and fictional people. Sheets are probably printer’s proofs. French-language captions appear on some of the items.
Familiarly known as French candy-wrappers collection.
Document 18.
1 vol.; 35 cm.
An eight-paneled salesman’s sample album into which have been pasted twenty-seven cards, mostly illustrated with bird portraits. Fourteen are copyrighted by G. E. Marsh & Co. Also included are a valentine from L. Prang & Co. and two cards from Church & Co.
Document 176.
15 leaves: col. ill.; 36 cm.
Volume was originally designed for valentine and other greeting cards published by the L. Prang Company of Boston. More than fifty cards are included from various publishers, including the American Valentine Co., Raphael Tuck & Sons, Charles Magnus, and Mansell. The album also contains a copy of “The Valentine,” an article that appeared in Harper’s Weekly on February 17, 1872.
Folio 29.
50 p.: ill.; 26 x 35 cm.
Volume contains photographs and pictures of French, German, and Italian lighting fixtures and lamp shades. Some are numbered and priced as in catalogues.
Folio 11.
118 p.; 9 cm.
Volume includes instructions for making stockings, socks, shawls, baby clothes and shoes, bags, sofa cushions, a bed rest, etc. Album features twenty-two worked samples and a page depicting various stitches. Some of the instructions have women’s names next to them. The name Rosa Mary is written lightly on the first leaf, but her last name is not decipherable.
Document 219.
Daybook. 1826–27.
358 p.; 32 cm.
Thomas Aldrich was an accountant for the wholesale grocers Arnold & Davenport, Providence, Rhode Island.
Manuscript records the daily transactions of the Arnold & Davenport store. Each entry notes a customer name, descriptions of items and the prices at which they were purchased, debits and credits, and a corresponding ledger number.
Folio 303.
Drawings. 1938.
7 items: col. ill.
G. Alger seems to have been a member of an art league.
Drawings show different depictions of a female saint, perhaps to be used as guides for decorating church windows. One drawing is fully colored, and the other drawings provide color samples to guide artists’ work
Collection 353.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1870s.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 22 cm.
The Allabach children, compilers of this scrapbook, lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their father served as a soldier during the Civil War.
Scrapbook includes chromolithographed scraps, calling cards, cigar labels, and the trade cards of painter Edwin Bookmyer and Thomae’s millinery establishment in Lancaster.
Document 957.
Memorandum (order) book. 1796–1803.
1 microfilm reel.
Amos Denison Allen was a furnituremaker from Windham, Connecticut.
Manuscript provides information concerning the painting of Windsor chairs and the upholstering of seats as well as general information about furnituremaking.
Original book located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2834.1.
Diary. 1884.
120 p.; 15 cm.
George M. Allen worked as a typesetter and lived in Fort Plain, New York. He set type for two local papers, The Fairfield Herald and The Argus. He accepted additional typesetting assignments as well.
Diary includes references to Allen’s printing endeavors, social life, thoughts on local affairs, the presidential election of 1884, etc. There are also records of Allen’s personal expenses.
Document 229.
Business records. Ca. 1870– 89.
282 items: ill. (some col.)
John Allgaier was a carriagemaker in Philadelphia.
Collection includes hand-colored drawings, pencil sketches, and photographs of various carriages as well as other materials related to Allgaier’s business. Some of the illustrations bear numbers, suggesting some uniformity among carriagemakers.
Collection 225.
Photographs. Ca. 1929–36.
49 photographs + 1 map; 8" x 10" or smaller.
Horatio Gates Lloyd and his wife, Mary Helen Wingate Lloyd, called their Haverford, Pennsylvania, estate Allgates. Lloyd (1867–1937) held two law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and worked for the Philadelphia Trust Co., Philadelphia Electric Co., and Bell Telephone. He was also a partner at J. P. Morgan Associates.
Collection includes forty-nine black and white photos of the Allgates mansion and its grounds and outbuildings, portraits of Mrs. Lloyd, botanical illustrations, a photo of Mrs. Lloyd’s bookplate, etc. Mattie Edwards and Samuel H. Gottscho took some photos. Lester H. Sellers drew the map of the estate.
Collection 222.
Account books. Ca. 1803–56.
2 microfilm reels.
David Alling was a chairmaker in Newark, New Jersey. He probably learned the trade from his father, who had established his own shop during the 1790s. Alling produced chairs in large quantities, satisfying local as well as regional, southern, and Latin American clienteles.
Manuscripts include receipt and account books for most of Alling’s working life and records related to the settlement of his estate.
Originals at the New Jersey Historical Society.
Microfilm M311–M312.
Papers. 1818–43.
1 folder + 2 microfilm reels.
Washington Allston was an American painter of portraits and historical, religious, and allegorical subjects. He graduated from Harvard College in 1800 and then studied art in Europe. Although Allston produced few works in the last twenty-five years of his life, he influenced several fellow artists.
Microfilm material in this collection includes letters to and from artists James McMurtrie and Horatio Greenough along with notes on philosophical subjects, a poem, and a fable. Folder includes two more letters from Allston to McMurtrie and scrapbook pages with an obituary of Allston and an article on Allston by a Mrs. Jameson. In addition, there is a book by Allston called Monaldi, which McMurtrie owned and in which Allston did two sketches.
Microfilmed originals located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Collection 438; Microfilm M313, M366.
Papers. 1866–1920.
10 cu. ft.: ill. (some col.)
Olof Althin was a Swedish-born furnituremaker. He hailed from Nobbelov in the Skane region of southern Sweden and received early training in his craft in Sinrishamn. Althin immigrated to the United States in 1881 and settled in Boston. He worked for several furnituremaking firms before starting his own business around 1886. Althin worked out of several locations in Boston before retiring in 1920.
Papers include Olof Althin’s business records. Included are about 700 bills, 1,000 canceled checks, more than 50 glass-plate negatives, approximately 150 large- and 60 small-scale drawings, 80 photographs, a manuscript about designing furniture written by Althin, miscellaneous letters, account books, etc.
Finding aid available.
Collection 426.
Daybook. 1811.
86 p.; 20 cm.
Nathaniel Ambrose owned a general store in Concord, New Hampshire.
Daybook records daily transactions, including many references to ceramics. Other goods mentioned are food, cloth, tobacco, tea, etc. Many customers received credit for butter that they brought to Ambrose.
Document 560.
Cut-out of a Deadwood coach. 1896.
1 sheet (uncut): col. ill.
Sheet includes the different parts of a Deadwood stagecoach that, when cut out and assembled, form the three-dimensional vehicle. A small picture shows the completed coach. The sheet was printed to accompany the June 7, 1896, edition of the Philadelphia Press.
Collection 220.
Records. 1983–91.
4 boxes.
The American Ceramic Arts Society was established on January 11, 1983, by a number of American art pottery enthusiasts to broaden their knowledge of ceramics. Members included collectors, dealers, and museums. The society organized lectures and exhibitions and issued catalogues.
Collection consists of the archives of the society and includes manuscript and typed and printed materials relating to its eight-year existence.
Reference books and catalogues maintained by the society transferred to Winterthur Printed Book and Periodical Collection.
Collection 255.
Membership applications. 1842–43.
73 items.
The American Institute promoted industrial education and sponsored an annual exhibition to display technological innovations. The institute also maintained a library for its members and eventually published a catalogue of its holdings.
Applications were generally made by filling out a standard form that included the name of the applicant and his sponsor as well as the applicant’s address, occupation, and signature. Members represented a wide range of occupations, including accountants, attorneys, clerks, craftsmen, tavernkeepers, shipbuilders, etc.
Index of applicants available.
Document 306.
41 items.
Tickets show a number of typefaces and printed borders. One was signed in 1765 by John Hancock, another in 1768 by George Washington.
Finding aid available.
Collection 79.
Communications. 1786–1809.
1 microfilm reel.
The American Philosophical Society was established in Philadelphia in 1743. Today it is an institution that encourages scholarship related to the history of science and American life through 1840. Noted American colonists led the society in its earliest years.
The records on this microfilm reel contain writings, sketches, and technical drawings of household goods and mechanical devices, such as implements for chimney cleaning, street lamps, chairs, and boat paddles.
Summary of contents available.
Further discussed in Guide to the Archives and Manuscript Collections of the American Philosophical Society, written by Whitfield J. Bell and Murphy D. Smith, published by the society in 1966.
Microfilm M839.
15 p.; 28 cm.
George B. Cutten, president of Colgate University during the 1930s and 1940s, was an avid collector and scholar of American silver, especially spoons.
Pages contain an inventory of more than eleven hundred American-made silver teaspoons in Cutten’s collection dating from 1699 to 1810. Inventory includes makers’ names, dates of activity, places of business, and markings. Variations in patterns, such as drop leaf, rat tail, and feather edge are noted.
Document 1016.
Embroidery threads. Ca. 1920s.
100 items.
Consists of examples of cotton embroidery threads manufactured for the Star Brands Products line by the American Thread Co. of Fall River, Massachusetts. Included are a variety of colored threads in original paper wrappers and contained within a box that features the firm’s advertising.
Collection 342.
Postcard collection. 1907–15.
49 cards: col. ill.
Consists of color postcards, both used and unused, printed in the United States, Germany, and England. Included are ten birthday, eleven Christmas, eleven Easter, and nine New Year’s greeting cards. Some cards feature embossed designs.
Document 87.
Account book. 1887–90.
110 p.; 35 cm.
Thomas Ames operated a music and stationery store in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
The volume records a variety of goods sold by Ames, including music and stationery, books, cards, school supplies, inkstands, gold pens, albums, ledgers, and slate boards.
Document 943.
Ledgers. 1778–98.
1 microfilm reel.
James Anderson worked as a blacksmith in Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia. He also served as a public armorer and captain of the Company of Artifices. Anderson’s son, Robert, was also a blacksmith.
Ledgers record the blacksmithing activities of both James and Robert Anderson. Customers included prominent Virginians, such as Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph.
Name indexes available.
Original volumes located at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library.
Microfilm M2997.
Scrapbook of wallpaper samples. Ca. 1840–1910.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Volume includes wallpaper samples (both rolls and remnants) taken from the home of Samuel Russell of Penfield Hill, Connecticut. Volume notes the names of some makers of wallpaper.
Folio 70.
Records. 1784–95.
40 items.
The Philadelphia mercantile firm of Andrew Clow & Co. was most active in the years immediately following the Revolutionary War. It conducted trade in European countries, the West Indies, and in American coastal ports. Clow exported flour, grain, sugar, tobacco, and other commodities and imported textiles and cutlery from Great Britain; wine and brandy from France; and wine, raisins, and almonds from Spain. Both Andrew Clow and his partner, David Cay, died of yellow fever in 1793.
Collection consists of letters, invoices, bills, and other materials related to the importation of goods from Great Britain. Additional material includes information about textiles and consumer demand.
Related material is located in five other repositories: Hagley Museum and Library, the Special Collections Department of the Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins University, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Baker Library of Harvard Business School, and the New-York Historical Society.
See entry 2080.
Collection 363.
Papers. 1835–68.
2 vols.
Joseph Andrews was a native of Hingham, Massachusetts, and an engraver by trade. He served his apprenticeship under Abel Brower of Boston and then worked for William Hoogland. He studied in Europe and eventually became a portrait engraver. Andrews left the profession in the 1850s to escape what he perceived to be increased commercialization; instead, he embraced the Swedenborgian sect and devoted himself to religious writing.
One volume is a journal that Andrews kept during a trip to London and Paris. He made frequent comments about the manners and customs of the English, wrote about the training he received from engraver Joseph Goodyear, and recorded his involvement in London’s community of artists. Andrews also recorded his experiences in Paris. The other volume is an autobiographical sketch detailing Andrews’s conversion to the Swedenborgian faith.
Journal used for Joseph Andrews: Engraver and Swedenborgian Spokesman, by Nancy Carlson Schrock (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1977).
Typescripts available.
Collection 273.
Weaving book. Ca. 1900.
19 p.; 22 cm.
Julia B. Andrews was affiliated with the Kindergarten Training School, whose location is unknown.
Volume contains nineteen accordion boards, each with a different paper pattern for weaving.
Document 205.
Daybook. 1810–13, 1817–27.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
George Andrus lived in Ellisburg and then Adams, New York. He ran a store in which he sold fabric and textile products, and he farmed. In 1819 Andrus served as commissioner of deeds for Jefferson County, New York.
Daybook consists of two parts. The first part, dating from 1810 to 1813, records Andrus’s sales of fabrics and textile products and other activities associated with his store. The second part, dating from 1817 to 1827, is a record of his agricultural work and legal services as well as the sale of fabric.
Folio 239.
Daybook. 1840–54.
240 p.; 21 cm.
J. H. Angell sold stoves, probably in Providence, Rhode Island.
Daybook includes names of customers, their addresses, and the types and costs of stoves they purchased. A few returns are noted. The variety of stoves sold includes New Era, Gothic Air Tight, McGregor, Fancy Franklin, and Albany.
Document 204.
Copybook. 1855.
18 p.; 19 cm.
Consists of handwriting exercises done by George Angevine of New York. The front cover is illustrated with a ship, and the back cover is illustrated with a building.
Document 825.
Engravings. 1817–19.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
William B. Annin was an engraver from Boston best known for portraits, views, and maps. His career began around 1813. By 1820 he was a partner in the firm of Annin & Smith.
Volume contains thirty-two proofs of engravings of a variety of plants for American Medical Botany, a three-volume work compiled by Jacob Bigelow. Forty plates were eventually produced. In 1819 Annin presented this volume to John R. Penniman, an ornamental furniture painter.
Document 431.
Appraisal of property of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar A. Eyre, 760 Park Ave., New York City, 1952.
2 vols.; 29 cm.
Volumes contain room-by-room inventories of the contents of the Eyres’ primary residence in New York City and their second home in Southampton, Long Island. Many pieces of antique furniture, porcelain, silver, and art objects are listed. Inventories include appraisals of replacement and depreciated values for each item listed.
Volumes contain “Index” and “Summary” sections.
Document 56.
1 microfilm reel.
Daniel Webster’s (1782–1852) long and distinguished political career included service as an attorney, member of Congress, presidential contender, and Secretary of State.
Dated December 14, 1852, this apparently complete appraisal relates to Webster’s Green Harbor Farm in Marshfield, Massachusetts.
Original document in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M185.
Trade cards. 1889–93.
88 items: col. ill.; 8 x 13 cm.
Arbuckle Bros., based in New York City, sold coffee beans for home consumption.
Trade cards circulated in packages of coffee were to be collected as sets. Cards featured themes, such as a trip around the world, sports and pastimes of various nations, industrial activities and scenery from different countries, the history of the United States, and maps of American states. The lithographer’s name and date of publication often appear on the cards.
Finding aid available.
Collection 124.
Records. 1902.
44 items.
The Arcadia Cut Glass Co. of Newark, New Jersey, manufactured and supplied plain and decorative glassware to retail outlets. Evidence suggests that the firm was established in 1901.
Collection includes thirty-five letters written by the company manager, C. L. B. Tylee, to one of the company’s salesmen, O. B. Greene, that detail the firm’s business difficulties. Associated manuscripts and ephemera are also available.
Collection 173.
1 vol.: ill.; 28 cm.
Includes elevations and floor plans for three two-story dwellings, a roofing plan, and a page illustrating four garden buildings. Drawings were discovered in M. C. Ewing’s copy of Practical Masonry, Bricklaying, and Plastering … , written by Thomas Kelly and published in London in 1834.
Document 914.
8 boxes + 1 drawer: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of hand-drawn, painted, engraved, and lithographed illustrations of architectural structures, such as public, commercial, and farm buildings; private homes; churches; schools; factories; and prisons. Scale drawings, building facades, room layouts, elevations, engineering plans, and buildings in landscape settings are all present. Almost all of the structures represented are located on the East Coast of the United States, primarily in the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia areas. The majority are from the mid nineteenth century.
Finding aid available.
Collection 210.
The Arthur diary: the history of a farm on the Hudson River near Fishkill, N. York. 1804–5.
218 p.; 20 cm.
Volume was kept by an unnamed member of the Arthur family of farmers from Dutchess County, New York. John Arthur, whose name is in the 1800 Federal census and who was a church warden and member of the Franklin Union Society, may have been the diarist.
Diary records the routine activities of a family engaged in agriculture: haying, boarding stock, selling farm goods, maintaining equipment, etc. Also mentioned are what appear to be sales of slaves.
Document 340.
Account book. 1864–71.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
George Ashbridge was born in West Whiteland, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Haverford College. From 1871 to 1872, he studied in Germany at the University of Berlin and attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania from 1880 to 1882. As an adult, he wrote articles on stock breeding, cricket, and public issues. He was a fellow of the American Geographical Association and a member of a cricket club in Merion, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records Ashbridge’s personal expenses while a student at Haverford. He received money from his father and other family members and spent his allowance on such things as books, billiards, skating, a cricket bat, and tickets to events at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
Document 870.
Bills and receipts. 1806–60.
142 items.
Members of the Ashhurst family were merchants in Philadelphia.
Includes bills and receipts relating to personal and business purchases made by members of the Ashhurst family, including Richard (1784–1861), John (1809–92), William, and representatives of Richard Ashhurst & Sons.
Collection 290.
Account book. 1810–11.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
H. S. Ashton was a furnituremaker in Philadelphia.
Manuscript lists pieces of furniture that Ashton made and repaired and includes names of his customers and the prices they paid. He worked on beds, tables, chairs, coffins, etc.
Document 509.
Papers. 1708–1860, bulk 1790–1804.
400 items.
This collection contains information about Isaac and Elizabeth Ashton of Philadelphia and their descendants. Two of their sons, Isaac and Samuel, were furnituremakers whose business seems to have peaked during the 1790s. Another son, John, was a tailor.
Collection includes a variety of manuscript materials recording business transactions and includes account books, bills, miscellaneous accounts, receipts, and orders. These items provide insight into furniture production, relationships between journeymen and masters, local buyers, sources of supplies, and related matters. Other papers relate to family affairs and include real-estate records, bankruptcy proceedings, purchases for the household, lawsuits, and promissory payments.
Finding aid available.
Collection 263.
Records. 1842–1927.
12 vols.; 40 cm
The Leonard V. Aspril family lived in Odessa (earlier called Cantwell’s Bridge), Delaware. Leonard Aspril Sr. and Leonard Aspril Jr. operated a blacksmithing business.
Records consist of accounts related to blacksmithing. Most of the twelve volumes are account ledgers, though two are daybooks, and one, called the “Bought Ledger,” records purchases made for the business and pay records.
Collection 38.
Price book. 1836.
1 microfilm reel.
Manuscript includes the minutes of the association’s meetings and lists prices established by the group for the various kinds of work its members performed. The price book may have belonged to Nashville silversmith John Campbell, born 1803.
Microfilm M2709.
Sample book showing 30 latest visiting cards. Ca. 1880s.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 13 cm.
Includes thirty designs for hidden name cards. Each card contained a flap ornamented with a floral design under which a person’s name was printed. On the back cover is a description of how to use the sample book to sell cards.
Document 807.
Account book. 1791–1827.
318 p.; 31 cm.
Zaccheus Atwood was a weaver in Barre, Massachusetts.
The activities that Atwood recorded in his account book include trimming clothes; dressing cloth; and making blankets, fabric, and gloves. Farm work is also mentioned.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 526.
27 leaves; 30 cm.
Manuscript contains records of auctions of property belonging to twenty-five individuals in Lancaster and Royalston, Massachusetts, between March 7, 1831, and January 2, 1836. Clothing, household goods, farm implements, animals, books, and other items were sold. Buyer, item, and price are customarily mentioned.
List of people whose property was sold is available.
Document 26.
Letters. 1821, 1836, 1840.
3 items.
John James Audubon was a painter and ornithologist. Early in his career, he tried to earn a living as a portrait painter and art teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana. After 1820 he shifted his focus, painting and writing about birds and animals. From 1832 until his death, Audubon was assisted in his work by his two sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse Audubon. He is best known for his Birds of America, Quadrupeds of America, and Ornithological Biographies.
In an 1821 letter, Audubon describes his life in New Orleans and his keen interest in moving ahead with his bird drawings. His 1836 letter relates to a volume Audubon calls Fauna Italico… . In 1840 Audubon wrote to his son Victor while visiting John Bachman in Charleston, South Carolina, recording fifty-eight subscribers to his Birds of America, noting family matters, and giving details of his forthcoming itinerary. Bachman also wrote some of this letter, discussing Mrs. John Woodhouse Audubon, his grandchildren, and John Woodhouse’s painting.
Collection 170.
The friendly repository and keepsake of Mary Eliza Bachman. 1831–39.
277 p.: ill. (some col.) ; 21 cm.
Mary Eliza Bachman’s father, the Rev. John Bachman, collaborated with American artist John James Audubon to produce his Birds of America. Audubon lived with the Bachman family during research trips in 1831 and 1833. Mary Eliza married one of Audubon’s sons, Victor Gifford Audubon. Her sister, Maria, married Audubon’s other son, John Woodhouse Audubon.
Volume contains poetry copied by Mary Eliza as well as writings and drawings done by friends. George Lehman and Edward A. Leitner, assistants of John James Audubon, contributed drawings. There is a watercolor of a Carolina wren, dated October 15, 1833, once attributed to John James Audubon but now credited to his son, John Woodhouse Audubon.
Document 722.
Entry 132. Mary Eliza Bachman Audubon’s album, “Friendly Repository and Keepsake,” from the 1830s, contains drawings by John Woodhouse Audubon, her brother-in-law, and two of John James Audubon’s assistants, George Lehman and Edward A. Leitner. Lehman’s watercolor depiction of Castle Pinckney in Charleston, South Carolina, later appeared in Audubon’s Birds of America as background for his portrait of the long-billed curlew.
Postcards. Ca. 1910–20.
58 items: col. ill.
Carrie Augenbaugh and her sister, Margie, lived in York, Pennsylvania, and received the Christmas postcards in this collection from family friends.
Cards show many depictions of Santa Claus, Christmas trees, children, toys, animals, and religious scenes. The majority are embossed, and many record their makers. Nine cards contain the word “postcard” written in several languages, suggesting that they were used internationally.
Collection 119.
Account book. 1858–61.
52 p.; 34 cm.
David Austin was a jeweler from New York City.
Book records Austin’s activities during the years immediately preceding the Civil War. Most of his entries were for repairs and sales on behalf of such well-known jewelry firms as Tiffany & Co.; Ball, Black, & Co.; and Baldwin & Co.
Document 624.
Account book. 1766–1834, bulk 1775–99.
90 p.; 39 cm.
John Austin worked as a laborer in northeastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Entries indicate that Austin was skilled as a joiner, furnituremaker, and carpenter. He mentions such products as tables, chairs, bedsteads, cupboards, etc., and notes that he repaired small objects and helped to construct houses, barns, meetinghouses, and fishing wharves. Evidence suggests that Austin worked or owned a sawmill. The manuscript contains genealogical records of the Austin family.
Folio 266.
Bills and receipts. 1783–93.
19 items.
John Austin, a resident of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was a leather dresser. His son, John Jr., was a merchant and inspector of potash and pearl ash.
Collection consists of manuscripts recording the purchase of food and payments for schooling, wood, and mending. Some record the purchase of potash from John Jr.
Document 302.
50 p.: ill.; 20 cm.
Album contains autographs of more than one hundred residents of the Boston area, five small tintypes of young women, and a detailed drawing of flowers. The only indication of ownership is with the first autograph of the book, inscribed “To Maria.”
Document 175.
1 box.
Collection contains autographs of more than twenty American artists. The signatures are on letters, sketches, drawings, watercolors, business cards, and postcards. Many of the letters are addressed to members of the Pratt family of Brooklyn, New York.
Name index available.
Collection 425.
Papers. 1788–1839.
15 items.
Members of the Avery family lived near Norwich, Connecticut. Oliver Avery was a furnituremaker, and Stephen Avery was a ship captain.
Collection contains miscellaneous bills, letters, and account books. The bills are primarily for groceries, and the account books chronicle Oliver Avery’s furnituremaking activities, including his production of chairs, beds, tables, desks, clock cases, and looms.
Collection 415; Microfilm M102.
Account book. 1799–1828.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Jonas Ayres was a housebuilder in Brookfield, Massachusetts.
Manuscript relates to a housewright’s activities, including specifications for construction, room dimensions and details, framing, and orders for building supplies.
Folio 218; Microfilm M2853.
Letter book. 1852–57.
Brothers Barzillai (1794–1871) and William (1803–79) of Hartford, Connecticut, owned the firm of B. & W. Hudson. Barzillai later became president of the Phoenix Life Insurance Co., and William pursued a career in printing. They sold furniture, mattresses, carpets, and other household items.
Most letters are addressed to dealers and manufacturers in New England and New York, inquiring about purchases for the business.
Folio 297.
Waste book. 1814–16.
100 p.; 17 cm.
Jacob Babbitt was a shipping merchant in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Manuscript includes records of receipts and disbursements related to Babbitt’s career as a shipper. Other records document products he acquired for personal use.
Index of names, ships, and objects available.
Document 430.
Plan of Hyde Park house. 1880.
1 vol.: ill.; 17 cm.
John Bachelder was a portrait and landscape painter, focusing on views of New England towns. He was born in Gilmantown, New Hampshire, and died in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.
Volume includes four floor plans for houses and related notes. Room dimensions are given, and room names or functions are sometimes provided. Volume bears inscription: “Aunt Elizabeth’s House, drawn by our Uncle John Bachelder, 1880.”
Document 950.
Daybook. 1822–61.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Bachman was a woodworker and furnituremaker, possibly from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records Bachman’s daily activities as a woodworker and provides some household accounts.
See entry 145 for related document.
Microfilm M935.
Daybook. 1769–1828.
1 microfilm reel.
Johannes Bachman was a woodworker, furnituremaker, and chairmaker, probably from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Much like Jacob Bachman’s manuscript (see entry 144), this item records the daily activities and household accounts of its keeper. It is written in German, suggesting that Bachman was part of the Pennsylvania German community of Lancaster County.
Microfilm M935.
Account book. 1880–81.
551 p.; 36 cm.
Bachman & Forry ran a sash and door manufactory in Columbia, Pennsylvania. John B. Bachman was born in 1820 in Bart Township, and when he was eighteen he became a carpenter’s apprentice. In 1852 he moved to Columbia, where he worked at a planing and lumbering business that also supplied house carpentry and made floorboards. By 1880 Bachman was in charge of the business, operating it with John Forry.
Entries describe the goods Bachman & Forry produced, the names of customers, and prices. Volume also includes labor and supply accounts.
Folio 220.
Papers. 1865–66.
231 items.
John H. Bacon’s business card proclaimed that he was a “manufacturer of feltings, cotton and wool waddings” in Winchester, Massachusetts.
Papers consist almost exclusively of business letters, including orders, complaints, bills, payments, inquiries, etc. A few pieces of legal and personal correspondence appear as well.
Collection 8.
Muralia. 1918.
1 vol.: ill.; 26 x 34 cm.
The Baeck Wall Paper Co. was located in Brooklyn, New York.
Contains wallpaper samples featuring solid colors and bands of designs for the 1918–19 decorating season.
Folio 176.
Account book. 1836–45.
1 vol.; 41 cm.
Ezekiel Bailey operated an inn and then a general store in Centreville, Delaware. In 1837 he moved his store to Red Lion, Pennsylvania.
Book includes financial records pertaining to the general store that Bailey ran. It was used later as a scrapbook for clippings of stories.
Folio 196.
Patterns of early American furniture and business records. 1922–62.
3 cu. ft.: ill.
Jesse W. Bair was a cabinetmaker in Hanover, Pennsylvania. He worked in several early styles: William and Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, etc. Although Bair made many pieces of furniture, most of his work centered on furniture repair and restoration. Two of his important clients were Joe Kendig and Robert S. Stuart.
Collection contains 1,515 drawings and patterns of furniture, a drawing book showing hardware designs and ball-and-claw-foot chairs, and Bair’s business records. These records include ledgers and receipt books, correspondence, lists of customers and suppliers, notes on hours worked for various clients, lists of income and expenses, etc.
Bair’s letters to Robert S. Stuart in the Stuart papers
Finding aid describing furniture patterns available; patterns arranged by form and style.
Collection 162.
Records. 1933–64.
9 vols.: ill.
Founded by John M. Bair, this business was located in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania. Evidence suggests that at one time it may have been located in nearby Hanover. According to one of its catalogues, the shop was “devoted entirely to the reproduction of antique and quaint furniture.” It was especially known for its colonial revival furnishings.
Collection includes binders of numbered photographs of furniture and business records, including three daybooks, a ledger, records of social security payments, and several miscellaneous items. Photos record a number of furniture forms and their dimensions.
Firm’s trade catalogues in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection.
Collection 163.
Papers. 1850–73.
18 items.
Annie W. Baker was born and raised at Allegheny Furnace, Altoona, Pennsylvania. When she was fourteen, she left Altoona for school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She eventually married and raised three children.
Papers consist primarily of letters to Baker regarding such social activities as parties, sleigh rides, and horseback riding. There is a short story about a failed romance that Baker had with someone named Arthur Grahm. The papers also include an autograph book, an essay on insects, and a few postcards.
Document 559.
Account book. 1792–1822.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, Edmund Baker trained as a physician but made his living as a maker of chocolate at Dorchester Lower Mills. His oldest son, Walter, graduated from Harvard, studied law, and then started a woolen manufactory. He later followed his father into the chocolate business. Under Walter’s guidance the chocolate business thrived, operating under the name Walter Baker & Co. It was purchased in 1927 by General Foods.
Account book records transactions relating to costs and income associated with the making of chocolate.
Folio 166.
Notebook. 1842–92.
85 p.; 20 cm.
Emily Anne Baker lived in or near Chelmsford, Essex County, England.
Volume includes two sections. The first volume features poetry, much of it focusing on death and the untimely passing of young people. The second volume records knitting and crocheting instructions. The instructions are accompanied by a few samples of work pinned to the volume.
Document 194.
The Wanamaker diary. 1922.
495 p.; 19 cm.
Mrs. Forrest Baker lived in Rising Sun, Maryland.
Diary records Mrs. Baker’s daily life. Volume also contains advertisements, many for goods sold at Wanamaker’s and other Philadelphia and New York City stores. An almanac, lists of churches and post offices in Philadelphia, and layouts for Philadelphia theaters are also included.
Finding aid to advertisements available.
Index to business cards at back of the volume.
Document 567.
Ledger. 1743–75.
119 leaves; 19 cm.
John Baker and his son, James (1713–76), were shoemakers and farmers in Dorchester, Massachusetts. James’s son, James Jr., pursued a number of careers, though he is best known for establishing a chocolate company that operated for more than two centuries.
Ledger primarily records the sales and repairs of footwear and the sale of twine and rope. Local craftsmen, including a clockmaker named Newman and silversmiths John Edwards and Jacob Hurd, did business with the Bakers. There are references to sales of shoes to African American customers. Some entries list payment in dollars and some in “old tenor.” The last page contains “A list of men who had their guns taken for bayonets on the 31st of March 1758.”
Document 991.
Inventory and account book. 1881–99.
97 p.; 21 cm.
Louis A. Baker owned a general store in Ashford, Connecticut.
The first part of this manuscript contains an inventory of Baker’s general store dated 1881. The second part contains a ledger recording business transactions. Loose bills are laid in.
Document 1022.
Account books. 1808–19.
1 vol.; 40 cm. + 3 microfilm reels.
Jabez C. Baldwin, a native of Norwich, Connecticut, was a jeweler and silversmith in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1813 he established the firm of Baldwin & Jones in Boston while continuing to work in Salem. In 1817 he entered into partnership with Thomas Baker. When Baker moved to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1819, the partnership ended.
Includes an account book kept by Baldwin from 1808 to 1819, two daybooks recording the transactions of Baldwin and Thomas Baker, and a sales book dating from 1817 to 1819. The account book documents Baldwin’s evolution from silversmith to merchant of silver goods.
Photographs of Baldwin’s silver in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection.
Original materials on microfilm located at the Essex Institute.
Folio 195; Microfilm M1527, M1529–M1530.
Papers. 1784–1904, bulk 1820–34.
14 vols. + 36 loose items: ill. (some col.)
The Baldwins were civil engineers from Woburn, Massachusetts. Loammi Baldwin began his career during the late eighteenth century and in 1804 oversaw the construction of the Middlesex Canal in Massachusetts. Three of his sons—Loammi Jr., James Fowle, and George Rumford—followed his chosen career. Loammi Jr. graduated from Harvard and began his professional life as an attorney. Finding the law distasteful, he turned to civil engineering. James Fowle pursued a career as a merchant before he became an engineer. He would eventually work for railroads and undertake a study of the quality of the water supply in Boston. George Rumford designed and built the Boston Marine Railway and consulted on the construction of waterworks in Charleston, Massachusetts, and Quebec, Canada.
Collection materials reflect the professional lives of the Baldwins as civil engineers. Projects mentioned in the papers include the Middlesex Canal, the Charles River Bridge, the Charlestown Naval Dry Docks, the upgrading of Boston’s water supply, coal mining, canal construction in general, and soundings in Boston harbor. Illustrative material is chiefly in the hand of George Rumford Baldwin. Working in pen, watercolor, pencil, and wash, George Rumford’s sketchbooks depict railroads, dams, canals, locks, waterworks, bridges, and buildings. Of particular importance are his drawings of wooden framing patterns.
Finding aid is available.
Collection 204.
Pattern book. 1820–50.
197 p.: col. ill.; 25 cm.
Joseph Ball was a potter in Longton, England, and seems to have been affiliated with Bagguley & Ball, a firm active from 1822 to 1835.
Book contains hundreds of designs, both transfer-printed and hand-drawn, for the decoration of pottery. Floral and geometric patterns predominate. Many are on paper watermarked 1841, though some bear dates in the 1820s. Recipes for various cements and pottery types are also included.
Document 64.
Account book. 1759–62.
1 microfilm reel.
William Ball was a silversmith in Philadelphia.
In addition to silver pieces, records in this account book mention such items as clothing, guns, food, brass, iron, textiles, tools, toys, and writing materials.
Manuscript in private hands at the time of filming.
Microfilm M2822.
11 p.: ill.; 30 cm.
An unnamed writer hand-copied this version of the text to “Ballad of the Oysterman,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. The pen-and-ink illustrations depict the oysterman, his daughter, a house, and surrounding area.
Document 693.
Accounts. 1835–49.
15 items.
James Ballantine lived in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Collection includes two small manuscripts and thirteen loose accounts that primarily document the construction of a store. Details include information on wages, materials needed for building, and such construction activities as setting glass, painting, and framing. A few miscellaneous accounts for food and clothing round out the collection.
Document 899.
Drawings and tracings. Ca. 1915–28.
125 items: ill.
Edmond Ballora was an interior decorator doing business at Decoration Artistique, New York City.
Drawings and tracings, most in pencil and colored pencil, are of room interiors and furniture. A variety of styles is featured, and there are many depictions of decorative detail, some appearing full-scale. In many instances clients are identified. Notations in French.
Finding aid available.
Collection 270.
Account book. 1792–93.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Benjamin Ballou was a blacksmith from Wrentham, Massachusetts.
Book records Ballou’s work on wagons and carts, his shoeing of horses and oxen, and the production and repair of agricultural implements and household objects.
Document 846.
Order book. 1807–35, bulk 1828–35.
544 p.: ill.; 38 cm.
George Bance worked in London as a furnituremaker and upholsterer.
Contains records of orders for furniture with descriptions, dimensions, customers’ names, and itemized costs of labor and materials. Some furniture sketches dating from 1807 and 1808 are included. The bulk of the volume features references to repair work, installations, alterations, and general carpentry.
Document 102.
Appraisals. 1750–62.
48 leaves; 33 cm.
Christopher Bancker and Brandt Schuyler, New York City merchants, served as publicly sworn appraisers for the province of New York in 1750. Joris Brinckerhoff, also a merchant, replaced Schuyler in 1750.
Volume records the appraised inventories of various estates and ships, noting the quantity and value of items in English pounds. The majority of the valued items are household goods and personal belongings.
Document 1011.
Papers. Ca. 1760–1854.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Bancker family were prominent in Philadelphia social circles. Charles N. Bancker was a successful businessman.
Includes business and personal papers of the Banckers, especially Charles. There are letters, bills, and inventories of household goods. One correspondent was Thomas Sully, who wrote Charles N. Bancker to ask if he could copy a picture that he owned “by Leslie from West.”
Original manuscripts located at the American Philosophical Society.
Microfilm M101.
Papers. 1893–1903.
500 items.
The firm, operated by Andrew Persson in Bangor, Maine, identified itself as a “manufacturer of stone & fancy pressed ware of every description.”
Collection consists of bills, orders, receipts, and letters relating to the company’s activities. Material reveals how the company obtained raw materials, marketed its wares, and supplied its customers with finished products.
Name index available.
Collection 30.
Account book. 1788–1827, 1858–66.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Nathaniel Bangs was a furnituremaker from Amherst, Massachusetts, who later relocated to Salem, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the furniture that Bangs made during a forty-year period beginning in 1788. Bangs’s shop produced a variety of furniture forms. He also painted sleighs, mended rakes, fixed wagons, etc. Joel Bangs used the volume later to record his activities as a laborer, the construction of a house in Athol, Massachusetts, and personal finances. Volume also contains genealogical information on the Bangs family.
Document 436.
Account book. 1787–1811.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Solomon Banks was a furnituremaker from Greenfield, Connecticut.
Volume includes references to the pieces of furniture that Banks made and repaired and notes his carpentry work. Manuscript contains many references to agricultural pursuits and indicates that he bartered to settle some payments.
Partial name index in front of volume.
Folio 156.
Family records. 1695–1771.
4 microfilm reels.
Members of the Bannister family were general merchants in Newport, Rhode Island. They were in business under their own names as well as in a partnership, Bannister & Minot.
Records include daybooks, letter books, cash books, ledgers, and a memorandum book, all of which chronicle nearly eighty years of business activity.
Brief index available.
Original materials located at the Newport Historical Society.
Microfilm M191–M194.
Account books. 1750–99.
1 microfilm reel.
William Barker was a chairmaker from Providence, Rhode Island.
The account books document a half-century of chairmaking.
Original manuscripts are in the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M2858.3–.7.
Account book. 1821–25.
1 microfilm reel.
Elizur Barnes was a cabinetmaker from Middletown, Connecticut.
Accounts relate to making furniture and chairs, employing workmen, exchanging services, and purchasing supplies for the cabinetmaking trade.
Original manuscript at the Middletown, Connecticut Historical Society; another microfilm copy located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2832.
Account book. 1827–29.
4 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
Ford Barnes was a furnituremaker from the Baltimore area.
Manuscript chiefly documents amounts of money owed to Barnes for furniture he made, including tables, beds, cradles, candle stands, bookcases, coffins, chests, and bureaus. Some entries include a description of the piece. Barnes worked with cherry, poplar, pine, and walnut.
Document 1043.
Receipt book. 1793–1861.
1 microfilm reel.
Isaac Barnett was a furnituremaker in Philadelphia.
Manuscript contains records of payments made by Isaac, Abraham, and Thomas Barnett for such personal expenses as taxes, schooling, and medical care as well as business expenditures for turning, lumber, sawing, etc.
Original manuscript at the Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1966.1.
The miscellaneous works of Charles Barrell … performed at Mr. Wymans boarding school in Medford. 1797.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 50 cm.
Volume includes a student’s exercises in geometry, anatomy, drawing, etc. Illustrations feature a mariner’s compass, a map of the world, a church, houses, fruit, and flowers. Barrell used calligraphy to head the different sections of his book.
Folio 256.
Letters and letter books. 1776–1800.
2 microfilm reels.
Joseph Barrell was a successful merchant from Boston and nearby Waltham, Massachusetts; his father and brother were also merchants. He was included in a list of members of the Sons of Liberty, and he ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts. In the 1790s Barrell acquired more than two hundred acres of land overlooking the Charles River at Cobble Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Noted American architect Charles Bulfinch designed the house that Barrell built there, called “Pleasant Hill.” Barrell was married four times.
Consists chiefly of letters dealing with the building and furnishing of Barrell’s house in the 1790s. Writings also discuss Barrell’s efforts to create a garden and greenhouse.
Original manuscripts located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M181–M182.
Diary. 1859.
141 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
H. B. Barrett was a native of Worthing, England, who lived with his father in Jamaica in the 1850s.
Diary records Barrett’s travels in England. By 1859 he had been away from his native country for nine years. In England Barrett met with family and friends, went shopping, and took art lessons from Prince Albert’s art instructor. He visited London, Gosport, Farnham, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Worthing. Barrett was fascinated by British naval shipyards as a result of his military service. Interspersed among the pages of this manuscript are forty-five engravings of English landmarks.
Includes index of names of Barrett’s friends.
Document 1003.
Lecture and letter. 1844–45.
15 p.; 32 cm.
Charles L. Barritt was a photographer.
Includes the text of a lecture that Barritt gave on January 20, 1845, before the New York Scientific Association and a letter that he wrote to its secretary apologizing for missing a meeting of the association.
Document 788.
Correspondence. 1841–51.
15 items.
David Barrows was a maker of frames, a knitter, and a manufacturer of hosiery. He lived in Nicetown and then Germantown, present-day neighborhoods of Philadelphia.
Ten of the letters were written to David Barrows and five were from him. They all relate to business and family matters. Professional concerns relate to the quantity of mitts and hose knitted, the buying and dyeing yarn, the marketing of products, fluctuations in prices, the selling of frames, etc. Most letters circulated among family members expressed financial concerns.
Collection 191.
Account book. 1810–20.
2 vols.; 42 cm. or smaller.
George Barrows worked as a blacksmith in Harrison, Maine.
Records the activities of a busy blacksmith. Book also includes accounts kept by Eleanor Barrows relating to the settlement of Barrows’s estate.
Folio 184.
Account book. 1835–52.
220 p.; 42 cm.
George W. Barrows was a tanner in Harrison, Maine. He may have purchased a tannery at Bolster Mills, Maine, from Isaac Thayer.
Records leather-working projects and the buying and selling of such items as sole leather, sheepskin, hide, and hair. Barrows also made and repaired footwear.
Includes name index.
Folio 185.
Bills and receipts. 1876–89.
409 items: ill.
Rogers L. Barstow lived in Boston and was a partner in the brokerage firm of Chase & Barstow.
Collection includes invoices relating to the purchases by Barstow and members of his family of a wide variety of household goods. Most purchases were made from Boston area stores; foreign merchandise came from England and France.
Finding aid available.
Collection 224.
Papers. 1743–95.
7 microfilm reels.
Josiah Bartlett was a physician and political figure from Kingston, New Hampshire. He was a member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court, and governor of his state.
Papers include account books and daybooks, correspondence, and other manuscript material that document Bartlett’s personal life, medical practice, and public service.
Published finding aid available: Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Papers of Josiah Bartlett (1729–1795), edited by Frank C. Mevers (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1976).
Original manuscripts at the New Hampshire Historical Society.
Microfilm M2462–M2468.
Scrapbook. 1773–1809.
1 vol.: ill.; 32 cm.
Francesco Bartolozzi, an engraver, was born in Florence, Italy. He studied at the Accademia del Disegno and learned engraving from Joseph Wagner. In 1764 he traveled to England, where he won an appointment as engraver to King George III. He became a Royal Academician in 1768, and in 1802 he accepted the post of director of the National Academy of Lisbon. Bartolozzi is known to have engraved many paintings by Giovanni Battista. He popularized the stipple process.
Scrapbook contains a few invitations engraved by Bartolozzi and others. Most engravings depict classical scenes.
Folio 192.
Sample book of silk weaving. Ca. 1820–50.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 28 x 42 cm.
Includes one hundred swatches of woven silk, lithographed plates depicting looms, weaving patterns, diagrams, etc. Weavers drafts in the volume are both lithographed and sketched in pen and pencil. Floral and geometric patterns predominate, and there are a few crests. The lithographs all bear the names I. G. Bartsch and Al. Leykum. Captions and manuscript notations in German.
Collection 50.
F. W. Bass’s arithmetic book: made in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 1819.
100 p.: ill.; 51 cm.
Contains mathematical computations, calligraphy, and examples of student exercises in the calculation of fractions, proportions, troy weight, money, liquid measures, etc. Some of the volume pertains to maintaining financial account books.
Folio 82.
Account books. 1802–37.
2 vols.; 21 cm.
Friedrich Bastian was a Pennsylvania German dyer. In 1804 he moved from Jonestown, Pennsylvania, to nearby Middletown. After Bastian stopped using these volumes, Jacob Strouss, a carpenter and coffinmaker, kept his records in them.
Entries in the account books document Bastian’s endeavors as a dyer and Strouss’s general woodworking activities. Some domestic accounts are also included. The writing of Bastian’s accounts reflects his Pennsylvania German heritage.
Document 585.
Microfilm M2729.
Exercise book. 1765.
1 vol.: ill.; 25 cm.
Book contains mathematical problems and tables of basic arithmetic measurements. Headings done in decorative calligraphy, showing scrolls and other ornamentation. Bawden included pen-and-ink drawings of birds.
Document 743.
Pattern book. 1770–1829.
58 leaves: col. ill.; 34 cm.
Bayer was a weaver in Framersheim, Germany, during the late eighteenth century.
Manuscript contains German coverlet design patterns. Its cover is a Fraktur-style page that includes the inscription “Philipp Peter Bayer, Zu Framersheim, werde ich genandt, Jesus Name ist mir auch bekandt, Anno 1770” as well as pictures of angels holding tools of the weaving trade.
Folio 22.
Workbook. 1897–98.
1 vol.; 24 cm.
Stella P. Bayly recorded directions for sixteen projects that she undertook as part of a sewing course. Her lessons included exercises in basting, weaving, hemming, making button holes, preparing seams, and making patches. In her workbook she wrote directions on the left side of a page opening, and on the right side she sewed in what she called models of completed projects. Bayly used such fabrics as muslin, cotton, damask, flannel, and percale.
Document 457.
Ledger and letter book. 1721–27.
1 microfilm reel.
Peter Baynton was a general merchant from Philadelphia.
Manuscripts document payment of duties on cargoes that included rum, textiles, sugar, glass, buckles, looking glasses, earthenware, etc.
Original manuscripts at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2646.
Exercise book. 1791–1808.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Consists of exercises in elementary arithmetic, weights and measures, fractions, decimals, calculations for determining the cost of a product, and the computation of annuities.
Document 607.
Receipt book. 1819–38.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Christopher Beakley, a resident of New York City, was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Entries record money paid by Beakley for a number of items: church pew rent, taxes, street paving, painting a house and its shutters, chairs, medical, bills, the burial of an infant, etc.
Document 955.
Account book. 1773–79.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Joseph Beal was a blacksmith in Abington, Massachusetts.
Beal shoed horses and oxen; mended guns, chains, and plow irons; made axes, spikes, hinges, and nails; altered chisels; hooped barrels; and crafted plow parts. Like many of his contemporaries, he sometimes accepted goods for payment.
Name index in front of volume.
Document 523.
Papers. 1814–61.
1 folder.
Thomas Prince Beal lived in Kingston, Massachusetts. He may have been a lawyer.
Collection includes bills for such goods and services as clothes, yarn, blacksmithing, painting, and window repair; letters that document personal engagements and the payment of accounts; and papers of a legal nature that focus on the case Jarves vs. Freeman, in which Jarves was accused of slander.
Collection 518.
Copybook. 1833.
2 vols.; 19 cm.
Includes handwriting exercises by Beaman while he was a student. Covers of the two volumes are illustrated with engravings of children engaged in various activities and a stone dwelling situated among large trees. Back covers contain multiplication tables.
Document 811.
Account book. 1821–77, bulk 1821–25.
170 leaves; 32 cm.
The Beardsleys lived in Otsego County, New York. Levi and especially Jabez Beardsley are well represented in the volume.
The accounts in this manuscript record dyeing, fulling, pressing, carding, and dressing fabrics from 1821 to 1825. Most of the handful of post-1830 entries refer to the milling of grains.
Partial name index bound in.
Document 108.
Account book. 1811–23.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
George Beatty was a watchmaker in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript documents Beatty’s work, cleaning, repairing, oiling, and selling timepieces. Entries record the names of customers, work performed or objects sold, and amounts paid or owed.
Document 711.
Exercise book. 1829.
1 vol.: ill.; 33 cm.
John D. Beaver was a resident of Millerstown, Pennsylvania.
Book consists of mathematical and writing exercises, including prayers, poems, sayings, and sample pages from an account book. The front and back covers have illustrations of birds identified by German captions. Drawings of flowers appear throughout the volume.
Document 886.
Account and day book. 1823–61, bulk 1826–40.
125 p.; 33 cm.
Charles Frederick Beckel cleaned and repaired watches; sold silver spoons, musical instruments, and everpointed pencils; and mended chairs and umbrellas in Doylestown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Manuscripts record Beckel’s activities in Doylestown from 1823 to 1824 and in Bethlehem from 1826 to 1861. Pages toward the end of the volume record expenses for building and expanding a foundry. The Doylestown portion includes an account with the town band.
Some of the foundry accounts and a few other pages in German.
Document 123.
Records. 1774–92.
3 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
John Becker operated a general store in Lititz, Pennsylvania, which seems to have been connected to the Moravian Church.
Records include a ledger from the 1780s and two other volumes with store inventories. A wide variety of goods is documented along with tools used by craftsmen, including masons’ trowels and shoemakers’ knives. Accounts for building the store and a new hall are also featured.
Name index available on microfilm.
Folio 209; Microfilm M2830.
Convertible furniture trade cards. Ca. 1875–95.
16 items: ill. (some col.)
Cards depict convertible furniture (or items that could be turned into beds). Such pieces as the “Celebrated Windsor Folding Bed,” “Albee’s National Upright Parlor Bed,” and “Boyington’s Automatic Folding Bed” are shown.
Finding aid available.
Collection 109.
Japanesque trade cards. Ca. 1875–95.
160 items: ill. (some col.)
Collection consists of cards inspired by Japanese design. Works of major and minor American lithographers are represented. A few cards are Japanese woodcuts that were overprinted in the United States. There is a full range of products advertised, including clothing, tea, dyes, and carpets.
Finding aid available.
Collection 108.
Bills. 1851–64.
20 items.
Z. Beckwith lived in Middlebury, Vermont. He may have owned a dry-goods or general store.
Bills document Beckwith’s purchase of such fabrics as wool, silk, satin, and taffeta. Other products mentioned include gloves, parasols, ribbons, scarves, collars, knives and forks, etc. Many of the firms he did business with were based in either New York City or Boston.
Collection 479.
Account books. 1785–1847.
6 vols.; 41 cm. or smaller.
James Eaton Beech was a druggist in Fairfield County, Connecticut. In 1810 he formed a partnership with Sherman and Isaac Sterling called Sterling & Beech.
Consists of four daybooks and two ledgers that record financial transactions of Beech’s drugstore as well as some accounts relating to the operation of his household. Scattered throughout the volumes are recipes for paints, dyes, etc.
Collection 299.
Papers. 1927–49.
5 boxes: ill.
Carl Greenleaf Beede wrote about topics in the decorative arts, especially furniture, for the Christian Science Monitor during the 1920s and 1930s. He resided in West Hartford, Connecticut, and then in Boston.
Collection contains many of Beede’s research notes, correspondence, bibliographic work, photographs, and typed research manuscripts relating to his publications in the Christian Science Monitor. An outline and notes for a book on American furniture are also included. The book, which was never published, was to contain a chapter on the history of American furniture collecting, collectors, and collections. Beede gathered some of his information by writing to museums and inquiring about their collection development policies.
Collection 458.
Records. 1832–35, 1865.
4 vols.: ill.; 19 cm. or smaller.
Nathan Beidler made furniture in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Collection includes two sketchbooks of drawings of many kinds of furniture done from 1832 to 1833; an account book with painting instructions and work records dating from 1833 to 1835; and a deed for land in Bedminster Township, Bucks County, from 1865.
Document 298.
Papers. 1861–1960.
13.5 cu. ft.: ill.; 1 microfilm reel.
Waldron Phoenix Belknap Jr. graduated from St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, and Harvard. He became an investment banker in New York City. But an abiding interest in architecture inspired him to return to Harvard for a graduate degree in architecture, whereupon he opened his own practice in Boston. He also conducted genealogical research, studied American portrait painting, and established the thesis that English mezzotints served as prototypes for American paintings. Belknap belonged to a number of professional associations and hereditary societies.
Collection includes genealogical research about Belknap’s ancestors, photographs of European cities, and Belknap’s notes on the history of American painting. About half of the collection was actually generated by Belknap’s mother, Rey Hutchings Belknap, who continued her son’s research after his death and worked to establish a memorial in his name.
Microfilm reel contains typescripts of wills, estate inventories, and other documents relating to the many families that Belknap researched.
Finding aid available.
Collection 130; Microfilm M2453.
Diary. 1849–50.
71 p.; 13 cm.
John G. Bell was a taxidermist in New York City. In 1843 he accompanied John James Audubon on his Missouri River expedition. A bird species, Bell’s Vireo, is named after him.
Diary records a trip that Bell took from New York to Panama and then to California to search for different specimens of birds. He wrote of his experiences in Panama, his travels by boat, and the Gold Rush.
Document 592.
Account books and miscellaneous papers. 1783–1816.
1 microfilm reel.
William Bell was a merchant and trader from New York City and an owner of lands in Jefferson and Franklin counties, New York.
Includes account books of various ships on which Bell served as supercargo to China, India, and the Isle de France. Papers include shipping documents, such as reports on trade, bills of lading, and invoices as well as accounts of New York merchants and their Chinese counterparts.
Original materials at the New-York Public Library.
Microfilm M107.
Pattern book. 1794–1835.
63 p.: ill.; 18 cm.
Gottfried Ferdinand Belser was born in Germany, and he emigrated to Boston during the early nineteenth century. Belser’s name first appears in United States census records in 1820. A Boston city directory lists a Godfrey F. Belser as a lace weaver in its 1816 edition.
Volume contains thirty-five pages of patterns for weaving what appear to be bed coverlets. It also contains twenty-five pages of German text dating from 1794 to 1805 in which Belser describes his apprenticeship, masters, places of work, and methods of weaving. Other pages contain directions for dyeing cloth, formulas for removing stains from cloth, etc.
Document 483.
Papers. Ca. 1856–1904.
1 box: ill.
John Henry Belter was born in Germany and apprenticed in furnituremaking in Ulm. In the early 1840s, he emigrated to New York, where he operated a furnituremaking business. Belter is known for developing the laminated, carved rococo revival style of furniture that bears his name. He patented a construction technique for pressed-work furniture. Belter’s relatives maintained his business for many years after his death.
Collection contains photographs and photocopies of manuscripts in private hands and owned by public institutions as well as Belter’s original estate inventory. Included is correspondence relating to Belter’s patent, a chair design, specifications for the construction of Belter’s factory at Third Avenue and Seventy-sixth Street in New York City, and material on Belter’s business and estate.
Collection 307.
Ledger. 1821–28.
1 microfilm reel.
Miles Benjamin was a furnituremaker and furniture repairer from Cooperstown, New York.
Ledger records Benjamin’s activities working on such items as bureaus, tables, bedsteads, and cabinetwork. Domestic matters are also covered within the manuscript.
Name index available.
Original manuscript located at the New York State Historical Association.
Microfilm M665.
Daybook. 1829–30.
12 leaves; 36 cm.
Edward Bennet was a shoemaker from Tiverton, Rhode Island. He and his wife, Abigail, had several children.
Manuscript chronicles Bennet’s business activities: making and repairing boots and shoes, selling leather and calf hide, repairing harnesses, etc. In addition some personal expenses appear. There are references to Bennet’s purchases of large quantities of tobacco, which he apparently resold as snuff. The last leaf of the manuscript relates to the settlement of his estate.
Document 1069.
Music book. Ca. 1817.
26 leaves; 11 cm.
Orpha Orinda Bennet may have been a member of a choir and probably lived in New England.
Manuscript contains the alto part to about fifty psalm tunes. Each is titled, and the meter of the text is indicated. Bound in are two leaves of a published work, Of Tuning and Forming the Voice.
Document 169.
Account and inventory book. 1836–44.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Benjamin Bennett worked as a tailor in New York City.
Volume contains annual inventories for merchandise and supplies on hand and a record of customers’ sizes and clothing made for them. Bennett did work for both men and boys.
Document 383.
Daybook. 1784–1821.
1 microfilm reel.
Ezekiel Bennett was a carpenter and furnituremaker from Weston, Connecticut, and West Laurens, New York.
Manuscript deals with Bennett’s woodworking projects. He records working on bobsleds, seats, coffins, cupboards, and sashes. His activities in farming, weaving, and recording his family’s genealogy are also included. The volume also includes a record of land Bennett purchased from Ebenezer Hill in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Name index available.
Original daybook located at the New York Historical Association.
Document 383.
Account book. 1807–48, bulk 1807–20.
90 p.; 40 cm.
Stuttson Benson lived in Pompey, New York, earning his income from agricultural pursuits and weaving cloth.
Manuscript contains Benson’s accounts and records relating to his estate and its settlement during the 1820s. In addition there are miscellaneous accounts in another hand relating to activities in Fabius, New York, a town some six miles from Pompey.
Folio 53.
Receipt and rent books. 1822–77.
2 microfilm reels.
David Bentley worked as a coppersmith in Philadelphia.
The receipt book, kept from 1822 to 1857, mentions such items as clothing, food, copper, iron, textiles, etc. The rent book, kept from 1857 to 1877, pertains to Bentley’s estate.
Original manuscripts located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2817–M2818.
Account book. 1812–27.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
William Bentley was a furnituremaker from Westford, New York, who worked from about 1812 to 1844.
In addition to making and repairing many types of furniture, Bentley made coffins, fixed wagons and sleds, did some sawing, and drew bricks. He recorded recipes for staining wood and referred to his tools, hardware, and farm produce.
Document 724; Microfilm M665.
Papers. 1831–52.
62 items: ill.
John Henry Berdan operated a general store in New York City and lived in Bergen County, New Jersey. David J. Berdan, probably John’s brother, attended Rutgers College in the 1840s and later settled in Paterson, New Jersey.
Includes the daybook maintained by John Henry Berdan to record the activities of his store from January to February 1831; a draft of his will from 1832; notebooks, lists of expenses, and miscellaneous writings kept by David J. Berdan while at Rutgers from 1844 to 1847; and family letters. Some of the manuscripts have colorful decorative headings reminiscent of Pennsylvania German Fraktur.
Finding aid available.
Collection 237.
Account books. 1765–94.
4 vols.; 40 cm.
William Bird built the Berkshire Furnace along a branch of Spring Creek in Lower Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania. It was part of his estate in 1762. From 1764 to 1790, Bird’s widow owned it, and George Ege managed the operation. In 1790 Ege purchased the furnace.
These four manuscript volumes record financial transactions relating to the Berkshire Furnace. Items mentioned include plate stoves, Franklin stoves, kettles, pots, skillets, sash weights, etc. Volumes also provide information about furnace employees, including information about their accounts with the company store.
Name index in one of the volumes.
Collection 329.
Notebooks. 1813–57.
5 vols.: ill.; 33 cm. or smaller.
John M. Besson was a dry-goods merchant in Philadelphia and a member of the Resolution Hose Company of firefighters.
Collection consists of five of at least nine volumes of clippings, drawings, and excerpts assembled by Besson. Topics mentioned are far ranging and include historical anecdotes, references to Philadelphia’s mayors from 1701 to 1820, recipes for medical cures, information about the census, and designs for fire-hose wagons.
Some of the text is in French.
Collection 27.
Box. 1952.
1 item; 3 x 2 x 11 cm.
This box, fashioned by Carl Beuttner, a goldsmith from Winterthur, Switzerland, at one time contained jewelry.
Document 196.
Account book. 1846–63.
150 p.; 39 cm.
J. M. Bicksler was a shoemaker, probably from southeastern Pennsylvania.
Book documents Bicksler’s making and repairing of shoes.
Includes index.
Folio 203.
Business and personal papers. 1929–43.
2 microfilm reels.
George Biddle was an author and widely exhibited artist.
Collection includes personal and business correspondence with other artists, a listing of Biddle’s own works, and correspondence dealing with government art projects and murals.
Contents list on first reel of microfilm.
Original materials located at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Microfilm M742–M743.
Letters. 1828–90.
2 microfilm reels.
The Bidermann family was from Winterthur, Switzerland. Jacques Antoine Bidermann came to the United States in 1813 to audit the books of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company in which his father had invested considerable money. He joined the firm in 1815. In 1816 he married Evelina du Pont. Their only child, James Irénée, was born the next year. Jacques Antoine inherited his father’s stock in the Du Pont Company, and he later purchased more shares. During the mid 1830s, he assumed temporary leadership of the company. James Antoine and Evelina settled in Delaware on an estate they named “Winterthur.” James Irénée lived in France and worked as a civil engineer; he had married Gabrielle Camille Bègue.
Letters are from various family members. There are letters to James Irénée and his wife that provide information about crops, the weather, family matters, and events in Delaware. Also included is a letter book belonging to James Antoine Bidermann.
Microfilm M30–M31.
Collection. 1855–1927.
172 items.
Albert Bierstadt was a landscape and animal painter. A native of Germany, he came to America with his parents as an infant and grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. When he was twenty-three, he returned to Europe to study painting. In the United States, Bierstadt maintained a studio at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, and after 1882 he lived permanently in New York City.
Collection includes letters from Bierstadt’s sister Eliza, watercolors, photographs, and a pencil sketch. The letters mention the buying and selling of Bierstadt’s paintings, social matters, real-estate ventures, descriptions of trips, and exhibitions. The artwork features watercolors of butterflies and a sketch of a mill.
Finding aid available.
Collection 276.
Cookbook. Ca. 1850–70.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
In her cookbook Laura H. Bigelow, a resident of Waterville, New York, wrote recipes for cakes, cookies, tarts, puddings, pies, and jellies. Many references indicate the name of the recipe’s creator. Also included are instructions for making yellow, green, and blue dyes.
Document 889.
Liederbuch von Christian Friedrich Bikle aus Stuttgard. 1826–49.
77 leaves; 17 cm.
C. F. Bikle was a cabinetmaker from Stuttgart, Germany, who may also have composed music.
The first twenty-nine leaves of the manuscript contain lyrics for songs and the remaining leaves record Bikle’s professional activities. He included a record of furniture he made, apprentices he trained, a receipt for ornamenting chairs, and a recipe for copal varnish.
Lyrics appear in German script. Furniture records are in German, English, and phonetic English.
Document 33.
9 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains handwritten bills for a variety of household products and personal goods. Most of the bills are from New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Of the 200 or so bills in the collection, 60 percent are from the nineteenth century while 40 percent are from the eighteenth century.
Finding aid available, listing the item or items purchased, the buyer and seller, location, and date.
Collection 145.
4 boxes.
Collection consists of hundreds of bills, many representing businesses based in New York City. Most of the firms performed renovation work on houses and apartments. Work included carpentry, paper hanging, painting, roofing, wiring and lighting installation, decorating, and plumbing.
Collection 341.
Drawings and papers. 1810–40.
2 microfilm reels.
Thomas Birch was a marine, landscape, portrait, and miniature painter. A native of England, he came to the United States in 1794 with his father, another artist who was his eventual partner in business. Birch exhibited widely and is perhaps best known for his marine scenes and paintings of War of 1812 naval battles.
Collection includes drawings by Birch, engravings of his work, and business papers.
Original materials located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M189–M190.
Account book. 1760–61.
19 leaves; 11 x 34 cm.
William Bird was a rum merchant.
Account book documents Bird’s rum selling and features names of his customers, quantities of rum sold, prices, and dates of purchases.
Cover title: Rum Book B.
Document 982.
Account book. 1828–32, 1852–53.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Abel S. Bissell operated a general store in Hebron, Connecticut. He may have served as his town’s registrar of births, deaths, and marriages in the 1850s.
Manuscript records items that Bissell purchased at wholesale prices for later retail sale. His entries include the seller’s name, address, and the date of the purchase. He bought locally as well as in New York City. In 1852 and 1853, Bissell or someone else used the volume to record Hebron’s vital statistics.
Document 441.
Collection. 1695–1945, bulk 1900–1945.
1 box.
Emily Perkins Bissell, a social welfare worker, generous benefactor of various charities, and antisuffragist, is best remembered for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States in 1907 to raise funds for a tuberculosis sanatorium in Delaware.
Collection contains personal and family memorabilia, including a set of Christmas Seals dating from 1907 to 1934, colonial deeds for Delaware lands, and a copy of a story written for The Youth’s Companion by Bissell under her pen name, Priscilla Leonard. Collection was originally in a wallpaper-lined box, perhaps of Chinese origin, that has been dated to the 1830s.
Collection 29.
Account book. 1839–49.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Daniel Bixby was a furniture- and chairmaker in Francestown, New Hampshire. As a young man he built a sawmill on Brennan Brook and later constructed a device for cutting and putting heads on nails. In 1821 he operated the Bixby Box Shop, first used for cabinetwork and later for making fancy boxes. When he died in 1870, Bixby’s son continued to run the manufactory.
Manuscript entries include the date, furniture form or repair work requested, and the price. Customer names are not given. Toward the end of the volume is a list of store expenses featuring costs of supplies. There is also an inventory of goods on hand on January 1, 1847.
Document 747; Microfilm M711.
Journal. 1845 or 1851 or 1862.
121 p.; 13 cm.
When Sarah Bixby kept this volume, she was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse near Mayville, New York.
Entries record Bixby’s activities from April 28 to September 24 in an unspecified year, though a perpetual calendar indicates that it would have been either 1845, 1851, or 1862. Bixby wrote about teaching, her young scholars, social activities, churchgoing, and fancywork.
Document 569.
Bills and receipts. 1823–78.
15 items.
Evidence suggests that Samuel and William Black were tobacco merchants working in various parts of Fairfield County, Ohio.
Collection documents purchases made by the Blacks. Things they bought include tobacco, magazine subscriptions, real estate, food and beverages, hardware, and dry goods.
Collection 494.
Business papers. 1779–1817.
14 items.
Robert Blackwell was the minister of St. Peter’s Church and Christ Church, both located in Philadelphia. He had been ordained by the Bishop of London and had earlier served as a missionary in Gloucester County, New Jersey. During the Revolutionary War, Blackwell served as a chaplain for the military, and he worked as a surgeon at Valley Forge.
Collection includes Blackwell family personal and business papers, including receipts, a will, promissory notes, descriptions of real estate properties, and a notebook detailing investments.
Finding aid and name index available.
Other Blackwell family papers located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 385.
Sketchbook. 1885–86.
34 p.: ill. (some col.); 13 x 20 cm.
Nothing is known about Anna Blair beyond what her sketchbook reveals. Most of her drawings depict landscapes or views of historic buildings. Two drawings, both dated 1885, portray Egg Harbor and Beach Harbor, New Jersey. The remaining sketches document a trip Anna apparently took in 1886 to the Middle East and Europe, where she visited the Holy Land, Cyprus, a small island near Crete, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. Artwork is in pencil or watercolor.
Document 1026.
Workbook. Ca. 1880–1900.
47 p.: ill.; 22 cm.
Gertie Blair was learning to sew when she kept this volume. The number “18” is written near her name and may indicate her age.
Includes seventeen sets of directions for specific sewing projects, including hemming, making folds at corners, preparing seams, making button holes, darning stockings, etc. Blair wrote her directions on the left page and included a finished product on the right.
Document 548.
Grande revue passée par S. M. l’Empereur Napoleon III.
31 p.: col. ill.; 23 cm.
Consists of a hand-colored lithographic panorama depicting what appears to be a parade of French soldiers during the government of Napoleon III. A full range of soldiers is present: infantry, cavalry, lancers, military engineers, music regiment, officers, etc. Captioned in French.
Document 351.
Letter book. 1828–29.
130 leaves; 33 cm.
Joshua A. Blake lived at Winthrop Place, Boston, and was a merchant working out of 19 Central Wharf.
Contains copies of Blake’s business correspondence on his shipping and importing activities. Most of his ventures seem to have been in the Mediterranean, Italy, and Greece in particular. The letters include orders to captains, inquiries concerning insurance, directions for cargo shipment, and instructions regarding financial arrangements and quarantines.
Document 111.
Account book. 1786–1800.
470 p.; 39 cm.
Philip Blake was a blacksmith in Wrentham, Massachusetts.
Such activities as mending chaise bodies; shoeing horses and oxen; fixing wheels, plates, teapots, and chains; rimming kettles and buckets; and crafting horse collars, hooks, hoes, nails, and andirons are all recorded in this manuscript.
Folio 180.
Account books. 1789–1822.
2 vols.; 40 cm.
Ziba or Zeba Blakslee was a silversmith, goldsmith, and jeweler in Newtown, Connecticut.
One volume is a ledger kept from 1789 to 1822, and the other volume is a daybook used between 1790 and 1794. The manuscripts describe the full range of activities of a rural silversmith and jeweler, including crafting and mending items, silvering coffins, and working on harness buckles.
Name index available.
Folio 157.
Cookbook. Ca. 1870–90.
48 p.; 34 cm.
Elnora Blanchard, a resident of Cincinnati, included both handwritten recipes and clippings of recipes in this book. Most were for confections and sweets. She also included clippings about historical figures and poems.
Document 662.
The self-taught penman; or, everyman his own writing master, improved by M. S. Blocher, author, proprietor, and publisher. 1834.
23 leaves: ill.; 26 cm.
This penmanship workbook, once owned by Robert May, a resident of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, contains instructions in typeface as well as manuscript examples of handwriting. Examples to be copied include strokes, letters, words, sentences, brief letters, and financial documents.
Document 1075.
Album souvenir. 1875–87.
35 leaves: ill.; 22 cm.
Volume, published in New York City, by John Ghegan, contains twenty-eight inscriptions of friendship, some done calligraphically, and seven lithographs. Most inscriptions are from Clarksburg, West Virginia, although New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta also appear.
Document 35.
Account book. 1787–1807.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Blodget & Gilman were Boston merchants who apparently specialized in textiles.
Entries state the customer’s name and note item or items purchased and the cost. In addition to various textiles, a wide range of domestic products is represented. Blodget & Gilman did much business with merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, London, and other cities. After page 148, the style of the entries changes. Transactions with spinners, weavers, tailors, painters, and blacksmiths are recorded.
Document 556.
Copybooks. Ca. 1850.
4 vols. 21 cm.
Edmund N. Blood was a student in Pepperell, Massachusetts, when these volumes were kept.
Copybooks contain writing exercises by Blood when he was a student. All four have covers with engraved illustrations, advertisements, or multiplication tables on them.
Document 810.
Papers. 1751–1963.
Approx. 300 items.
Bernard M. Bloomfield lived in Philadelphia.
Papers consist of legal documents, marriage and birth certificates, bills, and letters from Philadelphia, England, and France. Many refer to Philadelphia merchant Joseph Donath; correspondence and research materials collected by Maurice Brix on American silversmithing; and clippings, photographs, and research notes on American silver objects.
Finding aid available.
Collection 293.
Account book. 1811–18.
1 microfilm reel.
Elisha Blossom Jr. was a merchant and furnituremaker in New York City and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Account book contains debit and credit accounts for Blossom’s business as well as references to his personal affairs. In addition to making and repairing furniture, he sold hardware.
Original manuscript at the New-York Historical Society.
Microfilm M2050.2.
Records. 1833–71.
1 microfilm reel.
Sherman Boardman, Thomas Danforth Boardman, and Lucius Hart were pewterers working in New York City.
Records include letters and accounts kept by the Boardmans and Lucius Hart’s account book.
Original manuscripts located at the Connecticut State Library.
Microfilm M740.
Daybook. 1815–40.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Andrew Bock ran a general store in McKeansburg, Pennsylvania.
In addition to twenty-five years of business records, this manuscript contains a list of items in his general store under the heading “Account of sales of goods at auction, Andrew Bock and Jonathan Yost, assignees.”
Much of the manuscript is in German, suggesting a connection to the Pennsylvania German community.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 649.
Notebook. 1812, 1828–34.
67 p.; 21 cm.
William Keys Bond resided in Litchfield, Connecticut, and was associated with the Litchfield Law School.
Notebook contains a list of students at Litchfield Law School from March 17, 1811, to June 6, 1812, the text of “Of admitting parole-evidence to explain devises, synopses of the subject prepared by Judge Reeve for his students,” and sermons copied into the book by Lucy Bond.
Document 676.
129 items: ill.
Illustrations in this collection were torn from various novels published from 1779 to 1799, including Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Don Quixote, and Arabian Nights. Most illustrations were issued by Harrison & Co., a London firm. The illustrations show late eighteenth-century English costume and room interiors.
Collection 461.
1 box.
Includes many American and some English bookplates. Mottoes printed on the plates are generally written in Latin, though a few are in English. Engravers and artists represented include Nathaniel Hurd, Henry Dawkins, Peter Rushton Maverick, Joseph Callender, Amos Doolittle, Paul Revere, etc.
List of owners, artists, styles, and approximate dates available.
Collection 51.
Entry 260. Bookplates identify the owners of books and frequently feature vignettes. Francis Hopkinson’s bookplate shows a design inspired by heraldry, having been engraved by H. Dawkins, ca. 1770.
Cookbook. Ca. 1873.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Contains recipes for a variety of foods and for medical and household mixtures. Recipes are written in a printed blank book called The Manuscript Receipt Book and Household Treasury, third edition, published by Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger in Philadelphia in 1870. Volume includes running chapter heads and engraved headpieces for each chapter.
Document 191.
Receipt book. 1787–94.
1 microfilm reel.
This Boston manufactory engaged in the production of glassware.
Contains receipts relating to glass production generated during the first years of the company’s existence.
Original manuscript located at the Boston Athenaeum.
Microfilm M297.
Cyphering book. Ca. 1800.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
In this volume Jacob Boughman, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, recorded exercises in geometry, trigonometry, and navigation. The section on navigation features an illustration of a mariner’s compass; a diagram showing geographic terms, circles, and zones; and a section on Mercator’s sailing.
Document 690.
Photographs and drawings of furniture. Ca. 1869–1900.
230 items: ill.
Consists of photographs, books of photos, illustrated cards, trade cards, advertisements, and drawings depicting many kinds of furniture made during the later decades of the nineteenth century. Prices and ordering information are often present. Most firms represented were from the Midwest. The drawings both complement and duplicate the photos and feature furniture decoration.
Name index available.
Printed material transferred to the Printed Books and Periodicals Collection.
Collection 250.
Account book. 1775–79.
12 p.; 19 cm.
Nathan Bowen was a furnituremaker from Marblehead, Massachusetts. His father was Edward Bowen.
Entries record Bowen’s business and personal expenses. He made such items as cases of drawers, coffins, bookcases, and candle stands. Bowen also crafted desks and cases of drawers with “swelled” fronts.
Document 1079.
Daybooks. 1828–54.
8 vols.; 40 cm.
George Bowman was a blacksmith working in Fairfield, Caldwell, and other locales in Essex County, New Jersey.
Volumes include records of such work as making and repairing chains, wagon parts, hinges, barrel hoops, horseshoes, coffee mills, and plows.
Another daybook kept by George Bowman from 1854 to 1879 is located in the Special Collections Department of Rutgers University Library.
Collection 80.
Diary. 1860–62.
188 p.; 22 cm.
John G. Bowen lived in Bangor, Maine, sold insurance, served as postmaster, and worked in a theater. He was probably in his sixties or seventies when he wrote this diary.
Manuscript reflects Bowen’s domestic and social life, recording some purchases for and work on his home, church activities, holiday celebrations, attendance at special local events, and political occurrences from Lincoln’s election to the beginnings of the Civil War. Bowen writes little about his wife and takes credit for performing many domestic tasks customarily regarded as women’s work.
Document 427.
Views about Philadelphia. 1840.
20 p.: col. ill.; 30 cm.
John T. Bowen was an artist and lithographer. He relocated to New York City from London in 1834. He then moved to Philadelphia in 1839. Bowen’s wife, Lavinia, was a colorist, and she carried on his business after his death.
Volume includes twenty hand-colored lithographs showing scenes in Philadelphia and the vicinity, including such sites as the Merchants Exchange, Fairmount, Moyamensing Prison, the Alms House, Laurel Hill Cemetery, etc.
Document 611.
Manuscript work book. Ca. 1835–38.
70 leaves: ill.; 33 cm.
Richard Holme Bowman was a furnituremaker, probably from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Manuscript consists primarily of pencil, ink, and wash drawings of furniture parts and ornamental engravings, featuring floral decorations, finials, a mechanism for opening the leaves of a table, details of an escutcheon, etc. Pin holes in some drawings suggest that they were copied. Also included are a set of notes on the construction of a table and a two-page account of a period during which Bowman worked for a Joseph Dales in 1837 and 1838.
Document 183.
Ledger. 1746–47.
54 p.; 37 cm.
John Box and Benjamin Austin were the proprietors of a rope yard and warehouse on Long Wharf, Boston. Following a devastating fire that destroyed the concern, Jonathan and Benjamin Austin Jr. took over the business. Listings for the firm in Boston city directories disappear after 1803.
Ledger records business activities relating to a thriving colonial maritime trade. In addition to entries for such products as cordage, cable, spun yarn, and deep sea lines, there are others that reveal that Box & Austin held financial interests in shipping ventures. Seemingly complete cargoes of several ships are listed.
See also entry number 28.
Folio 79.
Records. 1811–47.
1 microfilm reel.
Thomas Boynton was a furnituremaker and ornamental painter in Boston in 1811 and then in Windsor, Vermont, from 1811 to 1847.
Included in these records are ledgers, a daybook, an invoice book, and a purchase and sales book. Entries are for japanning, varnishing, making, repairing, and painting various pieces of furniture.
Original manuscripts in Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College.
Microfilm M2647.
Diary. 1881–83.
190 p.; 27 cm.
Gotham Bradbury was born in Chesterville, Maine, and later resided in nearby Farmington. He worked as a farmer for most of his life, though in 1811 he worked as a shipbuilder in Bath, Maine. People called him Captain Bradbury, presumably because of his military service.
Diary entries document the active life of a nonagenarian. Bradbury mended fences, made wooden spoons for cooking, split wood for his heating stove, gardened, and made household repairs. He was an inveterate reader and enjoyed writing letters. Bradbury offered comments about changes he witnessed in society, politics, and medicine and described his first experience with the telephone.
Document 481.
Bills. 1827–44.
90 items.
Rufus B. Bradford lived in Kingston, Massachusetts, and was probably a general merchant.
Bills in the collection are for such items as pots and pans, hat boxes, trunks and trunk locks, and rocking chairs. Most notable, however, are the numerous dry goods mentioned, including gingham, cambric, damask, muslin, flannel, and satin, among others.
Collection 519.
Account book. 1857–64.
38 p.; 16 cm.
A.W. Bradley was a coachbuilder, probably from Middletown, Connecticut.
Volume includes information about the coaches that Bradley built, the prices he charged, and personal financial transactions. Bradley sometimes worked with E. Ward and T. Batterson.
Document 274.
Account book. 1802–15.
135 p.; 37 cm.
Amos Bradley was an East Haven, Connecticut, furnituremaker. He served as a selectman and was a state representative. One of his sons, Elijah, worked as a furnituremaker in Georgia.
Consists of a great number of accounts for the making of chests, looking glass frames, coffins, desks, tables, chairs, side boards, bedsteads, bureaus, etc. Specific information includes the wood used for each individual piece; for example, “one Mahogany pembroak table.” Bradley also repaired and painted furniture.
Index to customers named available.
Folio 2.
The practise of painting. Ca. 1794–1830.
112 p.; 26 cm.
John Bradwell was probably a painter from England. The dedication of the volume indicates that the Earl of Rochford was his patron.
Manuscript contains descriptions of painting techniques with special emphasis on color. Topics include first painting or dead coloring, second painting, third or last painting, painting backgrounds, copying, painting drapery, and painting landscapes.
Document 705.
Journal. 1739–48.
157 p.; 44 cm.
Joseph Brandon and Benjamin Dolbeare were dry-goods merchants from Boston.
Manuscript records a decade of dry goods retailing, including sales of looking glasses, lace, ribbon, necklaces, and shears. The partners imported goods from other countries, including furniture from John Stallwood, a London cabinetmaker.
Partial name index available.
Folio 146.
Account book and inventory. 1831–35.
14 leaves; 34 cm.
With a shop at 240 Hudson Street, Benjamin William Branson worked as a chair- and furnituremaker and repairer in New York City.
Account book records Branson’s furnituremaking activities, and the inventory, dated August 29, 1835, indicates what he was working on that day, as well as lists of tools in the shop, hardware on hand, gilding supplies, varnishes, etc. Because of the large number of supplies on hand (66 sets of table legs and 284 chair seats, for example), Branson may have produced furniture in an assembly-line fashion.
Name index available.
Document 1035.
Daybooks. 1794–95, 1803–8.
3 vols.; 40 cm.
Robert Breck and his son, Col. John B. Breck, kept these daybooks to record the activities of their general store in Northampton, Massachusetts. The building in which the Brecks conducted business was originally Northampton’s town hall and courthouse. John was the town’s first postmaster, serving from 1792 to 1797.
Volumes record the daily sales of the store, the entries containing names of customers, items they bought, and prices they paid. The Brecks sold much hardware, dry goods, and cutlery.
Name index for volume 3 available.
Folio 69.
Journal of a voyage from Newport to the East Indies in the Mount Hope. 1802–3.
147 p.; 32 cm.
John M. Breese was probably the captain of the Mount Hope.
Journal records the voyage that Breese made between Newport, Rhode Island, and the Isle of France, now Mauritius, transporting coffee, saltpeter, and flour. He noted information on the details of navigation, encounters with other vessels, repairs to his ship, and progress loading and unloading. Breese also recorded personal thoughts, quotes from authors, essays, poems, and anecdotes.
Document 689.
Papers. 1852–1900.
15 vols.
Zebas Franklin Brett, a resident of Brookline, Massachusetts, was a clothier who worked independently, in a family business, and with Whitten, Burdett & Young (a large Boston clothing wholesaler).
Collection includes thirteen diaries and two volumes containing about 170 letters and more than 650 receipts, bills, and other miscellaneous items. Diary entries are brief, typically including a note about the weather and a few sentences about Brett family activities. As Brett aged, he wrote more about his failing health and time with his family. The letters are of a personal nature; a few describe business concerns.
Collection 280.
Commonplace book. 1830–35.
61 leaves; 23 cm.
When she started keeping this volume, Sarah E. Bridgman lived at 105 Hudson Street, New York City. Entries in the book suggest that she also may have lived in or around Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, or knew people who did.
Volume contains copies of poetry and prose on a variety of topics, including writings of Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Pressed flowers were inserted toward the end.
Document 10.
Account book. 1823–32.
193 p.; 20 cm.
Josiah Briggs was a turner, furnituremaker, and handyman from the vicinity of Colrain, Massachusetts.
Briggs did such work as shingling, laying floors, mending barrels, making spit boxes, setting glass, hanging gates, turning bed posts and table legs for Colrain furnituremakers, etc. He often received lumber and other products for his labors.
Name index available.
Document 721.
Pattern book. Ca. 1870s.
1 vol.: ill.; 34 cm.
Based in Manchester, England, Briggs & Company claimed to be the inventor of decorative patterns that could be transferred from paper to fabric using a warm iron.
Volume contains patent transfer papers with designs for embroidery, mantel borders, doilies, a village scene designed by Kate Greenaway, etc. Numbers assigned to the papers correspond to numbers in the firm’s trade catalogues, two of which are in the Printed Books and Periodicals Collection.
Folio 109.
Album of engravings.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 23 x 29 cm.
Volume has engravings of the Centennial Exhibition and views of United States cities. Views of the Centennial are all exteriors and were executed by L. Aubrun. Handwritten text at the beginning of the album records the Brinckle family’s visit to the exhibition.
Document 912.
Household accounts. 1818–33.
2 vols.; 40 cm.
Joseph Bringhurst lived in Wilmington, Delaware. He owned a drug store and served as a local postmaster.
In addition to listing household purchases made over a fifteen-year period, these volumes document maintenance and repair to the Bringhurst family house, including chimney repair and the mending of a garden fence.
Folio 261.
Bills and receipts. 1857–85.
10 items.
George P. Brinley Sr. and George P. Brinley Jr. both lived on Asylum Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It is unclear which one assembled this collection.
Bills and receipts document purchases and repairs made by Brinley. He bought such goods as books, a washstand, and candy and had repairs done to his boots, watch, clock, etc. An outstanding bill from a dentist is also included.
Collection 498.
Estate inventory and account book. 1885–86.
16 p.; 15 cm.
Orpha S. Brinsmade appears to have lived in Connecticut.
Consists of Brinsmade’s estate inventory taken on December 7, 1885, and a record of financial transactions relating to its settlement through August 1886.
Document 227.
Commonplace book. 1826–29.
90 leaves; 20 cm.
“Mary C. Brinton was mother of Clement Stocker Phillips—her youngest son—my father—P. P. P. May 12, 1960. She married Clement Stocker Phillips & their son, my father, was named after him. She must have been romantic.”
Contains copies of poetry and prose on a variety of themes.
Document 9.
Prints from the Cheylesmore collection.
5 microfilm reels.
This collection was assembled by William Meriton Eaton, second Baron of Cheylesmore (1843–1902). Educated at Eaton, he succeeded to peerage in 1891. Eaton bequeathed 10,000 prints to the British Museum.
Items in this collection include mezzotints by British and foreign engravers, portraits of English royalty up to and including Queen Victoria, and historical scenes.
Index to collection on first reel.
Microfilm M2442–M2446.
Lading book. 1790–1805.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
James Brobson, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, was a merchant.
Consists of printed bills of lading forms completed by Brobson for goods shipped to the West Indies from Wilmington. Names of ships and their captains are noted in each entry.
Document 484.
Ledger. 1837–41, 1846–65.
80 p.; 20 cm.
Zelotes A. Bronson was a woodworker and handyman from Scio, New York.
Manuscript records the kinds of objects Bronson worked on, including furniture, fiddles, brooms, spinning wheels, wheelbarrows, coffins, bobsleds, churns, etc. He also installed doors and window sashes and worked on a number of different conveyances.
Document 318.
Accounts of surveys. 1805–6.
92 p.: ill.; 21 x 14 cm.
Robert Brooke was a surveyor in Philadelphia who worked with William Strickland and Charles Souder.
Volume records Philadelphia-area surveying activities, including textual descriptions and sketches of plot layouts for most of the jobs.
Document 546.
Drawing book. 1861.
1 vol.: ill.; 18 cm.
Mollie J. Brooks lived in Highland Mills, New York.
Drawing book features six sketches. Three show castles, the fourth depicts a colonial house, the fifth shows an outdoor scene, and the sixth shows an African American woman.
Document 1017.
Teeken boek voor Pieter Hendrik Brouwer begonnen 12 February anno 1787. 1787–92.
48 leaves: ill.; 27 cm.
Contains pencil and crayon drawings of head studies, body parts, human figures, animals, flowers, and landscapes. Volume also includes directions in German for obtaining correct proportions when drawing the human head. Brouwer’s drawings bear a strong resemblance to those done by students at Nazareth Hall, Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Document 44.
Sketchbook and scrapbook. 1880–93.
160 p.: ill.; 45 cm.
A. Page Brown was an architect and furniture designer. He hailed from Ellisbury, New York; graduated from Cornell University; worked as a student draftsman for McKim, Mead & White; and studied in Europe from 1884 to 1885. Brown opened his first office in New York City in 1885 and later opened a second one in San Francisco. Brown developed a regional style of architecture based on California’s Franciscan missions and other Hispanic sources.
Volume includes 160 drawings, most in pencil with a few watercolors, and more than 150 halftone illustrations of furniture and rooms. Many of the halftones are from French sources. Items depicted include desks, benches, chairs, beds, pianos, chandeliers, etc. The bulk of the furniture shown was to be made from oak or mahogany. Some customers are identified.
Folio 67.
Papers. 1877–1907, bulk 1897–99.
1 box: ill. (some col.)
Edith Blake Brown was an artist, interior decorator, and art teacher. A native of Nova Scotia, she attended Acadia Seminary and in 1895 graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Brown taught clay modeling, headed the North Bennet Industrial School of Boston, and became director and designer of the S. E. G. Bowl Shops. Her illustrations appeared in popular magazines of the day.
This collection of approximately 230 items documents the part Brown took in decorating a New York City dwelling. The house, located at 11 East Sixty-first Street and built in 1876, had been purchased by Sir Almeric Hugh Paget and his wife, Pauline Whitney Paget, who engaged McKim, Mead & White to perform the renovation. The firm in turn employed Brown. Nearly one hundred items in these papers document Brown’s contacts with architects and contractors concerning the refurbishment. Other pieces in the collection relate to Brown’s additional artistic endeavors, including a sketchbook that she compiled with her sister, Ethel Isadora Brown.
Finding aid available.
Collection 218.
Papers. 1753–64.
9 items.
Francis Brown was a ship captain from New York City.
Papers consist of a small account book, kept from 1753 to 1758, and miscellaneous accounts that document food and other supplies that Brown purchased for his crews and the operation of the sailing vessels under his command.
Index of personal and ship names available.
Document 947.
Account book. 1845–47, 1876–83.
106 p.; 17 cm.
Hugh A. Brown was a Presbyterian missionary in China. An 1840 graduate of Brown University, he received a Doctorate of Divinity from Harvard College Seminary in 1889.
Book records Reverend Brown’s expenses in China from 1845 to 1847, with occasional references to those of his companions. His costs included payment for Chinese prints and books, furniture, food, printing and binding, and boat trips. Later pages show financial accounts maintained by Brown, his wife, and one of his children some thirty-five years after Brown’s return to the United States.
Document 744.
Letter books. 1864–67.
1 microfilm reel.
J. Willcox Brown was a resident of Richmond, Virginia.
The two manuscripts in this collection contain letters written by Brown to Miss Turner MacFarland and her letters to him. They concern courtship, travel, and daily activities.
Original letter books in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M2708.
Account book. 1772–75.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
John Brown was a captain of the schooner Hamden.
Contains accounts for supplies purchased for the Hamden, including hammers, deck nails, buckets, twine, yarn, brooms, and rum. There is also a list of names and amounts paid to each individual.
Document 799.
Account book. 1783–1862, bulk 1786–1849.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
John Brown was a farmer and handyman in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and then Tioga and Berkshire, New York.
Volume includes accounts that document how Brown made his living selling and carting wood, trimming apple trees, plowing, haying, lending his wagon, butchering, framing a barn, making shoes, mending a sleigh, selling various foods, etc. Other accounts record Anna Bond’s weaving activities during the 1780s and 1790s.
Includes partial name index.
Folio 12.
Account book. 1725–86.
1 microfilm reel.
Joseph Brown was a furnituremaker from Newberry, Massachusetts.
Accounts record Brown’s business transactions as a maker of furniture.
Original manuscript located at the Essex Institute.
Microfilm M1527.
Account book. 1707–56.
76 p.; 15 cm.
Samuel Brown was a weaver from Essex County, Massachusetts.
Volume records Brown’s weaving and dressing of flax. Activities of other area craftsmen are noted; they received credit from Brown for work they performed for him. There are frequent references to agricultural work and products.
Document 497.
Account book. 1793–1838.
110 p.; 40 cm.
Samuel Brown worked as a tailor and farmer in Rehoboth, Rhode Island.
Articles of clothing that Brown made included silk gowns, breeches, coats, jackets, and trousers. In addition to his tailoring and farming, Brown boarded several people, including the local school dame. The volume also contains several references to his possessions and chronicles the settlement of Brown’s estate. After Brown died, Peter H. Brown used the manuscript to record his farming activities.
Folio 101.
Store records. 1795–1805, bulk 1795–98.
2 vols.; 34 cm. or smaller.
William Brown ran a general store in East Nantmeal, Pennsylvania.
Records document Brown’s sale of alcohol as well as domestic products and personal goods, including textiles, boots, awls, spurs, scissors, almanacs, and cups and saucers.
Collection 73.
Account book. 1706–16.
1 microfilm reel.
Francis Browne was the captain of a ship that sailed most frequently out of New Haven, Connecticut.
Many kinds of home furnishings, supplies, and personal goods are included in Browne’s records: food, furniture, clothing, lighting equipment, metalware, etc. Credit given and monies paid are also recorded.
Original account book in the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Microfilm M916.
Account book. 1854–67.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
George A. Brownell worked with George H. Brownell as a carpenter in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Entries in the account book record the names of customers, the number of hours worked, the nature of the work, and the cost of needed materials. The Brownells performed such activities as building closets, installing windows, framing, laying floors, and making tables and cupboards.
Document 373.
Exercise books. 1840, 1844–46.
2 vols.; 36 cm.
William Brownlee and James Brownlee, undoubtedly a relative, lived in Hemmingford, Quebec.
These two volumes, created by the Brownlees, contain school exercises. Word problems, calculations of weights and measures, simple arithmetic, and handwriting exercises are recorded.
Document 452.
Papers. 1915–83.
237 feet: ill.
G. Edwin Brumbaugh was best known as a restoration architect. He was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania, the son of a one-time state governor, Martin Grove Brumbaugh. He received a B.S. in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1913 and worked as a draftsman for Mellor and Meigs and then for architect Charles Barton Keen. Upon establishing his own firm, Brumbaugh turned from construction to restoration. He took commissions for projects at such well-known Philadelphia-area sites as Valley Forge, Lafayette’s headquarters at Chadds Ford, Independence Hall, Ephrata Cloister, and Carpenter’s Hall. He also did considerable work on private residences. Among the recognitions Brumbaugh received was the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 1980.
Papers, organized into eleven series, consist of survey and working drawings, correspondence, photographs, notes for lectures, renderings and mounted sketches, and general office records.
Finding aid available.
Collection 34.
Drawings. 1887–93.
6 items: ill. (some col.)
F. G. S. Bryce was an architect and illustrator. He contributed to the Art Amateur and the Amateur Artist in the 1890s.
Four of the drawings are pen-and-ink room interiors that Bryce did for the Art Amateur; one of the items is entitled “Study of a Country House,” and the other drawing is a watercolor view of a seaside cottage.
Collection 150.
Ledger. 1794–1824.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
After serving an apprenticeship with Michael Krebs that he began at the age of fourteen, John Jacob Bucher worked as a hatter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He also served as a coroner, justice of the peace, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and a judge.
Volume records Bucher’s hat sales and mentions various kinds of headwear: wool, felt, castor, rowcum, etc. Some household accounts are also included.
Name index available.
Folio 134.
Account books. 1888–1904.
2 vols.; 36 cm. and smaller.
Julius Bucher was a masonry contractor in and around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Because most of his entries are in phonetic English or German, Bucher was probably either part of the local Pennsylvania German community or an immigrant from Germany.
Accounts record work done constructing, remodeling, and repairing countless residences, schoolhouses, businesses, factories, churches, etc. A meticulous recordkeeper, Bucher kept track of street addresses where he worked, specific types and amounts of work completed, materials used, and costs of labor and supplies. Reuben Morret engaged him for a considerable amount of work.
Document 154.
Excerpts from memoirs. 1791–1841.
1 microfilm reel.
Charles N. Buck was a merchant from Philadelphia.
These excerpts contain records of commercial life in Philadelphia and document the trading of cotton, linen, tobacco, sugar, rice, and other commodities between the United States and Germany. Excerpts also relate the political and commercial conditions of the period.
Finding aid available.
Original manuscript in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2579.
Daybook. 1853–61.
258 p.; 41 cm.
Bugbee & Tirrell made paper in Bonds Village, Massachusetts.
Records the making of paper for a variety of uses, ranging from home decoration to wrapping. One of the manuscript’s pages contains an inventory of stock, listing different types of paper available.
Folio 173.
Letters. 1959–80.
10 items.
Kathryn C. Buhler was a curator in the Department of Decorative Arts of Europe and America, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, who wrote extensively about American silver and silver marks.
Letters concern the study of American and English silver and include information on Hester Bateman, Henry Brown Guest, and Nathanael Greene.
Collection 178.
Account books. 1800–1817.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
Joseph Bulkeley worked as a shoemaker in Littleton, Massachusetts.
In addition to recording shoemaking activities, books mention a number of agricultural activities and products from a cider mill.
Name index at front of volume.
Name index in typescript form also available.
Document 948.
Account book. 1841–60.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
A. C. Bullard was a watchmaker in Pomfret, Vermont.
Volume records Bullard’s work cleaning, repairing, and mending watches. At the end of the manuscript are verses of poetry, perhaps written by Bullard’s children, and designs for embroidery.
Folio 100.
Notebook. 1898.
1 vol.; 11 cm.
Mary Hawthorne Bunker resided in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.
Contains helpful household recipes and instructions. Activities mentioned include caning chairs, preserving leather, caring for upholstery, gilding frames, etc. There are directions for making inks, shoe and boot polishes, leather cement, etc.
Document 963.
Illuminated music book. 1823.
11 leaves: ill. (some col.); 9 x 17 cm.
Isaac Bunsperger was a Mennonite student and probably a resident of Pennsylvania.
Manuscript contains music to sixty-nine hymns. The title page features an illumination depicting flowering plants with a decorative border. Several hymns indicate the psalm or text of origin.
Text in German.
Document 1062.
Account book. 1827–64, bulk 1827–39.
176 leaves; 41 cm.
Lovel Burch operated a textile finishing business in Schuyler, New York.
Manuscript contains accounts for Burch’s activities, including carding, oiling, dressing, and dyeing cloth. It also contains accounts for accommodating boarders, for pasturing animals, for examining teachers for Schuyler, and for foodstuffs.
Name index at front.
Folio 25.
Papers. Ca. 1860–1942.
7 vols.: ill.; 33 cm. or smaller.
Horace R. Burdick was a portrait painter, teacher, art conservator, and writer. He was born in East Killingly, Connecticut, and studied at the Lowell Institute and the school of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He exhibited his work at the Mechanics Institute and Fanueil Hall and did work for many public buildings in the Boston area. He is best known for portraits in crayon and oil.
Papers include a daybook, kept from 1869 to 1885; diaries covering a number of years between 1914 and 1934; an artist’s notebook containing painting instructions; two original sketches; and photographs of some of Burdick’s work. The diaries reveal much activity as a conservator of paintings.
Collection 157.
Drawing book. Ca. 1840.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 23 cm.
Elizabeth A. Burges was from England.
Volume includes pencil sketches, primarily of buildings and the surrounding landscapes. Featured are barns, cottages, pastures, bridges, castles, shops, and churches.
Document 900.
Diary. 1864–65.
2 vols.; 13 cm.
Frances Burgess lived in Cortland County, New York, and was studying to be a teacher when she began her diary.
Entries document Burgess’s daily routine of domestic work, church attendance, leisure pursuits, and educational activities. She regularly wrote about the Civil War and noted her correspondence and relationship with Albert F. Smith, a soldier who was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864.
Document 480.
Daybook. 1835–45.
55 leaves; 20 cm.
Record of expenses for the schooner Patriot incurred between 1835 and 1837, for the sloop Meteor incurred between 1839 and 1845, and for the brig Massachusetts incurred in 1845, as they were used for trade between New Bedford, Massachusetts, and New Orleans. Among the commodities traded were molasses, sweet potatoes, shingles, and corn. Expenses recorded include wharfage fees, customs fees, pilotage costs, and ship repairs.
Document 66.
Account book. 1826–32.
77 leaves; 32 cm.
Burns was a boot- and shoemaker, probably working in or near Bristol Township, Pennsylvania.
Contains brief accounts with people for whom Burns made or repaired footwear. He recorded many names of family members in addition to the heads of the households for whom he worked.
Document 116.
Drawings. Ca. 1863–76.
1 microfilm reel.
Charles Buschor was a carver whose name first appears in Philadelphia city directories in 1876.
Drawings include depictions of furniture, buildings, and landscapes. There are also newspaper clippings that relate to the Centennial Exhibition, held in Philadelphia in 1876.
Original manuscripts located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M249.
Cyphering book. 1795–1823, bulk 1795–98.
66 p.; 36 cm.
Samuel Bush probably resided in Wilmington, Delaware.
Book contains mathematical exercises, axioms, rules, and problems; notes for what was probably an exercise book in bookkeeping; scrapbook pages showing poetry and a New Year’s address; and the label of stationer J. Wilson, Wilmington, Delaware.
Document 153.
Account book. 1782–1837.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Nathaniel Bushnell was a farmer and storekeeper in Saybrook, Connecticut.
Manuscript records farm and store records kept by Nathaniel Bushnell from 1782 until his death in 1807 and then by his son Elisha until 1836. Also included are records of the settlement of Elisha’s estate in 1837.
Includes partial name index.
Document 762.
Receipt book. 1788–99.
1 vol.; 10 x 19 cm.
Anthony Butler was an agent for John Penn in Philadelphia.
Volume records amounts paid by Butler to various individuals—often on behalf of John Penn—for real estate transactions, legal expenses, printing, taxes, and the upkeep of dwellings.
Document 958.
Diary. 1880–1916, bulk 1880–81.
180 p.; 20 cm.
William C. Butler was an aspiring ornamental sign painter and resident of Philadelphia. Because he received only occasional work at his chosen profession, he worked at his father’s wheelwright shop and much later in furniture factories. His uncle was Thomas Meehan, a noted botanist, horticulturist, and author.
Diary includes Butler’s activities and personal expenses for 1880 and 1881 as he was trying to pursue a career as an ornamental painter. In addition he wrote about a stay in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the summer of 1881 and of his renowned uncle. Manuscript contains a biographical sketch of both of Butler’s parents.
Document 5.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1840–1900.
1 vol.: ill.
The Buzzard family owned a home in Standish, Maine.
Scrapbook includes scraps of wallpaper taken from the Buzzard’s home and some family memorabilia.
Folio 199.
Journal. 1786–99.
67 p.; 21 cm.
Isaac Byington was a farmer originally from Bristol, Connecticut. Because he was expelled from his home as a consequence of unacceptable behavior, he fled from the region and worked for a time in Columbia, South Carolina. He later relocated to Bedford Hills, Virginia.
Manuscript contains a variety of writings, including records of Byington’s personal financial transactions, recipes for varnish and color mixing, copies of letters written to Byington’s father, references to agricultural pursuits, etc. Of particular note are several lists, one of which is an inventory of Byington’s house furnishings.
Document 531.
Cookery book. 1759.
1 microfilm reel.
Elizabeth Byles was the daughter of Philadelphia pewterer Thomas Byles and later became the wife of Philadelphia silversmith William Ball.
Book contains directions for preparing various foods and medicines.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M2823.
Records. 1869–1998, bulk 1895–1930.
Approx. 3,500 items: ill.
Inspired by the teachings of John Ruskin, Ralph Radcliffe-Whitehead founded the Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony in Woodstock, New York, in 1901. The colony attracted a number of individuals interested in handcrafting such objects as furniture, rugs, fabric, metalwork, pottery, and paintings. Bolton Brown taught art, Zulma Steele and Edna Walker designed much of the furniture decoration, and Jesse Tarbox Beals photographed activities at Byrdcliffe. By 1909 the site had become a private estate on which Whitehead and his wife, Jane Byrd McCall, raised their two sons, Ralph and Peter. By the late 1920s, before Whitehead and his eldest son died, the Whiteheads talked about selling Byrdcliffe and moving full-time to California, where the family maintained a separate residence. Mrs. Whitehead lived at Byrdcliffe until her death in the 1950s, and Peter remained there until he died in the 1970s. After his passing, Byrdcliffe was owned by one of Mrs. Whitehead’s nephews.
Collection includes letters, records of what was produced at Byrdcliffe, photographs, study prints, drawings, depictions of decorative motifs, the colony’s guest register, arts and crafts periodicals, trade catalogues, books on handicraft, and the card catalogue of Byrdcliffe’s library. Though most of the photographs show Byrdcliffe and its main residence, White Pines, some depict Arcady, the Whitehead’s California residence.
Finding aid available.
Collection 209; Microfilm M3002, M3015.
Entry 335. Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, along with his wife, Jane Byrd McCall, established the Byrdcliffe Arts & Crafts Colony in Woodstock, New York, in 1901.
Records. 1841–1965, bulk 1900–1960.
11 boxes + 8 vols.: ill.
Cyrus Dodge, the founder of the company that bore his name, was born in 1814 in Manchester, Massachusetts. He went into the furniture business in Manchester in 1841 after having served his apprenticeship with John Perry Allen. Early in the history of the firm, Dodge specialized in making mahogany parlor chairs. The firm later concentrated on colonial revival pieces. The business remained in family hands into the 1960s.
Includes photographs and drawings of furniture, account books, memoranda books, financial records, furniture templates, photographs of the company’s workshop, and advertisements produced to promote the sale of the firm’s furniture.
Indexes to five of eight account books available.
Finding aid available.
Photographs of Dodge Company–made furniture in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection; Dodge’s wooden furniture templates in the Curatorial Division.
Collection 258.
Business records. 1827–88.
156 items.
C. Schrack & Co. was a major manufacturer and distributor of paint, putty, and varnish in Philadelphia. It was established in 1815 by Christian Schrack, a carriage painter and merchant. In 1830 Joseph Stulb, a former apprentice, joined the firm as a partner. By 1850 C. Schrack & Co. offered art supplies as well as colored and plate glass. Christian Schrack died in 1854, and members of the Stulb family maintained the business into the twentieth century. By that time its customer base reached into New England, the Midwest, and the South.
Collection includes bills, orders received, trade cards, price lists, and advertising circulars from competing firms; records of sales and purchases; and an account book.
Name index to account book available.
Other C. Schrack & Co. material located at the Hagley Museum and Library and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 90.
Records. 1895–1971, bulk 1895–1913.
62 vols.
Sloan & Company was a general auction house in Washington, D.C. The firm auctioned private estates, real and personal property, surplus and outdated government equipment, the contents of libraries, and the contents of public buildings (such as stores and hotels) and ran estate auctions known as dead men’s chests sales. Sloan attracted and served many clients from Washington society, including United States senators, authors, diplomats, and businessmen.
Forty-seven of the volumes detail auction sales. Entries include the names of consignors, the items sold, the names of the successful bidders, and the amounts paid. Also included is a scrapbook of clippings and advertisements dating from 1907 to 1912 that show how the firm promoted itself and what was written about it in the local press. Two volumes record the activities of the storage facilities called the Army and Navy Storage Rooms; the remainder deal with office expenses and daily operations.
Collection 92.
Daybook A. 1857–62.
264 p.; 34 cm.
The C. W. and J. F. Hodges store began as a grocery and furniture business in April 1857 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The business eventually expanded to include the sale of hardware.
Manuscript contains a complete and daily record of the business.
Document 96.
Autograph album. 1877–82.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 x 13 cm.
Lizzie Cadmus was probably a New Jersey resident when she kept this album.
Manuscript includes the signatures of Lizzie’s friends and examples of their artwork. Especially noteworthy is a pencil sketch of a man astride a white horse in front of a castle whose flag bears Lizzie’s initials. Friends also drew flowers, birds, and geometric shapes.
Document 447.
Bank book. 1785–86.
John Cadwalader was a land agent for the Penn family and a soldier during the Revolutionary War who participated in engagements at Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey, and at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He also organized militia forces on the eastern shore of Maryland.
Bank book records credits to Cadwalader’s account with the Bank of North America.
Document 303.
Ledger. 1749–60.
1 microfilm reel.
John Cahoone was a furnituremaker and repairer from Newport, Rhode Island.
Manuscript records the activities of Cahoone as a furnituremaker and notes the different methods of payment he accepted.
Original manuscript located at the Newport, Rhode Island, Historical Society.
Microfilm M26.
Recipe book. 1862–72.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
This volume was used by Jewett P. Cain of Rutland, Vermont, and later by Mrs. John Cain of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The two women recorded recipes for making such foods as hash, cakes, puddings, fruit cake, pies, grape juice, and sauces.
Document 856.
Account books. 1823–47.
2 vols.; 42 cm. or smaller.
William Calder was a pewterer from Rhode Island. He apprenticed with Samuel E. Hamlin and then worked in Philadelphia for about a year. By 1817 Calder had returned to Rhode Island, settled in Providence, and opened his own shop. His career as a pewterer spanned forty years. Calder was a founder of the First Universalist Church of Providence and served as a captain of a local fire company.
Collection includes a ledger and daybook recording Calder’s transactions with customers. Volumes document the kinds of products that Calder made as well as changing consumer tastes in pewterware. He made plates, basins, porringers, pots, tumblers, spoons, ladles, and syringes.
Name index at front of ledger.
Folio 222; Microfilm M848.3.
Sketchbook. Ca. 1920s.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 15 x 23 cm.
E. Mary Caldwell lived in San Diego. Her name is written inside the front cover of the book, suggesting that she owned the volume and perhaps drew the sketches herself.
Includes drawings of birds, ducks, swans, cranes, and water dragons. There are three color scenes of Santa Monica, California, and pencil drawings of Santa Monica villas. There are two illustrations of Guatemalan pottery.
Document 850.
Trade catalogue. Ca. 1873–81.
30 leaves: ill.; 23 x 17 cm
The California Furniture Mfg. Co. operated from 1873 to 1881 on Bust Street, San Francisco.
Catalogue contains photographs of 173 pieces of contemporary furniture that the firm stocked for sale, including hat racks, bookcases, desks, sideboards, tables, bureaus, parlor and bedroom sets, shaving stands, etc.
Document 407.
Diary. 1808–11.
1 microfilm reel.
Eunice Callender was a resident of Boston. Her brother, George, was a literary critic and transcendentalist organizer of Brook Farm.
Diary describes the activities of a young woman of means, including her observations of local and world events and the social affairs of Boston.
An extract describing Callender’s visit to the Shirley, Massachusetts, Shaker village was published in The Shaker Messenger, vol. 15, no. 1 (May 1, 1993).
Original manuscript at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College.
Microfilm M1420.
1 box.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains examples of decorative hand lettering, including Pennsylvania German work in Fraktur style. Depictions feature flowers, birds, and a swan. Among the manuscripts is a handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence, hymns, a birth record, a copy of the Lord’s Prayer, and bookmarks.
Finding aid available.
Collection 320.
Exercise book. Ca. 1750.
1 vol.: ill.; 31 cm.
Contains mathematical problems and instructions for solving them. Headings of each of the sections were done in bold black lettering with surrounding ornamentation. Decorative pen work appears throughout the volume.
Includes index.
Document 784.
Ledger. 1782–1804.
1 microfilm reel.
Benjamin Campbell was a silversmith and watchmaker from Unionville, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records the fabrication and repair of silver and watches. A Campbell family history appears at the beginning of the book.
Volume in private hands at time of microfilming.
Microfilm M246.
Inventories of stock. 1843–45.
1 microfilm reel.
John Campbell worked as a silversmith in Nashville, Tennessee.
Inventories include silver articles that were sold by Campbell.
Microfilm M2709.
Book of poetry. Ca. 1840s.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Miss A. T. Canby lived in Wilmington, Delaware.
Poetry was written both by and for Canby and copied from published sources. Many poems refer to death, funerals, and mourning customs. One series of poems refers to the death of Canby’s mother and her father’s remarriage.
Document 325.
Account book. 1837–46.
310 p.; 33 cm.
The foundry was located in Canton, Massachusetts, and produced such goods as chain pulleys, steam pipes, stove castings, and furnace doors.
Manuscript documents nine years of the foundry’s activities. Old iron, coal, lumber, and bricks sometimes appear as payments for products. Accounts with Lyman Kinsey, who took in boarders, and Alfred Kinsey, who worked for the foundry, are also contained within the volume.
Folio 105.
Trade catalogue manuscript. 1848–52.
56 leaves: col. ill.; 20 x 25 cm.
Includes brightly colored ink and watercolor designs for Roman Catholic ecclesiastical furnishings, including baldachins, monstrances, sanctuary lamps, candelabra, canopies, garlands, vases, finials, holy water fonts, organ cases, and processional lanterns. Each item is numbered, suggesting that the manuscript is either a collection of original drawings for a projected printed catalogue or a collection of designs of or for a craftsman. Many notations jotted in the margins and on the endpapers of the manuscript are written in Italian. The paper is dated 1832 and watermarked “FINSOU & BLOSSAU, EDENBURG.”
Document 72.
12 items.
Swatchbook contains twelve samples featuring floral-designed woven fabrics of English origin. Each swatch is numbered. The name Henry Lee is written on the card.
Collection 50.
Account book. 1816–26.
176 p.; 38 cm.
David Carleton was a shoemaker from Goshen, New Hampshire.
Manuscript records Carleton’s shoe- and bootmaking activities as well as the odd jobs that he performed. In addition to his main work, he made gloves, straw hats, saddlebags, harnesses, etc., and did farmwork.
Folio 124.
Invoice book. 1821–31.
166 p.; 32 cm.
Richard L. Carne sold hardware and metal goods, such as candlesticks, pots and skillets, Dutch ovens, coffee mills, cow bells, gun screws, and buttons, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Book includes orders placed by Carne for various goods. Though Carne interacted with vendors in Liverpool, England, most of his suppliers were from the United States. His most frequently contacted associates were Richard Norris in Baltimore; the Isabella Furnace in Chester County, Pennsylvania; and Rodger & Brothers in Philadelphia.
Document 867.
Scrapbooks. 1870–1902.
4 vols.: ill. (some col.); 38 cm.
The Carnell family lived in north Philadelphia. Members of the family ran an iron foundry and machine shop and were wholesale grocers. Laura Carnell was a benefactor of Temple University.
Collection includes three volumes of scrapbooks containing clippings. Most articles are religious in nature. The fourth volume contains colorful prints produced during the late nineteenth century. Nineteen images were purchased from the shop of Currier & Ives.
Collection 389.
Exercise book. Ca. 1890s.
84 p.: col. ill.; 20 cm.
Joseph Carns may have lived near Philadelphia.
Manuscript contains exercises in trigonometry and geometry illustrated with hand-colored drawings. At the end are five pages of recipes for desserts and a salad dressing.
Document 173.
Diaries. 1893, 1899–1900.
3 vols.; 17 cm. or smaller.
Frank Chandler Carpenter was an electrician from Foxboro, Massachusetts. He attended local schools through the twelfth grade. He worked for the Foxboro Electric Company, for which he traveled through New England and some southern states. He was a Mason and attended the local Congregational church.
The first diary in the collection concerns Carpenter’s school-related activities and provides an account of his social life and hobbies. The other two diaries document his social life and domestic chores and include his observations on his work as an electrician. Each volume includes a summary of personal expenses, including those associated with travel.
Document 582.
Pass-book with William Garrigues, Jun’r.: tea dealer & grocer. 1832–34.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Thomas Carpenter lived in Philadelphia.
Volume includes details of Carpenter’s purchases from William Garrigues’s store in 1832, including oil, sugar, tea, soap, and other products. In addition Carpenter recorded his personal accounts receivable records for 1833 and 1834 in the manuscript.
Document 393.
Accounts and inventory. 1815–40.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 cm.
Andrew Henry Carr was a furnituremaker and upholsterer in Southampton, England, from 1811 to 1836. George Carr continued the business after Carr’s departure.
The bulk of this manuscript consists of an inventory of stock taken in November 1839 as well as a room-by-room record of Carr’s home furnishings (he lived above his shop). Accounts relate information relevant to equipping the business, and the illustrations depict plans of Carr’s shop and living quarters.
Document 643.
Account book. 1881–1904.
1 vol.; 35 cm.
James Carr worked as a potter in New York and New Jersey and was associated with the American Pottery Co. from 1844 to 1852, the Swan Hill Pottery from 1852 to 1853, and Morrison & Carr from 1853 to 1888.
Volume contains a daily record of income and expenses for Carr’s business. Most notable are expenses for Carr’s new building at Washington and West Thirteenth Street, New York City.
Folio 63.
Scrapbooks. Ca. 1900–1929.
5 vols.; 26 x 36 cm.
Scrapbooks contain photographs and clippings of descriptions of furniture and decorative objects, including paintings, drawings, frames, needlework, bookends, tapestry, etc. The two volumes of clippings are titled “American and English Furniture” and “French and Viennese Eighteenth Century Furniture and Decorations.”
Collection 346.
Accounts. 1829–34.
5 items; 33 cm.
Charles Carroll was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a senator from Maryland. He received his early education locally, attended a college in France, and studied law in Paris. When he returned to America he managed his father’s estate in Frederick County, Maryland. In retirement Carroll served on the board of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. He was among the wealthiest men in the United States at the time of his death.
Accounts record business dealings, chiefly purchases, by Carroll from three different concerns. Work performed on Carroll’s coach, purchases of leather products, and purchases of food and household goods are noted. Some accounts were settled after Carroll’s death.
Document 1008.
Invoice book. 1838–41.
435 p.; 31 cm.
Lucius W. Carroll operated a general store in Webster, Massachusetts. Early entries in the manuscript were maintained by Stockwell & Carroll, which had just bought out Wiswall & Carroll. On March 3, 1841, Lucius W. Carroll became the store’s sole proprietor.
Manuscript contains stock inventories and copies of invoices. The annual inventories, customarily taken in February, list a wide variety of goods in stock: textile fabrics, furniture, food, books, hardware, clothing, and patent medicine.
Document 184.
Invoice book. 1843–45.
116 leaves; 32 cm.
The firm of Carroll & Crosby, located in Norwich, Connecticut, sold paint and art supplies as well as toiletries and drugs.
Manuscript records items purchased wholesale by Carroll & Crosby for later retail sale. Each entry records a date, description and price of goods purchased, and name of the wholesaler. Art supplies include paints, pigments, paper, glass, brushes, palette knives, etc.
Folio 285.
Drawings. Ca. 1900–1940.
13 items: ill. (some col.)
Joseph E. Carson was probably a student when he made these drawings. He lived in Great Falls, New Hampshire.
Consists of pencil, colored pencil, ink, and watercolor drawings of nineteenth-century book illustrations. Depicted are school scenes, a snowball fight, ships, a Texas Ranger, etc.
Document 820.
Autograph collection. 1785–1945, bulk 1814–90.
256 items.
Mrs. Carson was a resident of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, during the period in which she collected these autographs of artists.
Collection includes autographs of American and a few European artists, painters, and architects. Among the most notable signatures included are those of Victor Audubon, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Horatio Greenough, Henry Inman, John Lewis Krimmel, Thomas Sully, and Benjamin West. Some materials included in the collection contain substantive information, including twelve letters detailing Frederic Church’s trip to South America in 1853 and several manuscripts related to Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, a painting by Benjamin West.
Name index available.
Collection 66.
Account book. 1904–19.
383 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
J. T. Carter was a furnituremaker and dealer from Blackpool, England. He bought and sold second-hand furniture and other household goods, repaired objects, and made new furniture. Sometime between 1913 and 1917, Carter left his profession, moved to Connecticut, and became a minister.
Volume is a daybook and ledger in which Carter described the goods in his inventory. Rough drafts of three of his sermons appear in the middle of the book.
Folio 292.
Card sample collection. Ca. 1880–99.
1 cu. ft. (3 boxes).
James R. Carter and Frederick W. Rice formed their partnership during the early 1870s in Boston.
Collection contains several hundred numbered sample invitation cards, tickets, dance programs, menus, note cards, etc. Materials are mounted on the pages of three sample books.
In addition, there are about 500 samples of different card stocks, each containing its trade name, number of plies or weight, colors available, and sizes obtainable.
Collection 11.
127 p.; 34 cm.
This volume contains a daily record of transactions for an unnamed corsetmaker and includes names of customers, employees, and suppliers as well as information on work performed and items sold. The location of the shop is not known, though a reference to “expenses to New York” eliminates that city.
Document 98.
Account books. 1879–83.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
Edwin C. Castle seems to have been a general merchant who worked in Brooklyn, Ava, and Whitestown, New York.
Manuscripts document the variety of products that Castle sold: silk handkerchiefs, hoop skirts, soap, flour, mahogany furniture, “Jenny Lind gaiters,” etc. An accounting of Castle’s investments is also included.
Document 450.
1 item: col. ill.
Peep show of the castle of Edinburgh, depicting building facades, people inside the buildings engaged in social activities, people walking in the streets, a regiment of soldiers, carriages, etc.
Collection 220.
2 vols.: col. ill.; 27 cm. or smaller.
Includes drawings that were probably produced shortly after the Japanese began to trade with western nations in the 1850s. The first volume includes depictions of enameled and gilded porcelains, such as teawares, tablewares, and reticulated flowerpots as well as screens, fans, and furniture with lacquered panels. The second volume features “satsuma” wares, mostly vases and decorative bowls. Decorations reflect Western taste.
Document 543.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Lists pamphlets owned by an unnamed person, who may have resided in Philadelphia or one of its surrounding communities. Many works refer to the Quakers, suggesting that the owner may have been a member of the Society of Friends. Dates of the publications range from the 1720s to 1835. Writings are listed alphabetically by title.
Document 923.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Contains a list of items to be sold at auction from Lady Fagg’s estate. Items are grouped by the room or outbuilding in which they were housed. Prices realized are noted, and a few names of bidders and amounts owed are sometimes recorded.
Document 802.
Daybook. 1833–42.
171 p.; 41 cm.
John Cate lived in Wolfborough, New Hampshire, when he began keeping this daybook.
Volume includes a wide variety of transactions documented as either debits or credits. Services mentioned include clock repair, building appraisal, joinery, framing, plastering, painting, dressmaking, spinning, weaving, hauling, repairing boots and shoes, etc. Other noteworthy items mentioned include carrying someone to a temperance meeting, writing a lease, grinding bark, and auditing town accounts.
Folio 54.
Chess set. 1889.
1 game board + 51 pieces.
Catlin was a manufacturer that patented this chess set, which apparently was designed for use while traveling. The leather board folds in half; one side serves as the game board, and the remaining area serves as a storage space.
Collection 220.
Photograph album. 1876.
1 vol.: ill.; 32 x 27 cm.
Mary L. Catlin, the former owner of this album and the daughter of Edward Lansing and Mary Jane Satterlee, was a resident of Ondaona, New York. She married Capt. Robert Catlin.
Album consists of twenty-five albumen prints depicting the Satterlee house, members of the Satterlee and Catlin families, a mansion belonging to the Yates family, a view of the Hudson River, and a chair made in 1565 by Hugo de Groot.
Includes an index.
Document 575.
Caxton school series. 1892.
50 p.: ill. (some col.); 97 cm.
This item consists of a wooden cabinet with two doors that contains charts and other teaching materials. A full array of subjects is represented, including reading, anatomy, arithmetic, American government, telling time, weights and measures, penmanship, elementary bookkeeping, art, map reading, and letter writing. Many charts are illustrated with images of children and animals. One chart focuses particularly on West Virginia, suggesting that this cabinet may have been customized for that state.
Collection 355.
Sample book. Ca. 1880s.
44 p.: col. ill.; 16 cm.
The Caxton Printing Co. was located in Northford, Connecticut.
Book contains samples of various kinds of cards produced by Caxton, including calling, friendship, remembrance, reward of merit, and business cards. Most cards include a price, and many include illustrations of flowers, outstretched hands, and birds.
Document 403.
Approx. 90 items: ill.
The Centennial Exhibition was held in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the centennial of American independence. Although the event was not a financial success, it nevertheless provided ample evidence of American progress in such areas as education, science, agriculture, industry, and the arts.
Collection includes photographs, stereo cards, lithographs, advertising materials, maps, and other memorabilia of the Centennial Exhibition. Some collection items relate to pre-fair publicity. Collection also includes a set of jigsaw puzzles that, when assembled, show five buildings on the fair grounds.
Finding aid available.
Collection 259.
57 items: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection contains printed certificates, including examples of birth and death, membership, commission, and school graduation certificates. Most are fairly large, and many are in color. Of particular note are birth and baptismal certificates from the Pennsylvania German area of south central Pennsylvania.
Includes index.
Collection 301.
Memo book. 1800–1809.
42 p.; 15 cm.
Joseph Chadbourn was a scrivener.
The first half of the manuscript contains accounts for letters and documents written by Chadbourn for others from 1800 to 1804. The second half contains entries relating to purchases of household and personal commodities.
Document 3.
Daybook. 1827–30.
424 p.; 41 cm.
David Chambers operated a general store in Newlin, Pennsylvania.
Chambers sold a vast array of merchandise but seems to have specialized in ceramics, fabrics, and sewing supplies.
Folio 136.
Papers. 1930–67.
Approx. 160 items: ill.
Eunice Chambers was a dealer and collector of American art who lived in Hartsville, South Carolina, from the 1930s to the 1960s. She considered herself a specialist in the works of S. F. B. Morse.
Prominent among this collection of papers is correspondence relating to early American portraits that Chambers acquired and sold. She often approached private collectors, asking if they would be willing to sell what they owned. Chambers thoroughly researched the provenances of paintings and the lives of the sitters, and she managed to attribute several unidentified works.
Finding aid available.
Collection 451.
Sketchbook. Ca. 1880s.
37 leaves: ill.; 25 x 38 cm.
Robert William Chambers was an illustrator and novelist. He attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and then studied at the Art Students League, where Charles Dana Gibson befriended him. Chambers traveled to Paris in 1886 and attended the Académie Julian. He returned to America in 1893, settled in New York, and opened his own studio. He soon became known for his illustrations in Life, Vogue, and other magazines. Chambers also wrote novels. Over the course of his career, he produced seventy-two books, numerous short stories, a drama, and two librettos.
Sketchbook contains portraits and drawings of sailing vessels, river scenes, butterflies, a train, some soldiers, etc. Most are in pencil; two are in black ink.
Cover title: Original drawings by Robert W. Chambers.
Folio 242.
Memorabilia. 1793–1855.
1 box.
Elizabeth M. Chandler lived in Philadelphia.
Chandler’s box contains poetry, bills for drawing instruction, reward of merit cards, calling cards, pencil sketches of rural scenes, silhouettes, letters, a tintype, jewelry, sewing equipment, etc.
Collection 168.
Sketchbooks. 1868–69.
3 vols.: ill.
Francis Ward Chandler was an architect trained at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Paris. He worked in Boston with Edward Clark Cabot and later earned an academic appointment to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he eventually became head of the Department of Architecture. Chandler was a member of the Boston Society of Architects and served as the architectural advisor to Boston’s mayor from 1896 to 1900.
Sketchbooks contain 120 pencil drawings of buildings and architectural ornament done while Chandler studied in Paris. Many Gothic-style structures are represented, and several dwellings were under construction when Chandler drew them. Depictions of ornament include wrought-iron finials, stone and wood carvings, inlay, moldings, pilasters, and columns.
Collection 208.
Business records. 1827–28, 1843–67.
4 vols.
Joseph Chandler operated a tavern and general store in Belgrade, Maine.
Includes two daybooks, covering the periods 1827–28 and 1855–60, and two ledgers dating from 1843 to 1867. The earlier volumes record activities associated with the management of both a tavern and store. The later volumes reveal that Chandler eventually stopped selling liquor and, instead, carried a wider variety of domestic products. Chandler was sometimes paid in goods that he then sold.
Collection 180.
Account book. 1814–26.
164 p.; 16 cm.
Lewis Chandler Jr. lived in Bernardston, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records Chandler’s personal expenses and his service as a day laborer.
Name index available.
Document 542.
Account book. 1782–1812.
1 vol.; 41 cm.
Phineas Chapin of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the proprietor of a lumber and saw mill and a partner in the firm of Chapin, Day & Ely.
Account book refers to transactions associated with the maintenance of a sawmill as well as information regarding the sale of gin, rum, and other beverages, suggesting that Chapin may have operated a tavern or still. The last page of the manuscript records the births of Chapin’s children.
Name index available.
Folio 128.
Account book. 1817–30.
156 p.; 33 cm.
Samuel Chapin was a furnituremaker from Marlboro, Massachusetts.
Book records Chapin’s activities making and repairing a wide variety of furniture: writing desks, kitchen tables, washstands, beds, stands, etc.
Name index available.
Document 757.
Letters. 1790–1855.
31 items; 34 cm.
Bethesda Chapin, a widow, lived in West Springfield, Massachusetts. She had three sons and five daughters.
Letters, both to and from family members, contain personal information, religious sentiments, news of family illnesses, etc.
Collection 457.
Illuminated manuscript. 1808.
4 leaves; 17 cm.
Includes four drawings and poems associated with each. The first depicts Adam and Eve with a mermaid; the second shows a lion, a bird, and a creature that is half beast and half fowl; and the third and fourth tell the story of a man in search of gold. Drawings were executed in pen and ink with some yellow coloring. They are probably of Pennsylvania German origin.
Document 765.
Papers. 1875–1921.
6 cu. ft.
Samuel Chapman was a native of Manchester, England. He immigrated to America in 1865 with his family and later found work in local shipyards and as a furnituremaker and woodworker. Chapman eventually united with financier C. M. Tyler to form the Tyler-Chapman Company, an interior woodworking concern that would become known for its designs of elevator cabs and ornamental interior woodwork.
Papers consist of watercolor and ink drawings of mantels, furniture forms, wood panels of elevator cabs; photographs of interiors; and various art design periodicals.
Finding aid available.
Collection 98; Microfilm M3016.
Registry of Chase’s picture gallery. 1857–58.
44 p.; 20 cm.
Darius Chase was an artist and restorer of oil paintings. A native of Massachusetts, he worked in Boston as a restorer from 1844 to 1848. In 1851 he was living in Philadelphia. Some time during the 1850s, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he ran a gallery and worked as a restorer.
Volume includes a list of people who visited Chase’s gallery and a list of artists whose works he presumably exhibited. Also included are remarks that Chase made on the techniques of painting restoration.
Document 364.
Letter book. 1874–78.
221 leaves; 28 cm.
Erastus B. Chase of Brooklyn, New York, was a ship’s captain; a general agent of the Ellis Patent Gas Burner, Regulator, & Shade Combined; an associate with an interest in a mirror and picture frame business; and a notary public.
Book includes copies of Chase’s letters from various ports of call from his service as a general agent for the gas-lighting firm as well as others of a personal nature.
Name index available.
Document 76.
Recipe book. Ca. 1880s.
73 p.; 15 cm.
Hattie N. Chase lived in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Volume includes handwritten cooking recipes and newspaper clippings discussing household hints.
Document 358.
Diary. 1836–38.
78 p.; 21 cm.
Nicholas Cheesbrough was a native of Stonington, Connecticut, who worked as a clerk at two different New Haven dry-goods stores.
The first nine pages of this volume contain records of a debating society called Clerk’s Lyceum. Cheesbrough obtained the volume after members voted it out of existence. Cheesbrough’s entries refer to his clerking activities, his customers, politics, debate topics, churches attended, and a report on a major fire in New Haven in August 1837.
Document 143.
Ledger and daybooks. 1799–1846.
1 microfilm reel.
Silas Ellis Cheney was principally a furnituremaker from Litchfield, Connecticut.
Manuscripts document Cheney’s activities as a furniture- and carriagemaker, ornamental painter, and house builder. Store accounts regarding purchases of dry goods, groceries, etc., are also part of the collection.
Original manuscripts at the Litchfield Historical Society.
Microfilm M2638.
Records. 1930–51.
2 boxes.
The Chestertown House Corporation was a nonprofit organization established in New York on March 12, 1930, to further benevolent causes; to promote science, literature, art, history, and other areas of knowledge; and to maintain and administer real and personal property for museums. Administrative offices were in New York City, and meetings took place at the law offices of Milbank, Hope, and Webb in Manhattan.
Records consist of the certificate of incorporation, bylaws, minute books, and annual meeting notices. The 1930 incorporation papers document Henry Francis du Pont’s intention to establish Chestertown House (his residence in Southampton, New York) as a museum.
Finding aid available.
Archives 7.
Album. 1824–34.
28 p.; 20 cm.
Almira Chickering attended Framingham Academy and probably completed her studies there in 1824. By the end of the 1820s, she was married to a man by the name of Scott.
Album contains twenty-five verses written to Almira by her fellow students and friends about friendship, religion, and fond memories.
Document 279.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 52 x 42 cm.
Volume contains eighty-two detailed watercolors drawn by various anonymous artists in a number of Canton, China, workshops. The drawings were part of the trade in Chinese export watercolors for the British market. Depictions include fruit and flowers, fish, birds, Chinese officials and their wives, and scenes of daily life.
Finding aid available.
Collection 111.
5 leaves: col. ill.; 29 cm.
Consists of five pieces of chintz cut for use as fabric samples. Each leaf is labeled with what may have been its price.
Collection 50.
178 p.; 24 cm.
Manuscript was created by an anonymous individual or company from North Staffordshire, England, engaged in the manufacture and decoration of earthenware and china.
Contains a compilation of hundreds of recipes used by such businesses as Spode, Coalport, New Hall, Meigh, Wedgwood, and Caughley. There are a number of other miscellaneous formulas and a letter to John Maddock, later an important figure in the Trenton, New Jersey, pottery industry, laid in. Recipes are for “Greenwood’s Blue Enamel,” “Beautiful Devonshire Brown,” “Egyptian Blk.,” and “Steel Lustre.”
Document 129.
Tattoo pattern book. Ca. 1897.
28 leaves: col. ill.; 12 x 18 cm.
Contains fifty-two drawings in red and blue of standard tattoo motifs: ship anchors, nudes, dancing girls, and Danish and American national emblems. Each also carries a price.
Document 119.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 28 cm.
Scrapbook consists of holiday greeting cards. Although the volume was created by Marcus Ward & Co., cards from other firms, including Louis Prang & Co. and Raphael Tuck & Sons, are included.
Title from cover.
Document 586.
Book review. 1905.
2 items.
Sir Arthur Herbert Church was a professor of chemistry who was interested in English porcelain.
Consists of Church’s six-page handwritten critique of R. L. Hobson’s Catalogue of English Porcelain in the British Museum along with a letter from Hobson to Church thanking him for his positive review.
Document 918.
Scrapbook and letters. 1895–1916.
1 vol. + 1 folder: ill. (some col.)
Artist F. S. Church was known for his depictions of animals and women in sketches, illustrations, and paintings. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, he received his early art training from a local painter named Hartung. In addition to his artistic endeavors, Church worked for the American Express Co. and served as a private in the Union forces during the Civil War. After the war, Church went to New York and studied art with Walter Shirlaw and L. M. Wilmarth. He was active in the National Academy of Design and was a founding member of the Art Students League.
Scrapbook contains magazine articles on Church’s accomplishments, an exhibit program, letters, prints of his works, and original sketches. Letters contain miscellaneous information on Church’s career; two feature original sketches.
Collection 437.
Account book. 1815–26.
176 p.; 20 cm.
James Church made and repaired footwear in Haddam, Massachusetts.
Volume includes accounts relating to Church’s occupation.
Document 203.
50 p.; 20 cm.
Manuscript contains by-laws formed at an annual meeting of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Society of Friends in Philadelphia. Included are discussions of meeting frequency, attendance, and minute-taking; policies on the appointment of overseers, offenses against the church, and excommunication; and rules of behavior.
Document 1049.
1 box: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection contains printed cigar box labels, printer’s proofs, and color separations for cigar labels. Brand competition and the falling price of color printing led to the production of ornately designed cigar labels. Bold colors, the use of gold and embossing, and odd juxtapositions of images attracted attention to the product.
Finding aid available.
Collection 234.
Drawings of furniture. Ca. 1915–30.
36 leaves: ill. (some col.)
Ciuffo & Ciuffo was a custom furnituremaking firm, located on Thirty-fourth Street, New York City.
Collection includes drawings of various furniture forms. The images depict chests, beds, mirrors, chairs, sofas, desks, etc. Styles vary from Louis XV to early twentieth century. In addition, there is a color chart showing the kinds of finishes offered by the firm. Four customer names and addresses are recorded.
Collection 127; Microfilm M3009.
Photographs of furniture. Ca. 1920.
17 items: ill.
Clair Munson made furniture in Clinton, Iowa.
Photographs show round-top tables, a few of which are identified as lamp stands, and upholstered footstools. On the back of each photo are dimensions and information about how the furniture was made. The photographs are credited to Gilbert Temple.
Collection 160.
Copybook. 1818.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Twelve-year-old David Clap practiced his writing exercises (letters of the alphabet, phrases, and verses) in this copybook.
Document 831.
Travel diaries. 1831, 1841, 1843.
4 vols.; 17 cm.
David Clapp was a successful Boston printer. He was born in nearby Dorchester and began to work as a tanner in 1813. Beginning in 1822, he apprenticed in John Cotton’s print shop in Boston and in 1831 began his own printing business. Clapp enjoyed memberships in the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Saint Matthew’s Church, and the Boston Old School Boys Association.
Manuscript travel accounts recount Clapp’s journeys to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Niagara Falls.
Document 597.
Account book. 1809–30.
104 p.; 44 cm.
Nathaniel Clapp was a shoemaker from Rochester, Massachusetts.
Manuscript documents Clapp’s activities as a shoemaker and repairer and reveals that many of his customers paid for his services with produce. Clapp’s executor settled a few of his accounts in 1830.
Includes index of customer names.
Bound with the account book of Micah Haskell; see entry 955.
Folio 107.
Store inventory. 1854.
110 p.; 31 cm.
William Clapp operated a dry-goods store in Boston.
Inventory of goods on hand as of February 1, 1854, includes such products as braids, brushes, mittens, buttons, bonnets, mosquito nets, umbrellas, socks, and ribbon.
Alphabetical index of merchandise appears at front of volume.
Document 290.
Account book. 1802–23, bulk 1802–11.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Benjamin Clark worked as a joiner in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, and was also involved in farming activities.
Volume records payments Clark received for day labor, including carting, mending tools, framing, plastering, etc. Volume also notes products that he purchased. The last portion of the manuscript relates to the settlement of Clark’s estate by James Clark and, finally, the settlement of James’s estate in the 1820s.
Document 353.
Account book. 1826–53.
144 p.; 19 cm.
Daniel A. Clark was a day laborer in Easton, Massachusetts, who worked as a carpenter. He also worked in a store run by Oliver Ames.
Manuscript records money and goods Clark received for his day-laboring activities. Work that he performed for Oliver Ames is recorded only by the day employed and wage paid.
Document 338.
Account book. 1815–66, bulk 1820–55.
380 p.; 34 cm.
David Clark worked in Franklin, New Hampshire, shoeing horses and making and repairing a variety of metal goods, including axes, sleighs, wagons, plows, drills, etc.
Accounts are extensive, and most note method of payment through exchange of goods and labor. There are nearly 150 names of local residents.
Name index available for names beginning with the letters C–T only.
Document 12.
Diary. 1854, 1877, 1880–81, 1886, 1890.
1 vol.; 26 cm.
Hannah Clark split her residency between Baltimore and the countryside. In 1854 she had been a widow for seven years and may have been residing with her husband’s family.
Diary entries describe Clark’s daily activities and family life, including her attendance at camp meetings, church services, and public lectures; her reading habits; the marriage of a family member; her trips to the country; observations on a fire that damaged a local church; etc.
Document 434.
Daybooks. 1822–24.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Horace Clark and his associate Erastus Holcomb were blacksmiths in Granby, Connecticut.
Volumes note Clark’s and Holcomb’s blacksmithing activities, including horseshoeing, mending wagon parts, and making metal objects, such as knives, chains, hooks, hinges, bolts, etc.
Document 671.
Account book. 1846–47, 1876.
12 p.; 16 x 20 cm.
James Clark made furniture in Wilmington, Delaware.
Book contains an account between Clark and Samuel Crittenden. Clark made mahogany and cherry furniture (dressing bureaus, trundle beds, low post bedsteads, breakfast tables, bookcases, and dining tables) and coffins for Crittenden.
Document 929.
Invoice book. 1801–8.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
John Innes Clark was a merchant in Providence, Rhode Island.
Book consists of invoices of merchandise imported and exported by Clark to ports around the world. Entries list the names of ships, captains, destinations, consignors, and merchandise shipped. Such products as nankeen, telescopes, watches, wine, earthenware, tea, hide, cotton hose, and printed textiles are mentioned.
Document 714; Microfilm M1532.
Receipt book. 1812–16.
1 vol.; 10 x 17 cm.
Joseph Clark lived in Philadelphia and was involved in printing and/or the sale of printed matter.
Volume contains receipts for purchases that Clark made from various vendors. Most of the entries note dollars paid without further explanation; interspersed are some references to such things as rent, taxes, and expenditures for clothing. Clark’s volume notes purchases of paper by the ream and type from a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, supplier and an order for thirteen hundred pamphlets.
Document 908.
Student notebooks. 1873–77.
3 vols.; 26 cm.
Samuel Clark was a member of Dartmouth College’s class of 1877 and compiled these notebooks in the school’s Chandler Scientific Department.
Volumes contain drawings done as student exercises. The first volume consists of free drawing. The second volume relates to surveying. The third contains isometric drawings.
Document 81.
Schoolbooks. Ca. 1870.
2 vols.; 18 x 22 cm.
Anna Clarke was a student when she used these volumes.
Both volumes, Ellsworth’s Systematically Arranged Copy Books and Spencerian System of Practical Penmanship, were designed to teach handwriting. The books also contain illustrations of such things as school supplies, a sewing machine, and a schoolroom.
Document 959; Document 961.
Account book. 1769–1812.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Benjamin Clarke was a merchant and brazier from Boston. He graduated from Harvard in 1750 and served in various public capacities. In 1764 he was a member of the Society for Encouraging Trade and Commerce, and in 1768 he signed the merchants nonimportation agreement. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Clarke retired to nearby Nantucket and then moved to Norwich, Connecticut; he remained loyal to the Crown. After the war Clarke returned to Boston, where he became Justice of the Peace in 1784 and carried on his business until he died.
Account book notes debits and credits associated with Clarke’s work. He sold a wide variety of merchandise, from sheep shears to sail cloth, but is best known for his brass and metal wares. His business included contacts as far away as Baltimore, and he invested in several venture cargoes. Many of the entries include the occupation of customers.
Folio 247.
Spencerian system of practical penmanship in 12 numbers, four distinct series. 1864.
1 vol.: ill.; 22 x 18 cm.
George H. Clarke was a student in 1870.
Includes Clarke’s handwriting exercises. The front and back covers feature illustrations of school supplies and other items.
Document 962.
Scrapbook and register. 1872–79, 1921–22.
2 vols.: ill.; 26 cm. or smaller.
Thomas B. Clarke resided in New York City. He collected American paintings and Chinese porcelain, served as president of the New York School of Applied Design for six years, and participated in the Union League Club.
Volume one, with a caption title of “A memorandum book, description of a collection of oil paintings,” describes paintings owned by Clarke, paintings he purchased for other collections, trades and sales from his own collection, loans Clarke made to galleries, and Clarke’s porcelain collection. Volume two is a scrapbook relating to exhibitions of early American portraits at the Union League Club.
Collection 315.
Papers. 1901–33.
14 boxes.
Alphonso T. Clearwater was a native of West Point, New York. Educated locally, he received an honorary degree from Rutgers College in 1903 for distinction in public service. Clearwater was admitted to the bar in 1871; served as the District Attorney of Ulster County, New York; and was a judge on the New York Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. He was an avid collector of American silver.
Papers relate to Clearwater’s silver-collecting. Most of the papers are correspondence with dealers, other collectors, and museums, particularly the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Also included are catalogue cards listing items in Clearwater’s collection and some photographs, articles, and pamphlets.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 65.
Clemens’ silent teacher: dissected map of the United States and of each state in counties. 1829.
1 game box: col. ill.
E. J. Clemens, a clergyman, manufactured his game in Clayville, New York.
The game was designed to teach geography of the United States to children. The cover shows a map of the country and depicts children dressed in costume to reflect traditional clothing of various ethnic groups.
Collection 220.
Daybook. 1836–46.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
John Clements made carriages in West Amesbury, Massachusetts.
Includes the daily work of a carriage shop for a decade. Clements repaired carriage bodies and wheels, made seats and other parts for sleds, worked on spokes and harnesses, and sold new carriages.
Document 522.
Papers. Ca. 1940–50.
1 vol.: ill; 30 cm.
Lyman W. Cleveland was an architect and interior designer in Philadelphia specializing in commercial and hotel interiors.
Includes a binder with photographs of building interiors that Cleveland designed, a drawing of a neo-Georgian facade, and clippings relating to Cleveland’s work for hotels.
Document 312.
Drawings. 1824–40.
26 items: col. ill.
An envelope that accompanies these drawings carries the inscription: “Louisa M. Clinton library, granddaughter of Gen. Clinton; her teacher was the art teacher Victoria.” Five of the drawings are signed “by MMM.” Clinton is credited as the artist of these works.
Includes drawings in pen-and-ink and sepia, miniature watercolor portraits, and a miniature landscape. The drawings show details of furniture and furnishings in addition to architectural detail. Scenes reflect an image of a country house in Scotland.
Collection 286.
50 leaves: ill.; 31 x 19 cm.
Item was given to Catherine Hillegas in 1836 by J. W. Gibbs, a Philadelphia merchant. Parke Edwards, a metalsmith who worked in the Philadelphia area during the twentieth century, later acquired it for his personal library.
Consists of fifty pieces of calico fabric, perhaps available through J. W. Gibb’s store.
Collection 50.
Daybook. 1859–70.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Samuel Cloyd was a woodworker in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania.
Daybook documents Cloyd’s woodworking activities, including constructing, painting, and repairing furniture; lettering and painting signs; framing pictures; staining and varnishing; making coffins; fixing handles; etc. Cloyd purchased most of his supplies from M. Starr & Co.
Document 410.
Account book. 1841–84, bulk 1841–45.
324 p.; 42 cm.
Frederick Coady, a painter who lived in Ogdensburg, New York, maintained at least part of this volume. John Newman and the partnership of Coady & Newman also maintained parts of this book at different times.
Consists of entries relating to the painting of various products: washstands, buggies, wagons, boxes, doors, a “chequer board,” etc.
The volume was used in the 1880s as a scrapbook and recipe book.
Folio 1.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1856.
68 leaves: ill. (some col.); 37 cm.
Inscription at the beginning of the scrapbook reads “E. Clive Coates, Dublin Castle.”
Volume includes pencil drawings (some of which have been watercolored), tracings, and a few printed plates depicting Victorian furniture. Some of the drawings have the embossed seal of “W. C. Marks, Cabinet, Upholstery and Looking Glass Rooms, Dublin.” A drawing of a sofa is signed by James Lindsay and dated March 1856. Printed plates include one published by C. R. Carter of London; another is headed “International Exhibition. Exhibited in Class 30 By.”
Document 16.
Account book. 1824–35.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
George Morrison Coates was a Quaker merchant from Philadelphia. He attended Friends Grammar School in Philadelphia and learned the hardware business from Benjamin Horner. Coates married his mentor’s daughter and then joined his brother-in-law, Joseph P. Horner, in selling hardware. By 1824 he was working as a jobber in the pottery business.
Volume records various kinds of ceramics and glassware purchased and sold by Coates. He acquired most of his merchandise in Philadelphia and New York City, and a few glassworks and potteries are noted as suppliers. The bulk of his sales were to country merchants.
Account book used in preparation of George L. Miller, “George M. Coates: Pottery Merchant of Philadelphia, 1817–31” Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 19, no. 1 (Spring 1984): 37–50.
Coates letter books located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Folio 175.
Silhouette collection. 1800?–1825?
50 leaves: ill.; 18 x 23 cm.
Members of the Coates family—merchants, importers, and doctors—were prominent residents of Philadelphia.
Manuscript volume contains seventy-seven silhouettes mounted on black backgrounds. In addition, there are Scherenschnitten pictures and unmounted silhouettes. Members of the Coates family are depicted. Other depictions include the Hornor, Morrison, Evans, Redman, Randolph, Pickering, Snowden, and Yarnall families. Many of the silhouettes are embossed with the seal of the Peale Museum.
Volume is accompanied by mounted photographs of fifty-five of the silhouettes.
Document 139.
Account book. 1849–50.
7 p.; 42 cm.
Reuben Cobb was a shopkeeper in Lebanon, Maine.
Small volume includes entries for the sale of such items as brass cupboard catches, rosewood knobs, cook stoves, door handles, nails, linseed oil, etc. Covers January through May 1849 and April through May 1850.
Folio 56.
Fabric samples. Ca. 1880s.
4 items.
The Cocheco Manufacturing Company produced printed textiles in Dover, New Hampshire. It evolved from the Dover Cotton Factory, a business that was established in 1812. In 1909 Cocheco became part of the Pacific Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The Dover mill was finally closed in the 1840s. Another firm, Lawrence & Co., was Cocheco’s marketing agent beginning in the 1840s and lasting until 1929, when it was liquidated.
Collection includes four accordion folders that feature twenty-two fabric samples. Three folders have examples of printed cottons, and one has examples of extra-heavy twilled cretonne. Information about the amount of fabric produced and shipping dates is written on the folders. Geometric and floral patterns predominate.
Records of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company located at the Museum of American Textile History, North Andover, Massachusetts.
Collection 50.
A course of instruction in the laboratory and repository exercises, together with observations on military law, brigading, casting, ordnance, etc. Ca. 1820s.
304 p.: ill. (some col.); 21 cm.
J. W. Coddington was probably a student in Woolwich, formerly a naval port located in Kent, England.
Volume includes notes and illustrations in watercolor and pen-and-ink kept for a course in military engineering.
Index of topics and tables in front of volume.
Document 367.
Account book. 1824–27, 1832–34, 1848–50.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Moses Coddington sold bricks in New York City.
Book lists sales of bricks, who bought them, buildings and sites where the bricks were delivered, and the names of the cart drivers who made the deliveries. At the back of the volume are accounts associated with the estates of Coddington and Jacob Schatzel.
Name index at the front of the volume. Index also available in typescript.
Document 665.
Muster karte von iermesüt, scalli, cettari, und scalagia nach Ostindischer Art.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Benedict Codecasa was an authorized silk manufacturer from Vienna, Austria.
Consists of twelve panels, each containing twenty-two numbered swatches of colored woven silk and cotton. Includes two of Codecasa’s trade labels that summarize his business and note his address.
Collection 50.
Daybook. 1843–47.
21 p.; 43 cm.
Charles M. Coes was a tailor originally from Kennebunkport, Maine. He was related by marriage to Cyrus Dodge, founder of the C. Dodge Furniture Company.
Volume records the many facets of Coes’s tailoring work. Later entries reveal that Coes had moved his business to Newton Corner, perhaps in Massachusetts.
Folio 147.
Papers. 1876–1957.
5 boxes + 37 folios + 309 photographs: ill. (some col.)
Marian Cruger Coffin was a landscape architect. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1904 with a degree in fine arts and landscape design. She also studied privately with Guy Lowell, a Boston architect who designed the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1904 Coffin opened her own landscape practice in New York City. Following World War I, architect James Scheiner joined her firm. Coffin received many honors, including election to the American Society of Landscape Architects. She moved her practice to New Haven in the early 1930s and in 1940 wrote Trees and Shrubs for Landscape Effects (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1940).
Papers consist of correspondence, corporate records, planting lists, specifications, drawings, and photos that reflect Coffin’s career and her work, chiefly on the East Coast, for various individuals and organizations. Among her clients were Henry Francis du Pont, New York Botanical Garden, Marshall Field, Frederick Frelinghuysen, and E. F. Hutton. There is also information about Coffin’s own property, Wendover, in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Finding aid available.
Archives 5.
Entry 451. Marian Coffin was a landscape architect who was engaged by H. F. du Pont to design much of his garden at Winterthur.
Diaries and letter books. 1808–41.
6 vols.: ill.; 22 cm.
John Stevens Cogdell, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, was admitted to his state’s bar in 1799. One year later, he traveled to Italy, which fueled his interest in drawing and painting. Though Cogdell was unable to subsist on the proceeds of his art, he continued to paint as often as possible. His work was exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, the National Academy of Design, the Charleston Library Society, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Cogdell was also an active member of his community who served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and as comptroller general of South Carolina. He also served as president of the Bank of South Carolina from 1832 to 1847.
In these manuscripts Cogdell wrote about his experiences in Italy and about artists that he knew or critiqued, including Washington Allston, Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, Rembrandt Peale, Jonathan Mason, and Thomas Sully. He frequently went to Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, where he visited museums and met with fellow artists. Cogdell illustrated scenes that he saw on his trips. Two of the volumes concern Cogdell’s methods of modeling, sculpting, and painting.
Collection 252.
Photograph album. Ca. 1895–1925.
1 vol.; 30 x 18 cm.
Arthur R. Colburn worked as an attorney in Washington, D.C., and lived in nearby Takoma Park, Maryland.
Album contains photographs of both the exterior and interior of the Colburn family dwelling. Interior depictions show room decorations, including two paintings by local artist Helen F. Colburn, perhaps one of Arthur’s sisters.
Document 445.
Copybook. 1837.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Elizabeth C. Cole, a student, used this volume as her first copybook of composition.
Consists of rules and examples for the use of words and phrases. The front cover features charts on the conversion of English and American money and a multiplication table, all within a decorative border. The back cover contains advertising for Menzies Rayner, the seller of this book, and an illustration showing the earth’s temperature zones.
Document 817.
Letter book. 1871.
90 p.; 21 cm.
Manuscript contains copies of letters that both R. H. Cole and his wife wrote to their children during a trip to Europe. They cover the Coles’ Atlantic crossing and the time they spent in Ireland, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. They seem to have been accompanied by another couple. The Coles visited museums, archaeological sites, and churches, and they wrote about their dining experiences. Of particular note is their visit to the studio of artist Hiram Powers in Florence and a photograph of him in his work clothes.
Document 854.
Papers. 1820–48.
4 microfilm reels.
Thomas Cole, a native of England, was a landscape, portrait, and religious painter. A pioneer of the Hudson River School, Cole was a founder of the National Academy. After spending time in Philadelphia, New York City, and Europe, he settled in Catskill, New York.
Papers include notes, sketches, diary notations, poetry, letters, catalogues, and miscellaneous ephemera.
Originals are at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the New York State Library.
Includes a summary of contents.
Microfilm M314, M437–M439.
Account book. 1810–26, 1836–48.
97 p.; 21 cm.
Robert Coleman was an ironmaster in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A native of Ireland, he came to America in 1764 and settled in Reading, Pennsylvania. He learned ironmaking from Curtis and Peter Grubb and married the daughter of another ironmaker, James Old. Coleman ran the Elizabeth Furnace, which was a chief supplier of cannon and shot to American forces during the Revolutionary War. Coleman was a Federalist and a local officeholder.
Manuscript records miscellaneous accounts kept by Coleman, including wages earned by his domestics, amounts expended for furniture, and what he paid for grain, wood, and bricks for construction work. Separate portions of the manuscript document wages paid to bricklayers for building a house and fees paid to a coachman named James Firman.
Name index available.
Document 572.
British slip ware. 1962.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 44 cm.
Richard Coleman-Smith was a lecturer in art education at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, and a student of medieval potterymaking techniques.
Text, describing the history of British potterymaking, is accompanied by watercolor illustrations that depict items uncovered during excavations, kilns, and the process of crafting pottery. Coleman-Smith describes various pottery forms, how handles were made, decoration of pottery, ecclesiastical influences on potterymaking, and mechanization.
Includes bibliography.
Folio 112.
17 p.: ill.; 42 cm.
The volume was originally used to record “persons keeping liquor and beer saloons, 1871–72.” It was created by pasting wallpaper samples and clippings of house furnishings onto pages and arranging them to represent seventeen room interiors.
Folio 144.
29 leaves: ill.; 36 cm.
An unnamed person maintained this Victorian album of collage interiors featuring period engravings of furnishings and patterned wallpaper. Laid in the front are unused clippings of furnishings and individuals. The last few pages contain pencil drawings of building exteriors.
Folio 36.
1 vol.: ill (some col.); 39 cm.
Scrapbook contains original drawings, engravings, woodcuts, photographs, cutouts from period publications, wallpaper scraps, and fabric swatches arranged in room layouts. Rooms created include three parlors, four chambers, and a picture gallery, dance hall, sewing room, nursery, kitchen, china closet, music room, etc. A stationer’s label from Salem, Massachusetts, suggests that the album’s compiler was from that town or area.
Folio 288.
Entry 461. A collage album, or scrapbook, containing images of what a room looked like in the mind of a late nineteenth-century young adult interior designer. Ca. 1880s.
31 leaves: ill.; 35 cm.
Includes thirty-one depictions of household scenes that were assembled by arranging clippings from contemporary publications. Women are shown engaged in activities in several parlors and in a kitchen.
Folio 252.
20 leaves: ill.; 32 cm.
A bookseller’s label notes that the album came from Salem, Massachusetts. Another label records its patent date, May 22, 1883.
Volume is a Victorian album containing collage interiors featuring period engravings of American furnishings. Compiler re-created fourteen rooms including parlors, living rooms, a dining room, a music room, and a woman’s workroom. Engravings are embellished with patterned wallpaper, gilt doily strips, tissue paper, and silver foil.
Document 13.
6 items: ill.
Consists of six loose pages depicting scenes in a Victorian home embellished with wallpaper samples and clippings of house furnishings and people. Most rooms look like parlors and show women and children attired formally.
Folio 145.
8 vols.: col. ill.
Chinese export watercolors were painted in the port cities of China for sale to Western customers. Until the mid nineteenth century, merchants usually brought them to the West as souvenirs. Later, the paintings were sold on the popular market. The paintings were done in workshops by batteries of artists using techniques of mass production. The paper that they used was often European, especially from the English firm of J. Whatman. Artists also used Chinese pith paper.
This artificial (and still open) collection includes seven albums of Chinese watercolors on pith paper and one volume on paper produced in part by the Whatman mill. Illustrations show Chinese figures, insects, flowers, birds, fish, etc.
Collection 111.
Autobiographical letter. 1880.
6 p.; 35 cm.
Cuthbert Collingwood was a native of Salem, New Hampshire. With his family, he moved to Boston and attended schools there. He later worked as a merchant.
In this letter, Collingwood reminisces about his childhood in Salem and Boston, describes the trip he took from one town to the other when his family moved, and comments about the impact of the War of 1812 on Boston.
Document 313.
Drawings, furniture, etc. Ca. 1820s.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 34 cm.
C. Collinson’s business was located in London.
Consists of pencil sketches, wash drawings, watercolors, and hand-colored lithographs showing window treatments, furnished dining rooms, room layouts, and individual pieces of furniture. Such items as draperies, bed curtains, upholstered sofas and chairs, hall chairs, screens, and tables are depicted.
Document 602.
Account book. 1763–1816.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
William Collson was a furnituremaker and housebuilder who worked first in Boston and nearby Cambridge and later relocated to Northampton, Massachusetts.
Book records Collson’s woodworking activities: improving the study rooms of several professors, attaching barn doors, mending and framing windows, installing locks, repairing flooring, and building furniture. He made beds, tables, chests, and chairs.
Folio 263; Microfilm M1896.
17 items: col. ill.
Collection consists of plates from miscellaneous toy catalogues from Germany. Chalets, castles, tool chests, sabres, fire trucks, candlesticks, tankards, brass articles, and firearms are illustrated. Some lithographers are recorded, including J. Leopold, Julius Stahlhuth, and Anton Kolb.
Collection 356.
Ledger. 1859–88.
1 microfilm reel.
William Colt made and repaired furniture in Newberry, Pennsylvania.
In addition to recording Colt’s work on furniture, manuscript includes domestic accounts and references to agricultural products.
Original ledger in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M1407.
Agent’s sample book. Ca. 1870–90.
24 p.: col. ill.; 18 cm.
Contains forty-two samples of cards: business, calling, greeting, and “joker.” Flowers, birds, and outstretched hands are often incorporated into the designs. Stock numbers and prices are included.
Document 356.
Account book. 1829–65.
1 vol.; 27 cm.
Joseph S. Comings was a sawyer from Cornish, New Hampshire.
Account book records Comings’s sawing activities, noting kinds of wood and the purpose for sawing. Wood products, nails, plows, lamp oil, and domestic goods are all mentioned.
Document 545.
Papers. 1959–65.
4 boxes.
Helen Comstock was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and educated at Washington University, St. Louis, and at the University of California. She began her editorial work on the staff of the International Studio and later worked for Antiques magazine. Comstock wrote numerous articles and books on American art and decoration. She married watercolorist Helmut Siber.
Collection consists mainly of correspondence generated during the course of her research for two books: American Furniture, published in 1962, and The Looking Glass in America, 1700–1825, published in 1968. There are also accompanying photographs of furniture, period rooms, and artwork. Many photographs indicate the name of the institution that provided Comstock with the image.
Collection 44.
Diary. 1867–68.
73 p.: ill.; 20 cm.
Jabez Coney was a resident of Boston. He was affiliated with the Globe Works Foundry, worked as a consulting engineer, and considered himself an inventor.
Volume includes Coney’s ideas for inventions, including improvements for a barrel, elevator, circular saw, steam boiler, railroad tank car, and wagon wheel.
Document 894.
Probate records for the town of Fairfield, Connecticut. 1648–1783.
8 microfilm reels.
Probate inventories listing possessions of Fairfield’s recently deceased residents.
Index available.
Microfilm M2553–M2560.
Probate records for the town of New Haven, Connecticut. 1647–1830.
16 microfilm reels.
Collection includes microfilm of volumes 1–6 of probate inventories listing possessions of recently deceased residents of New Haven.
Index available.
Microfilm M2561–M2576.
1 microfilm reel.
Volume includes tax information for the state of Connecticut covering the period from 1802 to 1821 and for the town of New London, Connecticut, for1821.
Original materials located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2984.
Copybook. 1852.
32 p.; 20 cm.
Sarah (or Sallie) Ann Conrad was a student in Chester County, Pennsylvania, when she kept this volume.
Contains lecture notes on meteorology, physiology, magnetism, chemistry, and other school subjects. The back cover shows a printed multiplication table.
Document 771.
Accounts. 1794–98.
1 microfilm reel.
William Constable was a wealthy merchant from New York City who lived in London for a time.
Among other records, accounts include a room-by-room inventory of Constable’s residence in London.
List of names and occupations mentioned in accounts available.
Original accounts located in the New York Public Library and noted on page 186 of the library’s Dictionary Catalog of the Manuscript Division, published in 1967 by G. K. Hall.
Microfilm M936.
1 microfilm reel.
Records include constitutions of various working societies and associations in Philadelphia, including coach painters, brickmakers, shipwrights, saddlers, carpenters, bookbinders, etc. They were selected for filming from a larger group of similar records.
Summary of contents available.
Original materials located at the Pennsylvania State Archives.
Microfilm M1901.
Wedding present list. 1908.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Louise Schoenberger of Chicago married Barret Conway on June 1, 1908.
Volume lists presents given to Louise and Barret Conway when they married. Most gifts were domestic items, such as dinnerware, silver, trays, furniture, etc.
Document 493.
Account book. 1792–1861.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Nathan Topping Cook was a furnituremaker from Bridgehampton, New York.
Book records Cook’s furnituremaking activities and includes miscellaneous accounts by other family members. Among the furniture Cook made were chairs and beds. He supplemented his income by working on shafts for wagons, bread trays, rolling pins, and rakes. Many of the manuscript’s later entries refer to making and washing shirts.
Folio 245.
Estate records. 1798–1806.
75 p.; 33 cm.
Samuel Cooper was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He studied medicine in Philadelphia and then settled in Easton, Pennsylvania. Cooper eventually returned to Philadelphia, where he practiced medicine until he succumbed to yellow fever in the epidemic of 1798.
Volume includes a full account of the settlement of Cooper’s estate. It also contains remembrances of and orations on Cooper’s life from his fellow physicians, copies of letters and official documents about Cooper, and some of Cooper’s original poetry.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 468.
Album. Ca. 1880–1920.
1 vol.: ill.; 45 x 53 cm.
W. A. Cooper, a resident of New York City, may have been the photographer of the pictures in this album.
Album contains thirty black-and-white photographs of the exterior and interior of a large mansion decorated in ornate Victorian style. The mansion pictured is believed to be Lynnewood Hall, a home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
Folio 44.
Photograph album. Ca. 1902–40.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 x 26 cm.
The Cooper-Austin House is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was originally built in 1657 for John Cooper. Today it is owned and maintained by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.
Album contains interior and exterior photographs of the house as well as a brief history of its occupants. Photographs are credited to Halliday Historic Photo Co. Interior shots depict the house in period settings.
Document 916.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Book contains handwriting exercises in a volume sold by Wm. J. Reynolds & Co., a schoolbook and stationery dealer in Boston. The front cover features an illustration of the Erie Canal, and the back cover features a multiplication table.
Document 818.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Includes handwriting exercises on the letters of the alphabet, words, phrases, etc. Pictures of children and farm animals illustrate the front cover, and a multiplication table is printed on the back cover.
Document 813.
Account books. 1795–1830.
1 vol. + 1 microfilm reel.
Several members of the Corbit family were involved in the operation of a tannery in Cantwell’s Bridge (now Odessa), Delaware. Established by William in 1767, the tannery was subsequently operated by his son, Pennell, from 1794 to 1820 and then by Pennell’s half-brother, Daniel, a former merchant, from 1820 to 1854.
Collection consists of seven account books—one an original manuscript, the others on microfilm—documenting the Corbit family’s tannery and the estate of Pennell Corbit. Included is an inventory of the tannery. Additional accounts seem to be for a general store run by John Starr and Samuel Thomas.
Name indexes appear in three of the volumes.
Collection 297; Microfilm M321.
Account book. 1784–86.
76 p.; 49 cm.
Cortlandt, Billings & Co. was a firm of New York City merchants.
Volume records products purchased and sold by the firm from 1784 through 1785. In 1786 the volume was used as a daybook and kept by a different hand. Most entries refer to household goods, including a writing desk, a backgammon table, closet locks, silver services, cutlery, children’s books, etc. Clients included members of the Stuyvesant, Ten Broeck, and Schuyler families as well as Alexander Hamilton. Customers who were craftsmen are sometimes identified by trade.
Folio 169.
Recipe book. 1749–50.
19 leaves; 20 cm.
Elizabeth Coultas probably lived in Pennsylvania.
Most of the recipes in this volume are for food or medicine. Included are recipes for making puddings, meatballs, meat dishes, pies, cakes, etc. Coultas also includes directions for fashioning salves, cold syrups, ointments, tooth powder, etc.
Document 1044.
Ledgers. 1760–70.
2 vols.
James Coultras, a resident of Blockley Township, Pennsylvania, was a farmer.
Coultras called his first volume “Daybook and ledger regarding my own concerns begin Jan. 1, 1760.” The second volume contains accounts related to the settlement of his estate. Both consist primarily of accounts related to agricultural pursuits and day laborers that Coultras hired. Volume two was subsequently used by E. W. Thomas, another farmer from Blockley Township, from 1815 to 1822.
Name index at the front of the volume.
Folio 235.
Photographs. Ca. 1890–1920.
17 items: ill.
Frank Cousins, an author and publisher, wrote about historic architecture.
Collection includes an album of photographs of historic buildings in Salem, Massachusetts. Both interior and exterior views are shown. They bear the series title Frank Cousins Bee Hive and were mounted by the Moulton-Erickson Photo Co. Some of the buildings featured include the Beckett house, the Essex Institute, the Old Sun Tavern, the Salem Athenaeum, and the Clifford Crowninshield House.
Photographs were published in The Colonial Architecture of Salem, by Cousins and Phil M. Riley (Boston: Little, Brown, 1919).
Collection 352.
Papers. 1813–16.
5 items.
The Coventry Glass Factory Company made blown-glass products, especially bottle glass and hollowware. Located in Coventry, Connecticut, it was established in 1813 by members of the Root family and four other individuals. The firm remained in existence until at least 1848.
Includes the company’s constitution, an agreement to build and operate a glass manufactory, a deed, a document associated with the appointment of Nathaniel Root Jr. as agent, and a receipt to Root Jr. for five shares in the company.
Account books of the firm located at the Connecticut State Library.
Document 738.
Lectures. 1821.
2 vols.; 23 cm.
Cowdrey’s lectures “On Botany” and “Beauties of Creation” were delivered before the Portsmouth and Portseas Philosophical Society in 1821. The botany talk concentrated on leaves, thorns, seeds, flowers, etc., whereas the creation lecture focused on the planets, the seasons, the atmosphere, birds, and insects.
Document 772.
Diary. 1866–68.
211 p.; 20 cm.
Florence Ashmore was a native of New Orleans. Around 1866 she married Capt. William Cowles, a Confederate soldier and graduate of Randolph Macon College. At the time Cowles kept this diary, she lived with her husband and his relatives in Petersburg, Virginia.
Diary entries primarily describe Cowles’s family life. Newly married, she declared her love for her husband but wrote negatively about her mother-in-law, describing her as ill-humored and highly critical. Cowles chronicled the development of her son, Will Jr., born in 1867, and remarked about other family members. There are, however, no comments about the recently ended Civil War.
Document 432.
Bills. 1854–56.
60 items.
Cowperthwait & Bros. was a general store in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Collection of bills documents the purchase of goods and their transport to the Cowperthwait’s store. Items mentioned include embroidered products, ribbons, brushes, brooms, knives, hammers, hats, soap, stationery, etc. Most shipments originated in Philadelphia or New York City.
Collection 478.
Sketchbook. 1833–36.
20 p.: ill.; 22 x 29 cm.
John Cranch was a portrait painter. A native of Washington, D.C., he was in Italy from 1830 to 1834 and later worked in New York, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.
Volume contains portrait studies of men and women in both ink and pencil. Cranch began his book in 1833 in Florence and continued to work on it after returning to the United States.
Document 166.
Account book. 1763–97.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
Robert Crane was a farmer and sawyer in southern Connecticut.
Book includes details associated with sawing planks, boards, and posts as well as drawing logs. Many of the entries have been crossed out, suggesting that accounts had been settled.
Photocopy of original held in private hands.
Document 895.
155 p.; 34 cm.
Kept by an unidentified chinaware merchant in Portland, Maine, this manuscript lists names of sailing vessels, types of items shipped, crate numbers, firms from which chinaware was purchased, and locations where merchandise was stored prior to sale. Mention is made of many kinds of ceramics: graniteware, painted tea sets, lusterware, soup tureens, mugs, jugs, chamber pots, etc. The book was later used as a catalogue of plants and insects “caught and raised” in Portland, Maine.
Document 677.
Papers. 1815–90.
8 boxes.
George Crawford was a merchant in Hudson, New York, who sold textiles, ready-made apparel, foodstuffs, and common household and farm necessities.
Collection consists of account books and business papers documenting Crawford’s purchases of goods from other merchants in advance of his own retailing efforts. Included are many tow boat bills, orders, and promissory notes.
Folder title list and indexes of occupations available.
Collection 47.
Bills. 1868.
11 items.
Orlanda Crease was the head of a committee formed to acquire an organ for St. David’s Church, Philadelphia.
Collection contains material relating to the design and building of St. David’s church organ, an invitation to hear its first performance, and a final report on the installation of the organ.
Document 276.
Receipt book. 1832–62.
118 p.; 16 x 10 cm.
Mary Cresson lived in Philadelphia, probably at 30 Sansom Street.
Volume records Mary Cresson’s household expenses in sporadic entries over a thirty-year period. The majority of entries detail repairs and other work on her house; other entries record purchases of food, wood, newspapers, etc.
Document 485.
Diary. 1883–1903.
2 vols.; 29 cm.
J. B. Crislip was a resident of West Virginia, probably of Braxton or Lewis County. He worked on a farm and from time to time on the railroad.
Consists of brief entries relating to Crislip’s daily activities, especially farm and outdoor work. He also mentions raising his house, repairing a variety of domestic objects, his day trips, and clerking at elections. From 1889 to 1903, Crislip laid and maintained track for the railroad.
Document 158.
Exercise book. 1858.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Jeremiah Crocker lived in Hartford, Connecticut.
Crocker’s book includes writing exercises and sample letters as well as poems written in fancy script and embellished with decorative scrollwork headings.
Document 672.
Account book. 1835–45.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
William Crocker worked as a painter and paperhanger in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Volume documents Crocker’s work whitewashing, painting, hanging wallpaper, cleaning windows, cutting glass, etc. At the beginning of the manuscript, Crocker lists places he lived and the amount of rent he paid.
Document 674.
Daybook. 1763–71.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
John Crooke was a baker in New York City.
Entries in this daybook record the quantities and types of bread sold by Crooke, including white bread, butter bread, ship’s bread, and hollow bread. He sold in quantities measured in barrels and kegs.
Document 630.
Account book. 1814–21.
92 p.; 34 cm.
Thompson Crowell was a hatmaker and owned a general store in Rahway, New Jersey.
Entries in the account book record hatmaking activities and document the transactions between Crowell and his customers, who in many instances paid Crowell with goods rather than money. Crowell often exchanged items with Adam Lee, who seems to have operated a store as well.
Document 343.
Papers. 1907–48.
1 box.
Francis Boardman Crowninshield attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated from Harvard in 1891. In 1898 he joined Troop K of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and took part in the Cuban campaign of the Spanish-American War. Crowninshield was interested in painting, architecture, design, and boating. He was a leading yachtsman and took part in America’s effort at winning the King of Spain cup in 1910. Crowninshield married Louise Evelina du Pont.
Papers consist of correspondence and other records that document Crowninshield’s activities in Boca Grande, Florida, and Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Finding aid available.
Archives 6.
Account book. 1793–95.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Samuel Cumings worked as a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts. He seems to have been involved with a stagecoach line in nearby Leominster as well.
Includes receipts for books sold by David West and E. Larkin to Samuel Cumings and entries related to passengers and fares on a stage line between Leominster and Boston.
Document 661.
Account book. 1826.
24 p.; 20 cm.
Charles Cuningham—in business with Andrew Cuningham Jr. at 13 Rowe’s Wharf, Boston—was a general merchant.
Account book includes an inventory of goods, ready money, and debts owed to and by Cuningham, dated January 1, 1826, as well as a record of ongoing business activity through November 20.
Document 277.
Account book. 1848–67.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 cm.
Charles R. Cunningham lived in Edgecomb, Maine.
Manuscript records Cunningham’s personal and household expenses for twenty years, though 1848, 1859, and 1861 are best represented. Also includes two pencil sketches of a house and its surrounding landscape.
Document 460.
Architectural drawings. 1863.
8 leaves: col. ill.; 34 cm.
Cunningham worked as an architect in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Cunningham’s thirteen detailed drawings were probably inspired by Andrew Jackson Downing’s work. The drawings show a dwelling, a stable, and a plan for stonework for a block of three houses at the corner of Bellingham and Shurtleff Streets in an unidentified city.
Folio 99.
2 boxes.
This collection contains early paper currency issued by Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Delaware, Georgia, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and the Continental Congress.
Index to objects named available.
Collection 67.
Account book. 1846–94.
2 vols.; 39 cm.
Daniel H. Currier made gloves and resided on a farm in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
The first volume documents Currier’s glovemaking activities from 1846 to 1858. He seems to have engaged several individuals to make parts of or entire gloves for him. Though the second volume contains entries related to glovemaking, it focuses on farmwork and produce. A few personal financial accounts and records relating to the settlement of Currier’s estate complete the manuscript.
Name index to volume 2 available.
Folio 114.
Papers. Ca. 1900–1938.
7 boxes.
Ernest S. Currier was a silversmith and collector of silver marks. In 1900, in New York City, he established the silversmithing firm of Currier & Roby, which specialized in reproductions of antique silver. At the time of his death, he was working on a book on American silversmiths, Marks of Early American Silversmiths with Notes on Silver, Spoon Types & List of New York Silversmiths, 1815–1841, that his wife would publish in 1938.
Includes more than 250 glass-plate negatives of silver marks; about 125 depictions of silver hollowware; notes used for the compilation of Marks of Early American Silversmiths … , New York city directory listings for silversmiths, goldsmiths, and jewelers; and a scrapbook containing obituaries of Currier and reviews of his book.
Finding aid available.
Collection 302.
Daybook. 1808–10.
554 p.; 40 cm.
Micajah Currier ran a general store in Berwick, Maine.
Manuscript notes sales and payments made in Currier’s store, sometimes with mention of the occupation of the customer. There is a series of entries relating to the sale of lottery tickets to support the construction of a canal. Volume was later used as a scrapbook.
Folio 152.
Account book. 1817–46.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
True Currier was a furnituremaker, house carpenter, and farmer from Deerfield, New Hampshire. He learned to make furniture from James Prescott.
Volume records a number of Currier’s woodworking activities: crafting chimney boards, framing doors, setting glass, and making a variety of furniture, including beds, chairs, stools, looking glasses, etc. There are references to agricultural pursuits and products.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 226.
Account book. 1865–66.
178 p.; 41 cm.
W. A. Currier operated a home furnishings store at 14 and 16 Main Street, Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Account book records the activities of a busy retail business for a ten-month period at the end of the Civil War. Currier sold a wide variety of products, ranging from wagons to tin plates, from ice cutters to rope, and from zinc washboards to shoe polish. He also repaired what he sold and noted the occupations of some of his customers.
Folio 111.
Diary and account book. 1857–99.
166 p.; 35 cm.
G. G. Curtiss relocated to Sheffield, Massachusetts, from Wisconsin, where he seems to have been a miller.
Diary covers his time in Wisconsin from May to July of 1857 and his subsequent life in Sheffield. In addition to being involved in milling activities, Curtiss was a bird-watcher, taught Latin, fixed clocks, hunted, and observed geological, natural, and floral phenomena. The account-book part of the volume features accounts of grist, plaster, saw, and lath mills in Harford County, Maryland.
Includes name index.
Document 843.
Account book. 1852–58.
293 p.; 32 cm.
John Dean Cushing was a printer from Salem, Massachusetts. He published a newspaper in his home town and another in Lenox, Massachusetts, before founding the Berkshire Courier, a Whig Party organ, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1834. Cushing’s business burned in the spring of 1839, interrupting his work for a month. During the 1840s, Cushing formed two partnerships and saw the name of his paper change with each. He sold his newspaper to Marcus H. Rogers in 1865.
Book records advertisements in Cushing’s paper along with his other printing activities. He mentions printing meeting announcements, business cards, notices, petitions, handbills, circulars, and the like.
Document 844.
Papers. 1787–1828.
1 box.
Nathaniel Cushing operated an ironworks in Pembroke, Massachusetts, that specialized in making anchors. He was from a fairly large family.
Papers consist of business letters, orders, invoices, bills, receipts, and a few personal letters. The business letters focus on his anchormaking and investments in overseas commerce, trading such products as iron, cotton, yarn, flour, and tobacco.
Cushing’s account books are located in the Manuscript Division of Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
Collection 19.
Account book. 1840–46.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
Salmon Cushman lived in Chittenden County, Vermont.
The bulk of the volume contains a detailed enumeration of the costs associated with building a meetinghouse, including specifications for construction and a list of needed supplies. Also included are a few pages of household accounts spanning from 1841 to 1846.
Document 510.
Personal account book. Ca. 1725.
15 p.; 15 cm.
Gershom Cutter appears to have been a farmer in eighteenth-century Massachusetts.
Book includes references to Cutter’s father and his estate along with other brief miscellaneous accounts.
Document 128.
Family account book. 1848–58.
152 p.; 27 cm.
Charles A. Cutting, a resident of Boston, worked for Thomas Groom & Co., a local stationer.
Consists of daily entries of income and expenses that give a detailed picture of Cutting’s life during the last two and one-half years of his bachelorhood and the early years of his married life. From mundane expenses to such things as his business agreement with Thomas Groom, this book gives an almost diarylike look at the life of a middle-class Bostonian in the years before the Civil War.
Document 144.
Building specifications. 1873.
37 leaves; 25 cm.
Cutting & Holmes was an architectural firm in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Specifications are for building a church for the First Congregational Society in West Meriden, Connecticut. Construction materials, dimensions relating to the structure, and many other specifics are included. Contractual agreements are also featured.
Document 464.
Daybook. 1805–6.
57 p.; 44 cm.
The partnership was a merchant shipping firm in Quebec, Canada, dealing in a variety of goods, chiefly food. Records include lists of purchases made to outfit the brig Recovery.
Volume records debits and credits that were to be transferred to the company’s account books. Paper in volume was made by L. Munn, Kent, England, in 1801, and the manuscript was acquired in London.
Folio 20.
Account book. 1854–56.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
The firm of D. Eggert & Son made nautical instruments in New York City.
Records items sold and repaired, including barometers, compasses, spyglasses, telescopes, quadrants, etc. Names of ships and captains are featured along with charges for work performed.
Document 502.
Bills. 1853–80.
49 items.
D. T. Lanman & Company, later D. T. Lanman & Kemp, and then Lanman & Kemp, was a wholesale drugstore in New York City.
Most of the bills are from various printers and engravers for wrappers and labels. A few stationers and other druggists are also represented.
List of names on bills available.
Collection 89.
Business papers. 1862–89.
1 envelope.
D. T. Sanders and Company appears to have been a general store in Greenville, Maine, near Moosehead Lake. Judging from the orders received, the store served area logging camps and trappers.
Bills were both sent to and issued by the firm. Commodities mentioned include flour, molasses, corn, tobacco, tea, clothing, hardware, snowshoes, hides, footwear, meat, lanterns, and wicks.
Collection 87.
Pattern book of cottons. 1887–1909.
54 p.; 21 cm.
D. & J. Anderson manufactured a wide variety of cotton fabrics in Glasgow, Scotland.
Pattern book consists of hundreds of small swatches of colored cotton fabrics, most measuring about 1 x 5 cm. Identification numbers, weaving information, and dates are written next to the swatches.
Collection 50.
Album. 1869.
1 vol.: ill.; 25 x 16 cm.
This album was kept by an 1869 visitor to Rome who identified herself as Miss Daily. It includes photographs and autographs of American and European sculptors and painters and their work.
Document 536.
Research notes. 1954–78.
1 box: ill.
Francis J. Dallett was a librarian at the Athenaeum, Philadelphia, when he compiled these notes. He later worked at the University of Pennsylvania Archives.
Dallett researched Philadelphia craftsmen, artists, and ship furniture. In particular, Dallett was interested in locating paintings by F. S. G. Melbye and Jacob Pissarro and in researching the cabin of Charlotte Bonaparte on the ship Ruth and Mary.
Collection 181.
Bills and accounts. 1841–43, 1856–60.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Richard Dampman was a merchant in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Manuscripts are glued into a volume that was once used by a tailor from 1841 to 1843. Dampman seems to have purchased goods in quantity from many Philadelphia merchants to resell in nearby rural Chester County. Noted are such items as tubs, pocketknives, coffee and tea, clothing, alcohol, and groceries.
Document 604.
12 p.; 11 cm.
Consists of descriptions of the steps for two square dances that were probably of English origin.
Document 323.
Account book. 1788–1818.
2 microfilm reels.
Job Danforth worked as a furnituremaker in Providence, Rhode Island.
Manuscript records the furniture that Danforth made and sold, repairs he made, etc.
Original manuscripts located at the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M2855, M2857.1.
Papers. 1739–1856, bulk 1809–34.
1 box.
Members of the Danforth family were engaged in the making of pewter and britannia wares from the 1730s to the 1840s. A native of England, Nicholas Danforth (born in 1589) relocated the family to America. His grandson, Thomas (1703–86), became the first Danforth pewterer. Most members of successive generations worked and lived in New England and Philadelphia.
Collection includes two account books kept by Thomas Danforth III (1756–1840) regarding the production of pewter and tin from 1809 to 1835. Also included are family deeds, financial records, and letters.
Photographs of Danforth’s pewter located in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection at Winterthur. Photocopies of Danforth family estate inventories in the papers of Ledlie I. Laughlin (Collection 58).
See entry 1199.
Finding aid available.
Collection 287.
Account books. 1764–1802.
1 microfilm reel.
Daniel Rea & Son was a Boston firm.
Accounts deal with painting that Rea & Son did, featuring work on houses, signs, buckets, floor coverings, boats, etc.
Name and object lists available.
Manuscripts included in Manuscripts in Baker Library: A Guide to Sources for Business, Economic, and Social History, published in 1978.
See entry 473.
Original account books located at Baker Library, Harvard University. Collection includes eight of the ten volumes there.
Microfilm M254.
Account book. 1808–30.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
Peter Darby was a native of Concord, Massachusetts. He eventually moved to Reading, Vermont, where he operated a sawmill on the Darby River, a body of water named for him.
Manuscript records the activities associated with a sawmill; it documents that Darby often received payment in farm produce. One of the pages, from 1920, provides information about Darby and tells how this volume was passed down through several generations of his family.
Folio 130.
Account book. 1800–1819.
33 leaves: ill.; 33 cm.
Robert Dare was a weaver, and William Thompson was an agricultural laborer.
Dare used this manuscript from 1800 to 1804 to record the names of his customers and money due. From 1816 to 1819, Thompson recorded his work: reaping, mowing, cutting wood, hauling, opening a creek, etc.
Document 1012; Microfilm M97.
Collection. 1849–87.
13 items: ill.
Many observers regard F. O. C. Darley as America’s foremost book and magazine illustrator of the mid nineteenth century. Darley, a native of Philadelphia, was a self-taught artist strongly influenced by French and English artists of his era. During his career, he worked with John Sartain, Thomas Sully, and Edgar Allen Poe, among others. In addition to illustrating stories, Darley displayed his work in many art exhibitions.
Collection includes letters written by Darley regarding his work; sketches, including one for a bank note; an engraving; and a copy of Illustrations of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, illustrated by Darley for members of the American Art Union in 1849.
Finding aid available.
Collection 242.
Daybook. 1826–33.
272 p.; 33 cm.
Benedict Darlington was a dry-goods merchant from West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Book records sales of ready-to-wear women’s clothing, textiles, and notions. Entries include names of customers, addresses, articles purchased, and prices. Some shoppers were members of prominent local families, including the du Ponts, Mendenhalls, and Pyles.
Document 623.
Papers. 1707–1869.
83 items.
Collection relates to the descendants of Ebenezer Davenport (1661–1852), residents of Dorchester, Massachusetts. The family trade seems to have been weaving, though some Davenports were shoemakers, and James (1796–1852) was a furnituremaker.
The majority of these papers are legal documents—wills, deeds, powers of attorney, contracts, etc.—and estate inventories. One item is a family genealogy that records James (1759–1824) and Esther (dates unavailable).
Finding aid available.
Collection 294.
Account book. 1811–13.
432 p.; 42 cm.
David Ott & Co. was a pharmacy in Washington, D.C.
Manuscript documents sales of drugs and related items as well as a wide range of domestic products, including spectacles, lamp oil, glasses, clothes brushes, packs of cards, artists supplies, etc. Among the firm’s prominent customers were James Madison, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Albert Gallatin.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 181.
Account book. 1877–89.
130 p.; 22 cm.
Eliza P. Davids, the widow of Richard W. Davids, was a resident of Philadelphia and a member of the Episcopalian church. An avid reader, Davids belonged to the Merion Cricket Club and also enjoyed traveling to Europe and Cape May, New Jersey. One of her sons was an engineering student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Manuscript includes a complete record of Eliza David’s household accounts for a period of twelve years. She purchased a number of household commodities and listed the names of people with whom she traded.
Document 206.
Daybook. 1781–83.
1 microfilm reel.
John Davidson was a merchant in Annapolis, Maryland.
Manuscript contains accounts for such items as building and construction materials, animals, clothing, firearms, food, gambling debts, metals, sewing equipment, textiles, tools, etc.
Name and occupation lists available.
Original daybook located at the Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1962.
Papers. 1826–77, bulk 1826–54.
150 items: ill.; 1 microfilm reel.
A. J. Davis worked first as a lithographer and then as an architect. He and Ithiel Town designed both public buildings and private dwellings. In 1843 Davis embarked upon a solo career that lasted thirty years. He is best known for his work in the Gothic revival.
Papers include drawings, lithographs, watercolors, photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, and letters that chart the development of Davis’s career. A microfilm reel lists the books in his library. A significant part of the collection relates to a house that Davis designed for William J. Rotch in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Information is also included on such New York City public buildings as the Merchant’s Exchange, Masonic Hall, Trinity Church, Bowery Theater, etc. Papers also contain floor plans drawn by Bela Hubbard, a Detroit, Michigan, resident.
Collection inventory available.
Collection 114; Microfilm M717.
Records. 1802–13.
5 vols.; 4 microfilm reels.
Outten Davis ran a general store in Cantwell’s Bridge (now Odessa), Delaware, taking over from Gibson & Co., a firm that had been in business since at least November 1802.
Volumes include daily records of purchases made at Davis’s store and the settlement of various estates. Beginning in volume 4, there are references to Middletown, Delaware.
Volumes 1, 3–5 also available on microfilm.
Collection 23; Microfilm M749–M752.
Diary. 1811–18.
1 microfilm reel.
Mehetable May Dawes lived in Boston while she kept her diary.
Manuscript records the activities of a well-to-do Boston household during the second decade of the nineteenth century.
Original diary located in the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College.
Microfilm M1421.
Diary. 1899–1900.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Walter Dawkins, a graduate of St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, was a lawyer and judge in Baltimore.
Diary documents Dawkins’s activities in 1899 and includes a few reflections penned in 1900. He recorded weather observations, wrote about his activities as an attorney, noted leisure pursuits, and commented on local and national political events.
Other Walter Ireland Dawkins papers located at the Baltimore City Archives.
Document 550.
Account book. 1815–24.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Noah Day was a blacksmith in Granville, New York.
Day’s book records his activities mending scythes, shoeing horses, repairing plows, and making such products as nails, axes, staples, links, and other metal objects. There are references to his agricultural pursuits as well.
Document 934.
529 p.; 33 cm.
The keeper of this manuscript was a tailor in New York City.
Manuscript indicates that this busy tailor (apparently of a prominent clientele) made coats, pantaloons, breeches, and other garments and repaired clothing. He recorded purchases of supplies and reported the extra costs associated with orders for special buttons, collars, and stylistic details.
Document 554.
380 p.; 31 cm.
The keeper of this manuscript was probably from Tolland County, Connecticut. Many of his clients and associates lived in Hebron, Connecticut.
Contains daily entries of debits and credits related to the maintenance of a general store. There are more entries recording the purchase of paper than is usual. One transaction, for example, notes the purchase of twenty-one reams by Steman, Willard & Co.
Name index and object list available.
Document 122.
70 p.: ill.; 35 cm.
This daybook came from a town in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, perhaps Bethlehem.
Volume contains the records of an unnamed milliner who also sold frocks and capes. There are four pages written in German and headed “Ausgeben zu einem Hausbau” that refer to foodstuffs. Two crude pencil sketches of ships are also contained within the volume.
Document 124.
171 leaves; 33 cm.
Contains daily receipts and expenditures of an unnamed New Yorker. Many entries mention the Brinckerhoff and Van Wagenen families, disbursements for missionary work by the Protestant Episcopal Church, and shipping. Early pages record sales of metal and metal products, such as iron, nails, pewter, brass, scissors, and knives.
Document 101.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Manuscript records the activities of a general store in St. George’s, Delaware, from 1810 to 1811 and in Pigeon Run from 1811 to 1812. The store may have been operated by someone in the Polk family.
Volume records the daily transactions of the store, in which a wide variety of products were sold. Some customers are identified as being “Negro.”
Document 382.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
An unnamed shoemaker, probably from Rhode Island, used this volume to record his work on shoes and boots. He mentioned such activities as attaching heels, repairing soles, and taping.
Document 885.
143 p.; 44 cm.
This daybook was maintained at an unidentified lumberyard and sawmill located in Philadelphia.
Entries in daybook relate to business activity for only the second half of 1826. There were contacts with the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, the city commissioners, and James R. Greeves, who paid for lumber delivered on the accounts of the houses on Arch and Chestnut Streets. An extensive list of supplies enumerates the materials needed to construct homes at these two sites.
Folio 23.
21 p.; 34 cm.
The unknown keeper of this daybook operated a general store in Greenwich, New Jersey.
Contains approximately 275 entries that document purchases at the Greenwich general store from September 23 to November 18, 1828. Food, liquors, fabrics, shoes, and earthenware are mentioned.
Document 453.
424 p.; 40 cm.
The general store documented in these pages was probably located in Vermont.
Entries record a wide variety of items sold over a two-year period. The writer often recorded the colors of the ceramics and fabrics that he sold.
Folio 131.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
The keeper of this manuscript operated a general store in Fairfield, Vermont. The unnamed merchant recorded the products that he sold, including snuff, bed cords, nails, wooden clocks, and spinning wheels.
Document 565.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Book records the sale of goods at a general store in Richmond, Rhode Island, over a four-and-a-half-year period.
Folio 138.
267 p.; 39 cm.
Book records the activities of a blacksmith in the vicinity of Gardiner and Hallowell, Maine, who made or repaired such items as hoes, chains, wagon tires, horseshoes, knives, and staples. He also sawed and hauled lumber.
Folio 243.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
The keeper of this volume was a joiner and turner in Dorset, Vermont.
In addition to entries recording joining and turning activities, this volume documents such activities as framing, casing windows, making doors and sashes, mending plows, making beds, etc. Household purchases are also mentioned.
Document 541.
1 vol.; 17 x 21 cm.
Volume records items sold in a general store in Chatham, New Hampshire. A wide range of products are mentioned, including candles, combs, ribbons, textiles, molasses, cheese, and dishes.
Document 904.
482 p.; 42 cm.
Contains records of daily transactions at a Hampton County, Massachusetts, general store. Items sold include food, footwear, dry goods, nails, medicines, clothing, and hats.
Folio 3.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this manuscript recorded the shipment of goods between Newburyport, Massachusetts, and other Massachusetts communities, both over land and by water. Many items appear to have been produced by local farmers and artisans. On occasion, raw materials, such as lumber and nails, were shipped to craftsmen, who in turn sent back doors, finished furniture, and table frames. Entries include dates, items shipped, the weight of the items, destinations, customer names, and fees charged.
Folio 299.
400 p.; 40 cm.
Manuscript contains the daily records of a Slateford, Pennsylvania, company store. Entries show purchases of consumer goods by employees of the company. Consumers purchased food, school slates, and the firm’s products. Workers’ monthly wages are also recorded.
Name index available.
Folio 35.
15 p.; 35 cm.
The individual who kept this volume was a carpenter and housebuilder in Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
Carpentry activities, such as building frames, making doors, installing window springs, and drilling, are noted. Brackets, timber, nails, brick, and pieces of hardware are mentioned in the volume’s entries.
Document 573.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
An unidentified general store merchant from Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, kept this book.
Manuscript notes the daily transactions of a shopkeeper who sold a variety of consumer products, including food, cups and saucers, dry goods, carpets, lace, pen holders, etc.
Folio 210.
114 p.; 20 cm.
Contains daily records of work done by a Philadelphia clock- and watch-repairer. Entries include date, name of customer, type of timepiece repaired, the nature of the repair, and the maker of the piece and his place of work. Serial numbers are included as well. Many timepieces mentioned had been made in Europe.
Document 132.
292 p.; 36 cm.
Manuscript was kept by an unidentified general store owner from Wells River, Vermont. Entries typically include the name of the customer, what he or she purchased, and the price.
Document 998.
720 p.; 17 x 41 cm.
The unnamed keeper of this manuscript documented the daily transactions of a hardware store in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. The majority of items sold at the store were hand tools, household supplies, and kitchen utensils. A wide variety of varnishes, paints, and finishing supplies for decorative work on wood were also sold. The last page of the book contains a list of customers with outstanding bills.
Folio 275.
2 vols.; 41 cm. or smaller.
Volumes record the activities of an unidentified store in Bath, Maine, that sold a variety of furniture and accessories. Included are entries for thousands of sales and purchases, often including information on items purchased, buyers’ names, and prices. Manuscript also lists names of wholesale suppliers and records the firm’s furniture repair activities.
Folio 238.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
The unidentified keeper of these volumes was a jeweler and watch-repairer in Central City, Colorado, where gold had been discovered in 1859.
One volume is about jewelry, and the other is about watch repair. The first volume includes an inventory of gold on hand as of June 30, 1867.
Document 595.
Account book. 1760–62.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
P. A. de Brissac was a textile designer and textile blockmaker of Huguenot descent who lived in London. He was related to several London silk weavers.
Entries record a variety of fabric designs. Once designs were approved by the weavers who would produce the finished products, De Brissac cut wood blocks to print them. Occasionally he noted the need to alter patterns and make revisions.
Partial name index available.
Document 759.
Account book. 1680–88.
1 microfilm reel.
Themis De Key was a shopkeeper in New York City.
Manuscript includes records for a general or dry goods store. Entries include the name of the customer, items purchased, unit cost, and total cost. Each entry has a number that may have been used as a customer identification number. The book is in Dutch.
Microfilm M88.
Account book. 1777–78.
68 leaves; 21 cm.
Lady De La Warr was the daughter of Lt.-Gen. John Wynyard. She married John, second earl De La Warr, on August 8, 1756.
Account book records daily household expenses incurred between December 1777 and May 1778. Recurring costs were for meat, shellfish, poultry, fish, vegetables, bread, writing paper, butchering, chimney sweeping, washing, etc. The names of domestic servants are recorded.
Document 67.
Account book. 1875–87.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Members of the De Turk family were involved in the cattle trade, possibly in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Book records the sale of cattle as well as lumber, coal, grain, flour, feed, etc.
Document 612.
Memorandum book. 1859–68.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Volume was kept by C. L. Deacon, who served as foreman of a woolen mill owned by S. W. Nichols. The mill was located near Philadelphia.
Deacon noted mill activities as they occurred, such as the movement of machinery, the arrival of wool for dyeing, the distribution of orders, and the work patterns of employees. The last portion of the manuscript includes recipes for dyeing and samples of dyed wool.
Document 400.
Memorandum book. 1832–1906.
1 vol.: ill.; 31 cm.
John Dean owned and operated a farm in Dutchess County, New York.
Book records genealogical information about Dutchess County families, remedies for various illnesses, records of Dean’s farming activities, recipes for dyeing, and embroidery patterns. These patterns probably date from the 1870s.
Document 233.
Account books. 1835–84.
4 vols.; 22 cm.
A native of Raynham, Massachusetts, Theodore Dean was a farmer and an assistant at his father’s iron manufacturing business. He was also a teacher. In 1851 the Bristol County Bank chose him as a director; two years later, he became the bank’s president. In 1866, when he was a resident of Taunton, Massachusetts, and a landowner, Dean was elected to the state legislature.
Volumes document Dean’s business transactions and personal expenses. Volume 4, dating from 1850 to 1884, records personal expenses, including repairs to various properties and purchases of furniture, household goods, clothing, etc. Of special interest are appraised inventories of several dwellings that Dean owned.
Collection 379.
Account book. 1805–8.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Jacob Dearborn was a blacksmith from Parsonfield, Maine.
Volume records the activities of a rural blacksmith. Occasionally there are notes regarding the settlement of accounts. Agricultural products are routinely mentioned.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 471.
Paper dolls. Ca. 1930.
20 items: col. ill.
The Deininger Bakery was located in Rochester, New York.
Consists of five paper dolls—four girls and one boy—each with three sheets of clothing and hats that were to be given away with the purchase of the bakery’s bread. The doll’s costumes are uncut. Printing done by the American Colortype Co.
Collection 220.
Receipt book. 1796–1848.
1 vol.; 17 x 10 cm.
John Delanoy lived in New York City.
Volume contains receipts for money paid by Delanoy to his landlords and creditors. He purchased several spinning wheels along with food products, clothing, and other items necessary for daily life. The volume seems to have been used by a John Mildeberger in the 1830s to record rent receipts and by Benjamin Lewin in the 1840s as a general receipt book.
Document 479.
Papers. Ca. 1720–1810.
1 folder + 1 microfilm reel.
Joshua Delaplaine worked as a carpenter, joiner, and merchant in New York City. Three of his sons also became merchants. They exported and imported such products as furniture, indigo, sugar, and various foodstuffs. Delaplaine also sold wood and hardware to local furnituremakers, some of whom were his former apprentices.
Papers include ephemeral items from Delaplaine’s business, including a contract of indenture, records of consignment, a receipt, and an advertisement for a runaway. In addition, papers feature microfilm copies of Delaplaine’s account books that document his furnituremaking.
Original manuscripts located at the New York Historical Society.
Name index available.
Collection 387; Microfilm M666.
Receipt book. 1853–62, 1875–88.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
The D. L. & W.’s headquarters was located at 49 Wall Street, New York City. The company operated many local railway stations throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Receipt book records shipments received at the New Milford station from 1875 to 1878 and includes loose papers that relate to the railroad business for the years 1853 to 1888. Receipt book notes items shipped, individuals and businesses receiving goods, and delivery dates.
Folio 120.
Daybook. 1830.
340 p.; 38 cm.
Demerritt and Leavitt operated a general store, tavern, stagecoach stop, and post office in Northwood, New Hampshire.
Includes income and expenditures from May to December for a variety of goods sold and items accepted in trade, especially produce and watches sold to pay for liquor. Mention is made of Shaker brooms and pails, hardware, textiles, umbrellas, stoneware, books, tobacco, candles, etc.
Folio 257.
Bills. 1791–1823.
16 items.
Chauncey Demming lived near New York City.
This modest collection of bills documents a wide variety of domestic household goods purchased by Demming, including pepper, vitriol oil, chocolate, hats, whip lashes, velvet ribbon, furniture, pins, and shovels. He bought everything from New York City–based firms.
Collection 475.
Account book. 1830–75.
260 p.; 32 cm.
Arad Denison of Leyden, Massachusetts, was a textile dyer, handyman, and storekeeper. It is said that he patented a mousetrap. In 1827 Denison married Pru Barrows; they had nine children.
The manuscript, used as both a daybook and a ledger, documents Denison’s dyeing activities and refers to dressing colored cloth, especially flannel, cotton, and worsted wool. Dye recipes are also included. As a handyman, Denison repaired brass kettles, filed saws, sharpened knives, cleaned and repaired time pieces, wallpapered and painted clients’ residences, and made coffins, cradles, and bedsteads.
Document 1002.
Account book. 1821–41.
179 p.; 32 cm.
Edmund P. Dennett was a cooper and farmer in Buxton, Maine.
Manuscript records the activities of a cooper, including hooping, making pails, mending barrels, and crafting tubs. Agricultural pursuits are also mentioned. References to footwear suggest that Dennett may have made and repaired shoes as well.
Document 503.
Private account of stock invested. 1890–94.
102 p.; 22 cm.
Walter E. Dennis was a printer in Central Falls, Rhode Island. In 1892 he insured his equipment for $1,500.00.
Volume contains eighty bills for printing supplies, including type fonts, cuts, ink, rollers, and leading that Dennis purchased from suppliers in Boston, Philadelphia, and South Windham, Connecticut. Also contains four of Dennis’s trade cards.
Document 42.
Records. 1779–1889.
7 microfilm reels.
The Denny-O’Hara Company made glass in Pittsburgh.
Collection includes account books, business letters, receipts, miscellaneous accounts, and newspapers related to the firm’s glassmaking activities.
Finding aid available.
Original materials located at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2716–M2722.
Scrapbook. 1865–1931.
304 p.: ill.; 66 cm.
Charles Derleth compiled this scrapbook. An engineer, he taught at the University of Colorado from 1901 to 1903 and then at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1903 to 1942, where he later served as a dean. He did consulting work as well. Around 1870 his grandfather, Michael Joseph Derleth, established the cabinetmaking form of M. J. Derleth & Sons in New York City and operated it with his three sons, including Charles’s father.
Scrapbook includes drawings, clippings, blueprints, and photographs of furniture, buildings, facial features, dwellings, geometric figures, and tool charts helpful to the practice of engineering. Original work was done by various members of the Derleth family.
Scrapbook was presented to Charles Derleth’s daughter on Christmas Day, 1931.
Folio 81.
Account books. 1861–1906.
2 vols.; 40 cm.
D. Derr worked as a furnituremaker in Straustown, Pennsylvania.
A daybook and ledger record the furniture that Derr made and repaired, including tables, beds, cribs, sewing stands, bureaus, and chairs. Numbers next to entries in the daybook refer to ledger accounts.
Name index at front of ledger.
Folio 233.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
The carriagemaker or -makers who maintained this volume were from Merrimac, Massachusetts, a town known for its carriage manufacturing during the 1870s and 1880s.
About 250 entries describe different carriages and include their features, such as the shape and color of the body, the kind of cloth used for the seat, the maker of the axle, etc. Each entry has a number that corresponds to a carriage model and initials, perhaps of the purchaser, alongside most of the descriptions.
Document 295.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 46 cm.
Book contains 117 painted designs for either wallpaper or textiles that were probably French in origin. Many are abstract floral patterns, some appear to be border designs, and a few are numbered.
Folio 188.
130 p.: ill. (some col.); 40 cm.
Consists of hundreds of pencil sketches of English silver objects. The sketches, arranged and numbered as if for a catalogue, depict a variety of objects, including toilet sets and accessories, tableware and flatware, frames for photographs, tea sets, desk furnishings, baby articles, candlestick holders, vessels, and other items. Some drawings were sketched directly onto the pages of the volume while others were pasted in.
Folio 37.
1 portfolio of 210 items: col. ill.; 35 cm.
A stationer’s label from Rouen and French writing contained within this book indicate that its unnamed owner must have been French.
Includes 210 designs for textiles. Geometric shapes predominate, and most designs are brightly colored.
Collection 410.
60 items: ill.
Consists of commercial and hand-drawn decorative designs, many on tissue paper, for needlework, japanning, china painting, etc. Illustrations feature insects, flowers, and geometric shapes. Included are designs and suggestions for use of color from the D. M. Campana Co., advertised as “De Luxe China Painting Designs” and distributed by Thayer & Chandler, a Chicago firm that specialized in handicraft materials.
Collection 365.
Account book. 1811–23.
18 leaves; 34 cm.
Johannes Dettman was a weaver and probably a resident of Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records Dettman’s business transactions. Most entries reveal that he sold linen and cotton cloth.
Text is in German.
Document 1064.
Illuminated music book. 1821.
8 leaves: ill. (some col.); 9 x 17 cm.
Joseph Detweiler was a Mennonite and probably lived in Pennsylvania.
Book contains music to twenty-eight hymns. First lines were used as titles, and several indicate the psalm or text of origin. The title page features an illumination depicting flowering plants within a decorative border.
Text is in German.
Document 1063.
Recipe book. Ca. 1871.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Mrs. Charles W. Devitt and Mrs. M. Lex, both Philadelphia residents, contributed recipes to this volume.
Manuscript includes instructions for making cakes, puddings, wines, and popovers and includes a remedy for dyspepsia.
Document 324.
Account book. 1839–1864.
1 microfilm reel.
H. F. Dewey was a chairmaker from Bennington, Vermont.
Accounts in this manuscript record Dewey’s chairmaking activities.
Original item located at the Shelburne Museum.
Microfilm M2431.
Papers. 1841–91.
2 boxes: ill.
Portraitist Henry Dexter studied painting in Boston with Francis Alexander. He became a well-known sculptor, though he had never been formally instructed in the medium. Charles Dickens, James Buchanan, and many American governors sat for him. After his death his daughter, Anna Douglas, donated many of his works to the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection contains business letters and invoices, correspondence between Dexter and members of his family, exhibit advertisements, publicity for his sculpture, and a paper related to the patent of a bust. Particularly noteworthy are a manuscript entitled “History of Sculpture in America,” a catalogue of items in Dexter’s studio, and an autobiographical sketch. In addition this collection encompasses some of Anna Dexter’s papers, including a travel diary of a trip to Florida.
Collection 405.
Scraps on balloons. 1783–1866.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Hugh W. Diamond lived in Surrey, England.
Includes newspaper clippings, handwritten comments, and pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations that pertain to ballooning. It is likely that Diamond began assembling this volume in 1848.
Document 433.
19 vols.; 11 cm.
Includes annotated volumes of Poor Will’s Almanack kept by three different people. An unidentified individual who noted that he courted the daughter of Joseph Saunders maintained the earliest of the volumes. He also recorded the furniture that the British confiscated from his Philadelphia residence in 1778. Diaries dating from 1780 to 1782 were kept by David Stewart; he may have kept them for 1784, 1787, and 1788 as well. Stewart had a farm near the Delaware River, and he recorded entries regarding his agricultural pursuits and the raising of livestock. Another series of diaries kept by a third hand records financial dealings, lists wind directions, and charts ships leaving a harbor, probably Philadelphia. The 1829 almanac is not annotated.
Collection 176.
2 vols.: ill. (some col.); 29 x 36 cm.
Although the keeper of these volumes is unknown, it is clear that he was an artist living in Boston and that he was probably from a well-to-do family.
Volumes contain handwritten descriptions and original drawings and watercolors that describe the keeper’s travels during a period of about fifteen years. He visited Key West, Florida; Saint Augustine, Cuba; Charleston, South Carolina; Annapolis; Philadelphia; New York City; and places throughout New England and Canada. Drawings show seascapes, slave quarters, city views, plantations, public buildings, and local landmarks. The keeper recorded his frank opinions of the things he saw on his travels.
Typescript of text available.
Folio 143.
1 microfilm reel.
An unidentified seaman wrote this manuscript. It describes sea and weather conditions on a trip to Macao.
Original diary located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M106.
100 p.; 16 cm.
The unnamed keeper of this diary was a widow from Utica, New York.
Manuscript describes a journey through central and western New York State, roughly following the route of the unfinished Erie Canal, from June 21 to July 27, 1821. There are frequent references to work on the waterway and descriptions of the landscape, towns, houses, roads, and taverns along the way. In addition, the writer discusses Auburn Prison, the Oneida Indian Reservation, and Niagara Falls.
Document 214.
238 p.; 21 cm.
The diarist was an unidentified American young man who was traveling in Europe.
Manuscript begins with an account of an ocean passage to Southampton, England. The writer recorded his experiences in England, France, and Italy, commenting on many famous sites, such as the Tower of London, the British Museum, the Louvre, Versailles, the Vatican, and the Baths of Diocletian. During his trip he visited the studios of several artists.
Document 552.
111 p.; 16 cm.
An unnamed American kept this diary while he journeyed in Europe. He spent time in Venice, Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, and London. He took a cruise on the Rhine and compared it with the Hudson River in the United States. The writer stopped at historic sites, museums, and churches in the cities through which he traveled.
Document 776.
12 p.; 20 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this diary, an apparently well-to-do young woman originally from Jersey City, New Jersey, resided on Twenty-third Street in New York City.
Writings relate to the author’s impressions of hotels and of the appearances and characteristics of their lodgers. In addition she describes the furnishings of hotels in France and Italy that she saw during a trip to Europe.
Document 731.
128 p.; 10 cm.
The keeper of this diary was a trader, repairman, handyman, and farmer in the vicinity of Richmond, Maine. His last name may have been Curtis, and his wife’s maiden name may have been Brooks.
Manuscript principally records the diarist’s trading activities as he went door-to-door with such items as Britannia ware, spikes, and barrels that he made in his own shop. He noted the streets on which he traded and the names of people in Richmond with whom he boarded. The diarist indicated that he was a devout Baptist and sympathetic to the temperance movement.
Document 800.
192 p.; 35 cm.
While this farmer’s diary is unsigned, the cover bears the initials C.A.C. Internal evidence suggests that the surname of the keeper was either Clough or Church. Further evidence suggests that he was a Quaker, a resident of Maine, and a member of the A. O. U[nited]. W[orkman’s]. union.
Diary summarizes the activities of a farmer, including descriptions of the weather, daily work undertaken (haying, gardening, preparing the soil, butchering, repairing fences, etc.), travel, and attendance at union gatherings. Of particular interest are entries made each January giving a detailed inventory of the diarist’s farm and its value.
Folio 284.
110 p.; 26 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this diary of a trip to Europe seems to have been well educated and may have been a minister from Oakland, Maine. His traveling companion was a Mr. Roy.
The travel account describes the keeper’s trip from Oakland, Maine, to New York City, where he had secured passage on a ship for an Atlantic crossing to Ireland. From there, he went to Scotland and then to England, where he focused his time on the sights of London. The traveler then crossed the English Channel into France and took a train from Calais to Paris. In Paris, he saw such places as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Versailles, an exhibit at Machinery Hall on Thomas Edison’s exploits, the Arc de Triomphe, etc. The writer’s views are clearly expressed through very descriptive narrative.
Document 983.
268 p.; 34 cm.
The unnamed diarist seems to have been an elderly widow with two children who lived close to Rutland, Vermont.
Manuscript records the sedentary life of the diarist. Her son, Joseph, and her daughter, Lucy, customarily brought groceries and mail to her and helped to clean her home. The diarist recorded visits by others; observed events through her front window; and recorded when household chores, such as rug cleaning and window screen installation, needed to be done.
Bound with an account book of a blacksmith, 1866–67; see entry 54.
Document 236.
1 vol.; 43 cm.
Manuscript was used by someone associated with an ironworks near Haverstraw, New York.
Book notes the daily output and activities of the ironworks from January to August 1810. References are made to an anchor shop, a smith shop, and a grist mill.
Folio 205.
52 p.; 21 cm.
William Johnston, a cabinetmaker and joiner in Mill Creek Hundred, Delaware, may have been the keeper of this diary.
Manuscript documents the work of a cabinetmaker who also helped with barn raisings, constructed window sashes, put up fences, and made coffins. He often made furniture.
Name and object index available.
Document 739.
Personal account books. 1888–1900.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Mary H. and E. H. Dibble were residents of New Lisbon, Ohio. They may have been unmarried sisters who shared a house.
Books contain a very detailed listing of income and expenses made for the household over a twelve-year period at the end of the nineteenth century. The second volume records expenditures for food.
Document 147.
Papers. 1815–84.
1 vol. + 1 file folder.
Abner Dickinson was a farmer in Glastonbury, Connecticut, during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Collection contains accounts recording the use of Dickinson’s cattle, wagons, plows, and horses and sales of cider, grain, and produce. Loose manuscripts relate to his service in the Mexican War from 1845 to 1848 and include deeds for property in New Britain, Connecticut.
Collection 16.
Remarks on painting. Ca. 1835–46.
1 vol.; 26 cm.
Obadiah Dickinson was a portrait and genre painter. Born in Haddam, Connecticut, he worked in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut, and exhibited his works at the National Academy from 1839 to 1844.
Includes remarks about various painters and painting techniques. Dickinson wrote about Gilbert Stuart’s methods of painting portraits and included extracts from John Burnet’s works, observations on painting drapery, notes on cleaning paintings, etc.
Index of artists mentioned available.
Document 704.
25 items: col. ill.
Collection consists of twenty-five Victorian-era die cuts—sometimes referred to as scraps and chromos—depicting a number of activities and subjects. Children in costume, a couple in a boat, a woman kneeling before a cross, carriage riders, and a huntsman are among the images depicted. There are also animals, flowers, and views of houses.
Collection 122.
Ledger. 1815–34.
86 leaves; 19 cm.
Amasa Dimmick was a merchant from Orwell, Pennsylvania.
Various types of produce, meats, grains, liquor, and household goods passed through Dimmick’s store. Goods and labor were often used for payment instead of currency. A list of materials used for building a schoolhouse is included as well.
Includes name index.
Document 972.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Manuscript directory lists commission merchants in New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, and includes the names of firms, agents, and types of merchandise handled.
Document 517.
Letter book. Ca. 1813–26.
1 microfilm reel.
Dixon and Smith, more recently James Dixon & Sons of Sheffield, England, engaged in the retail trade and sold silver-plated wares.
Letters in this collection concern orders and payments for goods. They were written over an undated illustrated catalogue of the firm. Also on this reel of film is another undated, illustrated, priced catalogue for James Dixon & Sons.
Microfilm M852.
1 microfilm reel.
Documents include bills of exchange and import-export records of goods shipped to the United States from England as well as records of shipping charges. Pottery goods are frequently included.
Original manuscripts located at the Hanley Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Microfilm M934.
Papers. 1860–76.
.5 cu. ft.
William H. C. Dodd and S. Walter Dodd were engravers from Newark, New Jersey. They succeeded S. Dodd & Son, and their shop was located at 306 Broad Street. William H. C. Dodd apparently sold coal as well. Much of their work involved engraving on rings, silverware, dishes, watches, door plates, coffin plates, and so forth.
Collection consists of an account book, a design book, and more than 550 receipts. The account book contains daily sales records between November 1868 and March 1870 and monthly debits for a coal operation from 1874 to 1876. The design book features thousands of engraved images used in the Dodd’s engraving business. The receipts document purchases made by the business, including envelopes, stencil tools, and die cuts.
Collection 504.
Account book. 1813–23.
1 microfilm reel.
Eliza Dodds was a milliner and seamstress in Georgetown and Washington, D.C.
Manuscript comprises more than 400 pages of accounts that document Dodds’s occupation, including the kinds of fabrics she chose to work with, the types of sewing she performed, her customers’ names, and prices she charged.
Original manuscript located at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M2746.
Records. 1776–1851.
1 box.
Joseph Dodge was a potter in Exeter and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father, Jabez, established the Exeter Pottery Works. Dodge’s brothers, sons, and maternal relations were also potters.
Records consist of an account book kept by Dodge from 1832 to 1842, deeds for property, and estate papers. The account book features a record of pottery production, especially redware.
Originals of legal papers located at the Office of the Register of Probates and Deeds, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
Collection 306.
Illustrated Florida. Ca. 1882.
16 plates: col. ill.; 13 x 19 cm.
The Dodge Art Publishing Company was based in Buffalo, New York.
These chromolithographed cards are part of a larger series, Illustrated Resorts, that Dodge published in the 1880s. They show various places in Florida, including St. John’s River, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Palatka. Also portrayed are riverboats, plantations, produce, and home life.
Document 1083.
Records. 1802–48.
12 items.
John Doggett was a furnituremaker, carver, and gilder working principally in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Boston. A son, John Jr., and a brother, Samuel, worked with him in his business. By 1822 Doggett had begun buying, selling, and framing prints and portraits, and he later became involved in importing and making carpets. He opened another store in Philadelphia under the name of Doggett, Fransworth & Co. and another in New York City with his son. Doggett retired sometime during the late 1840s, leaving business affairs under the direction of his brother, Samuel, and Samuel S. Williams.
Collection includes a daybook, kept from 1802 to 1809; a letter book, kept from 1825 to 1829; and ten bills, three of which are photocopies. The daybook documents what Doggett and his associates did each day, while the letter book relates to what he imported. The bills refer to carpets and painted floor cloths.
Name index available.
Collection 330; Microfilm M2812–M2813.
Bill of lading book. 1718–40.
1 microfilm reel.
John Dolbeare worked as a merchant in Boston.
Manuscript records Dolbeare’s shipments of metalware (pewter, brass, and iron) and other commodities (furs, apples, oil, gun powder, whale bone, silver, gold, etc.) to other ports, both domestic and foreign.
Original manuscript located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M1912.
Papers. 1764–1905.
3 boxes.
Members of the Dominy family settled in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, during the 1600s. The papers of several members of the Dominy family are contained within this collection, including Nathaniel IV (1737–1812), Nathaniel V (1770–1852), Felix (1800–1868), and Nathaniel VII (1827–1910). The family was best known for its watch- and clockmaking and furniture production.
Collection includes account books, letters, weather diaries, bills, receipts, notes, exercise books, and watch papers. Of special note are the account books that document the variety of activities performed by the Dominys as well as the tools they needed for their work. Watch registers record the names of original makers and owners, watch numbers, and types of repairs.
Finding aid available.
Related material located at the East Hampton, New York, Public Library; photographs of Dominy-made furniture in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection of the Winterthur Library; Dominy family artifacts on display at Winterthur Museum.
Collection used for With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen of East Hampton, N.Y., by Charles F. Hummel, published by the University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1968.
Collection 265; Microfilm M219, M245.
Account book. 1850–54.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Amelia Donnel and her family lived in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, probably on a farm. She had five children and employed domestic servants and other help, suggesting that the Donnels were prosperous.
Volume contains a list of individuals who were paid by the Donnels for shoemaking, sewing, and supplying the family’s icehouse as well as a list of purchases of household commodities. The manuscript also contains summaries of household expenses, money spent on travel, and wages paid to domestic help.
Folio 58.
Account book. 1816–43.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
John Doolittle was a furniture- and chairmaker from New Haven and later Wallingford, Connecticut.
In addition to his furnituremaking activities, Doolittle built fences, painted, cleaned clocks, decorated furniture, made wagon chairs, etc. Agricultural labor is also noted.
Document 511.
Account books. 1833–38.
2 vols.; 17 cm.
Sawyer Joseph Doolittle, probably a resident of New England, used these volumes to record his sawing, primarily making planks out of logs. The number of logs and subsequent feet of boards are both noted. Doolittle also made broom handles.
Document 898.
Research notes. 1954–60.
1 box.
Charles G. Dorman was a museum curator. He served as manager of Danby Galleries of Wilmington, Delaware, then as assistant curator in the Division of Political History, Smithsonian Institution, and then worked at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. He collected Delaware-specific artifacts.
Includes notes for and a typescript of what Dorman called “A Survey of Delaware Cabinetmakers, 1700–1830.” With additions, this work was later issued as Delaware Cabinetmakers and Allied Artisans, 1655–1855 (Wilmington: Historical Society of Delaware, 1960).
Collection 261.
Account books and diary. 1801–58.
2 microfilm reels.
Sullivan Dorr resided in Canton, China, from 1800 to 1804 and then returned to Providence, Rhode Island, to live.
Collection includes a memorandum book dated 1801 that offers details of conducting business with the Chinese; an account book of family expenses; and a diary detailing the construction of Dorr’s house at 109 Benefit Street, Providence, from 1809 to 1812.
At the time of filming, materials were “owned by Providence Preservation Society at the Rhode Island Historical Society.”
Microfilm M227–M228.
Papers. 1728–1845.
349 items.
The Dorsey family of merchants, landowners, and sugar refiners lived in various places in Harford County, Maryland, and eastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia.
Collection contains bills, receipts, indentures, deeds, legal documents, surveys, and letters compiled by or referring to members of the Dorsey family. The bills and receipts mention personal expenses, and the legal documents often relate to land and disputes over estates and mortgages.
Collection 421.
Illuminated music book. 1800.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 10 x 17 cm.
A resident of Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania, John Dotterer wrote the musical notes and accompanying lyrics for songs in this manuscript. There are decorative illustrations, including one in the Fraktur style, and calligraphic flourishes.
Text is in German.
Document 770.
Diary. 1894–96.
143 p.; 21 cm.
May Hight Doughty lived in Augusta, Maine. After she graduated from high school, she taught grammar school.
Diary entries relate to Doughty’s final semester in high school and her early teaching experiences. Many of her social activities are recorded, including sleigh riding, taffy pulls, dances, and visits to the Queer Old Cat Club. At the end of the volume Doughty mentions books she read and records quotations, songs, and a list of parties she attended.
Document 872.
Notes. Ca. 1900–1930.
2 folders.
George Francis Dow was a historian who published several works on the history of New England, including Everyday Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1935, Shipping and Trade in Early New England in 1932, and The Pirates of the New England Coast in 1923.
Collection includes notes on the construction of buildings in Massachusetts, most of them pre-1700. Included are texts of contracts from Essex County court files, rough diagrams, and information about initial construction dates of dwellings.
Document 910.
Accounts. 1801–37.
21 items.
Joseph Downs was a weaver in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1814 he worked for Merchant Co.
One portion of this collection includes an account book, orders, receipts, and accounts concerning Downs’s weaving activities. Such woven items as flannel, blankets, linen, bed ticking, and carpeting are mentioned. A second portion features lists of fabrics with colors and yardages. A third has miscellaneous material relating to agricultural activities and Downs’s pension from the United States War Department.
Name index to account book available.
Collection 304.
Papers. 1949–54.
15 cu. ft.
Joseph Downs was an authority on American decorative arts. Following his graduation from the Boston Museum School in 1921, he served successively as a staff member at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as curator of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and finally as the first curator of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. A prolific author, Downs was completing the second volume of a proposed three-volume history of American furniture at the time of his death.
Papers consist of Downs’s working files and include correspondence, two sketchbooks of furniture compiled in the early 1920s, research notes, lectures, book reviews, photographs of furniture, lantern slides, and material relating to the publications he produced. A few folders contain obituary notices and memorial materials issued after he died.
Collection 76.
Notebook. 1847–65.
71 leaves: ill.; 34 cm.
Staughton Doyle taught piano and organ lessons at churches in Philadelphia.
Volume contains student notes for geometry, algebra, and civil engineering; autographs; accounts for piano instruction and organ playing; and Doyle’s personal expenses.
Document 117.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 20 cm.
Contains more than forty-five pages of flowers, fruits, and ornamental drawings in watercolor that seem to have been copied from Pierre Ranson’s etchings. Watermarked paper suggests that the volume originated in England.
Document 741.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 x 18 cm.
Volume was kept by an unidentified artist, probably from France.
Includes about 100 pencil drawings and pen sketches showing people, buildings, and cities. Cities shown are New York; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Norfolk, Virginia; New Orleans; and several places along the Mississippi River and in Ohio.
Document 699; Microfilm M661.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 20 cm.
The unidentified artist who used this book drew a secretary desk, the exterior of a school building, a dwelling, a meetinghouse, and a barn. The artist was probably part of a Pennsylvania German community.
Document 1076.
37 p.: ill.; 42 cm.
The unnamed creator of this volume was a French curtain designer.
Contains twenty drawings of curtains that also show the room settings in which they were hung; interior architectural detail and pieces of furniture complete the pictures. Costs of curtains are also included.
Folio 83.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 19 x 15 cm.
Consists of seven wash drawings and one pencil sketch depicting spoon handles.
Document 609.
Records. 1870–1940.
3 boxes.
Drawyers Presbyterian Church was organized in St. George’s Hundred, Delaware, in the early 1700s. In 1773 the congregation constructed a new building just north of Odessa. After it moved to a different site in 1861, the church fell into disrepair. More than thirty years later, an organization called Friends of Old Drawyers was established to preserve and restore the building and its surrounding cemetery.
Collection consists of the church treasurer’s book, kept from 1870 to 1900, and records of the Friends of Old Drawyers. The latter includes constitutions, letters, clippings, and financial information on the organization’s preservation work.
Collection 39.
Dolly Dingle’s travels. 1921.
2 sheets: ill. (some col.); 40 cm.
Grace Gebbie Drayton designed a paper doll series named Dolly Dingle. John H. Eggers published her work in New York.
These two sheets are each folded into four pages with an extra sheet glued in. Each page of dolls shows costumes from different European countries: Ireland, Scotland, England, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. Young girls were supposed to craft books that corresponded to the paper doll themes.
Collection 220.
Letters. 1847–48, 1868–69.
16 items.
Henry A. Dreer ran a seedhouse in Philadelphia. It began operation in 1838 and grew substantially over the years. Dreer’s son, William F., entered the business in 1868 and, upon his father’s death five years later, took over. William managed the business into the mid-1920s.
Consists primarily of two sets of letters. The first—five in number—were written by Henry to his future wife, Mary Leavenworth, a resident of Reading, Pennsylvania. William F. Dreer wrote the second group of letters while in Germany and in addition to describing his life there discussed his studies with an individual named Benary, whom he identified as the leading seedsman in Erfurt, if not in all of Germany.
Finding aid available.
Document 334.
Papers. 1814–1902, bulk 1814–53.
1 box.
Joshua H. Drisco was a merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who apparently owned several ships that carried cargo up and down the eastern seaboard.
Collection consists of more than 125 bills and receipts that record personal expenses, including outlays for house repairs, food, clothing, wood, stoves, etc.; a book of freight records detailing items shipped for customers; two notebooks documenting personal expenses and weather observations; a scrapbook containing loose clippings of poetry and obituaries; and a history of the Boston waterworks.
Collection 430.
50 items on 3 panels; 31 cm.
Includes samples of fifty brass and iron fitments, picture hooks, escutcheons, etc., each bearing a number. The manufacturer and seller are not identified.
Document 104.
Papers. 1785–1811.
1 folder.
Col. Luke Drury lived in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
This small collection contains papers relating to Luke Drury and his estate. An account book kept by Moses Ames, executor, documents expenses relating to the estate.
Collection 524.
Papers. 1794–1824, 1856–1938.
3 boxes.
Evelina du Pont was the daughter of Henry du Pont and Louisa Gerhard and the aunt of Henry Francis du Pont, founder of Winterthur Museum. She attended Miss Bayard’s School in Philadelphia. Her interests were in civic and community affairs, and she belonged to Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, Delaware.
Papers consist of correspondence, postcards, and invitations that reflect du Pont family relationships. Much of the correspondence describes a worldwide cruise that Evelina’s niece, Mrs. H. F. du Pont, and two grandchildren took in 1938. There are also early letters written by Evelina’s great-grandfather, Jechonias Wood, and other family members. In addition, the papers include several imprints inscribed to Evelina, discussing such topics as religion, medicine, and travel.
Finding aid available.
Archives 8.
Papers. 1848–1926.
53 boxes + 22 objects.
Henry Algernon du Pont, son of Henry and Louisa Gerhard du Pont, was born at Eleutherian Mills, Delaware. He first attended the University of Pennsylvania and then the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating at the head of his class at West Point in 1861, du Pont embarked on a distinguished military career during the Civil War, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor for heroic efforts at the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia. From 1906 to 1917, du Pont served as a United States Senator. He was the author of several military reminiscences and served as his family’s historian. Du Pont resided on an estate named Winterthur, located near Wilmington, Delaware, that had been settled in 1839. Du Pont married Mary Pauline Foster in 1874. Their children were Henry Francis du Pont and Louise du Pont Crowninshield.
Collection includes correspondence, bills, cartographic and pictorial items, and materials of a social nature relating to politics, society, corporations, and the Winterthur estate. Much of the correspondence concerns du Pont’s financial interests.
Arranged in eleven series. Folder title listing available.
Archives 12.
Entry 658. Winterthur, a family home of members of the du Pont family in Delaware, as it appeared when Col. H. A. du Pont lived there in the 1920s.
Papers. 1890–1969.
1,212 boxes + 48 lin. ft. of books + 324 objects.
Henry Francis du Pont, son of Col. Henry Algernon and Mary Pauline Foster du Pont, was born at Winterthur, Delaware. He was educated at Groton and Harvard. In 1914 he assumed the management of Winterthur Farms and started a breeding program that resulted in a world-renowned Holstein herd. Du Pont studied horticulture, served on many civic and business boards of trustees, and served as the chairman of the Fine Arts Committee of the White House during John F. Kennedy’s administration. He established the Winterthur Museum at the site of his birth and owned other residences on Long Island; in Chestertown, Maryland; Boca Grande, Florida; and New York City. Du Pont married Ruth Wales of Hyde Park, New York, in 1916. They had two daughters.
Collection—divided into eleven series—includes correspondence with antiques dealers related to the development of Winterthur Museum’s collection of historic artifacts, letters of a social nature, Walpole Society communications, horticultural items, material on room installations at Winterthur, architectural drawings, pictorial files illustrating Winterthur, and publications either inscribed to du Pont or signed by him.
Finding aids for some series available.
Archives 11.
Papers. Ca. 1900–1951.
99 boxes + 55 objects.
Ruth Wales du Pont, daughter of Edward H. and Ruth Hawks Wales, was born in New York City. She attended Miss Spencer’s School in New York and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. She was interested in music and historic preservation and served as a trustee of Tryon Palace, New Bern, South Carolina. On June 24, 1916, she married Henry Francis du Pont, founder of Winterthur Museum. The couple had two daughters.
Collection includes correspondence, bills, manuscripts, publications, and much information on du Pont’s social life. Of particular note are her original musical compositions and sheet music for songs that were initially popular during the early twentieth century. Objects include many monogrammed artifacts used by du Pont, including traveling gear, saddles, etc.
Folder title listing available.
Archives 10.
Diary. 19--.
92 p.; 28 cm.
Born in Dieppe, France, Josias Duhamel was named after his father; his mother was Elizabeth Languillet-Duhamel. Josias managed the timber business that his father had started and later began trading laces. He then moved to Amsterdam, where he was successively a textile merchant, money broker, and insurance agent. Josias married Anne Leplastier, and they had four children.
Duhamel’s diary—a twentieth-century handwritten copy of an early eighteenth-century original—records much family genealogy and mentions unusual events of family life. Josias Duhamel III maintained it.
Document 202.
Letter book. 1831–40.
1 vol.; 26 cm.
Philip Dumaresq was the captain of a ship at the time he kept this manuscript.
Letters concern Dumaresq’s ship and its cargoes. He sailed the ship Martha on a route that took him from Boston to Chinese ports. Tea seems to have been the product most transported.
Document 753.
Commonplace book. 1884–85.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 cm.
Josephine Dumas attended St. Cyprien, a private boarding school in Napierville, Quebec, Canada, when she kept this volume.
Book includes stories, poems, song lyrics, prayers, horoscopes, and letters to family members and friends. There is a list of students and sisters at the school for 1885.
Text is almost entirely in French.
Document 849.
Ledger. 1847–48.
1 vol.; 46 cm.
George Dummer Jr. was a glass manufacturer from Jersey City, New Jersey. His father founded the business around 1826, and though it operated under different names during the next forty years, a Dummer family member was always associated with the firm until 1862. It produced blown glass, pressed glass, and cut glass and obtained patents for pressed glassware.
Manuscript records money owed to and paid by Dummer. Glassware is not listed.
Folio 201.
Account book. 1865–72, 1879, 1886–95.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
The Dumont family lived in Seneca County, New York. Members of the family were farmers. B. B. Dumont, later a resident of Seneca, Kansas, was also involved in the building trades.
Volume includes information relating to the settlement of estates of various members of the Dumont family and B. B. Dumont’s personal and household expenses and records of his carpentry business.
Name index available.
Document 455.
Souvenir of the coaching parade: Greenfield. 1897.
1 vol.; 14 x 20 cm.
Dunklee & Freeman was a photography firm.
Includes albumen prints of entries in a parade held in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Depicted are horses and carriages, a Roman chariot, bicycles, floats, etc. Captions identify each picture.
Document 386.
La poupée modèle. Ca. 1870.
1 sheet: col. ill.
T. Dupuy was an importer from Paris, France.
Uncut sheet of a female paper doll (front and back) with three dresses and a wig.
Text is in French.
Collection 220.
Account book. 1760–83.
1 microfilm reel.
John Durand worked as a turner in Milford, Connecticut.
Accounts are recorded for furniture, clothing, food, hardware, wood, and many kinds of household furnishings.
Index to objects named available.
Original manuscript located at the Milford Historical Society in Connecticut.
Microfilm M1761.
Account book. 1806–36.
Samuel Durand worked as a turner in Milford, Connecticut.
Accounts are recorded for many types of house furnishings, furniture, building materials, clothing, etc.
Index to objects named available.
Original manuscript located at the Milford Historical Society in Connecticut.
Microfilm M1761.
Account book. 1804.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Etienne Dutilh was a Philadelphia merchant who had worked in the Netherlands and England before immigrating to the United States. He began his career in the United States in 1783 and was active until his death. Over the course of his career, he formed at least two partnerships, one with J. G. Wachsmuth and another with Soulrer. Much of Dutilh’s trade was conducted with firms based in the West Indies.
Manuscript contains entries relating to the import-export business, chiefly insurance on goods shipped to and from Jamaica. In addition, duties, notes receivable and payable, and portage and pilotage payments are recorded.
Name and occupation indexes available.
Document 424.
79 p.; 16 cm.
Volume contains 292 swatches of printed cotton textiles, most in shades of pink, purple, maroon, or brick red. Recipes for dyeing are included. A previous holder of the book noted that he believed many of the swatches were French.
Collection 50.
Account book. 1792–1802.
1 microfilm reel.
Rufus Dyer was a chairmaker and turner in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Manuscript documents Dyer’s chairmaking and turning. Farm accounts and some family records are also included.
Original at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, which retains publication rights.
Microfilm M2858.2.
Fashion illustrations. 1870–75.
11 items: ill. (some col.)
Founded by Ebenezer Butterick in 1867, the firm that bears his name produced standardized paper patterns for clothing. The company grew to include several outposts in Europe by the mid-1870s. It reorganized in 1881 and was then called the Butterick Publishing Company.
Collection includes fashion plates showing men, women, and children wearing clothing presumably made from Butterick’s patterns. Summer and winter attire are both featured. Also included is a thirty-five-page sketchbook containing pencil drawings of garments for which Butterick made patterns.
Trade catalogues for the firm are located in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library.
Collection 172.
Classical designs of English furniture. 1913.
82 leaves: ill.; 29 cm.
E. Kahn & Co., Ltd. had offices in London and addressed an eight-page price list accompanying these depictions to Messrs. Joseph G. Darlington & Co., Philadelphia.
Volume contains seventy-four photographs of tables, chairs, and case furniture. Styles featured are Queen Anne, Jacobean, Chippendale, Tudor, and William and Mary. Descriptive text and dimensions of furniture are printed on the backs of the photos.
Document 25.
Paper collars. Ca. 1866.
1 item.
The Eagle Lace Paper Collar Co. manufactured paper collars during the 1860s. It received a patent for ladies collars in 1866.
Item includes three ladies lace paper collars, each with a different pattern, that were sold with others as a set of ten.
Document 694.
Daybook. 1840–46, 1857.
156 p.; 20 cm.
Francis Joseph Eames, probably from New England, repaired and made parts for carriages.
Manuscript records Eames’s activities working on carriages, notes his purchases of domestic goods, and mentions family births and marriages.
Document 329.
Exercise book. Ca. 1727.
183 p.: ill. (some col.); 34 cm.
Thomas Earl was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island. By 1727 he had become a schoolmaster in southwestern New Jersey. He married Judith Bostido in Freehold, New Jersey, in 1736.
Manuscript is a schoolmaster’s book for the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation, mapping, and astronomy. The mathematical exercises draw upon standard published works of the early eighteenth century. Much of the text is done in calligraphy, with headings in a decorative scroll. There are six watercolors in the book.
Document 735.
Exercise book. 1764–66.
1 vol.: ill.; 33 cm.
Includes drills in mathematics along with a few writing exercises. There are three amateurish drawings of ships.
Document 887.
Daybook. 1847–54.
252 p.; 33 cm.
Edward F. Easton and James Thompson were carpenters in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Easton died in 1875. Thompson died in 1870.
Entries in the daybook reflect such building activities as constructing fences, installing locks, building houses, setting windows, etc. The partners did work for individuals as well as for public institutions, including the local Athenaeum, the Unitarian Church, the Nantucket Fire Department, and the United States government. Individual entries often record needed quantities of nails, planking, carting, and labor.
Name, object, and occupation indexes available.
Folio 39.
Exercise book. 1804.
200 p.: col. ill.; 31 cm.
John Eckman lived in Lampeter, Pennsylvania, and was a student when he compiled this volume.
Exercise book includes mathematical problems and features three full-page drawings and other smaller watercolor sketches. Drawings depict flowers, birds, decorative letters, ornamental designs, and a man seated with smoke billowing from his pipe. Artwork resembles the kind associated with Pennsylvania German Fraktur.
Document 425.
Entry 680. John Eckman, a resident of Lampeter, Pennsylvania, was a student when he kept his “Exercise Book.” He added luster to its pages by including colorful Fraktur-like drawings. 1804. (2 illustrations)
Entry 680. Continued.
Ledger. 1765–79.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
William Edgar appears to have been a merchant in northern New Jersey, possibly from Rahway.
Edgar sold a variety of products, including food and drink, paper, tobacco, and so forth. In return, he received cash and such goods as shingles, leather britches, nut wood, etc. Mention is made of schooling his children, paying people for their labor, and paying freight charges.
Name index in front of volume.
Document 945.
Catalogue. Ca. 1870s.
Edward J. Boyle & Co. was located in Wenham and then South Georgetown, Massachusetts.
Consists of photographs of pages showing paintings on glass, apparently for clock faces. Ships, patriotic scenes, buildings, and people are all depicted.
Document 968.
Scrapbooks. Ca. 1820–80.
2 vols.: ill.; 42 cm.
Emma H. Edwards, a Philadelphian, compiled these scrapbooks in which she often commemorated sites within her hometown. She included views of buildings, houses, and churches; portraits and biographical sketches of famous Americans; articles on the Society of Friends and Martin Luther; poetry by John Greenleaf Whittier; and manuscripts from the Morris family, presumably collected for their autographs.
Folio 255.
Flowers drawn after nature and disposed in an ornamental and picturesque fashion. Ca. 1787.
1 microfilm reel.
John Edwards, an Englishman, was a little-known painter of flowers who seems to have been most active from 1768 to 1795.
Manuscript includes depictions of ornamental flowers.
Index to illustrations available.
Original item owned by the Pierpont Morgan Library.
Microfilm M927.
Account book. 1786–97.
186 p.; 32 cm.
Joseph Edwards was a clothier and dyer from Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
Manuscript refers to Edwards’s professional concerns, including pressing cloth, dyeing fabric, stretching cloth, fulling blankets, etc. The volume notes the geographical area of Edwards’s customers, and because some of their payments were in the form of goods and services, their occupations are identified.
Document 500.
Collection. 1906–65.
18 boxes: ill. (some col.)
Parke Edwards was an artist who trained at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art. He had earlier enrolled in a mail-order course in show-card writing and sign painting with the International Correspondence School. Edwards interrupted his education to serve in the Army Signal Corps during World War I. After the war, he returned to the Pennsylvania Museum School and eventually set up its metalwork shop. Edwards’s major work was at the Swedenborgian Cathedral in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, where he made and installed the church’s metalwork.
Collection consists of artwork on paper in pencil, ink, wash, watercolor, and colored pencil. Most are arts and crafts designs of metal objects and architectural elements, including doors, windows, grills, furniture hardware, switchplates, latches, locks, and lighting devices. Some were sketched during field trips in the United States and Europe. Other works include figure studies that Edwards executed as a student. Collection also includes a few metal artifacts, a ceramic vase, clippings, and a few letters.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 99; Microfilm M3010–M3012.
Photoprints of views of Albany, N.Y., ca. 1805–14. Ca. 1920–40.
7 photoprints: ill.; 28 x 36 cm.
James Eights was a topographical and scientific draftsman from Albany, New York. He is best known for his watercolor depictions of his hometown as it looked during the first decade of the nineteenth century. Many of his watercolors were published as lithographs at midcentury.
Photos are of Albany and include Fort Fredrick, the west side of Pearl Street, the west side of North Pearl Street, and the Jacob Vanderheyden Palace.
Collection 407.
Elijah Eldredge’s book of receipts for painting & staining wood: also receipts for disease and minutes of work, etc. Ca. 1820s.
40 p.; 17 cm.
A resident of Willington, probably in Connecticut, Elijah Eldredge recorded directions for mixing paint, staining wood, preparing oil for painting, and varnishing. There are also specifications for making a wagon and a bureau.
Document 766.
Scrapbook. 1932–65.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of Elfreth’s Alley Association lived on that street in Philadelphia. They banded together to preserve the architectural heritage and integrity of their area.
Scrapbook contains many items about the alley and includes newspaper clippings, photographs, articles, advertisements, and some genealogical information pertaining to the residents of the alley.
Original scrapbook belonged to the association at time of filming.
Microfilm 883.
Notebook. 1858, 1863.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
J. Lou Elkins attended medical lectures in Hanover, Massachusetts, and some time later served as superintendent of schools in New Market, New Hampshire.
Manuscript contains notes that Elkins kept of lectures on medicine delivered by professors Crosby and Phelps, formulas for various medicines, and a letter regarding the hiring of an elementary school teacher.
Document 409.
Account book. 1828–58.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Joseph Elkins lived in New Market, New Hampshire. A bricklayer, he also performed maintenance work on houses and shops and in later years installed stoves.
Manuscript records the activities of a bricklayer who built and repaired chimneys, laid walkways, helped in the construction of buildings, etc. Elkins also listed the supplies he needed to do his work. Interspersed are farming accounts.
Document 408.
Bills. 1871–75.
125 items: ill.
William H. Elliot had three children: Julian, Rebecca, and Richard. The family was somehow associated with the Morristown, New Jersey, area.
Collection includes bills associated with Elliot’s three children. Items purchased included a variety of clothing from New York City stores and school supplies. Elliot also paid their tuition, room, and board while they were away at school.
Collection 253.
Diary. 1890–91.
1 vol.; 13 cm.
Blanche Ellis taught school, probably in Ohio.
Manuscript records the daily activities in Ellis’s life: visiting friends, writing letters, sewing, washing, attending church services, reading, baking, and having dresses fitted. Some mention is made of her teaching. There is just one entry for 1891.
Document 620.
2 vols.; 23 cm.
Lamp collection was created during the early years of the twentieth century and exhibited in four cases in an unnamed location at an unrecorded time.
Volumes, consisting of a total of nineteen pages, provide an overview of developments in artificial lighting from the 1700s to 1850 (excerpted from Colonial Lighting, by Arthur H. Hayward [Boston: Little, Brown, 1927]) and describe the lamps as they were originally displayed within cases.
Document 243.
Designs. 1817.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 x 25 cm.
Joseph Ely lived in Bristol, Connecticut.
Small volume contains poetry, an acrostic, and epitaphs within decorative circular borders drawn in pen and ink. The covers feature pen-and-ink designs.
Document 804.
Research notes. 1957–71.
3 cu. ft.
Betty Elzea was a research assistant at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She worked with Hugh Wakefield, keeper of the Circulation Department, as he conducted research on Victorian glass.
Collection includes offprints, handwritten notes, clippings, photocopies, and photographs relating to glassware, ceramics, and other decorative arts objects from several European countries and the United States, dating from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Especially noteworthy are two scrapbooks covering the production of glassware from 1800 to 1930 in Great Britain, France, Czechoslovakia, and Germany.
Collection 364.
2 sheets.
Consists of fourteen patterns, probably for white work (white embroidery on white fabric). Embroidery was to be done on shirts and sleeves, a child’s skirt, a robe, an infant’s blanket, a collar, etc. Floral patterns and geometrical shapes predominate.
Document 695.
12 items: ill.
Consists of twelve original designs for white work (white embroidery on white fabric) that could have been executed on handkerchiefs, dresses, vests, slippers, etc. Most designs appear to be English in origin. One design appears to be French.
Collection 144.
1 vol.: ill.; 28 x 22 cm.
This volume contains approximately 150 hand-drawn ink and pencil patterns for white work (white embroidery on white fabric). Included is a variety of floral and geometric designs, sometimes used in the same drawing. The sizes and shapes of the patterns indicate how they would have been used: for pouches, handkerchiefs, collars, slippers, etc. Also included are two pieces of fabric on which white work was printed.
Paper bears the watermark of a Kent, England, papermaking firm, J. Green & Son, and is dated 1825.
Document 287.
11 leaves: ill.; 23 cm.
Manuscript contains patterns for Ayreshire white work (white embroidery on white fabric) embroidery used primarily for decorating infants’ clothing and caps. The patterns feature leaves, flowers, acorns, and berries. A pattern for a cap is laid in.
Document 1006.
55 leaves; 23 cm.
Includes more than one hundred embroidery designs in ink and wash. Many were to be used as borders for fabrics. A few of the designs are labeled as lace, veil, and done. Paper is watermarked 1821. Book contains a clipping from an 1868 Wedmore, England, newspaper, suggesting its origin.
Document 435.
60 p.: ill.; 41 x 33 cm.
Patterns for decorating collars, cuffs, sleeves, underwear, dress borders, bonnets, lapels, slippers, and baby clothes. Many are for white work (white embroidery on white fabric) on cotton mull and were done in pen, pencil, and gray wash. Paper is watermarked 1819.
Folio 162.
Account books. 1805–20, bulk 1836–40.
3 vols.; 21 cm. or smaller.
Solomon Emerson made and repaired shoes in Barnstead, New Hampshire, and helped to operate the family farm.
Records both debits and credits related to Emerson’s activities as a shoemaker, bootmender, leathersmith, and farmer.
Document 284.
Pricking patterns. Ca. 1900–1920.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
A bookplate of Nettie Maria Emery is pasted into the volume.
Patterns were most likely created to mark fabric for embroidery work. The majority of the patterns are geometric shapes, and three feature scenes with children playing.
Document 529.
65 items: ill.
Collection includes signatures of lesser-known English artists. Most of the items in the collection are letters, but there are also envelopes, scraps, cartes de visite, sketches, and engravings. Items were apparently mounted in a scrapbook at one time.
Collection 492.
40 items.
Collection includes handbills and slip-ballads of London lottery-ticket sellers. Most contain numerous woodcut illustrations and/or verse.
Finding aid available.
Collection 100.
11 items.
Consists of eight copper plates used for printing calling cards and three cards printed from the plates. The engravers—John H. Kirk, Jacob Hyatt, Hyatt & Cornell, and Macys—were all based in New York City.
Document 332.
1 vol.; 28 cm.
Among the engravings in this volume are proof impressions for The Token: A Christmas and New Year’s Present, published by Carter & Hendee of Boston in 1830. Children and young adults are depicted in a number of activities. The original artists and painting titles are written on the backs of the engravings. Other engravings seem to be European in origin and depict interiors of churches, castles, and other buildings.
Document 911.
177 items.
Collection contains scrapbook pages of engravings of late eighteenth-century British and French fashions. Clothing worn by maids, footmen, peddlers, sailors, prisoners, and clerics are depicted. Also shown are accessories, such as hats, gloves, and parasols. There are illustrations of hairstyles and wigs as well. Also included are advertisements and newspaper articles on fashion, head gear, trials, and executions. Watch papers and original sketches are also included.
Collection 463.
ABC book. 1824.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 21 cm.
Samuel Ensminger Jr. of Pennsylvania wrote letters of the alphabet in various styles in his ABC book. The volume features illuminated upper- and lowercase letters, one to a page. Ensminger used gold and red shading. The final page contains a paragraph on the importance of handwriting to gentlemen and ladies.
Document 706.
1 box: ill. (some col.)
This miscellaneous (and still open) collection consists of approximately four hundred illustrated envelopes, most from the Civil War era. Many of the illustrations are cartoons and caricatures conveying an anti-Confederate point of view. Others show flags, seals of various states, and allegorical figures representing patriotic ideas of liberty and union. A few depict women or African Americans. Among the lithographic firms represented are Magee, S. C. Upham, D. Murphy’s Son, and Brown & Ryan.
Finding aid available.
Collection 333.
Hymnals. Ca. 1747–1850.
8 vols.: ill. (some col.); 34 cm. or smaller.
The Ephrata Cloister, located near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was a religious community of German Seventh-Day Baptists founded by Johann Conrad Beissel in 1728. Under his guidance Ephrata became known for its mystical music and manuscript illuminations. Sisters Anastasia and Iphigenia were the cloister’s most prolific writers. The artists who produced the illuminations are not known. Three major collections of hymns were produced at Ephrata: Zionitischer Weyrauch’s Hügel, Turtel Taube, and Paradisisches Wunderspiel.
Hymnals in the collection include manuscript notations of melodies and examples of Fraktur art. Texts are in German.
Four of the volumes include printed registers; two include handwritten registers.
Finding aid available.
Collection 318.
Daybook. 1831.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Samuel Erwin was the proprietor of a general store in Erwin, New York, that stocked dry goods, housewares, and hardware.
Manuscript offers a look at Erwin’s daily business dealings from July to October 1831.
Folio 119.
30 p.; 32 cm.
This manuscript, compiled by an unidentified gentleman, records many aspects of nineteenth-century middle- and upper-class manners and customs. The writer compares what he calls the New England style of life with southern customs, describes philosophies of education, comments on fashion, writes about religion and worship, reviews such professions as law and medicine, and criticizes literary figures for their poor writing skills.
Document 1009.
4 microfilm reels.
Reels include estate records and an index to Chancery Court records.
Summary of contents available.
Original records located at Queens College.
Microfilm M1580–M1583.
Sample book. Ca. 1900–1930.
The Esterbrook Steel Pen Mfg. Co. located its headquarters in New York City and its works in Camden, New Jersey.
Consists of thirty steel pen points that are representative examples of the firm’s products. A stock number appears on each one.
Document 653.
Personal account book. 1864–73.
238 p.; 15 cm.
Joseph Esty lived in Ithaca, New York.
Consists of nearly daily notes of money spent over a ten-year period. Each year’s expenses are totaled. Expenditures included money paid for food, house repairs, church contributions, painting supplies, reading materials, travel expenses, taxes, insurance, clock repair, medicine, coal, haircuts, etc.
Folio 119.
Account book. 1774–1812.
1 microfilm reel.
David Evans was apparently engaged in retailing in Philadelphia.
Accounts mention furniture, coffins, venetian blinds, and hardware. James Gillingham (1731–81) was a frequent customer.
Original material located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M305.
Financial documents. 1872–91.
2 boxes.
Jonathan Evans lived in Germantown, Pennsylvania, now a part of Philadelphia. He seems to have worked for a plumbing supply company called Cooper, Jones & Cadbury. He was active in the Friends Library in Germantown.
Collection contains bills and receipts, primarily for work done on houses owned by Evans; tax and water bills; check stubs; and bank books. House work included making interior repairs, glazing, washing ceilings and walls, installing a tin roof, hanging wallpaper, installing a new boiler, etc. Other collection pieces record personal expenses.
Collection 339.
Recipe book. 1793.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Consists of both handwritten and clipped recipes for breads, puddings, biscuits, and cakes as well as remedies for such maladies as gout, coughs, rheumatism, and burns.
Document 245.
Notebook. 1848–53.
1 vol.; 13 cm.
John Evers was a miniature, landscape, and theatrical scene painter. Born on Long Island, New York, he began his career around 1816, when he first exhibited architectural drawings at the American Academy. By 1819 he was studying scene painting with John J. Holland at the Park Theater in New York City, a house that he would be associated with until 1839. During the 1840s and 1850s, Evers was an active panorama painter in New York. He was a founder of and exhibitor at the National Academy.
Evers used this notebook to record instructions, recipes, and artistic techniques as well as costs for painting murals and other scenes. He noted the people he worked for as well as what he charged them.
Collection 331.
Recipe book. 1870–82.
120 p.; 19 cm.
This book may have been maintained by Charles Everts of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Contains instructions for such things as maintaining metals, preparing cleaning compounds and inks, treating fabrics, and concocting herbal remedies. Recipes are in both manuscript and printed form.
Document 964.
Early houses of Burlington County, New Jersey. 1932–39.
221 p.: ill.; 17 x 26 cm.
N. R. Ewan was from Moorestown, New Jersey.
Volume contains 110 black and white mounted photographs. In 1939 Ewan wrote that “these photos taken in 1932 and 1933 are illustrations of buildings erected before 1800; with one or two exceptions they are concerned with dwelling houses.” Textual information includes construction dates of the buildings, names of original owners, notes on stories associated with the homes, and condition of the houses at the time of photography.
Document 127.
1 microfilm reel.
Entries record cargoes exported from Bristol, England, to various ports. Lists include many kinds of home furnishings as well as other commodities.
Summary of contents available.
Original records at the Public Record Office, London.
Microfilm M266.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Contains poetry, “On Humanity,” and an essay, “Tis Education that Forms the Female Mind.” Cover illustration is called “Watering Place.” Paper bears a watermark dated to the first decade of the nineteenth century.
Document 404.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Consists of notes, examples, and problems regarding various mathematical processes. Two watercolor drawings of Orange County, New York, properties and a list of people enrolled in the class for which the book was used are also included.
Document 37.
21 leaves; 34 cm.
Elijah Burbank, the stationer whose name appears on this item, was from Worcester, Massachusetts, suggesting that the unnamed compiler of the exercise book may have resided in the vicinity of that city.
Book contains notes, examples, and exercises for addition, multiplication, and division. The section marked “Compound Addition” includes word problems to teach calculations for weights and measures, time, dates, and currency.
Document 1053.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
The Jonestown, Pennsylvania, resident who kept this volume recorded rules for computations with decimals, square roots, cube roots, and arithmetical progression as well as some word problems.
Document 614.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
This fragment of an exercise book contains math problems, handwriting exercises, and exercises for conjugating German verbs. Also featured are pinpricked designs that may have been used as templates for embroidery.
Document 696.
Sample book of cigar box labels. Ca. 1880–1900.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 23 cm.
Frederick Heppenheimer was a lithographer active in New York City from 1851 to 1876. From 1872 to 1876, he and Louis Maurer were the proprietors of the firm of Heppenheimer & Maurer. After Frederick’s death, his sons continued the business. It was located on the corner of Pearl and William streets.
This volume, which contains about two hundred pages and 271 prints, was a salesman’s sample book of chromolithographed cigar box labels and cigar bands. Each carries a stock number, and illustrations depict women, men in military costume, railway stations, ships, barrooms, etc. The sample book is contained within a wooden cigar box with a metal handle. Embossed on it is “No. 411.”
Folio 302.
Invoice book. 1823–32.
134 p.; 31 cm.
F. & L. C. Learned operated a textile store in New London, Connecticut, and purchased their merchandise from wholesalers in New York City.
Manuscript contains long invoices that list a wide array of products purchased by the Learneds for retail sale. They attempted to keep up with the latest fashions and often remarked that they bought “new patterns.”
Document 311.
Richter’s anchor blocks of stone in three colors: known as “stone building blocks.” Ca. 1900.
2 boxes of blocks: col. ill. + 3 books of models and 4 sheets of figures.
F. A. Richter & Co. were importers from New York City.
Blocks were advertised as “a great educational toy and pastime” and could be used to build such structures as castles, churches, bridges, forts, etc. Paper dolls printed on uncut sheets of paper are included in the set of blocks.
Text on box and accompanying material written in English, German, Spanish, and Italian.
Collection 220.
Catalog and scrapbook. Ca. 1870–90.
94 p.: ill. (some col.); 33 cm.
Boston-based F. M. Holmes & Co. manufactured furniture.
Originally a catalogue from the Holmes company containing albumen prints, this volume was later used as a scrapbook. Depicted are various kinds of seating furniture, tables, beds, and bureaus. Scrapbook items include colorful advertising ephemera, chromolithographs, calling cards, etc.
Document 394.
Papers. 1808–77.
65 items.
Henry, Josiah, Mary, Polly, and Simeon Failing lived in Fort Plains and Conajoharie, New York. Simeon served as the “admeasurer” of firewood, timber, and lumber, as well as the pound keeper and tax collector of the two towns.
Collection contains various papers relating to the family: bills, receipts, articles of agreement, promissory notes, bonds, deeds, and letters. Articles of agreement concerned subcontract work for the Erie Canal. A patent assignment for a water elevator, granted to Simeon in 1867, is also included.
Collection 486.
Papers. 1830–48.
1 folder.
Noah Fairbanks lived near Gardner, Massachusetts.
Collection contains bills and receipts addressed to Fairbanks. Most relate to house construction and maintenance. One item, headed “Account of building a house, 1837,” notes expenses for constructing a chimney and a well, a door and windows, and for painting and plastering. Also included is an auction record for an unnamed estate. The majority of items sold from the estate were farm implements and hand tools.
Collection 470.
Daybook. 1857–61.
249 p.; 36 cm.
Volume contains the daily record of expenses and receipts for a Fall River, Massachusetts, foundry. Items sold include stoves, ovens, parts, and accessories. Styles were Venetian, Vesta, Grecian, Freestone, Granite State, and Invincible. Methods of shipment and employee wages are mentioned.
Document 161.
Photograph album. 1982.
1 vol.: ill.; 58 cm.
Daniel Farber was a professional photographer.
Album contains eighty photos of an exhibition entitled “New England Begins: The Seventeenth Century,” held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1982. The exhibit was installed to survey New England culture and was divided into three sections: Migration and Settlement, Mentality and Environment, and Style.
Folio 78.
20 items: ill.
Consists of seven coupons from the Pratt Food Company, offering books, charts, and a course on poultry-keeping through the mail; eleven envelopes, handbills, etc. advertising the Wilbur Stock Food Company and its promotional offer of a gold watch; and two items advertising a veterinary cabinet from the Wilbur company.
Collection 126.
41 p.; 21 cm.
Manuscript contains records kept by an unidentified farmer from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Entries relate to livestock, the planting and harvesting of various crops, the sizes of local fields, and the cultivation of cherry, pear, and apple trees. Some varieties of the farmer’s apples no longer exist.
Document 1060.
Inventory of goods on hand. 1841–44.
124 p.; 20 cm.
The company was probably located in or near Boston.
Contains an inventory of products on hand as of April 20, 1841, and debts owed as of July 1, 1844. Goods on hand included “English goods,” hardware, medicines, iron and steel, crockery, glassware, and stoneware. Debts owed were mainly to individuals in Boston and Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Document 51.
Sales book. 1871–72.
360 p.; 33 cm.
J. D. Farmington was a glass and pottery merchant in Hancock, Maine.
Book includes 270 pages recording sales of glassware, pottery, and some metalware to local residents and other merchants. The remaining ninety pages record orders for books. It is unclear whether the books were acquired for later resale or were obtained to form the basis of a private library. Inlaid items pertain to members of the Austin family.
Folio 258.
Papers. Ca. 1910–50.
1 box: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Willoughby Farr was an antiques dealer who specialized in American and European silver. He lived in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Central to this group of papers are four volumes containing information on American silversmiths. Willoughby’s father maintained the volume until 1916, when he turned it over to his son. It and two other volumes contain the names of silversmiths along with their working locations, dates, and silver marks. The fourth volume is entitled “Some Information: Being a Short Account of Some American Silversmiths Not Mentioned in Any Previously Published Work on the Subject.”
Index of names for fourth volume available.
Collection 392.
Letters. 1903–4.
4 items: ill.
Evidence suggests that Asa Farwell lived in Boston.
These four letters, totaling 106 pages, together form a travel diary recounting Farwell’s overland journey between Boston and Los Angeles. The letters are written on stationery that features pictures of noted sites along the way. Highlights of the trip included a visit to the Bronx Zoo, an excursion to Salt Beach near Salt Lake City, a festival in San Francisco’s China Town, a trip to Catalina Island, a visit to an ostrich farm and orange grove near Pasadena, and a stop at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. On the way west, Farwell’s train derailed due to a faulty trestle.
Document 1087.
60 items: col. ill.
Includes hand-colored illustrations showing women’s hairstyles and clothing as well as jewelry and other accessories. The cards are probably English. Each card is numbered.
Collection 231.
Ledger. 1834–49.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Ethan Fay was a carriagemaker near Freehold, New Jersey.
Fay records that he made and repaired carriages and sleighs, mended rakes, made coffins, worked metal, and painted signs.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 605.
Papers. 1866–71.
1 lin. ft.
S. C. Fay worked as an agent for A. L. Elliott & Co., J. Elliott & Son, and the Bay State Collar Co., all of which manufactured paper collars and cuffs.
Includes bills, advertising ephemera, notices, business cards, correspondence, and other items related to the manufacture and distribution of paper collars and cuffs. Several sample collars and cuffs are included as well. Several items pertain to attempts by the Union Paper Collar Company to monopolize trade and the efforts of the Paper Collar Manufacturers Association to prevent this monopolization.
Collection 269.
Account books. 1692–1737.
2 vols.; 18 cm. or smaller.
John Fearing was a weaver from Hingham, Massachusetts, whose family members were among the first settlers of the town.
Fearing recorded that he wove “ozenbrigs,” “crinceled stuff,” “striped,” “coverlids,” “pilion cloths,” and “checkkered” cloths. He often accepted goods as payment in lieu of currency.
Name index at front of second volume.
Document 654.
Account book. 1756–1803.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
John Fearing lived in Wareham, Massachusetts, where he may have been a justice of the peace. Town records show that a John Fearing was a selectman and member of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety during the American Revolution.
Manuscript records a variety of activities and includes references to shipbuilding, carpentry, tailoring, plowing, hauling, and farming.
Folio 216.
Music book. Ca. 1840–59.
62 p.; 20 x 12 cm.
Lothrop Fellows lived in Lockport, New York.
Book contains thirty-two tunes with suggestions on how they should be played. Some are labeled as Welsh, Scottish, English, or Italian.
Includes index of song titles.
Document 401.
Daybook. 1846–47, 1859.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Fentons Hall & Co. was a brickmaking firm from Bennington, Vermont.
Daybook contains references to clay, bricks, plaster, earthenware, etc. The business seems to have been organized into a brick department and an earthenware department. The last two pages of the manuscript, dated 1859, record the sales of textiles and other dry goods by Henry F. Dewey.
Folio 150.
Album. Ca. 1860–79.
101 p.: ill.; 32 cm.
Hiram Ferguson worked as a wood engraver beginning in 1855 in Albany, New York.
Album contains approximately 375 proofs of wood engravings created by Ferguson. Among the items illustrated are buildings, both residential and commercial; agricultural implements, including reapers and mowers; a bookplate for the Schuyler family; Civil War battle scenes; named pleasure boats; stoves; scientific and natural history scenes; and the masthead of the Semi-Weekly Saratoga.
Document 200.
Sketchbook. Ca. 1810–18.
25 leaves: ill. (some col.); 49 x 33 cm.
Ferranti was a designer.
Volume includes twenty-six drawings and watercolors of ornate tables, medallions, designs for painted ceilings, and other decorative patterns, all in the rococo style. Some are numbered and dated.
Folio 92.
Exercise book and drawings. 1792–1845.
14 items: ill.
Benjamin Ferris was a watchmaker from Wilmington, Delaware. In addition to his professional responsibilities, he pursued literary endeavors and participated in activities sponsored by the Society of Friends. Ferris was interested in the welfare of Indians and served in 1839 on a Quaker commission to investigate the rights of the Senecas to lands in New York State. When Ferris was seventy-six, he was disabled by disease.
Collection includes Ferris’s workbook on business mathematics and thirteen of his drawings. The majority of the drawings are of Delaware buildings and were later published in Ferris’s book, History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware, issued in 1846.
Several silhouettes by Ferris are displayed at Winterthur Museum. Some of his writings are in the Printed Books and Periodicals Collection, Winterthur Library.
Finding aid available.
Collection 350.
Account book. 1848–50.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
John Ferson appears to have been a farmer, perhaps from the Bennington, New Hampshire, area.
Book records accounts between Ferson and other individuals, referring to such agricultural products as chickens, pigs, eggs, milk, corn, and wheat. Blacksmithing is also mentioned. Originally the volume may have been intended for use as a school exercise book.
Document 814.
Papers. 1902–38.
6 boxes: ill.
Mantle Fielding was an architect and expert in colonial painting. Fielding graduated from Germantown Academy, just outside of Philadelphia, and then studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He established his own firm in Philadelphia around 1886. Fielding began publishing in the field of art history in 1904. His best-known book, Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, was published in 1926.
Collection consists primarily of Fielding’s study notes on the works of Thomas Sully and the portraits of George Washington, letters from fellow art historian Lawrence Park on Gilbert Stuart paintings, letters from Thomas B. Clarke on Stuart’s portraits of Washington, notes on American painting in general, and an annotated copy of one of Fielding’s own works, Catalogue of Engraved Work of David Edwin.
Item-level finding aid and name index available.
Collection 207.
Account books. 1810–70.
2 vols.; 21 cm.
Jeremiah Fife lived in Pembroke, New Hampshire.
Manuscripts contain Jeremiah’s accounts for making coffins, window frames, rakes, chairs, tables, etc. Accounts kept by William Fife are also included. Fife set windows, performed much day labor, and at one point “had worked 20 days for John Tenant on George Fochs Shop.”
Index of objects mentioned in volumes available.
Document 80.
Diary. 1857–62.
2 vols.; 23 cm.
Maria Fifield lived in Salisbury, New Hampshire. In 1854 she married John Fifield, and in 1860 they had a daughter.
The diary records Maria’s domestic and social activities as well as her production of hats for sale at a local store. Some entries, written in a hand other than Maria’s, may have been recorded by her husband.
Document 389.
Diary. 1871.
1 vol.; 13 cm.
The Filbert family was from Pinegrove, Pennsylvania. Evidence suggests that they sold linen.
Includes pages listing household expenses. Coal, corn, and linen are mentioned frequently. Many pages contain mathematical calculations.
Document 230.
Account book. 1798–1838.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Philip Filer was a furnituremaker in Rome, New York.
Manuscript records the various kinds of furniture that Filer produced, including bookcases, chairs, clothes presses, desks, chests, beds, and cradles. He served as a carpenter and made small wooden products as well. Filer also included references to agricultural pursuits.
Folio 167.
Exercise book. 1772–74.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Volume includes arithmetic exercises involving money, measurements, and time. There are word problems illustrating the use of fractions, reduction, the rule of three, and square roots.
Document 627.
Account book. 1876–80.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Harrison Finkle worked as a stonecutter in Reidsville, New York.
Account book includes both Finkle’s business and household expenses. He recorded working on such things as chimney caps, steps, curbing, and crosswalks. He also noted agricultural pursuits as well.
Document 864.
New American atlas. 1826.
14 folded leaves: col. maps; 16 cm.
Anthony Finley was a publisher from Philadelphia.
Includes fifteen hand-colored maps in their original red leather case. They were drawn by D. H. Vance and engraved by J. H. Young. Each map features a statistical profile of the area it depicts.
Document 539.
Memorabilia. 1860–1961.
8 items + 2 microfilm reels.
Frances A. Finley was a resident of Odessa, Delaware, and the wife of James Archie Finley Sr.
Includes a diary in which Finley kept a record of a trip from Pennsylvania to Iowa to visit relatives and friends; genealogical information on the Finleys and allied families; four scrapbooks containing photographs, invitations, newspaper clippings, advertisements, postcards, letters, maps, report cards, and other items relating to life in Odessa; and various pieces of ephemera associated with the Finley family.
Original scrapbooks in private hands at time of filming.
Collection 298; Microfilm M2652, M2697.
Account book. 1848–62.
132 p.; 32 cm.
John Firebaugh was a miller in Waynesborough, Virginia.
Book records Firebaugh’s accounts with his fellow Waynesborough residents and includes references to such activities as plowing, blacksmithing, hauling, building fences, and thrashing. It also mentions such products as bushels of corn, textiles, scantling, shingles, and butter.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 395.
Account book and journal. 1795–1805.
2 vols.; 20 cm. or smaller.
Daniel Fisher seems to have begun his working life as a bleacher in Coleraine, Ireland (then a fabric-bleaching center). He came to the United States in 1797 for political reasons, settling first in Philadelphia and then in New York City. In New York he worked as a merchant until 1812, when his business failed. He then moved to Newburgh, New York. Fisher was an officer in the New York “Republican Greens” Rifle Battalion, a member of the Tammany Society, a book collector, and the author of A System of Military Tactics, published in 1805.
Volumes relate to Fisher’s mercantile career. Some pages record amounts owed to him; others record invoices for commodities that he shipped, including cocoa, potash, thread, and linens. In addition, there are accounts for what seem to be purchases made for the Fisher household. There is a short diary of a trip that Fisher took to Georgia and South Carolina as well.
Document 733.
Travel journals. Ca. 1767–93.
1 microfilm reel.
Samuel Rowland Fisher was a Quaker and a resident of Pennsylvania. In 1793 he traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, to marry Hannah Rodman.
Manuscripts record Fisher’s travels to England; to Charleston, South Carolina; through Pennsylvania to Winchester, Virginia; and to Newport, Rhode Island. He attended meetings of the Society of Friends in many of the places through which he traveled. Fisher also included notes on English manufacturers of textiles, glassware, and ceramics from whom he made purchases.
Name index available.
Original journals located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M296.
Order books. 1870, 1872.
2 vols.: ill.; 32 cm.
Joseph Winn Fiske, a native of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, went to Australia in 1853 to make and sell hardware and tools. After a stay of five years, he returned to America and started a business making metal products, eventually including umbrella stands, garden fixtures, settees, stable fittings, hitching posts, weathervanes, brackets, etc. In 1900 Fiske incorporated his business into J. W. Fiske Iron Works. The firm remained in business into the late 1980s.
Volumes record orders placed with Fiske between October and December of 1870 and May and August of 1872. The name of the customer, his or her address, and the product ordered were all noted. In some instances, prices and a sketch were added.
Trade catalogues located in Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library.
Folio 90.
Cookbook. Ca. 1810–90.
1 vol.; 20 x 11 cm.
This manuscript volume was used by several generations of people. The names of Abrahm and George Fiske appear, implying ownership by members of the Fiske family. They lived in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Contains recipes for cakes, breads, puddings, pies, meat, fish, and preserves. Several pages feature rules for setting a table and for seating guests. There are instructions for cleaning eating utensils, removing splinters, removing a tight ring from a finger, etc.
Document 723; Microfilm M662.
Papers. Ca. 1880s–1935.
2 boxes + 1 vol.: ill. (some col.)
Florence L. Hopper was born in 1876 and raised near Unionville, Ohio, on her family’s farm, Elmwood. In 1897 she married Winchester Fitch and shortly thereafter moved to New York City. In 1915 the couple purchased and moved to a home called Hillbrook in Greenwich, Connecticut. They sold the property in 1933.
Collection includes primarily historic photographs of Elmwood and Hillbrook. In addition, there are obituaries of family members, magazine clippings on Hillbrook, trade cards collected by Mrs. Fitch when she was a young girl, and material relating to her wedding reception.
Collection 393.
Letter books. 1702–11, 1723–33.
2 microfilm reels.
Thomas Fitch seems to have been an upholsterer in Boston.
Letter books include business accounts, orders for goods, lists of priced merchandise, credit records, and other documentation of Fitch’s work.
Original of earlier letter book at the American Antiquarian Society; more recent manuscript at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M1422–M1423.
Autograph album. 1876–81.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 11 x 18 cm.
Consists of signatures accompanied by poems and sayings by friends of Katie Fitzgerald, a Boston resident. One of the pages features a watercolor drawing of a hummingbird, and four chromolithographed scraps are glued into the album.
Document 823.
Scraps in black and white for cutting out: series 1. Ca. 1870s.
7 leaves: ill.; 23 cm.
Friederick Fleischer was a publisher of black and white scraps during the 1870s. He was from Leipzig, Germany. Joseph Myers & Co. of London marketed his products.
Consists of forty-four silhouette cutouts, many of which are vignettes of people engaged in discussions and other activities. Among the scenes featured are children playing, men on horseback dueling, boys on a seesaw, and a couple dancing.
Collection 220.
Bills and receipts. 1827–59.
85 items.
James H. Fletcher was a tailor and clothier from Baltimore.
Collection primarily documents Fletcher’s personal expenditures for such household goods as brushes, buckets, brooms, hinges, parlor chairs, etc. He also noted purchases of hairpins, “Negro combs,” “Negro kersey,” whalebone, ivory, fabric, and umbrellas. Several entries listing grain prices are included as well.
Collection 487.
Papers. 1815–67.
62 items.
Thomas Fletcher was born in Alstead, New Hampshire. By 1806 he was an apprentice to shopkeeper Joseph C. Dyer. His name first appears in a Boston directory in 1809 as a jeweler working with silversmith Sidney Gardiner. In 1811 they moved their business to Philadelphia, where it flourished for some years. Gardiner died in 1827 while abroad. Fletcher then worked in partnership with Calvin W. Bennett until that business failed and they were forced to auction it in 1842. Fletcher continued to live in Philadelphia until 1850, when he moved to Delanco, New Jersey, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Collection includes three letter books, loose letters, a ledger, eight drawings attributed to Fletcher & Bennett, and miscellaneous materials. Most of the manuscripts deal with the silversmithing business. The drawings depict lighting fixtures, and one of the volumes was used by Martha Fletcher, Thomas Fletcher’s daughter, as a diary from January 1864 to June 1867.
Finding aid and name index for the letter books available.
Collection 278.
61 items: ill.
Includes pen-and-ink drawings (with some pencil shading) illustrating flowers and leaves. The drawings were probably used for designing textiles or wallpaper sometime during the nineteenth century. Some of the designs appear to have been used for borders.
Folio 215.
Diary. 1765–66.
1 microfilm reel.
George Folliot was a general merchant in New York City.
Diary records Folliot’s activities during a visit to England. He spoke with Lord Rockingham about British colonial politics, especially the tax on molasses. He visited the Victualling Office to arrange for the shipment of hogs and oxen from London to New York and for the shipment of beer, bread, pork, and other goods from New York to London. Folliot also recorded personal expenses associated with travel, books purchased, and references to trips to Chester and Bristol.
Original manuscript located at the Wigan Record Office, Manchester, England.
Further discussed on page 180 in A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, written by John Raimo and published in 1979.
Microfilm M735.
Accounts and account book. 1758–74.
18 items.
Elisha Foord was a merchant in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He may have been involved in the shipping industry as well.
The account book, dating from 1758 to 1766, and miscellaneous receipts, bills, and accounts document Foord’s purchases and sales of such goods as textiles, sewing supplies, earthenware, handkerchiefs, and lace.
Document 525.
A Common place book containing variety: written in haste without premeditation. 1832–35, 1846, 1876.
112 p.; 20 cm.
Foote was a native of Cornwall, Vermont. She was a matron at the Auburn Prison, Auburn, New York, for more than three years. Foote married Judge Henry Day of Indiana in 1846.
In this diary, Foote describes her experiences as a matron at the Auburn Prison. She wrote about her wish to “save them [the prisoners] from ruin,” visits of foreign dignitaries, and the efforts of state officials to solicit her views regarding prison conditions. Also included are some Foote family genealogy and Lucinda’s thoughts on her impending marriage.
Document 246.
Glass plate negatives of New England gravestones. 1925–39.
10 items: ill.
Harriette Merrifield Forbes was an author, historian, and photographer. She wrote Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them, published in 1927.
The ten negatives show Massachusetts and Vermont gravestones dating from 1689 to 1784.
Negatives of Forbes’s entire collection of gravestones are at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Collection 183.
Account book. 1808–20.
1 vol.; 22 x 18 cm.
Coolidge Forbrush resided in Westborough, Massachusetts. His estate was auctioned in March 1832.
Manuscript relates to Forbrush’s agricultural pursuits, including plowing, carting, haying, transporting logs to a sawmill, mending rakes, slaughtering hogs, etc. Many transactions were conducted with Ebenezer Maynard.
See entry 780.
Document 561.
Account book. 1832–56.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Joel Forbrush resided in Westborough, Massachusetts.
Volume opens with a list of goods auctioned from the estate of Coolidge Forbrush and accounts relating to the auction. The remainder of the manuscript details Forbrush’s agricultural work.
Document 562.
Papers. 1970–82.
52 boxes.
Benno Forman was a scholar of the American decorative arts who specialized in furniture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He served as a research fellow and teaching associate for the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Art History Department at the University of Delaware. Among his many publications was American Seating Furniture, 1630–1730, issued posthumously in 1988.
Papers consist of office correspondence and files relating to Forman’s research projects. A large number of slides and photographs are included, many depicting items in the collection of Winterthur Museum.
Folder title list available.
Collection 72.
Docket. 1893.
1 microfilm reel.
David P. Forney was a justice of the peace in Conewago Township, Pennsylvania.
Most of the volume concerns cases heard by Forney. He mentions issuing such documents as summonses, warrants, marriage licenses, and promissory notes. Volume also includes floor plans and elevations of the offices of the Board of Hanover.
Index to names in the docket available.
Original manuscript located at the Hanover, Pennsylvania, Public Library.
Microfilm M2988.
Papers. 1847–62.
4 vols. + loose items: ill.; 15 cm. or smaller.
Peter Forney was a cabinetmaker and furniture dealer in Annville, Pennsylvania. In addition, he took part in community and church activities, married twice, and fathered eleven children.
Collection materials—dating from 1847, 1858, 1861, and 1862—record Forney’s business activities and feature some sketches of the furniture he presumably made. Also included are diaries that relate to Forney’s business and personal life, his trade card, a broadside advertisement for the furniture he sold, and several other miscellaneous civic and family documents.
Collection 199.
Rococo möbel. 1837.
Franz Xaver Fortner, a native of Munich, was a furnituremaker known for his insets of mother of pearl, precious metals, and ivory. From 1833 to 1844, Fortner supplied Duke Eugen Max von Leuchtenberg with furniture for his palace in St. Petersburg.
Contains twenty-eight drawings of furniture in pencil, wash, and watercolor. There are lithographs depicting Fortner’s furniture, including chairs, tables, bureaus, couches, and a desk. Captions are in German.
Document 428.
Letters. 1899–1935.
35 items.
James William Fosdick was a mural painter. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1858 and studied art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and the Julian Academy in Paris. His murals chiefly appear in churches. Fosdick is credited with introducing the practice of fire etching to America, and he served as secretary of the National Society of Mural Painters. He died sometime after 1934.
Collection contains letters to Fosdick about painting techniques, exhibitions, and personal matters. Among the writers were John LaFarge, Frank W. Benson, Edwin Blashfield, and Chester Loomis.
Collection 529.
Music book. Ca. 1805–30.
35 leaves; 24 cm.
Mary Ann and Sarah Ann Foss lived in Cincinnati and/or Baltimore. They may have taken private music lessons.
Volume primarily contains keyboard arrangements of common dance tunes of the period, including “Irish Washerwoman,” “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” and “Hail to the Chief.” In addition, there are waltzes, quick steps, rondos, and other generically titled pieces. The names Catherine Foss and Rosanah Foss also appear in the manuscript.
Document 90.
Silhouettes. 1800s.
1 item; 14 x 12 mm.
Alice Fowler is said to have been a Quaker active in both abolition and missionary work.
Two figures appearing on a single sheet are titled “Ann Shipley, My Mother’s Aunt” and “H. Lythall, My Mother’s Sister, My Aunt Hannah.” The Shipley silhouette was cut in the middle of the sheet and has black paper pasted behind it. The Lythall silhouette was cut from white paper and sewn onto the same black paper, thereby obscuring part of Shipley’s image.
Document 59.
The reward of merit: a new, moral, and entertaining game. 1801.
1 sheet in slipcase: ill.; 38 x 69 cm.
A game of thirty-seven spaces, each illustrated and labeled with a rhyming moral, such as “A Gardener: Plant what is good, root out what is bad, then you’ll become a charming lad.”
Described and illustrated on pages 48 and 52 in the second edition of Table Games of Georgian and Victorian Days, by F. R. B. Whitehouse, published by Priory Press in Hertfordshire, England, 1971.
Document 60.
American journals. 1831–68.
1 microfilm reel.
George Townsend Fox worked for the firm of G. Sands & Hodgson, general merchants of Liverpool, England.
Journals describe four trips that Fox made to America in 1831–32, 1834, 1841, and 1868. Fox recorded many of his social experiences and his observations on American politics, slavery, poverty in Georgia, and society in Charleston, South Carolina, as well as a handful of entries related to his business dealings.
Original manuscripts located in the South Tyneside Libraries, England.
Further discussed on page 224 in A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, written by John Raimo and published in 1979.
Microfilm M736.
Account book. 1868–69.
1 vol.; 36 cm.
Walter Fox and John H. Bristol were merchants and operators of a saloon, most likely in Hartford, New York.
Book notes transactions involving such items as cider, whiskey, wine, cigars, medicines, toiletries, etc. Also included are accounts for setting up a saloon.
Document 882.
Sewing exercise book. Ca. 1880–1910.
47 p.; 26 cm.
Rachel Darling Foyer lived in Lakewood, Ohio.
Volume contains twenty-three graded exercises in sewing and mending undertaken over the course of four grade levels of study. Each includes typed instructions, with the finished work attached to the facing page. Some exercises may have been for doll’s clothes.
Document 1081.
1 item: col. ill.
Peep show depicting scenes of French Freemasons meeting and interacting.
Collection 220.
Old New York: or, reminiscences of the past sixty years … with a memoir of the author by Henry T. Tuckerman. 1865.
6 vols.: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
John Wakefield Francis was a physician who co-founded the New York Academy of Medicine and served as its second president. He taught at Bellevue Hospital, wrote medical texts, edited professional journals, and engaged in civic affairs.
Volumes constitute an extra-illustrated version of Wakefield’s publication, extended to six volumes with the addition of manuscript letters and engravings. It was initially published as New York during the Last Half Century: A Discourse in Commemoration of the Fifty-third Anniversary of the New York Historical Society. Added letters are from luminaries of the day, and engravings show views of New York, local worthies, and historic American scenes.
Folio 264.
Invoice book. 1759–61.
1 microfilm reel.
Tench Francis and John Relfe were merchants working in partnership in Philadelphia.
Manuscript includes references to food, clothing, copper objects, and textiles. There are records referring to trade with firms in London and the West Indies.
Original invoice book located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M304.
Records. Ca. 1880–1920.
5 boxes.
The company manufactured silver objects in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Includes about five hundred photographs in binders of items produced by Whiting, including bowls, goblets, plates, trophies, napkin rings, tea strainers, inkstands, and corkscrews. Some of the photos are printed and numbered in catalogue format. Records also include pencil drawings of spoons and other silverware.
Typed tables of contents available.
Catalogues from Frank M. Whiting & Co. available in trade catalogue collection.
Collection 43.
Daybook. 1893–1900, 1904.
300 p.; 32 cm.
The Franklin Mill produced paper in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records types and quantities of paper purchased from the Franklin Mill by other companies, especially Garrett-Buchanan & Co. The volume also contains lists of the weights of stock paper and inventory lists kept from 1893 to 1900.
Document 371.
Sketchbooks. Ca. 1920–40.
1 microfilm reel.
Karl R. Free was one of many American artists who worked for the W.P.A. He also served as curator of prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Sketches depict people, animals, and buildings. Most, if not all, were drawn while Free traveled in Europe.
Original sketchbooks located at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Microfilm M741.
Exercise book. 1841–60.
48 p.; 32 cm.
It is not known who Lewis Free was or where he lived.
Manuscript contains mathematical exercises and word problems. Each section bears a title, and most are signed by Free.
Document 289.
Papers. 1967–87.
1 box.
John Crosby Freeman served as executive director of the American Life Foundation, edited Victorian Homes, and published articles on various topics related to American furniture, Victoriana, and quilts. He graduated from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture in 1964.
Papers include letters written to Freeman relating to publishing and research activities. Many are from John Maass, an author and architectural historian, who wrote about his work for the American Life Foundation.
Collection 152.
United States common school writing book. 1850.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
A student from Massachusetts, Wilberforce Freeman used this book for his writing exercises. The front wrapper features an engraving of an eagle, and the back cover features an illustration of several farm buildings.
Document 702.
Account books. 1784–1819.
6 vols.; 40 cm.
Gideon French was a tallow chandler in Boston and one of the youngest men who participated in the Boston Tea Party.
Collection includes four daybooks and two ledgers that record French’s production and sale of soap, candles, and rush and watch lights. One ledger contains an inventory of stock on hand from November 1784. The presence of different handwriting in the volumes suggests that French employed several people.
Collection 328.
2 vols.: col. ill.; 41 cm.
Includes watercolor drawings of more than 1,565 personal, household, and hardware items sold in France during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. The range of products is vast: gloves, tobacco boxes, watch fobs, scent bottles, pistols, spurs, footwear, lamps, brushes, miniature furniture, and both practical and sentimental garters. The volumes show something of the nature of decorative art objects associated with the middle class during the Napoleonic period. Both volumes are labeled “Lebeuf,” a Parisian stationer, and bear the spine title “Echantillon.”
Folio 89.
1 box: ill.; 32 cm.
Consists of a decorated note box containing French “papier vélin” of very fine quality. Included are notepapers, various sizes of envelopes, paper seals, sealing wax, and a pen wiper. Paper includes samples in floral patterns (one translucent), polychromed, Florentine, and silver-and-gilt coated. Envelopes are gilt-ornamented or edged in deep blue along their flaps. Seals, in various colors, bear days of the week, floral designs, or initials.
Document 83.
Recipe book. 1669.
177 p.; 36 cm.
Includes recipes for cakes, sweetmeats, and other delicacies as well as recipes for perfumes, waters, salves, plasters, and “other excellent things.” Several of the recipes bear names, suggesting that these people gave their recipes to Lady Frescheville.
Index to recipes at front of manuscript.
Folio 164.
Papers. 1879–90.
2 folders.
George Freyer was an antiques dealer from Philadelphia.
Papers contain letters, bills, and auction catalogues. Most of the letters are Freyer’s correspondence with other dealers. Items mentioned include silver-plated candelabras, trays, medals, cabinets, a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, a corner chair, and intaglio rings with stones.
Collection 502.
The Friendship Fire Company’s book. 1763–68, 1791–1816.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
The Friendship Fire Company was established in 1763 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It limited its membership to thirty individuals, each of whom had to furnish his own bucket, basket, and bag. The company’s only elected official, a treasurer, was chosen each year. In 1791 the company reorganized and allowed itself thirty-five members. The Friendship Fire Company remained in existence until the 1880s, when Lancaster organized its own city fire department.
Book includes articles of agreement, meeting minutes, lists of members, details of duties, arrangements of stations, financial statements, etc.
Document 692.
Architectural drawings. 1843–81.
105 items: ill. (some col.)
Georg Friedrich Friz was a German-born architect. Sometime between 1867 and 1871, he immigrated to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he adopted the surname Fritz.
Includes pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings of elevations, floor plans, and architectural details of a variety of private dwellings and public buildings in rural Germany. There are several illustrations of structures located in Reading.
Finding aid available.
Collection 247.
Account book. 1816–21.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Jacob Froelich was a whitewasher and plasterer from southeastern Pennsylvania.
Manuscript documents Froelich’s whitewashing and plastering activities and notes costs associated with the materials needed to perform the labor. There are references to joinery. It is unclear whether the joinery was for Froelich’s home or if he subcontracted the work for another purpose. There are a few records for the purchase of food as well.
Document 305.
Notebooks. 1833–34.
3 vols.; 26 cm.
Mary F. Frost attended the Brooklyn Collegiate Institute at the time she kept these volumes.
Manuscripts contain poetry and essays on a number of subjects, including life, writing, botany, languages, and learning.
Document 305.
21 microfilm reels.
Fruitlands Museums is located in Harvard, Massachusetts. Its collections focus on paintings, local history, Transcendentalism, and Shakerism.
Collection contains Shaker covenants, laws, legal and land records, financial records, essays, sermons, spiritual writings, and music. Manuscripts are chiefly from the Harvard and Shirley, Massachusetts, Shaker communities.
Finding aid available.
ASC M174–M194.
Bills. 1831–34.
95 items.
Fry & Gross probably ran a general store in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
Bills document purchases made by the firm of Fry & Gross as well as by Jacob, Daniel, and Samuel Fry and Thomas Gross as individuals. Most bills are from businesses located in Trappe, Philadelphia, or Limerick, Pennsylvania. Items mentioned include tinware, liquor, candy, food, hardware, cowhide, and paints.
Collection 482.
Copybook. Ca. 1830.
1 vol.; 17 x 21 cm.
Consists of student handwriting exercises by Timothy H. Frye in a volume made by William Griswold, a stationer from Bennington, New Hampshire. The front cover shows an American eagle and an advertisement for Griswold’s store. The back cover features several small advertisements, including one for a pen, and a multiplication table.
Document 815.
Account book. 1693–1803.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Hezekiah Fuller was a weaver from Dedham, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records Fuller’s professional activities, including his spinning and weaving. The volume also documents his and others’ agricultural pursuits and mentions a variety of food products.
Partial name index available.
Document 547.
Pattern book of designs. 1800s.
113 p.: ill.; 40 cm.
Julia Furbush probably resided in upstate New York or Massachusetts during the mid nineteenth century.
Volume includes manuscript patterns in pencil and ink used for embroidering purses as well as infant bibs, garments, shoes, and collars. Other larger patterns may have been for quilts.
Spine title: Patterns, Julia Furbush.
Folio 55.
28 items: col. ill.
Collection of German watercolors and one pencil sketch of such household furnishings as looking glasses, cupboards, upholstered sofas, beds, chests of drawers, desks, and cradles. Some feature both side and front views and include dimensions.
Document 740.
22 p.: ill. (some col.); 37 x 27 cm.
Consists of pencil sketches and watercolor drawings of furniture available from an English source, including card tables, writing desks, various kinds of chairs, cheval screens, and couches. Each is numbered with annotations describing the wood used for the frame and fabrics for finishing.
Folio 88.
1 box: col. ill.
Includes sketches, preliminary and working stencils, and finished full-color drawings for furniture decoration, probably by a Pennsylvania German artisan from the York, Pennsylvania, area.
Depictions clearly show steps from design through production and include flowers, fruit, birds, and other stylized motifs. J. F. W. Sleeder signed two of the finished drawings.
Collection 5.
Account book. 1738–49.
1 microfilm reel.
Solomon Fussell was a chairmaker from Philadelphia. At least one of his apprentices, William Savery, became a noted chairmaker and joiner in his own right. Sometime after 1750, Fussell left the chair business and became a merchant.
Volume contains accounts arising from Fussell’s chairmaking activities and also includes records of some property that he rented to tenants.
Name index available.
Original account book in the Stephen Collins Papers, Library of Congress.
Microfilm M65.
The engineer’s shop and horizontal engine working model. 1870.
1 sheet (uncut): ill.
G. Bishop & Co. was located at 101 Houndsditch in London.
This uncut and uncolored sheet contains the parts necessary to assemble an engineer’s workplace. When cut out and put together, a chimney, sandwheel, and two workmen are shown. The wheel was supposed to work with the addition of a half-pint of sand.
Collection 220.
German toy catalogue. Ca. 1818–40.
135 folio plates: col. ill.
G. G. Fendler & Co. was a manufacturing firm based in Nuremberg, Germany, and established by Georg Gottfried Fendler around 1773. After he died in or about 1798, his widow sold the business to Johann Christian Hertel and Carl Gottfried Reidner. G. G. Fender & Co. is known to have been in operation until 1887. The reason for the demise of the firm is unclear.
Catalogue contains 135 color plates containing 604 images of a wide range of German-made playthings, including mechanical and other toys, dolls, board games, magic lanterns, miniature furniture, and panoramas of Paris and China. The paper’s watermarks range in date from 1818 to 1839.
German-language index to plates and an English translation available.
Collection 311.
Catalogue of engravings. 1863.
106 p.; 26 cm.
Thomas Gaffield was a partner in a profitable window glass retailing firm, called Tuttle, Gaffield & Co., in Boston. He collected engravings and showed a keen interest in art history. He was a founding member of the Boston Art Club, established in 1862.
Volume records Gaffield’s collection of engravings, his thoughts on his collection, criticisms and remarks made by others on the engravings, and a list of members of the Boston Art Club.
Document 231.
Papers. 1707–1850.
43 items: ill.
John Gaines II and Thomas Gaines were father-and-son chairmakers and turners from Ipswich, Massachusetts. They were also father and brother to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, chairmaker John Gaines III.
Collection contains Gaines family letters, poems, tax notices, and deeds. Some letters pertain to legal matters and estate settlement, and others refer to personal topics. In addition, the collection contains an account book kept by John and Thomas Gaines from 1707 to 1762. The two made great chairs and low chairs as well as banister back, slat back, crown back, carved back, and children’s table chairs. In addition, they repaired chairs, built bottoming, fixed hand tools and spinning wheels, farmed, sold produce, and transported people. Volume contains some family genealogy.
Collection 409.
Transfer prints. Ca. 1820–40, 1892.
68 items; ill.
William Gallimore was a designer and engraver. He mostly did work for Josiah Wedgwood, Enoch Wood, John Alcock, John Ridgeway, and other English (most Staffordshire-based) potters. Eventually Gallimore immigrated to the United States and spent his last days in Trenton, New Jersey, at the home of his son.
Collection consists of transfer prints and proofs from copper plates and original drawings from which the transfer print engravings were executed. Most of the engravings show pastoral scenes, floral and geometric designs, elaborate architecture, and exotic landscapes.
Finding aid available.
Collection 216.
Entry 824. A transfer print for decorating pottery from designer and engraver William Gallimore. Ca. 1820–40.
Notes on a voyage to China. 1839, 1850.
1 microfilm reel.
Consists of a buying guide for merchants dealing in the Far East export trade, including information on exchange rates. The volume was annotated by William B. Williams, who served on the ship the Channing in 1850.
Original manuscript located at the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M183.
Engravings. Ca. 1880s.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 x 13 cm.
Eugene D. Gardner was an engraver and block printer. A native of Troy, New York, he moved to New York City sometime around 1881. Gardner produced portraits of famous individuals of the day for various magazines. He was considered by some to be the dean of American wood engravers.
Volume contains 180 miscellaneous engravings of various sizes showing depictions of animals, stoves, knives, drawing instruments, horse equipage, and landscape scenes.
Document 412.
Orders. 1769–73.
25 items.
Hugh Gardner was a merchant.
Collection contains orders placed by Gardner for such goods as hardware, dry goods, buttons, a seal skin trunk, shoes, tea, salt, writing paper, and linseed oil.
Collection 503.
Account book. 1835–77.
181 p.; 31 cm.
Israel Garretson was a farmer in Newbury Township, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript includes notations of work and products associated with a farmer’s life: mowing, haying, reaping, splitting rails and stakes, husking corn, threshing wheat, and churning butter. There are references to purchases made for the household.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 581.
Ledger. 1807–17.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Samuel Garrett was a native of Willistown, Pennsylvania, where he lived with his wife, Sarah Worrall Garrett. The couple appear to have lived in Philadelphia and Upper Providence, Pennsylvania, at various times as well. He appears to have been a tanner and leatherworker.
Manuscript records Garrett’s activities as a tanner and notes his shoemaking, currying, and other leatherworking activities.
Name index available.
Document 514.
Mill and farm accounts. 1833–45.
196 p.: ill.; 27 cm.
William Evans Garrett operated a prosperous snuff mill in Yorklyn, Delaware, about forty miles south of Philadelphia. It had been bequeathed to him and his brother by their father, Levi, who had earlier inherited it from his father, John. In the early 1880s, William took his two sons into partnership. When William died in 1885, the family relinquished the business.
Manuscript contains a history of the Garrett family, records the development of the mill property and the structures on it, describes how Red Clay Creek was diverted to create a new channel, and includes financial accounts relating to the mill’s operation and personnel.
Other Garrett account books located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Document 262.
Daybook and scrapbook. 1850–80, bulk 1850–51.
1 vol.: ill.; 40 cm.
The first portion of this volume was used as a daybook by workers of Garrett & Alvord, a Montville, Ohio, general store. Flora Lavern Garrett came to possess the volume and began the scrapbook portion on March 1, 1880.
More than four hundred pages recording general store activities note that dry goods, hardware, books, ceramics, tools, metalware, dyes, and other items were sold. About sixty pages of this volume contain clippings from a variety of sources.
Folio 52.
Account book. 1846–50, 1925.
10 p.; 30 cm.
Robert Garwood was a dry-goods merchant from Philadelphia.
Includes an account of goods purchased by James Daveraux from Garwood, including a variety of textiles, hose, gloves, and handkerchiefs. The last two pages of text record wages and expenses in 1925 for what appears to be a retail shop.
Document 622.
Gaskell’s complete compendium of elegant writing. 1879.
13 items.
Professor G. A. Gaskell operated a business college in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Includes an engraved envelope that contains what Gaskell called “a new series of beautiful copy-slips for self-instruction in the counting room, the office, and at the home fireside,” for which he charged $1.00.
Document 321.
Photographs of Odd Fellows’ Hall. 1975.
27 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
Volume contains thirty-eight photographs that depict the Odd Fellows’ Hall at Third and Brown streets, Philadelphia, shortly before the structure was demolished. Both interior and exterior photographs feature Egyptian revival architecture associated with the building.
Document 359.
Account book. 1818–26, 1842–43, 1861.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
William Gault was a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts.
Volume first includes a series of invoices for a variety of dry-goods products purchased by Gault from other merchants. From 1842 to 1843, the manuscript was used as a daybook, recording sales and payments to Gault. In 1861 another individual, who appears to have been a doctor, used the volume to note visits to patients and the medications he prescribed. At the end of the book, an unnamed person recorded his plastering, brickwork, and painting in 1843.
Document 532.
Gavitt’s stock exchange. 1904.
1 game (33 cards): ill.
This card game, published by W. W. Gavitt Printing and Publishing Co. of Topeka, Kansas, was to be played by three or four participants. The object of the game was to amass a full complement of one set of four cards—each representing the stock of a single company—in order to fully own the company. An instructional booklet and promotional literature were also included.
Collection 220.
Drawings. 1903–ca. 1930.
Approx. 900 items: ill. (chiefly col.); 56 x 41 cm. or smaller.
George Christian Gebelein has been described as “the modern Paul Revere.” He began his career as a silversmith with Goodnow & Jenks of Boston in 1893, and in 1909 he opened his own studio in Boston. His wares were displayed at many museums, and he won many awards for his work. His wares are held by private individuals, the College of William and Mary, the chapel at West Point, and the National Cathedral. Gebelein was also known for making fine jewelry.
Collection consists of designs for a wide variety of silverwork and jewelry that betrays the influence of the arts and crafts movement and colonial revival style. Many of the drawings for silver goods depict tea and coffee services. A few of the leaves are annotated, and some mention who commissioned the items represented.
Collection 21; Microfilm M3017.
Vorschrift. Ca. 1800–1810.
1 leaf; 34 cm.
This Pennsylvania German vorschrift contains the rhyming religious poem “Ein Wunder Grosses Fisch.” This familiar German legend tells of a fish with a human head that was caught in 1740 near Geneva. The legend appears on several other pieces of illuminated Fraktur in several museums and libraries, including Winterthur and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Finding aid with translation available.
Document 1066.
Account books. 1874–75, 1888, 1898–1910.
3 vols.; 38 cm. or smaller.
The Geist family operated a general store in Blue Ball, Pennsylvania.
Two daybooks listing daily store sales and one cashbook listing business and operating expenses illuminate the activities of a store operated by Everett S. and Adam Geist.
Collection 317.
Manuale, or handbook of active and continued debts, mine. 1760–84.
1 microfilm reel.
Jörg Gelwicks was a shoemaker from Little Conewago, Pennsylvania.
Volume includes records of a shoemaker who both made and repaired footwear. Accounts relating to the settlement of the estate of Frederick Gelwicks are also included. Much of the text is in German, though the estate records are in English.
Name index available.
Original manuscript located in the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
24 blocks: col. ill.
Consists of blocks shaped like books contained in a wooden box made to resemble bookshelves. Each block (except that for XYZ) represents a single letter of the alphabet. Mock book titles and accompanying illustrations highlight the letter represented.
Collection 220.
Accounts. 1794–1803.
1 folder.
Charles Edmund Genet lived near Jamaica, New York. His occupation is unknown.
This small collection includes bills, receipts, and promissory notes. Goods and services mentioned include oxen, horses, thread, cloth, pails, ale, and a load of hay.
Collection 507.
Valentine sample book. 1886–87.
12 leaves: col. ill.; 26 cm.
George C. Whitney & Co. began in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1858 and eventually became the largest maker of valentine cards in the United States. Whitney bought out a competitor, Esther Howland’s firm, and then hired her for her innovative design work. The company operated until February 1942, when it was forced to liquidate.
Sample book contains thirty-six sample valentines, six embossed envelopes, and a partial valentine catalogue for 1886–87.
Document 24.
Drawings. 1921–50.
525 items; ill.
The Georgian Lighting Shops operated in Philadelphia from at least 1921 until the 1950s and produced revival-style products. Few advertisements from the firm are known. A letterhead in the collection includes the names John G. Lisberger and Carroll G. Stewart.
Drawings and tracings in the collection are of lighting devices, decorative scrollwork, railings, fireplace equipment, etc. All are finely detailed and hand-colored, generally to one-quarter scale. Also included are full-scale renderings and mounted photographs of lighting fixtures embossed with the name “Sterling Bronze Company, New York City.”
These 525 items are also on microfilm along with 1,927 other drawings produced by the firm.
Finding aid available.
Collection 103; Microfilm M2926–M2929.
Logbook and notebook of Benjamin Gerrish. 1716–25.
1 microfilm reel.
Manuscript records weather conditions and other particulars during days at sea between Salem, Massachusetts, and points in the Caribbean.
Original manuscript located at the American Antiquarian Society.
Microfilm M288.
Hardware sample box. Ca. 1887–1931.
1 item; 47 x 33 x 6 cm.
Gerwin & Co. was an exporting firm in Birmingham, England. It was established in 1897 by William Gerwin, who died in 1931. The firm was located at three different sites in Birmingham throughout its existence. In 1975 its name became Gerwin Kunnreuther Ltd.
This salesman’s sample box contains twenty-three examples of metalware, many of them drawer pulls and hooks. Each item is labeled with a stock number and size. The metal used for the pieces appears to be iron that has been electroplated with brass and then lacquered.
Folio 186.
Thread sample book. 1862–63.
78 leaves; 18 cm.
Albert Geser’s name appears on the inside front cover of this volume with an address in the Swiss canton of Saint Gallen. He is presumed to have been the owner of this manuscript and a cloth manufacturer.
Consists of a large number of thread samples with accompanying notes in German indicating the kinds of fabric woven from it and color names. Also contains a price index, a table of weaver’s salaries, and a list of names (perhaps customers) from Great Britain.
Collection 50.
Receipt book. 1834–55.
238 p.; 13 x 20 cm.
William B. Geyer operated a leather store in Philadelphia and owned property elsewhere in the city.
Contains signed receipts for taxes, rents, brickwork, plumbing, painting, paper hanging, privy cleaning, etc.
Index of names, occupations, and objects mentioned available.
Document 82.
Sales book. 1850–72, bulk 1850–52, 1862.
1 vol.; 24 x 12 cm.
Samuel Gibson was a comb wholesaler in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Manuscript contains records of sales of combs to various merchants in the Boston area. An extensive inventory is mentioned: Siamese pocket combs, vine top back combs, feather top combs, chain combs, etc. The volume also contains apparently unrelated accounts of sales of apples and cider and agricultural notes that were recorded later.
Document 249.
Journals. 1802–7.
1 microfilm reel.
Gibson and Company operated a general store in Cantwell’s Bridge (now Odessa), Delaware.
The two journals, overlapping from 1805 to 1807, record the various transactions of the business.
Original manuscripts in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M749.
Photograph album. Ca. 1920–40.
23 leaves: ill.; 21 cm.
Gien was a maker of faience established in 1822 at a former convent in Gien, France. It is noted for producing cream-colored earthenware and large vases. From 1834 to 1840, de Boulen et Cie. were proprietors. Geoffrey, de Boulen et Cie., as the firm was then known, won a medal at a Paris exposition in 1844. In 1856, under the name of Geoffrey Guérin et Cie., the company began to produce highly ornamental ceramic wares.
Album includes such twentieth-century views of Gien’s faience manufactory as the entrance, streets within the complex, laboratory, retail store, molding and drying shops, and ovens. Also included are depictions of such activities as the drying of plates, the sorting and packing of wares, painting and decorating, and the making of square tiles.
Partial index available.
Document 168.
Account book. 1854–56, 1917–37.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
A. Giffin was a house painter from West Brookfield, Massachusetts.
Volume records Giffin’s activities during the 1850s: painting, varnishing, paper hanging, and graining. During twenty years of the twentieth century, Frank A. Giffin, presumably a descendant, used the book to make notes on seeds that he ordered.
Document 384.
Ledger. 1806–41.
3 vols.; 42 cm. or smaller.
A. Gilbert was a general merchant from Ridgefield, Connecticut. Some of his business, conducted in New York City, appears to have been managed by Richard Randall.
Manuscripts—totaling in excess of one thousand pages and covering more than thirty-five years—record Gilbert’s activities as a merchant. Gilbert sold both to individuals and to businesses. He handled a variety of goods, including furniture, dry goods, food, clothing, and hardware.
Collection 262.
Account book. 1826–42.
558 p.; 39 cm.
W. C. Gildersleeve lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and seems to have operated a general store. He helped to manage the financial affairs of a local Presbyterian Church.
Manuscript notes the activities of Gildersleeve’s store and includes some family information as well as a record of the expenses of the Presbyterian Church’s building committee.
Folio 133.
Account books. 1783–1878.
3 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
Jonathan Gillett and his son, Jonathan Jr., were furnituremakers in Canaan, Connecticut. Members of the Gillett family also farmed and may have operated a general store.
Jonathan Gillett Sr. kept the first volume of the collection from 1783 to 1789 to record furnituremaking. From 1798 to1834, both Gillett Sr. and Gillett Jr. used the second volume to note furnituremaking and, after 1828, to chronicle activities associated with the operation of a general store. Various family members wrote in the third volume, a ledger, to record woodworking and family genealogy.
Collection 340.
Business papers. Ca. 1731–1905.
127 leaves: ill. (some col.); 103 microfilm reels
Gillow and Co. was a provincial English furnituremaking firm based in Lancaster until at least 1931. The firm maintained an outlet in London as well. It engaged in architectural joinery, repair work, and upholstery services. It exported goods to the West Indies and northern Europe.
Leaves contain 206 watercolors and forty-three pencil and wash drawings of furniture, chandeliers, upholstery, and draperies in styles ranging from Chippendale to regency. Watermarks suggest they were done after 1845. Microfilm reels include Gillow financial records, drawings, sketchbooks, and letters. Gillow’s archive is the most complete to have survived from any leading English furniture manufacturer.
Finding aid for contents of microfilm available.
Microfilmed originals at Westminster City Libraries, London.
Papers used for The Gillow Company of Lancaster, England: An Eighteenth-Century Business History, by Sarah C. Nichols (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1982).
Document 257; Microfilm M1424–M1525, M2728.
Entry 856. A watercolor drawing of a desk and globe from the British furniture making firm Gillow and Co., Lancaster, England. Ca. 1845.
Diary. 1824.
20 p.; 16 cm.
Rufus King Gilman was a supercargo at the time that he kept this diary. He was the eighth child of Benjamin C. Gilman, a merchant from Exeter, New Hampshire. Gilman probably attended Exeter Academy and lived with his brother, William, a merchant, in Norwich, Connecticut.
Diary documents Gilman’s sea voyage from New London, Connecticut, to Ireland and England and his subsequent travels in those countries. He commented about the conditions that he saw and wrote at some length about porcelain- and crockerymaking at the Herculaneum Pottery in Liverpool. Gilman also wrote about the production of silk, cotton, and calico goods in Manchester.
Typescript available.
Document 909.
Inventories and deeds. 1745–1849.
13 items.
Philadelphian Thomas Gilpin and his brother Joshua established the first paper mill in the vicinity of Wilmington, Delaware. In 1817 Thomas invented and patented the first continuous papermaking machine in the United States. The Gilpins were forced to sell their mill in 1837 after financial setbacks. Their father, Thomas Gilpin Sr., was a Quaker merchant from Wilmington.
The family inventories include a list of Thomas Gilpin’s possessions maintained from 1839 to 1850. Deeds record lot and house purchases in Wilmington by Thomas Gilpin Sr. from 1748 to 1771.
Collection 246.
16 items.
The Gingrich, Hershey, and Hochstetter families all lived in Warwick Township, Pennsylvania. Christian Hershey served as a guardian and executor to both the Gingrich and Hochstetter families.
Consists of notes, receipts, accounts, inventories, and bonds relating to the transfer of property and estates of members of the three families.
Eight of the items are in German; eight are in English.
Finding aid available.
Document 594.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1879–1900.
1 vol.: ill (some col.); 35 cm.
Lillie Ginkinger lived in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the time that she assembled this scrapbook.
On January 1, 1883, Allen Shreadley gave this volume to his friend, Lillie. In it, Lillie pasted a wide variety of trade cards, holiday greetings, and illustrated scraps that she had been collecting since 1879. Most trade cards refer to Harrisburg businesses. Prominent American and European publishers and printers, such as Raphael Tuck, produced the cards.
Folio 60.
34 items: ill.; 17 x 22 cm.
These thirty-four photographs record furniture that was probably made by a Reading, Pennsylvania, firm. Most of the items depicted are forms of seating furniture: rocking chairs, cane seated chairs, high chairs, armchairs, and upholstered piano benches. A round table and a baby’s crib are also illustrated. Each negative has a number at the bottom, suggesting that the images were used to illustrate a trade catalogue.
Collection 484.
18 microfilm reels.
Members of the Sanders family were general merchants from Albany, New York, and New York City. The Glen family, many of whom served in the military, were customers.
These records, both personal and professional, contain correspondence, account books, bills, receipts, and other papers dealing chiefly with the selling of such products as clothing, fabric, food, metalware, etc.
Summary of contents of each reel available.
Original manuscripts at the New York Historical Society.
Microfilm M1967–M1984.
Papers. 1812–13.
2 folders: ill.; 34 cm.
George Glentworth lived and worked in Philadelphia.
Collection contains bills and receipts relating to the construction of a house and store located on the northeast corner of Chester and Race streets in Philadelphia. They are for such products as hardware, lumber, window glass, and doors and reflect such building activities as plastering, painting, bricklaying, and cellar digging. Photographs taken sometime later record the exterior of the building.
Collection 456.
Account book. 1814–50.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Miles and Owen Godard were sawyers in Granby, Connecticut.
Volume begins as a daybook for 1814. The remainder of the volume consists of running accounts for sawing boards, logs, planks, shafts, and railings.
Folio 194.
Diary. 1795.
1 vol.; 12 cm.
Nichols Goddard was a clock- and watchmaker and a silversmith. Born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, he served his apprenticeship with Luther Goddard, a cousin. In 1797 he and Benjamin Lord began a partnership making gold and silver wares in Rutland, Vermont, that lasted until 1807. Goddard and his wife, Charity White Goddard, were members of the East Parish Congregational Church in Rutland. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, Goddard served as Rutland’s town clerk and town treasurer. He was a Mason.
Brief diary entries record memoranda, miscellaneous observations, and money spent for household goods and boarding, as well as Goddard’s clockmaking activities.
Photographs of clocks made by Goddard are located in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, Winterthur Museum.
Document 827.
Drawings of furniture. Ca. 1906.
18 items: ill. (some col.)
Karl Goetting lived in Medina, New York; he may have been a furniture design student.
Collection contains twenty-seven drawings on eighteen sheets of paper. Furniture depicted includes bureaus, desks, storage and china cabinets, and rocking chairs. Two drawings have watercolor and wash highlights, and some drawings include comments, possibly by an instructor.
Collection 411.
Bills. 1873–1906.
95 items: ill.
Goldsmith & Tuthill appear to have been Cutchogue, Long Island, New York, wholesalers.
The bills in this collection record the types of merchandise purchased by Goldsmith & Tuthill for resale, including agricultural implements, art supplies, dry goods, hardware, stoves, woodenware, hollowware, tobacco, and stationery. Many bills include illustrations reflective of the firm’s product line.
Collection 153.
Papers. 1889–93.
Approx. 360 items.
Members of the Goodwin family were early settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. By the end of the nineteenth century, descendants of these settlers had become quite wealthy and owned considerable land in the city. James Junius (1835–1915) and Rev. Francis (1839–1923) are the two Goodwins most frequently mentioned in this collection. James served on boards of insurance companies and banks, worked with J. Pierpont Morgan, and was influential in Hartford’s civic and cultural circles. Although he studied for the ministry, Francis eventually left the pulpit to manage the family fortune.
Collection records the building and land development activities of the Goodwin brothers in Hartford over a four-year period. Papers relate to the construction or renovation of Goodwin family dwellings, the Wadsworth Atheneum, Trinity Church, the Putnam Phalanx Armory, various other residences, and the Goodwin Building, a structure that anchored an important commercial block in downtown Hartford. The work of local construction firms is documented through specifications, contracts, monthly reports, scale drawings, and other records.
Finding aid available.
Collection 239.
Daybooks. 1833–35.
84 leaves; 41 cm.
William Goold worked as a tailor in Portland, Maine.
Manuscript contains records of daily sales of pantaloons, surtouts, vests, jackets, coats, dickeys, suspenders, and other items. There are references to repairing clothing, cutting cloth, and selling fabric and patterns.
Folio 14.
Copybook. 1806.
22 leaves: ill.; 22 cm.
Nathan B. Gordon was a student from Exeter, New Hampshire.
Manuscript contains the handwriting exercises practiced by young Nathan when he was in school. The cover features an engraving by James Akin, called “Sailor’s Glee,” that portrays sailors drinking, dancing, and socializing with women. The copybook was sold in Newburyport, Massachusetts, by Akin, Thomas & Whittle, stationers.
Document 1056.
Quarry Farm, Greenwich, Connecticut: residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Walker Bagley. 1939.
29 leaves: ill.; 26 cm.
Samuel Henry Gottscho was an architectural photographer also known for his photos of flowers and gardens. He and his son-in-law, William H. Schleisner, established the firm of Gottscho-Schleisner in New York City.
Volume consists of interior and exterior photographs of the Bagleys country estate.
Document 41.
Diary. 1815.
152 p.; 20 cm.
Archibald Gracie was born in Scotland. He immigrated to Petersburg, Virginia, and later settled in New York City. His New York City home, which he built in 1799, is now the home of the city’s mayor. He was a successful shipping and banking magnate until the embargoes of the War of 1812 precipitated his financial ruin.
The bulk of this volume is Gracie’s account of a trip he took to his native Scotland. He wrote about the historic sites he visited, commented on the Scottish people’s character and contrasted it with that of New Yorkers, recorded his observations on factory production of household objects, and wrote about his fascination with steam power. In 1888 Gracie’s son, Peter, retraced his father’s footsteps and made comments on a handful of pages in his father’s diary.
Document 209.
60 leaves; 26 cm.
This scrapbook contains samples of sewing and knotting stitches. Those shown include basting, overcasting, hemming, and chain stitching as well as the military knot, looping chain, square knot, and reef or ambulance knot. Other related instructions include making napkins, pen wipers, and aprons; affixing buttons; and creating weaving patterns.
Document 1025.
Receipt book. 1799–1806.
12 p.; 10 x 16 cm.
Charles Graff was a merchant in Philadelphia.
Includes twenty-nine signed receipts for a variety of goods and lists commodities shipped to Havana, Cuba.
Document 65.
Papers. 1798–1829.
13 items: ill. (some col.)
Frederick Graff was an engineer and architect based in Philadelphia. In 1797 he began his apprenticeship as a draftsman for the Philadelphia Waterworks, also known as the Fairmount Waterworks. Graff spent his working life associated with the works and developed its efficient hydraulic system. In addition to designing the machinery at the waterworks, he planned its distinctive neoclassical buildings. Graff’s son succeeded him.
Papers include Graff’s sketchbook, drawings of a building, and newspaper clippings related to the Philadelphia waterworks. The sketchbook includes drawings for wheeled vehicles, a garden, and neoclassical buildings. Rules for proportioning balustrades are recorded. Building plans, perhaps for the Branch Bank, Norfolk, Virginia, depict various views of a three-story structure.
Reports on the activities of the Philadelphia Waterworks from 1799 to 1824 in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library.
Finding aid available.
Collection 358.
Inventory of the stock of goods bought of Graff and Beck. 1854.
69 p.; 23 cm.
Graff & Beck seems to have been the name of a general store.
Inventory of the contents of a general store, including a wide variety of goods, such as “du Pont powder,” chalk, earthen jars, pitchers, bonnets, soap, and penknives.
Document 368.
Papers. 1760–1788.
1 folder.
Jacob Graff, the forebear of this line of Graffs, was born in 1727 in Germany. He eventually settled in Philadelphia, married Catherine Able, and fathered ten children, six of whom survived. Although his profession is not known, Graff may have been a furnituremaker or carpenter. One of his sons, also named Jacob, was a mason.
Papers of Jacob Graff Sr. and Jacob Graff Jr. include bills and receipts, family genealogical records, and Jacob Jr.’s account book. A record of the materials used for construction of the Minicks Building and a signed contract related to the building are also included.
Collection 388.
Photographs. 1888–ca. 1901.
22 items: ill.
Charles Grafly, a native of Philadelphia, was a sculptor and teacher who began working as a stone carver at the age of seventeen. He attended the Spring Garden Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied with Thomas Eakins. He then went to Paris and studied at the Académie Julian and the Ecole des beaux-arts. He then returned to Philadelphia and taught at Drexel Institute and at the Pennsylvania Academy. Grafly was a member of several professional groups and is best known for his work on the Meade Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Photographs of Grafly and his classmates, home, studio, and family are included. There are two photos of Grafly’s sculptures as well.
Finding aid available.
Collection 198.
Account book. 1830–49, 1877, bulk 1844–49.
28 p.; 16 cm.
M. W. Graham, a resident of North Canton, Connecticut, was a woodworker who specialized in making wagons and furniture.
The majority of this manuscript consists of records of Graham’s work for Milo Lee, including such activities as turning bedposts, making beds, altering a cart body, framing, working on gun boxes, making a sleigh, and making washstands.
Document 840.
Account books. 1728–66.
2 microfilm reels.
Samuel Grant was an upholsterer in Boston.
Account books document Grant’s business dealings, including products made and customers served as well as lists of priced merchandise and references to the shipment of goods.
Account book, located at the Massachusetts Historical Society, covers the years from 1728 to 1737. Volume at the American Antiquarian Society covers the years from 1737 to 1766.
Microfilm M1526, M1419.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1850–99.
11 items: ill.
H. Graves worked as an architect in Boston for much of the second half of the nineteenth century. Early in his career, he was associated with Thomas W. Silloway, a Unitarian clergyman who combined his ecclesiastical duties with designing churches throughout New England.
Drawings document an unnamed church in the Roman revival style. Included are elevations, floor plans, timber structure plans, and designs for ornamentation. Sketches show details of the spire, bell section, and base of the clock.
Finding aid available.
Collection 106.
Ledger. 1774–1814.
1 microfilm reel.
William Gray worked as a painter in Salem, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Accounts in Gray’s ledger pertain to painting schooners and other sailing vessels, whitewashing, painting rooms, and setting glass in doors.
Original manuscript at the Essex Institute.
Microfilm M2642.
Ledgers of imports and exports. 1697–1773.
52 microfilm reels.
Ledgers feature lists of goods imported and exported from London and other ports, many of which were located in the American colonies. The lists refer to house furnishings and products for domestic use.
Contents are further described in volume 2 of the Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office, published in 1963.
Original manuscripts located in London at the Public Record Office.
Microfilm M886, M1765–M1815.
Original correspondence, etc. 1739–76.
1 microfilm reel.
The Colonial Office managed a wide range of issues that unfolded in the British colonies.
The two main correspondents represented in this collection are John Singleton Copley, an American portrait painter, and Henry Pelham, an English painter, engraver, and mapmaker who was also Copley’s half brother. A Loyalist, Pelham left Boston for London in 1776. The Copley-Pelham letters are about everyday matters, money, portraits, exhibitions, etc.
Indexes are available.
Collection forms two volumes of a much larger, 1,450-volume collection of papers relating to America and the West Indies located in the Public Record Office.
Correspondence further described in Guide of the Public Records Office, published in 1963. Many of the letters are also available in volume 71 of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, entitled Letters and Papers of John Singleton Copley and Henry Pelham, 1739–1776, published in 1914.
Microfilm M1763.
Liverpool plantation registers. 1744–73, 1779–84.
2 microfilm reels.
These manuscripts contain information on ships registered at Liverpool, England, that were used to conduct trade with the English colonies.
Includes an introduction by Maurice M. Schofield and David J. Pope with indexes and lists of contents.
Original records in the Liverpool, England, Custom House.
Microfilm M2640–M2641.
7 microfilm reels.
The collection of material on these reels was assembled by the Wadsworth Atheneum. It chronicles the cultural and artistic heritage of the Connecticut River Valley by identifying objects and documents associated with the region. Included are files on craftspeople, estate inventories, and town and object files.
Summary of contents available.
Microfilm M2917–M2923.
Letters. 1877–83.
11 items.
Edwin Greble was a monumentmaker, stonecutter, and proprietor of a marble yard in Philadelphia. He owned a number of houses that he rented to tenants.
Letters are from Greble to his son, Edwin Greble Jr., who was in Europe. Apart from discussing family matters and social activities, these letters document Greble’s construction projects and rental activities. He wrote extensively about the construction of several houses on Sansom Street, Philadelphia, in which he used green-colored limestone. He also made tombs, statues, mantels, and cemetery ornaments. Greble asked his son to photograph certain buildings while in Europe.
Collection 196.
Account books. 1832–39, 1861–81.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
Samuel Greeley was a sailor. After making many voyages to Europe, he settled on a farm in Readfield, Maine.
Most of these volumes document the making and selling of butter by Greeley from 1862 to 1881. Beginning in 1874, there are brief diary entries recording the weather, daily activities, and travels and activities of family members.
Document 421.
Account book. 1790–1803.
51 leaves: ill.; 23 cm.
John Green was a craftsman from Southampton Town, New York, who worked in several media.
Manuscript contains accounts for work completed, records of crops planted, and personal reflections on family matters. Green mended a spinning wheel and rimmed a cart wheel. Toward the end of the manuscript, he sketched Windsor chairs, a chair saddle, and a swift. He mentions having done work for silversmith Elias Pelletreau.
Document 84.
Manifest of cargo and abstracts from invoice book of the ship Empress of China. 1784–85.
1 microfilm reel.
John Green was master of the Empress of China. During the Revolutionary War he served as a captain in the navy.
Includes a log, diary accounts, and a manifest for the Empress of China, the first sailing vessel to travel from America to China. On board were food, furniture, textiles, wall coverings, costumes, and decorative objects.
Original manuscript located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M105.
Account book, 1803–65, bulk 1804–12.
76 p.; 32 cm.
Jonas Green was a weaver in Queensbury, New York.
Volume records Green’s weaving activities between 1803 and 1819. He made such items as coverlets, blankets, flannel, and bedtick. After his death, his son, Benjamin Green, used the book to record transactions regarding livestock, produce, and the rental of real estate and his father’s weaving equipment. A list of family births and deaths is also included.
Document 375.
Account books. 1755–99.
1 microfilm reel.
Benjamin Greene was a merchant in Boston.
Microfilm reel contains two daybooks used by Greene. Entries record his business transactions with local merchants and his overseas trade activities. In addition to business matters, the second volume includes records of the Greene family estate. Accounts after 1767 include records of Benjamin Greene & Son.
Original manuscripts located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M2996.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1851–1904.
1 vol.: ill.; 35 cm.
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Horatio Nelson Greene eventually settled in Vineland, New Jersey, where he became active in community affairs and local politics. He was president of the Vineland National Bank and the Red Deer Consolidated Silver Mining Company. He and his wife traveled extensively, and he wrote a column for a local newspaper about his trips.
Manuscript contains a travel narrative of a trip Greene took from New Bedford to the Azores. The remainder of the volume contains clippings of newspaper articles that Greene wrote or that were written about him; illustrations of hotels where he stayed along his travels; and handwritten notes on such topics as temperance and the development of American railroads.
Document 344.
Account books. 1728–74.
1 microfilm reel.
Rufus Greene was a silversmith and goldsmith from Boston. Evidence suggests that he also served as a partner in a family-owned shipping company.
Manuscripts consist of two personal account books. Greene, who was quite wealthy, recorded purchases of such items as clothing, china, liquor, food, wood, stationery, and a silk bed quilt. Also included are annual evaluations of his personal assets. A few entries relate to his craft and record the production of chains, a spout cup, spoons, and other items.
Original manuscripts located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M2995.
Business and personal papers. 1667–ca. 1699.
1 microfilm reel.
The Greene family traded glassware in seventeenth-century London.
Includes references to orders of glassware from Venice along with patterns of items requested. Papers from the Glass Seller’s Company and a list of its members are also included. A letter from Edward Greene regarding a shipment of glassware to Antigua and miscellaneous family documents survive as well.
Included in Astone Gasparetto, Intorno Ai Rapporti Veneto-Inglesi nel Campo Vetrario, published in 1958, volume XI, pages 231–233.
Original materials located at the British Museum.
Microfilm M253.
Invoices. 1784–1834.
4 folders.
Members of the Greene family lived in New York City. They included Dr. John Greene; Mrs. E. Greene; and Mrs. Mary Greene, the wife of Timothy Greene, as well as their children, Joseph, Mary, and Caroline. The younger Mary may have operated a boarding school for girls as an adult.
Collection of bills documents purchases and repairs of household objects and personal goods. Items represented in the invoices include chairs, frames, watches, and jewelry. Expenses associated with a journey to Pennsylvania and Tennessee and the operation of a boarding school are also recorded.
Collection 424.
Daybook. 1820–21.
180 p.; 34 cm.
William Greenough, a Bostonian, was a wholesale dealer of furniture hardware.
Greenough sold a variety of hardware, including casters, desk hinges, cut nails, brass knobs, latches, screws, locks, and iron wire to furnituremakers. Among his customers were Simon Blanchard, Cornelius and Seth Briggs, Nathaniel Bryant, Ebenezer Vose, Elijah Leonard, and Levi Ruggles.
Name index available.
Document 678; Microfilm M2426.
Approx. 230 items: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection contains printed greeting cards, valentines, birthday cards, holiday greeting cards, friendship cards, religious cards, visiting cards, and a few printed scraps. Some cards feature hand-colored ornamentation. A few of the cards are publisher’s samples that include prices for complete sets. Many of the greeting and holiday cards are ornately decorated with embossing, lace, silk fringe, glitter, and bright colors.
Finding aid available.
Collection 267.
Diary. 1895.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Jennie Gregory resided in Geneva, Ohio. Her husband, Bert, owned a shop, where she sometimes worked.
Gregory’s life revolved around domestic activities, including cleaning, baking, washing, sewing, ironing, etc. She specifically mentions making several household products, taking painting lessons, maintaining a garden, decorating china, and attending a dancing school. The Gregorys may have accommodated boarders in a cottage on their property. They vacationed on the Great Lakes in August and September.
Document 319.
Account book. 1753–60.
1 microfilm reel.
Eliphalit Griffin was a shipwright from Newbury, Massachusetts. Collection also includes the account book of his brother, Jonathan, a general merchant from Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Consists of the first part of a small account book recording work on schooners in the Cross and Cottle shipyards. Other accounts relate to sugar, rum, and clothing.
Name index and occupation lists available.
Original manuscript located at the Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1963.2.
Account book. 1828–43.
336 p.; 34 cm.
James Griffin worked as a blacksmith in Alfred, Maine. He apparently worked with a relative named Ivory Griffin for a time. The two were listed as a pair in the Maine Register and Business Directory in 1856.
Contains credits and debits for blacksmithing. Work included horseshoeing, repairing wagons, mending tools, repairing handcuffs, making cranks, and sharpening drills. Payments were rarely made in cash but rather with foodstuffs, coal, bushels of wood, labor, cloth, and other goods.
Document 126.
Account book. 1760–73.
1 microfilm reel.
Jonathan Griffin was a general store merchant in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Collection also includes the account book of his brother, Eliphalit, a shipwright from Newbury, Massachusetts.
Accounts in this manuscript relate to the operation of a general store.
Name index and occupation lists available.
Original manuscript located at the Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1963.2.
Ledger. 1834–37.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Samuel Griffith worked a blacksmith in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Includes references to standard blacksmithing and metalworking activities: horseshoeing; making nails, bolts, and other items; sharpening shears and scissors; repairing plows, tools, and other implements; and making and repairing wagon parts.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 946.
Daybook. 1807–52, bulk 1825–52.
1 microfilm reel.
Ashbil Griswold was a pewterer and maker of Britanniaware who worked in both Meriden, Connecticut, and Baltimore.
Records refer to Griswold’s work.
Original materials belong to the International Silver Co. of Meriden, Connecticut.
Microfilm M744.
Account books. 1798–1851.
5 vols.
Joseph Griswold worked as a furnituremaker, carpenter, storekeeper, and builder in Buckland, Massachusetts.
Consists of three account books, a daybook, and an index to the account books kept between 1804 and 1813 and bound separately. Of the five volumes, two are original manuscripts, and three are recorded on microfilm. Griswold recorded activities associated with woodworking and mentioned specific tasks and products. At times, entries record household purchases. An unnamed person kept one of the account books from 1843 to 1851.
Name index for three account books available.
Collection 284; Microfilm M1617, M1956.1.
Account book. 1844–52.
1 microfilm reel.
Josiah W. Griswold was a farmer and furnituremaker from Buckland, Massachusetts.
Accounts record the production and sale of doors, sashes, sleighs, and various food products, such as butter, milk, apples, and potatoes.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M1956.
Account and day books. 1829–36.
1 microfilm reel.
Lorenzo Griswold was a furnituremaker from Buckland, Massachusetts.
Accounts record woodworking activities, such as the making of doors and sleds, mending chairs, working on houses, and crafting such items as looking glasses, coffins, and bedsteads.
Original manuscripts in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M1956.
Memorandum books. 1886–88, 1898–1902.
2 vols.; 18 cm.
Worthington Franklin Griswold lived in Worthington, Ohio. He was an engineer, surveyor, justice of the peace, and mayor of his town.
Manuscripts contain almost daily notes recording weather conditions, expenses, income, travel, and legal affairs.
Other Griswold papers located at the Ohio Historical Society.
Document 145, 146.
Papers.
532 items: ill. (some col.); 27 cm.
Thomas D. Grover lived in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Evidence suggests that he owned a general contracting business and employed several hands to do carpentry and masonry work. He may have painted and repaired carriages as well. Grover appears to have been well educated and financially secure. He was a member of the Men’s Literary Union and other clubs.
Items in the collection include receipts that indicate Grover purchased such items as stationery, dishes and glasses, paint and varnish, hardware, fabric, lumber, iron, and carriage parts.
Collection 362.
Exercise book. 1838.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 33 cm.
William Henry Gruver, a resident of Springfield, Pennsylvania, used this book to calculate mathematical problems. He used fancy and colorful script to write headings for some sections of the book. There are hexagonal designs and small illustrations of houses sketched into the volume as well.
Document 687.
Théâtre miniature. Vol. II: la kermesse villageoise grand fête foraine en quatre parties. Ca. 1875.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 34 cm.
Bound volume features four pop-up scenes with accompanying text of a zoo, a circus, a circus sideshow, and a playground. Text is in French.
Collection 220.
Account book. 1827–40.
31 leaves; 20 cm.
Harvey W. Guess was a carriage and wagon repairman and was listed in the census of 1830 as a resident of Southington, Connecticut.
Manuscript contains accounts of debts owed to Guess for his work.
Document 115.
Mechanic’s ledger. 1832–60.
46 leaves; 40 cm.
Lebbeus B. Guile resided in Dryden, New York, and later relocated to Milo, New York. He appears to have been a farmhand and wagon repairman.
Manuscript contains a record of work performed, including making a shoebox, making a frame “to set tire,” making sashes, installing glass, and other tasks.
Title from spine.
Document 92.
Collection. 1948–50.
21 items.
Christian Gullager was a native of Denmark who immigrated to America sometime between 1782 and 1786. He earned his living as a portrait painter in Boston and New England and settled in that city in 1789. His best-known work is a painting of George Washington done in 1789.
Collection consists of notes on several of Gullager’s works, probably prepared by Susan Sawitzky; a catalogue of an exhibit of his paintings held at the Worcester Art Museum in 1949; and letters written by R. W. G. Vail, Louisa Dresser, and Sawitzky concerning the attribution of a painting entitled Mrs. West. Dresser acknowledges Sawitzky for her help in writing an article on Gullager in Art in America, 1949.
Collection 125.
Collection. 1896–1940, bulk 1902–18.
2 boxes: ill.
Amelia Gummere (Mrs. Francis B.) lived in Haverford, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America and worked at Independence Hall. Gummere studied early American church silver. In 1902 she was actively involved in a special exhibition on church silver sponsored by the Colonial Dames at the Museum of Fine Arts in Philadelphia (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
Collection contains material gathered by Gummere on early Pennsylvania ecclesiastical silver and its makers, including photographs, magazine and newspaper articles, correspondence, and genealogical information about silversmiths. Silver historian E. Alfred Jones’s own book, The Old Silver of American Churches (Letchworth, Eng.: Arden Press, 1913), includes much of what Gummere had compiled.
Finding aid available.
Collection 436.
Bills. 1793–1826.
31 items; 26 cm.
This collection of bills, addressed to Michael and William Gunkle, documents personal expenses for such things as clothing, food and drink, masonry work, periodical subscriptions, veterinary services, and children’s schooling. Several bills refer to Philadelphia businesses, though the Gunkles do not appear in Philadelphia city directories.
Collection 416.
The American offering. 1838.
136 leaves: ill. (some col.); 24 cm.
Anna Gurney was the daughter of Joseph John Gurney, a Quaker minister, writer, and philanthropist. From 1837 to 1840, she traveled with her father from her native England to the United States and visited Canada and the West Indies as well. Her father’s antislavery sentiments and the Caribbean leg of this trip are discussed in his A Winter in the West Indies, Described in Familiar Letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky, first published in 1840.
Volume is a keepsake book prepared in Philadelphia for Anna and given to her during a visit to that city. It contains verse and prose, both original and selected from published works of various writers. Interspersed are twenty-two original watercolors and drawings of such places as Saratoga Lake, the Westtown School, Niagara Falls, William Penn’s cottage, and birds and plants.
Document 23.
Sales book. 1889–92.
251 p.; 33 cm.
F. Gürtler ran a seasonal business in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he sold and engraved glassware.
Volume contains a daily record of seasonal sales from the late spring to the early autumn of each year from 1889 to 1892. Items sold include tumblers, mugs, goblets, medicine glasses, pitchers, and paperweights.
Document 155.
Account book and estate records. 1805–16.
41 leaves; 34 cm.
Detrich Gushart was probably a Pennsylvania German weaver.
Manuscript documents Gushart’s business transactions, farming activities, some personal expenses, and estate information. He sold cotton, wool, linen, and half-linen. Two manuscripts in another person’s hand summarize the settlement of Gushart’s estate.
Document 1065.
Daybook and invoice book. 1810–12, 1814–24.
2 vols.; 51 cm. or smaller.
H. & G. Vail—perhaps Henry and George—ran a dry-goods store in Troy, New York.
The daybook, dating from 1810 to 1812, records transactions with customers; the invoice book, dating from 1814 to 1824, records what the Vails purchased, chiefly from New York City wholesalers, to stock the shelves of their store. The exchange of textiles and a variety of other products—artificial flowers, carpeting, and candles—are recorded in both volumes.
Folio 93.
Blotter. 1853–55.
622 p.; 41 cm.
H. M. Crawford & Co. was a Philadelphia-based firm that tanned and merchandised leather.
Manuscript contains daily entries documenting the purchase and sale of skins and leather products. While most customers were from the Philadelphia area, Crawford also served clients in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Folio 6.
Papers. 1881–1913, 1988.
5 items + 1 microfilm reel.
Ernest Hagen, a native of Germany, was a furnituremaker from New York City. He worked for others until 1858, when he formed a partnership with J. Matthew Meier that lasted until about 1870. The focus of Hagen’s business eventually changed from furnituremaking to selling antiques. His sons, Frederick and Henry, took over their father’s business around 1905. Hagen studied the work of furnituremaker Duncan Phyfe.
Papers include a draft of Hagen’s semiautobiographical manuscript entitled “Personal Experience of an Old New York Cabinetmaker,” notes on Duncan Phyfe, a photocopy of an article on Hagen that appeared in 1988, and microfilm copies of three of Hagen’s order books. In addition to orders, the books include small sketches of furniture.
Original order books located at the New York Historical Society.
Collection 32.
Building contract. 1783.
2 sheets: ill.; 28 cm.
Christian Hagenbuch was originally from Albany Township, Pennsylvania. In 1790 he and his wife, Susan, moved to Allen Township, Pennsylvania. He served in the French and Indian War and possibly in the Revolutionary War.
Manuscript is a contract between Hagenbuch and Jacob Kratzer, specifying renovation work Kratzer was to do on Hagenbuch’s house. The document includes precise written instructions as well as illustrations.
Written in German. English translation available.
Document 250.
La revue impériale: grand défilé des troupes de la garde et de la garnison de Paris devant l’empereur Napoléon III sur la place du carrousel. Ca. 1852–70.
14 leaves: col. ill.; 19 cm.
A hand-colored lithograph panorama showing a parade of French soldiers in the era of the reign of Napoleon III. Illustrations fold out in sequence. Written in French.
Document 439.
Account book. 1764–72.
12 leaves: ill.; 17 cm.
Samuel Hale may have been a merchant working in and around Boston.
Manuscript records Samuel Hale’s purchases of such items as dry goods, japanned snuff boxes, ink, and “delph ware.” Because he acquired items in such large quantities, Hale probably was a wholesaler who furnished products to retail outlets.
Document 1030.
Correspondence and business papers. 1745–72.
2 microfilm reels.
David Hall was a printer from Philadelphia and the father of David Hall (1755–1821), a printer and publisher who worked in Philadelphia and New York.
Collection includes letter books, kept from 1750 to 1767, and ledgers, account, and receipt books kept from 1745 to 1772, regarding Hall’s printing activities.
Original manuscripts located at the American Philosophical Society.
Microfilm M239–M240.
Account books. 1814–22.
2 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
Edwin Hall was a sawyer in Croyden, New Hampshire.
Volume records Halls’s business and financial transactions over a nine-year period. Tax records for 1815 are noted as well as travel to other New England towns.
Partial name index available in volume two.
Folio 127.
Personal accounts manuscript. 1768–85.
104 p.; 33 cm.
Jeremiah A. Hall, whose signature appears twice in the volume, lived in or near Wallingford, Connecticut, and was a farmer.
Manuscript contains debit and credit entries for accounts with a great number of people, many named Hall. Most of the entries describe agricultural work.
Document 185.
Account book. 1806–53.
124 leaves; 42 cm.
Four different series of financial records appear in these volumes. The first, dating from 1806 to 1810, is a daybook kept while in New Haven, Connecticut. In it, Hall records the sale of paint and paint supplies, brandy, gold and silver leaf, and a variety of other products. In the second (also from New Haven), he records sales of a variety of alcoholic beverages and other items in 1813. The third, which begins “Old Book Beaught of Chester Mix, New Haven in the year 1819; Benjamin R. Hall, his Book Began Here,” records the sale of agricultural commodities from 1819 to 1826. In the fourth volume, kept from 1841 to 1853, John Hall of Cheshire, Connecticut, records butchering, using a bull for stud services, and the births of calves.
Folio 19.
Notebooks. 1920–21.
7 vols.: ill.; cm.
Madelyn Hall attended Miss Illman’s School in eastern Pennsylvania.
Books in the collection describe various handicrafts. There are volumes specifically dedicated to the arts of “Paper-Folding,” “Paper Cutting,” “Marquetry,” “Sewing,” and “Weaving.” The other two volumes contain clippings, pressed flowers, sketches, and loose papers used for weaving.
Collection 351.
Letters. 1876.
165 items.
Hall, Pancoast & Craven was a glass bottle- and glass-mold manufacturing company located in Salem, New Jersey.
This collection of business letters addressed to Hall, Pancoast & Craven documents customer business orders. The firm filled orders for bottles for bitters, varnish, soda, beer, oil, wine, pickles, ketchup, and other products. Most customers were retail firms based in Boston and New York. Hall, Pancoast & Craven owned a patent for imprinting letters into glass bottles and flasks.
Collection 472.
Ledger. 1855–66.
469 p.; 35 cm.
Samuel Hall was a printer and the publisher of the Exeter Newsletter in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Ledger documents Hall’s professional activities, including printing handbills, labels, catalogues, cards, and his newspaper. In addition, Hall did a substantial amount of printing work relating to the settlement of estates and sold books and stationery.
Index of nearly two thousand customers and their places of residence appears at front of ledger.
Folio 121.
Debit ledger. 1823–41, bulk 1823–34.
144 p.; 40 cm.
Henry Halsey was a wagonmaker and carpenter, probably in Minisink, New York.
Contains a list of debits for Halsey’s work that were presumably later transferred to a ledger. His work included making wagons, wagon parts, coffins, flour boxes, and tool handles; installing parts in wagons; and repairing tools and wagons.
Folio 8.
Research papers. 1901–42.
21 boxes.
R. T. H. Halsey graduated from Princeton College in 1886. He worked on the New York Stock Exchange from 1899 to 1923 and then retired. In retirement, he devoted much time to the development and improvement of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, of which he was a trustee. He was an avid collector of Americana and the author of many articles about American decorative arts.
Papers consist of research material used in Halsey’s addresses and articles, including photographs, notecards, pamphlets, and some correspondence. Halsey recorded his thoughts on a broad range of topics, from various aspects of decorative arts and architecture to political and social history. Also included are the recollections of Ernest Hagen, a New York City furnituremaker.
Papers used in: “R. T. H. Halsey: An Ideology of Collecting American Decorative Arts,” by Wendy Kaplan (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1980.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 56.
Servants and apprentices bound and assigned before James Hamilton, mayor of Philadelphia. 1745–46.
1 microfilm reel.
Over the course of his career, Hamilton served as the mayor of Philadelphia and later as the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania.
Includes records of the certification of indentures of servants and apprentices in Philadelphia for a two-year period.
Index of names, trades, and professions available on the reel.
Microfilm M95.
Accounts with the estate of Lucy Hamilton. 1840–44.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Lucy Hamilton lived in New England. A widow at the time of her death, she may have once been married to a Col. Amos Hamilton.
Volume was originally kept to record family purchases from 1840 to1843 and was later used to note the division of Hamilton’s estate. The manuscript provides an inventory of her dwelling and personal possessions.
Document 437.
Financial documents. 1812–32.
41 items.
Hamilton & Hood was a Philadelphia-based firm of merchants.
Collection includes a variety of financial documents recording purchases made by Hamilton & Hood for later resale or shipment. Products include soap, bed cords, brushes, nails, and bottles. Many of the orders in the collection were placed by Samuel G. Osborn for food and drink. The packet Smyrna was often used for shipments to Delaware and Maryland.
Document 315.
Letter book. 1801–6.
1 microfilm reel.
Frederick Hammer was a merchant who traded goods between Baltimore and Germany.
Letters, many written in German, relate to the importation of glassware and other items as well as the collection of debts.
Original materials located at the Maryland Historical Society.
Microfilm M952.
Bills. 1873–76.
31 items: ill.; 26 cm.
George W. Hammett lived at 24 Arrow Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This collection of bills is for such household goods as mattresses, pillows, bolsters, tablecloths, napkins, doilies, tableware, coffeepots, jelly molds, and a washing machine. Records of services procured, including upholstering chairs and sofas and making blue Holland shades, lace curtains, carpets, and oil cloths, are also included. Some bills show vignettes of stoves, crockery, and furniture.
Collection 434.
Papers. 1799–1800.
1 microfilm reel.
John Hamtramck was a glassmaker from Pittsburgh.
Includes letters and claims of indebtedness having to do with glassware as well as other business papers.
Name index available.
Original materials located at the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Microfilm M301.1.
1 item: ill.; 32 x 31 cm.
This printed souvenir handkerchief from Winterthur, Switzerland, depicts various scenes specific to the city, including the technical school, a garden hotel, and a church.
Folio 47.
Vendue book. 1826.
24 p.; 19 cm.
Jonathan J. Hann was a resident of Bridgeton, New Jersey, at the time of his death.
Manuscript contains the record of an auction held when Hann’s estate was sold and includes a list of articles sold, the names of buyers, and prices paid for the goods.
Document 328.
Composition book. 1853–4.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 19 cm.
Jas. Hanna, a student, lived in Galveston, Indiana.
Book contains compositions, mostly written by Hanna, along with songs, poetry, and watercolor drawings. Many writings are of a sentimental and religious nature. A few make reference to temperance.
Inscription reads: “Cornelia Osborn’s Book, presented as a present by Jas. Hanna.”
Document 398.
Minutes. 1856–60.
1 microfilm reel.
Contains membership rosters, organizing documents, the club’s preamble and constitution, and meeting minutes for a debating club from Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Original manuscript located at the Hanover, Pennsylvania, public library.
Microfilm M2988.
Account book. 1847–59.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
James B. Hanson worked as a joiner in Belfast, Maine.
Included in this account book are records related to joinery and carpentry performed by Hanson. He built houses, painted, set window glass, made frames for windows and doors, and repaired shelves. A few household recipes for health remedies and such things as making cement for mending broken earthenware are included.
Folio 168.
Papers. 1883–1915.
2 vols.
Edwin Noah Hardy was a clergyman and historian. He graduated from Amherst College in 1887, the Hartford Theological Seminary in 1890, and received a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1906. Hardy served Congregational pastorates in Massachusetts and Illinois and was an officer in the Anti-Saloon League. He then held various posts with the American Tract Society.
Papers consist of two diaries, letters, and ephemera. The diaries document Hardy’s year at Keene High School in 1883 and a trip that he took in 1915 from La Grange, Illinois, to several western states. On this trip Hardy visited the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and the Panama California Exposition in San Diego. Before setting out for home through Canada, he sailed northward along the Pacific coast. Letters relate to his career.
Document 619.
Diary. 1845.
79 p.; 27 cm.
E. B. Harper was born in Maine, graduated from Dartmouth College, and then resided in New York City. He also spent considerable time in Albany, New York, and perhaps maintained a residence there.
While the bulk of this diary contains original poetry and quotations copied from other authors, Harper devoted some pages to observations of New York street life, especially on Broadway, and ruminations on life.
Document 558.
Family expenses. 1808–12.
4 vols.
Jonathan Harris was a merchant in Boston. He may have owned commercial property that he rented to local craftsmen as well.
Volumes list household expenses for the Harris family. In addition there are remarks about whitewashing a bakery, building a cooper’s shop, advertising, paying domestic help, and collecting rents. Harris also listed dividends he received from various bridge companies.
Document 381.
Fabric scrapbooks. Ca. 1880–90.
4 vols.; 57 cm. or smaller.
Each of the four volumes contains large fabric swatches sewn onto their pages. The origin and approximate ages of many swatches are given in handwritten notations: “Painted Muslin from Mary Griscom about 75 years old,” “Homemade Linen check belonged to Lydia Harris who died in 1843,” “Bought at auction 40 years ago by Susan Denn for 7 cents a yard,” Anna Powell’s wedding dress, married Waddington B. Ridgway 2nd month 8th 1859,” etc. One volume contains several ribbons from the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1884–85.
Collection 50.
Correspondence. 1840–51.
3 folders.
Harris & Brown were hardware and iron merchants from New London, Connecticut.
Correspondence is between Harris & Brown and various New York City importers, dealers, and manufacturers regarding the firm’s orders for hardware products and hand tools.
Collection 511.
Papers. 1938–73.
2 boxes.
Alfred Craven Harrison was an attorney in New York City. He attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated from Harvard in 1936. Harrison served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1938 he married Pauline Louise du Pont, daughter of Henry Francis du Pont, the founder of Winterthur Museum. Harrison was a trustee of Winterthur from 1949 to 1973, and he became its vice president in 1951.
Consists of correspondence, corporate records, and private papers of a social nature that reflect Harrison’s personal activities, his involvement in the Winterthur Corporation, the estates of his in-laws, and rental matters regarding a Park Avenue apartment in New York City.
Finding aid available.
Archives 1.
1 microfilm reel.
Reel includes tax lists for Hartford, Connecticut, and records for nearby Wethersfield, East Hartford, and West Hartford.
Original records located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2983.
Account book. 1823–25.
14 p.; 22 cm.
Diadama Harwood was a dressmaker.
Contains records of Harwood’s sewing activities. She produced hoods, frocks, coats, and other garments and recorded details associated with producing garments, such as basting and cutting. Manuscript also notes the fabrics that she purchased to make clothing.
Document 568.
Papers. 1818–25.
1 box: col. ill.
John Haskell was a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and a sea captain engaged in commerce with China and the East Indies. Haskell died at sea while returning to America from a voyage to India.
Papers include bound volumes and individual manuscripts describing some of Haskell’s trips and include financial accounts and records of cargo. Also included are details of voyages of the schooner Betsey in 1811, the ship Canton from 1816 to 1822, the ship Ophelia from 1823 to 1824, and the brig Duxbury from 1824 to 1825. Papers feature paintings of Chinese sailing vessels and a journal of a round trip voyage by W. Gilbert to Liverpool, England, from Boston in 1799 and 1800.
Collection 7.
Account book. 1781–97.
58 p.; 44 cm.
Micah Haskell worked as a tailor in Rochester, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records Haskell’s tailoring activities and mentions the many types of clothing he worked on, including jackets, cloaks, waistcoats, breeches, and great coats.
Bound with Nathaniel Clapp’s account book; see entry 419.
Index of customer’s names at front of account book.
Folio 107.
Account book. 1860–62, 1911–12.
149 p., 34 cm.
H. G. Haskell and a man named Chapin operated a sawmill in Grafton, Vermont.
The partners sawed items such as saltbox rims, hemlock boards, bedstead slats, and scantling. During the twentieth century, the volume was used to document accounts that refer to eggs and poultry.
Document 576.
Receipt book. 1766, 1775–87.
106 leaves; 21 cm.
Jonathan Hastings was the first son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Cotton Hastings of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1768 and was appointed postmaster of Boston upon the resignation of James Winthrop in 1775. He served in this post until 1808. Hastings married Christina Wainwright in 1780, and they had six children.
Receipt book contains references to furniture sold to Hastings by Nehemiah Munroe, boots, glass bottles, shingles, paper hangings, books, and other commodities. Also included are payments to post riders, accounts of post office business, and exercises in arithmetic and geometry.
Document 11.
12 leaves; 33 cm.
This unattributed manuscript describes the technical processes of making felt, wool, and silk hats. There is some discussion of the types of furs available to hatters and the methods used for repairing hats. Included is a chart of the “action of various solvents on various stiffening agents” and a list of those agents.
Document 1010.
Collection. 1801–ca. 1950.
1 box + 4 vols.
John Davis Hatch of Lenox, Massachusetts, was an art historian, collector, and art consultant. Among the posts he held during his working years was the directorship of the Norfolk Museum in Virginia.
Collection includes letters, sketches, research notes, and miscellaneous documents by and about American artists. Most of the letters were written by artists, discussing their own work and the work of others. Sketches by such luminaries as Thomas Nast are included in the collection. Research notes contain information about William S. Mount; miscellaneous items feature a receipt to John Trumbull.
Finding aid available.
Collection 331.
Account book. 1855–61, 1889–93.
314 p.; 22 cm.
J. T. Hathaway was a book and job printer in Fair Haven, Connecticut, where he published the Fair Haven Tribune. He later moved to nearby New Haven, Connecticut.
Manuscript contains records of the transactions relating to Hathaway’s business, including a summary of his job printing, notes on advertising (presumably to be printed in his newspaper), and a record of products that he purchased to operate his business. Examples of Hathaway’s work are laid in.
Document 472.
Account book. 1843–54.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Reuben Haun was a shoemaker in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Book records Haun’s activities making and repairing footwear over a twelve-year period.
Includes name index.
Folio 202.
Calculationsbuch. 1800?–1849?
71 p.: ill.; 33 cm.
This manuscript, written in German Fraktur script, contains directions for preparing looms to weave thirty-three textile patterns. Small swatches of each of the patterns and additional, larger samples are included. Calculations of costs involved are noted.
Collection 50.
Account book. 1786–1825.
1 vol.; 23 x 17 cm.
David and Abner Haven were furnituremakers in Framingham, Massachusetts.
The first part of the account book records David Haven’s work making and repairing furniture and working for other craftsmen. Some entries, which apparently refer to the work of Abner Haven, pertain to weaving and spinning.
Name indexes available.
Document 600; Microfilm M2426.
Papers. 1892, 1943–47.
1 box.
Archie McLean Hawks was the uncle of Ruth Wales du Pont, who married Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont.
Papers contain personal correspondence, postcards, notecards, and telegrams. Hawks’s original manuscript, titled “Enchantment,” describes a train trip that he took in 1870 from St. Louis to Bristol, Rhode Island.
Finding aid available.
Archives 2.
Papers. 1850–1919.
2 boxes.
Gertrude Holmes Hawks married Francis L. Hawks. Her granddaughter was Ruth Wales du Pont, wife of Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont.
Includes correspondence, a will, photographs, and personal papers.
Finding aid available.
Archives 3.
Accounts. 1796–1803.
11 items.
Hawthorn & Kerr, which most often worked with the Dublin-based firm of Lang & Hawthorn, were cotton brokers and general merchants in Philadelphia. Although the partnership dissolved in 1797, the business continued under the guidance of Thomas Hawthorn until 1811.
Accounts relate to dry goods marketed by the partnership: Irish linen, thread, lamp muslin aprons, silk, ribbons, Norwich shawls, gloves, etc.
Document 314.
Account book. 1733–52.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Ambrose Hayward was a joiner and carpenter from England.
Hayward joined and turned, built shelves, sawed, mended plows, made gates, fixed stairs, and made house repairs. Agricultural work is mentioned as well.
Document 505; Microfilm M2707.
Journal. 1777–78.
1 microfilm reel.
Ebenezer Hazard, a native of Philadelphia, was an editor of historical records and an early United States postmaster general.
Hazard’s manuscript describes a trip that he took through the Carolinas, mentioning textiles, modes of transportation, tools, machinery, agriculture, and buildings. Hazard passed through Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on his journey.
Alphabetical name index available.
Original journal at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M252.
Exercise book. Ca. 1820s.
1 vol.; 26 cm.
Jacob Heald taught at the Friend’s School in Wilmington, Delaware, and at one time was a member of a local school board.
Exercise book contains examples of mathematical problems. The paper used for the manuscript was made in Wilmington in 1819, suggesting that Heald may have used the volume during the 1820s.
Document 414.
Daybook. 1837–51.
1 vol.; 45 cm.
A. J. Heath was a carpenter and house builder from Essex County, Massachusetts.
In addition to building houses, Heath made window frames and sashes, doors and door frames, sinks, and hog pens. He recorded his purchases of lumber and other supplies.
Folio 232.
Memorandum and account books. 1767–ca. 1821.
1 microfilm reel.
Nathaniel Heath was from Barrington, Rhode Island, and worked as a carpenter and furnituremaker.
Memorandum book contains information on the Heath family. Account book documents both carpentry and furnituremaking and provides information on Heath’s general domestic purchases.
Original manuscripts located at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, which retains publication rights.
Microfilm M2858.8–.9.
Account book. 1822–32.
364 p.; 33 cm.
Dennis and Joseph Hedges were blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and wagonmakers in Westfield, Massachusetts.
Manuscript summarizes the Hedgeses’ work mending andirons and wagon wheels, making a variety of metalware and tools, crafting brass kettles, and constructing iron sleighs.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 557.
Paintings copied from engraving. Ca. 1847.
45 leaves: ill.; 30 cm.
Emma A. Heely was a watercolorist and teacher at the Orphan Asylum in Albany, New York. In 1846 she received a diploma from the American Institute for her watercolor paintings of flowers. The following year she exhibited a book of paintings at the Institute.
Consists of two title pages and forty-three monochrome paintings that depict a variety of subjects, including homes of American presidents, children with animals, women in distress, and river scenes. This may have been the volume Heely exhibited in 1847 at the American Institute.
Document 140.
Price book. 1838.
117 p.; 20 cm.
James C. Helm was a furnituremaker, possibly from Philadelphia. Evidence suggests that he was a member of a guild or journeyman’s association and may have been in business with Frank Helm, probably a relative.
Book records the prices charged by Helm in accordance with an agreement made with a journeyman’s association. Prices were designated for a variety of types of furniture including chairs, settees, tables, bureaus, beds, cupboards, sofas, sideboards, washstands, and bookcases. Extra fees were charged for veneering and carving and for using glass, fancy moldings and feet, and expensive woods.
Document 1041.
Account book. 1712–29.
1 microfilm reel.
Daniel Henchman was involved in retail trade in Boston. Although the book has been attributed to him, evidence suggests that it was maintained by Thomas Henchman.
Accounts are for such items as quills, almanacs, books, food, clothing, and writing materials.
Name index and occupation list available.
Original manuscript located at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society after having been transferred from the Hancock Papers, Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1966.2.
Daybook. 1872–73.
375 p.; 35 cm.
W. P. Henderson was a carpenter who manufactured sashes, blinds, window frames, doors, and moldings in Philadelphia.
Entries in this daybook describe the architectural woodwork created by Henderson, including the sizes of pieces, the types of wood used, and prices charged. The names of customers are recorded as well.
Folio 273.
1 box.
The Hendersons and Pownalls were interconnected Quaker families in Lancaster and Chester counties, Pennsylvania.
Most of this collection consists of invitations to dine and visiting cards received, primarily by sisters Eliza and Hannah Henderson. Family letters and documents settling the estate of Hannah E. Henderson are also included.
Collection 48.
Upwards of four hundred different coats of arms. 1766.
1 vol.: ill.; 23 cm.
Simon Hennekin was a carver and gilder from London who studied coats of arms as an avocation.
Consists of more than four hundred ink drawings of coats of arms, each bearing a family name and their place of residence in England.
Includes name index.
Document 631.
Invoices. 1877–1909.
31 items.
James G. Henning lived on West Cary Street in Richmond, Virginia.
Invoices document expenses associated with various kinds of renovations performed on properties at 2, 6, 11, and 12 West Cary Street, Richmond. Work included interior and exterior painting, tinning and slating roofs, plumbing, repairing furnaces, brickworking, wallpapering, making structural repairs, and replacing decorative woodwork.
Collection 377.
Sample book. 1912.
71 p.; 11 x 18 cm.
Henry W. Green & Co. made window shades in Philadelphia.
Book contains samples of “the wide awake best heavy cambric shade cloth” shades in a variety of colors made by Green.
Document 365.
Account book. 1817–29.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Philip T. Henshaw and his family lived in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Manuscript chronicles more than a decade’s worth of domestic purchases of Philip T., James, and Sarah Ann Henshaw. Included among the records is a list of furniture that was to be made by Ezra Barrick.
Document 417.
Needlepoint patterns and instructions. Ca. 1870–1940.
1 box: ill. (some col.)
Consists of hand-painted floral woolwork patterns and published material relating to needle and other fancywork, including cross-stitch designs, instructions for edging, directions for making knots and braids, and manuals for fancywork and stitching.
Collection 147.
Account book. 1836–46.
10 p.; 42 cm.
Herman N. and Philander Hull were turners in Clinton, Connecticut.
Book records both domestic and business accounts for the Hulls, from turning tool handles to buying food, and from sawing shingles to purchasing slippers.
Folio 183.
Records. 1891–1907, bulk 1901–8.
11 cu. ft.
This company, founded in 1865 by brothers Gustave and Christian Herter, quickly became one of New York City’s leading interior design houses and furnituremakers. Herter Brothers decorated many of New York’s finest homes and businesses as well as other places throughout the United States. In 1870 Christian bought out Gustave, who then returned to his native Germany. In 1881 Christian retired from the business and moved to Paris. The company they had established operated into the twentieth century. Its clients included the Armour, Guggenheim, McCormack, and Vanderbilt families. The firm also worked on Minnesota’s state capitol and the White House.
Collection of business papers was created when William Gilman Nichols served as president of Herter Brothers. Included are general accounts, purchase and sales records, letters, bills, time books, and foreign and domestic ledgers.
Folder title list available.
Collection 93.
Postcards. Ca. 1912–15.
305 items: ill.
Hilda Bryant Haines was born in Cambridge, Maryland, and died in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. In 1875 she married Joseph Hoffman Hess.
Collection consists of postcards sent to Hilda Hess from the British Isles, Canada, and throughout the United States. Views of steamships, cities and towns, architecture, monuments, and railroads are featured.
Finding aid available.
Collection 274.
Business papers. 1801–13.
1 box + 1 microfilm reel.
John Hewitt was a furnituremaker and merchant. He was born in Staffordshire, England. After he came to the United States in 1796, Hewitt found employment as a drafter and patternmaker at the Schuyler Foundry, Second River, New Jersey. By 1800 he had turned to furnituremaking, establishing his own business in New York City. He worked with Benjamin Ansley for a time and was also in a firm called Hewitt & Mandeville. Much of his business consisted of making or acquiring furniture in New Jersey and New York and selling it in Savannah, Georgia. He consciously imitated the style of furnituremaker Duncan Phyfe. Hewitt supplemented his income by jobbing lumber and making wheels and parts for cotton gins.
Collection includes seven letters written by Hewitt to Matt Bruen, a fellow furnituremaker and merchant, regarding furniture he had ordered, and Hewitt’s account book. The microfilmed account book features invoices, shipping records, sketches of furniture, and other information about Hewitt’s work.
Photographs of furniture made by Hewitt in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, Winterthur Library.
Manuscript account book located at the New Jersey Historical Society. Other John Hewitt papers located at the Cooper Union Library.
Collection 354; Microfilm M491.
Account and exercise book. 1803–5.
23 p.; 35 cm.
Oliver Hewlett lived in Hempstead, New York.
Manuscript includes eleven pages of accounts for what appears to have been a general store and twelve pages of mathematical exercises involving weights and measures, currency, and interest.
Document 868.
Copybook. 1767.
58 leaves; 16 cm.
Richard Hewlett was a student when he compiled this manuscript. He may have lived in Queens County, New York.
In this manuscript, which served as a copybook or commonplace book, Hewlett copied poetry, riddles, bonds, indentures, hymn texts, promissory notes, scriptures, medicinal recipes, and prayers.
Document 1071.
Account book. 1780–1813.
1 microfilm reel.
Abraham Hews was a potter in Weston, Massachusetts.
Manuscript combines Hews’s craft activities with his personal records. Accounts for such items as animals, building materials, food, plants, lighting equipment, and pottery are noted.
Original manuscript located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1964.3.
Papers. 1767–1839.
1 folder.
John Hewson, his first wife, Mary, and their four oldest children emigrated from England to Philadelphia in 1773 or 1774. Hewson was a calico printer in Kensington, a section of Philadelphia.
Papers include two leaves from the Hewson family Bible, John Hewson’s will and estate papers, and other family records. Hewson’s will includes a list of materials used in calico printing as well as notes regarding many household possessions.
Collection 203.
Records. 1851–53, 1881.
12 items: ill.
Brothers Walter, Levi, and Benjamin Heywood were furnituremakers and sellers who began their careers in Gardner, Massachusetts, around 1830. Eventually the brothers formalized a partnership under Levi’s direction and opened a store in Boston. Taking advantage of railroad transportation, the business flourished over the next decades, allowing them to open warehouses in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and San Francisco. In the mid-1870s the firm started to make rattan furniture. In 1897 Heywood Bros. & Co. merged with its chief rival to form the Heywood & Morrill Rattan Co. By 1921 the business was called the Heywood-Wakefield Co.
Records include documents relating to the shipping of chairs by Levi Heywood, specifications for making a chair, and three proof plates for one of the firm’s trade catalogues.
Collection 238.
Daybook. 1796.
45 leaves; 42 cm.
Joseph Hiester was a merchant, soldier, and politician from Pennsylvania. His parents were German immigrants, and as a youth he worked as a clerk in a general store in Reading. Hiester served in the Revolutionary War and was a member of Pennsylvania’s state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1820 to 1823, he served as his state’s governor. Hiester operated a general store at intervals throughout his career.
Daybook documents Hiester’s business transactions in his general store in Catawissa, Pennsylvania. He sold the kinds of goods found in a country general store: food, liquor, hardware, household supplies, fabric, clothing, cups and saucers, and tobacco.
Folio 64.
Account books. 1855–77.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Thomas Higgins, a New Castle County, Delaware, resident, kept these volumes to maintain a record of his personal finances and to make notes about his agricultural pursuits. He recorded such activities as selling farm produce and poultry products, harvesting hay, shearing sheep, planting clover seed, reaping, and hauling.
Document 730.
Cyphering book. 1832–33.
1 vol.; 37 cm.
Martin R. High attended the Trapp School in Upper Providence Township, Pennsylvania.
Book contains mathematical rules and exercises for roots, fractions, and trigonometry. An insert that provides a sample of how to keep a ledger is also included.
Document 685.
Papers, 1761–1959.
3 boxes: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Amelia Leavitt Hill was a decorative arts scholar who was interested in French craft traditions and French cabinetmakers living in North America. She studied French furnituremakers in Canada and French influences on the work of Louisiana cabinetmakers.
Papers consist of primary sources referring to nineteenth-century shipping in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; research notes; typescripts; and photographs.
Collection 399.
Account book. 1845–55.
266 p.; 34 cm.
Hiram Hill resided in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, and ran a sawmill. He made boards, slab wood, scantling, and shingles. Hill seems to have used hemlock for many of his products.
Entries record Hill’s activities as a sawyer for a decade; however, most of the entries were made before 1850. The manuscript also notes insurance payments and employee pay records.
Document 159.
Account book. 1706–9.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Jonathan Hill was a sawyer perhaps from Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Volume includes accounts for boards, timber, and planks sawn by Hill for various customers. Bound in the volume are the first eight leaves of Samuel Clough’s Kalendarium Nov-Anglicanu; or, An Almanack for 1706.
Document 851.
Daybook. 1847.
1 vol.; 43 cm.
Himes & Gillett operated a woodworking shop in Oswego, New York. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on August 17, 1847.
Manuscript notes the activities of woodworkers and furnituremakers. Among the furniture forms represented are beds, tables, stands, bureaus, and wardrobes. Himes & Gillett also made coffins, turned wood, fixed gates, and repaired various wooden objects.
Index of names, objects, and occupations available.
Folio 250.
A short account of the founding of the silver & plate establishments in Sheffield. 1832.
1 microfilm reel.
Describes the silver-plating industry in Sheffield, England, with histories of the firms producing silverplated goods. Illustrations accompany text.
Reel also contains a diary of William Elmsall of Thornhill, an attorney, maintained from 1708 to 1740; a book of South Yorkshire parish maps; and an account book for Staveley ironworks, maintained from 1784 to 1806.
Original material located at the Sheffield, England, Archives.
Microfilm M2950.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1750–1820.
92 p.; 28 cm.
William Hogarth is reputed to be the first great English-born painter and engraver. He is especially famous for his moral and satirical works.
Scrapbook includes clippings and engravings by Hogarth and other English artists depicting political caricatures, portraits, and places. The volume bears the bookplate of someone named Robert Browning who, if not the compiler, was at least a former owner of the volume.
Finding aid available.
Folio 155.
Ledger. 1814–47.
43 leaves; 33 cm.
George D. Holcomb worked in and around Stephentown, New York, as a farmer and general laborer.
Entries indicate that Holcomb worked as a handyman and farm worker in exchange for goods and services, such as tailoring or shoe repair.
Document 1038.
Account book. 1833–34, 1840–41.
1 vol.: ill.; 33 cm.
Frederick Augustus Holden was a merchant dealing in buttons and other clothing accessories in New York City.
Manuscript details what Holden sold in his store: various kinds of buttons, finger rings, ribbons, chains, beads, and medals. He sold to other mercantile firms, retailers, dressmakers, and tailors. He often offered discounts to those who purchased in bulk. In later years, the volume was used as a scrapbook, and items were pasted over some of Holden’s original entries.
Document 426.
Letter book. 1870–72.
71 p.; 25 cm.
Jonathan Holdren taught school in Padua, Illinois.
Manuscript records the correspondence between Holdren and Delia Mott, a teenage student from Bloomington, Illinois, during their courtship and engagement. The letters discuss family and friends, school and church events, and picnics. Also included are a number of short poems written by Holdren to Delia.
Document 996.
Architectural drawings.
1 microfilm reel.
Henry Holland was a British architect who was recognized for his work in the Greco-Roman style. He was active from 1763 until his death more than forty years later.
Drawings were taken from Holland’s office and are attributed to him. Sketches feature buildings, furnishings, pilasters, mantels, and ornament, much of which is identified.
Original drawings located at the University of Delaware.
Microfilm M663.
Account book. 1769–72.
14 p.; 16 cm.
Samuel Hollis was a shoemaker, probably from Massachusetts.
Book includes records of transactions associated with making and repairing shoes. Agricultural pursuits are also recorded.
Document 915.
Receipt book. 1831–44.
1 vol.: 17 x 11 cm.
Charles Hollond lived in Philadelphia.
Records particulars associated with the settlement of Hollond’s estate. Many of the receipt book’s entries document household belongings and wages paid to domestic help.
Document 535.
Estate records. 1840–43.
5 vols.; 32 cm.
Alexander Holmes was an assignee, responsible for overseeing the sales of insolvent debtor’s estates and for paying creditors. He worked in Kingston, Massachusetts.
Manuscripts record the settlement of estates of Timothy and Osmond A. French and of Elisha Brewster. Inventories of both estates were compiled and their contents sold. Names of individuals who made purchases and prices paid for all items are included.
Document 309.
Papers. 1852–86.
56 items: ill.
J. R. Holmes was a carriagemaker who worked in MacGrawville, New York.
Collection of papers relates to Holmes’s carriagemaking activities. Items include bills, letters, advertisements, a transfer of patent, and a contract for the construction of a carriage. Holmes seems to have manufactured carriages according to the specifications of his clients.
Collection 508.
Ledger. 1749–54.
242 p.; 40 cm.
Jonathan Holmes was a merchant from New York City.
Holmes sold a variety of products, including textiles, glassware, furniture, kitchen utensils, hardware, metalware, and prints. Holmes did considerable business with Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, merchants and participated in venture trading in the West Indies and Virginia. He frequently listed the occupations of his customers.
Folio 158.
Account books. 1728–66.
4 vols.; 31 cm.
Joseph Holmes operated an iron forge in Kingston, Massachusetts, where he was also instrumental in founding a school. Another forge operated by the Holmes family during the early nineteenth century specialized in making anchors.
Volume documents the finances of the ironworks. It was common for individuals to receive credit for coal, oak, and pine brought to the furnace.
Document 342.
Account book. 1805–41.
160 p.; 33 cm.
Nathaniel Holmes was a painter in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Contains accounts for a wide variety of items and activities, including painting, paint grinding, papering, puttying, cutting and setting windows, carting, painting and lettering ships and signs, and making and setting tombstones.
Indexes of names and objects mentioned available.
Document 188.
Account books. 1794–97, 1801–13.
2 vols.; 31 cm.
Nathaniel Holmes built houses in Kingston, Massachusetts.
Volumes document Holmes’s work building houses and engaging in other woodworking activities, including framing windows and making window sashes, fixing sleighs, working on wharves, installing glass, and making furniture. Holmes noted the supplies that he needed for his work. References to agricultural activities are also included.
Document 932.
American material from the Holt-Gregson papers. Ca. 1770–1824.
1 microfilm reel.
John Holt wrote school textbooks, history books, agricultural surveys, and articles for monthly publications. He had an interest in science and literature and collected material on Liverpool, England. Although an antiquary, Holt made his living as an upholsterer.
Papers consist of selections from a larger collection. Each item references one of four categories of Holt’s research: British trade with the Americas; the slave trade; privateering during the American Revolution; and statistics and accounts regarding late eighteenth-century America.
Introduction and summary of contents available.
Original manuscripts located at the Liverpool, England, Central Library.
Microfilm M1764.
Scrapbook and scraps. Ca. 1880–1922.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 30 cm.
Volume includes valentine cards, Christmas and New Year’s greeting cards, birthday cards, and friendship cards. Illustrations of children, animals, flowers, fruits, and cupid predominate.
Document 357.
Memorandum books. 1790–1803.
1 microfilm reel.
George Homer was a wharfinger at 61 Long Wharf, Boston.
The five books that make up this collection contain accounts for Homer’s residence on Temple Street, Boston, as well as his business accounts.
Brief name index available.
Original manuscripts located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1965.2.
Account book. 1843–52.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Jacob Hood worked on piano fortes in Salem, Massachusetts.
Book lists piano fortes tuned and repaired by Hood. A typical entry lists the customer’s name, address, the amount paid to Hood, and a brief description of the repair.
Document 926.
Drawings. 1829–39.
137 items: col. ill.
Philadelphian Washington Hood graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1827. As a topographical engineer, he worked with Robert E. Lee determining the boundary line of Ohio and Michigan; he later mapped the Oregon Territory. Hood also worked as a civil engineer in Cuba, served as a portrait copyist in Washington, D.C., and designed buildings. Hood contracted a fatal disease while doing survey work and died in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania.
Collection is organized into four series: drawings; plans and sketches; landscapes; and papers. The first contains study pieces and sketches, a large portion of which reflects design influences from Greek sources and allegorical representations of historical events. The second includes drawings for bridges, canals, railroads, forts, and large public buildings. The third series features Hood’s sketches of people. The fourth series consists of miscellaneous papers and financial accounts.
Finding aid available.
Collection 101.
Bills and receipts. 1842–53.
9 folders.
Edward Hoopes was a retail merchant who sold dry goods, hardware, and fancy goods. He lived in West Chester, Pennsylvania, until 1846, when he moved to Baltimore.
Collection contains bills and receipts for goods that Hoopes purchased at wholesale prices in Philadelphia to stock his store. In addition, there are several bills from the Red Lion Hotel, presumably where Hoopes stayed when he was in Philadelphia.
Collection 464.
Cash book. 1855–61.
151 p.; 34 cm.
William Horlor ran a furniture business in Great Falls, New Hampshire, under a series of names: William Horlor & Co., Horlor & Smith, T. J. & R. Smith, Smith & Hoyt, and Hoyt & Andrews.
Cash accounts refer to many furniture forms, including nurse rockers, washstands, sinks, a small glass, dressing tables, bureaus, cradles, and towel stands. Entries refer to furniture, railway freight postage associated with shipping his goods, and invoice payments.
Document 201.
Exercise books. 1846, 1850.
2 vols.
Abraham R. Horn lived in Springfield, Pennsylvania. In 1850 he attended the Line Lexington Boarding School.
Volume 1 contains problems relating to the calculation of interest, measurements for paving and plastering, and accounting problems. Volume 2 is devoted to plane geometry.
Document 616.
Papers. 1701–1981.
8 boxes.
Margaret Janvier Hort was the Janvier family genealogist during the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1921. She received a second undergraduate degree in library science from Syracuse University in 1934 and a master’s degree in libriarianship from Columbia University in 1948. She worked as a librarian at various places before retiring to pursue genealogical research.
Collection contains material on the Janvier family, which descended from French immigrant Thomas Janvier, an early settler of present-day Odessa, Delaware. In addition to genealogical notes, papers contain many original manuscripts documenting the lives of Janvier family members, particularly Levi Janvier, a Presbyterian missionary in India, his father, George Washington Janvier, and other near relatives.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 33.
Letters. Ca. 1845–1908.
15 items: ill.; 26 cm.
Sculptor Harriet Hosmer was born in Watertown, Massachusetts. She studied art in Boston and anatomy at an otherwise all-male school in Missouri. In 1852 she went to Rome to study with English sculptor John Gibson. Hosmer remained in Europe for the rest of her life, living in Rome most of the year and spending her summers in England. She is best known for her sculpture in the neoclassical style.
Collection contains letters by Hosmer to her friends in which she discusses personal news, social activities, and travel. Some photographs are included.
Finding aid available.
Collection 413.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1928.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 34 cm.
Dora Hotchkiss attended the New York School of Interior Decoration in Rye, New York.
Includes clippings showing a house and its furnishings along with descriptions and explanatory notes compiled by Hotchkiss while studying interior decoration. Complete room layouts featuring furniture placement, fabric swatches for upholstery, paint and wallpaper samples, and pictures of hardware are all included. The scrapbook also contains examples of work representing various schools of painting.
Folio 165.
35 items: ill.
Collection contains printed advertisements for hotels. The majority of them were located in New England and New York; however, several were from as far away as Savannah, Georgia, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. Nearly all of the advertisements include an engraving or lithograph of the hotel featured.
Collection 483.
Copybook. Ca. 1880s.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Lyman S. Houck was a student in Boyerstown, Pennsylvania. The school principal was J. B. Hanley.
Copybook contains Houck’s writing exercises. It bears a label identifying it as the seventh in a series of Adler’s Progressive Copybooks, published in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Document 402.
Account book. 1817–47.
1 vol.; 37 cm.
Israel Houghton was a furniture- and carriagemaker in Petersham, Massachusetts.
Manuscript documents the details associated with the production of furniture and carriages. Houghton also worked as a carpenter.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 171.
Account book. 1809–41.
1 microfilm reel.
Nathaniel Houghton and his brother, Luke, worked as furnituremakers in Barre, Massachusetts.
The three volumes of this collection record the Houghtons’ furnituremaking activities.
Original manuscript material located at the Barre Historical Society.
Microfilm M2052.
Account book. 1809–30.
87 leaves; 32 cm.
William Hovey worked in Attleboro, Massachusetts; Whitestown, New York; and Trenton, New York, during the period in which he maintained this manuscript. Some accounts suggest that a business partnership of some kind may have existed between Hovey and a William Stuart.
Accounts indicate that Hovey sold and repaired furniture and engaged in trading woven textiles and lumber. Typical entries: “to Repairing a desk,” “Carding & Oiling 16 3/4 fine Merino,” “5000 feet Hemlock Board.”
Document 188.
Account book. 1823–31.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Isaac How made hats in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Lists merchants and others who received hats on consignment from How, whose business extended to New York; Richmond, Virginia; and Baltimore. How made fine wool hats, boy’s and men’s hats, men’s course hats, and many other types of headgear.
Document 837.
Recipe book. 1888.
1 vol.; 16 x 24 cm.
Bessie Howard was a resident of Wilmington, Delaware.
Entries record recipes for many varieties of candy.
Document 928.
Record book. 1854–55.
41 leaves: ill.; 19 cm.
Volume contains a record of materials and payments, agreements with subcontractors, drawings of floor plans, elevations, and site plans for houses built in Brooklyn, New York.
Document 7.
Account book. 1791–1833.
1 vol.; 41 cm.
Nathan Howard Jr. lived in rural Bridgewater, New Hampshire.
Accounts include references to pulling flax, hoeing, cutting wood, sawing shingles, pasturing cows, making nails, and mending shoes. Agricultural products, such as produce, meat, and butter, are mentioned as well.
Name index at front of volume.
Folio 151.
Letters. 1833–59.
15 items.
Sarah L. Howe lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Collection includes fourteen letters written by Sarah Howe to her daughter, Mary E. Howe, while Mary visited with relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Most comments relate to social activities, family affairs, funerals, travel, and lectures given by Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Makepeace Thackeray. Another letter written by Howe for her sister is included in this collection as well.
Document 333.
The Japanese puzzle for home amusement and instruction: with a set of blocks. 1872.
1 puzzle + rules booklet.
E. A. Howland produced this game in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Consists of five identically truncated squares. The resulting trapezoids and five triangles were to be arranged in patterns suggested by the rules booklet or by the imagination of the user.
Document 86.
Account book. 1766–1805.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Nathaniel Howland worked as a sawyer and farmer in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Book records the business transactions of a sawyer over a forty-year period. Additional references to farm products, such as pork, veal, turkey, butter, cheese, and milk, are mentioned as well.
Document 933.
Daybook. 1844–48.
145 p.; 42 cm.
James Hubbard was a painter and paperhanger who lived on a farm in Kennebunk, Maine.
Daybook records Hubbard’s decorating jobs, often mentioning required supplies, rooms of houses that he worked on, time spent on certain tasks, and his charges. Hubbard’s farmwork is also documented. The final few pages of this manuscript note details on the construction of an addition to Hubbard’s barn, decorating supplies that he purchased in Boston, and the number of farm hands he employed in 1854.
Folio 125.
Account book. 1751–65.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Elisha Hughes operated a public house and what seems to have been a general store in East Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania. He was listed on the tax rolls for 1753, was granted a tavern license in 1758, and served as a local tax assessor in 1762 and 1763.
Manuscript records the activities associated with the operation of a public house and store. Hughes refers to “putting people up,” though it does not appear that operating an inn was of paramount importance to him. Although the focus of the volume is on business transactions, other endeavors (weaving, acquiring dinnerware, and horseshoeing) are also recorded.
Folio 68.
Payson, Dunton, and Scribner’s national system of penmanship in 12 numbers, revised and improved. 1870.
1 vol.: ill.; 18 x 22 cm.
Grace Huhn was a student when she used this book.
Volume includes handwriting exercises following Payson, Dunton & Scribner’s method of penmanship. It was published by Potter, Ainsworth & Co. of New York City.
Document 960.
Receipt book. 1800–1811.
356 p.; 13 x 20 cm.
Hull and Bowne were druggists who operated a store at 146 Pearl Street, New York City.
Consists of hundreds of handwritten receipts for money received from a wide variety of suppliers in New York in exchange for raw materials and processed goods needed by Hull & Bowne for their business.
Name and material index available.
Document 32.
Architectural plans. 1776–ca. 1807.
8 items: ill.
Of Scottish descent and a native of County Antrim, Ireland, James Hunter was a merchant on Strawberry Alley, Philadelphia. He invested in real estate and purchased a 141-acre tract of land in Radnor, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia. There, Hunter built a house named Woodstock, which he used first as a summer residence and, beginning in 1778, as a retirement home.
Collection consists of plans for Woodstock, designed by Humphrey Wayne, and another house, perhaps Chuckwood, built by Maskell Ewing in 1807, also in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Folio 72.
Lecture on Christian art read at the National Academy of Design. 1851.
52 p.; 26 cm.
Daniel Huntington was a portrait, historical, and landscape painter. A native of New York City, he attended Hamilton College in upstate New York and studied art under S. F. B. Morse. He later resumed his training in Europe. Huntington twice served as the president of the National Academy of Design.
Manuscript consists of notes for a lecture on Christian art, in which Huntington traced its development and forms. In addition to this lecture, there are twelve letters by Huntington to various individuals associated with the John Davis Hatch Collection. Huntington recorded remarks about his religious beliefs, comments on exhibitions and artistic works by others, and information about activities at the National Academy.
See entry number 959.
Document 519.
Ledger. 1732–43.
28 leaves; 31 cm.
Isaac Huntington was a weaver from Norwich, Connecticut. He served as the local justice of the peace and married Rebekah Lothrup, a widow.
Entries indicate that Huntington primarily wove cotton, linen, and wool and dyed fabric. Evidence suggests that he used the wool of his own sheep to produce some of his cloth. To supplement his income, Huntington rented rooms, mended footwear, and drafted documents in his capacity as justice of the peace.
Document 1036.
Research notes. 1936–65.
8 folders: ill.; 26 cm.
Hans Huth was curator of decorative arts at the Art Institute of Chicago from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s.
Notes reflect Huth’s research on Moravian painter John Valentine Haidt, whose paintings are among the earliest examples of religious art produced in America. Included are miscellaneous bibliographic citations, biographical notes, lists of paintings, newspaper and magazine clippings, manuscripts of lectures, and photographs of Haidt’s work.
Collection 446.
Recipe book. Ca. 1720.
89 p.; 21 cm.
Hannah Huthwaite was probably from England. She signed the book in two places, though as many as six people wrote recipes in the volume.
Contains recipes for a wide variety of foods and a few household preparations, such as medicines and cleaning powders.
Partial index available.
Document 193.
Crochet work. 1848–ca. 1940.
Approx. 150 items.
Kate Huxley was a resident of Wilmington, Delaware.
Consists of an album with eleven detailed pen-and-ink drawings of crochet patterns created by Huxley in 1848 and nearly 150 samples of finished work. Apparently a later owner printed patterns and crocheting instructions, many written in French and dating from the 1930s, that complete the collection.
Collection 133.
Records. 1813–37.
6 cu. ft.
Isaac and Jared Pratt of Wareham, Massachusetts, operated a cotton factory, iron foundry, and general store. Isaac left the business first. Jared then relocated to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he started the Fairview Iron Works.
Collection includes eleven bound volumes and eleven boxes of other manuscript materials. Chiefly documenting the Pratt’s iron business and store, these papers also contain shipping accounts that reflect the Pratt’s interests in several vessels and provide insight into the state of the economy during the 1820s and 1830s.
Folder title listing available.
Records of the Fairview Iron Works located at the Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.
Collection 97.
29 items: ill.
Illustrations, probably at one time part of a printed book, are of highly ornamental beds dating from ancient Egypt through the nineteenth century. Included are depictions of the outdoor sleeping place used by Cleopatra, a bed from Pompeii, a four-poster from sixteenth-century Italy, an ancient imperial Japanese bed, Shakespeare’s bed, and a bed used by a member of the Washington family.
Collection 197.
Account book. 1672–1879, bulk 1672–1740.
187 leaves: ill.; 16 cm.
Weaver Elisha Ilsley lived in Newbury, Massachusetts. He married Hannah Poor in 1688, and they raised eleven children. Their son Joseph became a weaver, like his father.
Volume contains accounts for customers, listing amounts of weaving and costs in pounds, shillings, and pence. It also includes a historical sketch of the Ilsley family signed and dated by Benjamin Chase on March 11, 1879. Illustrations show weaving patterns and geometric puzzles.
For information on this manuscript, see “The Ilsley-Chase Account Books,” by Ronald D. Sawyer, in Essex Institute Historical Quarterly, vol. 86 (April 1950): 175–82.
Document 1.
Letter book. 1834–40.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
William Imlay was the postmaster of Allentown, New Jersey.
Letters document Imlay’s activities as postmaster, including handling newspaper subscriptions for many local residents and corresponding with his counterparts elsewhere about misdirected mail. A few letters refer to his responsibilities as an agent of the Silk Growers Journal. Imlay raised silk worms and mulberry trees.
Document 798.
2 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains printed and handwritten indentures for apprentices and servants. They primarily represent agreements made in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Many date from the last two decades of the eighteenth century. Among the trades represented are carpentry, cabinetmaking, watchmaking, blacksmithing, and tanning.
Finding aid available.
Collection 288.
Membership book. 1846–66.
1 vol.; 35 cm.
Manuscript was kept by members of the fraternal Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Charlestown, Massachusetts. It includes questionnaires that prospective members of the group were required to complete. Each person recorded his name, place of residence, occupation, age, membership in other orders, health, and whether he believed in the existence of a “Supreme Being.”
Document 449.
Membership book. 1872–92.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
This volume was kept by the fraternal Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Wakefield, Massachusetts. It consists of forms containing questions posed to incoming members, eliciting such information as the respondent’s name, occupation, residence, age, and whether he believed in “a Supreme Intelligent Being, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe.” Many tradesmen, including iron molders, chairmakers, carpenters, and shoemakers, are mentioned.
Document 866.
Papers. 1931–60, bulk 1935–42.
Stanley Bailey Ineson collected many types of early American silver but concentrated on spoons. He amassed more than seventeen hundred pieces over the course of fifteen years of collecting. His collection is now at Winterthur Museum.
Collection consists of papers related to Ineson’s collecting. It includes correspondence, subject files, clippings, lists of silversmiths, rubbings of touchmarks, photographs, and wax impressions of touchmarks from the backs of spoons.
Folder title list and name index available.
Collection 1.
Exercise book. Ca. 1799–1809.
1 vol.; 24 cm.
S. L. Inman was a student at the time that he kept this exercise book.
Book contains Inman’s notes pertaining to a variety of topics, such as air, clouds, light, solstices, astronomy, mythology, early scientists, and forms of government and empires of the world. Illustrations accompany many of his notes. Text is written in red, black, green, and blue ink.
Document 415.
1 folder: ill. (some col.); 37 cm.
Folder contains fifty-four items, including trade catalogues, price lists, photographs, newspaper clippings, samples, and sketches of scenic wallpaper reproductions from the 1930s.
Folio 286.
46 items: ill. (some col.)
Collection includes color paintings and pencil sketches of interior ceilings and walls. The designs are highly ornate geometric, floral, and abstract borders that surround a central rectangular expanse, many of which feature center medallions. A few of the drawings reflect an oriental influence.
Finding aid available.
Collection 158; Microfilm M3001.
89 p.; 40 cm.
Manuscript contains three inventories of stock taken by a dry goods merchant whose location is unknown. Entries include the number of items on hand, a brief description of the items, their unit value, and total value. A wide range of everyday products is represented.
Folio 94.
13 microfilm reels.
Records of the Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household during a number of reigns from Henry VIII through George II. Records include information about home furnishings and clothing. Some entries are in Latin.
Contents list available.
Original materials located at the Public Record Office, London.
Microfilm M270–M282.
18 microfilm reels.
Consists of inventories of recently deceased individuals from Baltimore and the surrounding region.
Alphabetical list of names available.
Original documents located at the Maryland Hall of Records.
Microfilm M5, M8–M24.
2 microfilm reels.
Consists of inventories of recently deceased individuals who had lived in or around New York City.
Alphabetical name listing available.
Original documents located at the New-York Historical Society.
Microfilm M1–M2.
11 leaves; 36 cm.
Inventory documents the contents of a general store, probably located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The store stocked medicines, pottery, glassware, dry goods, and groceries. The words “George Rockwell, Ridgefield, Connecticut” appear on the last page.
Document 1039.
50 leaves; 31 cm.
Inventory is divided into long columns listing names of suppliers, numbers of items received, numbers of items sold, numbers of items that should be on hand, numbers of items actually on hand, and the number of items by which they were either over or short. Goods included various kinds of hardware, such as moulding planes, black augers, plated keyhole escutcheon drops, tumblers, kettles, coach wrenches, and mahogany knobs.
Document 57.
1 microfilm reel.
Holkham was the ancestral home of the earls of Leicester, located in Norfolk, England.
Inventory records the vast range of furnishings at Holkham.
Original manuscript at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
Microfilm M854.
3 boxes: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of invitations, dance cards, and tickets for dances, social events, dramatic performances, and lectures. While some are from the late eighteenth century, the majority date from the mid nineteenth century. Most are from either New England or the Mid-Atlantic states. Illustrations include allegorical figures or symbols of societies or organizations.
Finding aid available.
Collection 289.
Estate papers and photographs. 1827–29, 1993.
15 items: ill.
Penelope Iremonger, a widow at the time of her death, lived at 12 Bolton Row, London.
Consists of an inventory of Iremonger’s estate and modern contact prints illustrating the site of Iremonger’s home.
Document 549.
Scrapbook. 1912–18.
1 vol.: ill.; 34 cm.
Irving and Casson was a Boston-based firm of furnituremakers, woodwork and mantel designers, and interior decorators. In 1916 the firm merged with A. H. Davenport’s business. After the merger, the business specialized in the furnishing of Gothic revival churches.
Scrapbook contains sketches and photographs of furniture, designs for chairs, and clippings as well as records of furniture orders and labor needed to satisfy customer requests.
Partial index of contents in front of volume.
Document 362.
Notes. 1921.
1 vol.; 14 cm.
John Irvins was a carpenter and handyman in the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, area.
Manuscript includes notes on Irvins’s carpentry, painting, work on casement windows, chair-rail installation, and stairway construction.
Document 852.
The Hobhouse letters. 1722–55.
1 microfilm reel.
Isaac Hobhouse was a merchant in Bristol, England.
Collection consists of letters written to Isaac Hobhouse from ship captains and agents in the American colonies and the West Indies, describing trade between western Africa and the southern colonies and showing trade relationships between New England and the West Indies. Commodities carried and shipping difficulties are noted. In addition, there are some letters about shipbuilding in Boston and Philadelphia.
Original materials at the Bristol, England, Central Library and the Bristol Record Office.
Microfilm M733.
Diary. 1892–94.
75 p.; 22 cm.
Florence C. Ives was the chief clerk in the Capitol Office, Albany, New York, of the Board of Women Managers of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Ives recorded the experiences of her work with the Columbian Exposition in her diary. She wrote about the people she worked with, including Mrs. Russell Sage, and commented on difficulties in her office’s decisionmaking process. Toward the end of the manuscript, Ives writes about dismantling the fair and summarizes her progress in Report of the Board of Women Managers for the State of New York at the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893, published by J. J. Little & Co., New York.
Document 1028.
Business records. 1809–35.
2 vols.; 39 cm.
In 1810 brothers Joseph and John Frazier Head founded a mercantile business in Boston. John died in 1813 while on a business trip to Cadiz, Spain. His brother continued to run the business until at least 1835. The firm conducted business in China, the West Indies, and Europe and traded a wide variety of goods.
Records consist of a letter book kept from 1809 to 1835 and a cashbook kept from 1810 to 1819. Much in the letter book was written during the War of 1812 and refers to difficulties securing insurance, the likelihood of cargoes being captured, increased prices, and shortages of commodities. The cashbook notes the stock on hand when the Head’s partnership began. Entries record finance charges, invoices, and notes receivable and payable.
Folio 110.
Daybook. 1855–67.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Jacob and Joseph N. Harman were furnituremakers at 84 King Street, Wilmington, Delaware.
The Harmans made and repaired furniture, constructed replacement parts, upholstered, installed blinds with pulleys, painted and finished objects, and gilded. References are made to selling furniture hardware.
Folio 237.
Specimen case. Ca. 1880.
1 case; 32 cm.
J. & P. Coats, Ltd. manufactured thread in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Specimen case contains fifty samples of cotton, yarn, thread, and forms of wooden spools.
Folio 77.
Records. 1812–30.
3 vols.
J. & S. Davidson operated a general store in Argyle, New York.
Records contain a daybook recording sales from 1812 to 1814, a ledger of personal accounts owed to the store from 1813 to 1815, and an invoice ledger for items purchased by a Sam Donaldson from 1820 to 1830.
Collection 15.
Accounts and scrapbook. 1942–52.
3 vols.: ill (some col.)
J. Barton Benson, Inc. was a Philadelphia-based metalsmithing firm. It was incorporated in 1928. The firm welded, forged, and produced ornamental metalwork, some in the Pennsylvania German style. Customers included churches, various businesses, cabinetmakers, and private individuals.
Collection includes two volumes of financial accounts and a scrapbook containing clippings of ornamental metalwork. Financial accounts include receipts and records of expenditures, cash disbursements, and accounts receivable. The scrapbook features illustrations of iron fencing, lighting devices, weather vanes, and knockers.
Finding aid available.
Collection 105.
Records. 1849–1919, bulk 1849–56.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
J. F. Browne & Co. of New York City was a leading American harpmaking firm during the mid nineteenth century. The firm also repaired harps and sold music accessories, such as music stools, music desks, and harp boxes. It operated under several names over the course of its existence.
Volume contains information on the manufacture and sale of harps, company profits and expenses, and the publication of sheet music for harpists. Supplies for the making of harps are documented along with expenses for loans, office supplies, advertisements, and other company business.
Company ephemera, including photographs, an order form, and a printed price list, are included in the collection.
Document 268.
Account book. 1808–14.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
J. Huntington & Son operated a general store in New London, Connecticut.
Many of the entries in this volume provide the dates of transactions and amounts paid. Goods are only mentioned when they were used as methods of payment. Sometimes services, such as the making of a bureau by Thomas Gibbs, were accepted to satisfy debts.
Document 240.
Daybook. 1857–59.
350 p.; 34 cm.
Josiah Ellsworth was the proprietor of J. O. Ellsworth & Co., a Windsor, Connecticut, metalworking firm that specialized in tinware. The company also repaired, blackened, and installed stoves and sold metal toys.
Volume records daily debit and credit accounts. Objects sold include fluid lamps, spoons, goblets, griddle turners, water dippers, breast pins, mustard pots, eggcups, and toys (such as cups and pails, rattles, whistles, and elephants on wheels).
Document 241.
Account book. 1815–37.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Jabez Peck, William Augustus Phelps, and Jabez Oliver operated a tin shop in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Records of sales and invoices indicate the kinds of tinwares available from Peck: beakers, teakettles, water pots, skimmers, and lanterns.
Document 537.
Account books. 1792–1805.
3 vols.; 33 cm.
Samuel Jackson operated a general store in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and later resided in York (present-day Toronto), Canada, where he invested in real estate.
Collection includes two daybooks dating from 1792 to 1805 and a ledger kept from 1795 to 1804 that document the customers served and goods sold in Jackson’s Northumberland County store. In addition to recording retail transactions taking place in the store, Jackson noted when he ordered from various manufacturers on behalf of his customers.
Name index in ledger.
Document 406.
Hardware store price book. 1858.
85 p.; 16 cm.
Evidence suggests that William Jacoby was the proprietor of a hardware store in Rancocas, New Jersey.
Volume includes prices for various pieces of hardware and domestic items, including oval boilers, sleigh bells, curry combs, chisels, coffee mills, candlesticks, assorted files, hinges, plated ware, and kettles. Names of Jacoby’s suppliers are also included.
Document 215.
Business papers. 1865–1902.
6 vols. + 420 items.
Julius O. Jacot worked as a watchmaker and jeweler in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Collection includes six business account books, kept from 1865 to 1891, and 420 letters, invoices, bills, and circulars, dating from 1893 to 1902. The account books document Jacot’s watch- and jewelrymaking activities. Records indicate that Jacot sometimes acquired objects from other businesses and then resold them in his shop.
Collection 367.
Diary and memoranda. 1840–46, 1852–56.
2 vols.: ill. (col. plan); 25 cm. or smaller.
George Jacques was a horticulturist. A native of Brooklyn, Connecticut, he attended Leicester Academy, Drury’s School in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, and graduated from Brown University in 1836. After teaching school for a time, he settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he established a nursery specializing in fruit and ornamental trees. Jacques contributed to horticultural journals and took an active part in the civic affairs of Worcester. At his death, he bequeathed his estate to Worcester City Hospital. He never married.
Writings record Jacques’s activities and thoughts. He wrote about his education, horticultural interests, reading habits, phrenology, and an 1856 trip to Europe.
Index of names and subjects and references to articles by Jacques at back of volume 2.
Document 372.
Letter book. 1835–39.
1 microfilm reel.
James Dixon & Sons, makers of silver-plated wares, was based in Sheffield, England.
Letter book consists of orders for Britanniawares and German silver and silver-plated wares placed by James W. Dixon of New York City on behalf of businesses located in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
Name list available.
Original manuscript owned by James Dixon & Sons.
Microfilm M876.
Daybooks. 1870–77, 1887–99.
8 vols.
James F. Wood & Co. was a Wilmington, Delaware, firm that succeeded Wilson, Wood & Co. It installed roofs and metalwork until 1940, when the firm disbanded.
Daybooks record jobs performed, including the installation of roofs, gutters, pipes, heaters, boilers, and stoves, in both homes and commercial properties in the Wilmington area. The company also sold such metal objects as nuts and bolts, pipes, and stove parts, and soldered metalwares.
Other manuscripts relating to the company, dating from 1880 to 1887, located at the Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.
Collection 213.
Cartoon patterns. 1890–1923.
25 items: col. ill.
James Powell & Sons was a fashionable London glasshouse. Early in its existence, the firm purchased Whitefriars Glass Works, a business that had been established around 1600 and that produced flint table glass and domestic wares. During the mid-1800s, Powell experimented with colors and techniques that allowed him to produce stained-glass windows using medieval methods. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the company’s stained glass reflected the style associated with William Morris & Co., a firm known to have been a pioneer in the development of the arts and crafts style.
Collection is composed of twenty full-size drawings in pencil and gouache and four smaller watercolor designs for stained-glass windows as well as a printed billhead. Many of the larger drawings include the names of buildings, usually churches, including Bacton Church, Brecon Priory, Cainscross Church, and Canythorpe Church. The watercolors depict saints Sidan, Edmund, Augustine, and Elizabeth.
Collection 371.
Pattern book, Capitol City Woolen Mills. 1883.
118 p.; 17 cm.
J. H. Janker was a textile worker employed by the Capitol City Woolen Mills of Des Moines, Iowa.
Book records numbered weaving patterns for wool and flannel cloths. Also included are twenty-seven wool swatches, a record of the time Janker worked, and a note on his wages for 1883.
Document 995.
Papers. 1705–1913, bulk 1790–1823.
189 items.
The Janvier family descended from Thomas Janvier (1664–ca. 1729), an early French immigrant to New Castle County, Delaware. His youngest son, Philip, a bricklayer, was the founder of the branch of the family to which most of this collection pertains. Many of Philip’s children were merchants who settled in the New Castle County area.
Papers contain seven different series: correspondence, family histories, religious materials, poetry, miscellaneous family items, financial documents, and legal documents. In addition to illuminating the history of the Janviers, this collection contains information on the Marley and McWilliams families. An important component of the papers is a photocopy of John Janvier’s account book, chronicling the life of this cabinetmaker from Odessa, Delaware.
Finding aid available
Collection 155.
16 p.; 43 cm.
Book opens with Japanese calligraphy that reads: “Collection of samples of thick striped Ome-jima.” It includes approximately 350 textile samples.
Collection 50.
Die perspectiv-kunst: so wie sie auf der königlichen dänischen schilderer bildhauer und Bau-Academie in Copenhagen von den Herrn Herrn [sic.] Professor Louis Henry Jardin, jun. königlichen baumeister in einer lexion alle Sonnabend ist gelehrt worden. 1758–59.
134 p.: ill.; 33 cm.
Louis Henry Jardin Jr. was a French-born architect and the brother of fellow architect Nicholas Henri Jardin.
Consists of manuscript transcriptions by H. L. Tako Sr. of a series of fifty-one lessons that had been given by Jardin. Transcriptions are accompanied by illustrations, some of which are on large sheets and tipped into the book.
Written in German Fraktur script.
Document 187.
Papers. 1859–81.
1 box: ill.; 26 cm.
James Jackson Jarves was born to Deming and Anna Jarves in Boston in 1818. Unable to attend college because of illness and impaired eyesight, Jarves instead traveled through Mexico and California. For a time, he settled in Hawaii, where he established a weekly newspaper. Later in his career, he negotiated several commercial treaties for the United States and countries in Europe. During the 1850s, Jarves lived in Florence, Italy, where he collected paintings and Venetian glass and published more than twenty volumes of research on Italian art. Jarves was a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was honored by King Humbert I of Italy for his accomplishments in the study of Italian art.
Collection includes a photo album compiled in Florence in 1859 that includes portraits of local worthies; the text of a lecture by Jarves entitled “Thoughts on the Esthetics of Liveries, Uniforms, and Distinctive Decorations in a Republic”; and a letter addressed to Herbert S. Rentrie of the Hawthorne Literacy Union.
Collection 428.
Recipe book. Ca. 1840.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Most of the recipes in this volume are for food, though there are also instructions for making soap and cologne water. Jarvis writes that they were “copied for me by my brother.” Also in Jarvis’s volume is a “list of disheveled books—in barn—self education.”
Document 828.
Drawings and account books. 1751–1826.
1 microfilm reel.
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was a statesman and revolutionary, founder of the University of Virginia, architect, and philosopher.
Collection includes architectural drawings, land surveys, and household account books that record what Jefferson spent on entertainment, house furnishings, food, the care of horses, etc. Only the first reel in the series of ten reels has been acquired.
Described in the Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Jefferson Papers of the University of Virginia, 1732–1828, compiled by Douglas W. Tanner and published by the university.
Original materials located at the Alderman Library, University of Virginia.
Microfilm M2523.
Sketchbook. Ca. 1874.
88 p.: ill. (some col.); 31 cm.
Cornelius Jelliffe appears to have been a young boy from Westport, Connecticut, at the time that he maintained this sketchbook.
Subjects of sketches include sailing ships, railroad and fire engines, the Battle of Bunker Hill, Columbus, American Indians, animals, plants, and historic houses and birthplaces of famous people.
Document 177.
Daybook. 1836–41.
262 p.; 44 cm.
Paul Jenkins was a furnituremaker, carpenter, and framer from Maine.
Manuscript records Jenkins’s output of furniture, including bureaus, picture frames, and tables, and his many carpentry projects. Because the manuscript’s caption title is “Daybook No. 3,” Jenkins was probably active many years before he began to keep these particular records.
Folio 154.
Account book. 1747–53.
1 microfilm reel.
Robert Jenkins was a merchant who operated in Newport, Rhode Island, and Boston.
Manuscript includes records of the products that Jenkins traded.
Original manuscript located at the Rhode Island Historical Society
Microfilm M2857.2.
Account book. 1823–45.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Robert Jenkins owned Windsor Forge in Caernarvon Township, Pennsylvania. His grandfather established the business in the early 1700s, and after it passed out of the family, Robert’s father bought it back. At Robert’s death, his son, David, took over. In addition to operating Windsor Forge, Robert served in the Pennsylvania state legislature and the U.S. Congress.
Manuscript served as a daybook and letter book, recording the activities of the forge. Agricultural writings reveal details about local harvests and record the cost of building a house in 1843.
Robert Jenkins’s cashbook located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Document 862.
Journal. 1747–52.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Jenkins family appear to have been merchants.
Entries in this journal include information on accounts, home furnishings, and the shipment of goods, both domestically and internationally. Entries dated 1747 and 1748 were kept while in Boston, whereas others for the six-year period were kept while in Newport, Rhode Island.
Brief name index available.
Original manuscript located at the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M753.
Account books. 1792, 1799–1801, 1834.
4 vols.; 21 cm. or smaller.
Henry Gold Jenks was a blacksmith in Boston and later in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Three books, maintained from 1792 to 1801, record Jenks’s blacksmithing work. The other book, compiled by Alonzo Lewis, contains genealogical information about members of the Jenks family of Essex County, Massachusetts, and includes records of land purchases and legal matters.
Collection 296.
Business and estate records. 1783–1817.
3 items.
John Jenks was raised by Cotton Tufts after his father’s early death. Jenks became a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts, and specialized in the importation of goods from Britain.
Collection includes an invoice book kept from 1783 to 1816, a letter book kept from 1797 to 1817, and probate records relating to Jenks’s death in 1817. In some instances, orders copied into the letter book correspond to bills in the invoice book. Estate papers show that Jenks died intestate and include an inventory of household possessions.
Collection 295.
Account book. 1661–90.
142 p.; 14 cm.
Abraham Jewett was a farmer, tanner, and weaver in Rowley, Massachusetts. Family members settled Rowley when it was established in 1640. Jewett married Ann Allen in 1661.
Books record Jewett’s agricultural work and tanning activities. He helped people from his native Rowley and surrounding towns (Salem, Haverhill, and Ipswich) with plowing, planting, harvesting, and mowing and supplied shoemakers with leather. Other entries record the spinning, weaving, and exchange of cotton cloth. A list of clothing, perhaps Jewett’s, is included as well.
Document 640.
Dinner book. 1740–51, bulk 1740–41.
220 p.; 39 cm.
Robert, viscount of Jocelyn, served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Evidence suggests that this volume came from his household.
Book contains detailed dinner records in the form of diagrams of tables that note where various dishes were placed. A customary dinner involved two courses and thus two table plans. Several plans for more elaborate meals are also included. Guest names are mentioned.
Folio 219.
Book of engraving. 1878–80.
158 p.: ill.; 40 x 29 cm.
John A. Lowell & Co. was a firm of engravers based in Boston.
Book includes 311 engravings from the Lowell company and a few examples from other firms. Engravings show landscapes, ships, waterfalls, vases, animals, and a woman churning butter. There are some greeting cards as well.
Index available.
Folio 190.
Daybooks. 1850–52, 1857–61.
2 vols.; 35 cm.
John Beach & Co. manufactured wire and carding equipment in Hartford, Connecticut.
Daybooks document the day-to-day operation of a firm that produced a wide variety of wire products, including sewing wires, sieves, corn poppers, clock wire, piano wire, sheep roller skins, comb plates, and card cleaners.
Folio 108.
Account books. 1848–61.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
John Bunce ran a hardware and general store in Brooklyn, New York.
These manuscripts record goods, including hardware, kitchenware, stepladders, buttons, soap, and brooms, available from Bunce’s store. Entries provide information on items sold, prices paid, and names of purchasers.
Document 234.
Records. 1758–1817.
20 microfilm reels.
John Glassford & Company was a mercantile firm based in Glasgow, Scotland, that traded extensively with businesses based in Maryland and Virginia. The firm operated under a number of names over the course of its existence.
Collection includes ledgers, journals, records of cash sales, lists of debts, and other accounts relating to Glassford and its successors. Prominent names mentioned include George Mason, members of the Lee family, Edward Washington, and George William Fairfax.
Summary of contents available.
Original manuscripts located at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M2677–M2696.
Daybook. 1841–45.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
John Greene & Co. were hardware merchants and metalsmiths based in Freetown, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the daily transactions of a firm that sold axes, knives, hoes, chisels, hammers, hinges, and nails; shoed horses; repaired tool handles and metal objects; and engaged in a variety of other metalsmithing activities.
Document 515.
Daybook. 1792–95.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
John J. Staples & Son was a New York City firm established in 1793 that sold hardware and other goods. Staples’s son John Jr. appears in New York city directories as a clock- and watchmaker as well.
Manuscript records the repair and sale of jewelry, the operation of a watch shop, and the sale of large quantities of hardware, presumably for later retail resale.
Name index available.
Folio 206.
Furniture drawings. Ca. 1880–1900.
64 items: ill. (some col.)
John H. Ragatz headed the firm of John Ragatz & Son, located at 212 Pear Street, Philadelphia.
Drawings depict a wide variety of furniture that Ragatz apparently assembled as custom work, including chairs, screens, benches, couches, sideboards, bureaus, tables, and wall cabinets. Some drawings feature descriptive text that provides information about the kinds of woods available, how ornamentation might appear, and what finishing details could be incorporated into the designs. Holes in the corners of the pages suggest that the drawings may have been hung in the shop or were at one time part of a larger portfolio.
Finding aid available.
Collection 334.
Bills and receipts. 1838–69.
90 items.
The firm of John T. Ropes & Co. was a wholesale and retail dealer in stoves, stovepipes, and tinware. It was operated by John T. and William Ropes of Salem, Massachusetts.
Collection includes bills and receipts for stoves and stove accessories, such as oven doors, grates, soapstone backings, and copper boilers, that the Ropes company bought and then resold to its customers. Plumbing fixtures were also purchased. Illustrative vignettes decorate some bills.
Collection 533.
Wastebook. 1825–27.
269 p.; 35 cm.
John W. Trull was a Boston-based distiller. A number of other Boston-based distillers shared the surname Trull (namely Ezra Trull and John Trull) and may have been relatives of John.
Wastebook contains records of the firm’s daily transactions selling rum, brandy, and gin to people in and around Boston and throughout New England.
Folio 4.
Diary. 1797–97.
512 p.; 23 x 29 cm.
Benjamin Johnson enjoyed a successful career as a printer and bookseller first in Reading, Pennsylvania, and later in Philadelphia. He was an active member of the Society of Friends.
Diary records the activities of Johnson and his companions on a European trip through England, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. They undertook their journey to reestablish contact with Quakers in Europe, to hold meetings, and to heal a rift in the Quaker community at Congenies, France. Johnson’s observations offer marvelous documentation on late eighteenth-century European society and living conditions. His encounters with luminaries of the era, including John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, Benjamin West, and Thomas Paine, are described.
Fourteen-page outline of trip available.
Document 260; Microfilm M3000.
Copybook. 1827–28, 1839–41.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 33 cm.
Isaac Johnson, a resident of Colebrookdale, Pennsylvania, used this book from 1827 to 1828 to record word problems that illustrate mathematical concepts. Volume also contains three pages of farm accounts, dated from 1839 to 1841. Hand-colored engravings with captions in German depict people engaged in various occupations and endeavors.
Document 686.
Bills and receipts. 1811–18.
26 items.
John Johnson was a ship carpenter in Baltimore. He probably owned a schooner called the Governor McKean.
Items mentioned in these bills and receipts include shirts, coats, and boots; food and liquor; book and magazine subscriptions; and cordage, spikes, and stone ballast.
Collection 528.
Daybooks. 1815–16, 1820.
2 vols.; 40 cm.
Ralph Cross Johnson operated a general store in Belfast, Maine.
Volume documents the activities of a general merchant and the products that he sold. If Johnson did not have a requested item on hand, he regularly placed special orders to satisfy his customers.
Folio 137.
Account book. 1870–72.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Volume consists of William Woolsey Johnson’s account with A. G. Scott for household supplies and dry goods, including a washboard, clothesline, dishes, fabrics, ribbons, baskets, and thread.
Document 881.
Account book. 1790–1840.
420 p.; 32 cm.
Asa Jones was a furnituremaker and housebuilder from Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Book records Jones’s work as a woodworker as well as his agricultural activities. He also wrote about making cider at his mill and “carrying you to town meeting.”
Document 596.
Research notes on Deborah Logan.
3 boxes.
Barbara Jones earned her M.A. from the University of Delaware in 1964. She wrote her thesis on Deborah Logan, a prominent Philadelphian of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Collection consists of Jones’s transcriptions of Deborah Logan’s diaries as well as draft versions of Jones’s thesis, a Logan family genealogy, and work done on a name index of the diaries.
Diary originals located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Microfilm copies located at Winterthur.
See entry 1254 for a description of Deborah Logan’s diary.
Collection 359.
Exercise book. Ca. 1840–60.
15 p.: ill.; 52 x 41 cm.
D. F. Jones was probably a student at a military school at the time that he maintained this exercise book. Evidence suggests that he was Floyd Jones, a prominent Civil War general.
Book consists of fifteen orthographic and perspective drawings of geometric shapes. All are signed by Jones and W. B. Blair, 1st lieut., 2nd Infantry.
Folio 227.
Congregational meetinghouses in Connecticut: 190 white Connecticut meeting houses and 54 brick or stone edifices erected by Congregational churches organized between one hundred and three hundred and eighteen years ago. 1948.
151 p.: ill.; 24 cm.
Edward P. Jones lived in Winsted, Connecticut.
In his introduction Jones wrote: “The intent of this treatise is to trace Congregationalism from little parishes in England between 1620 and 1630 to the modern church of today.” Jones includes descriptions of 244 churches, often with illustrations of the church exteriors. A list within the volume includes the names of churches, dates when they were organized, and the names of their ministers.
Document 518.
Inlay samples. Ca. 1900–1925.
1 sheet; 70 x 10 cm.
George H. Jones worked in New York City. It is unclear if he made furniture inlays or simply sold them.
There are fifty-seven samples of inlay affixed to this single sheet. Various woods were used to make their geometric patterns and designs. Each sample is numbered and priced per yard.
Folio 293.
Swatchbook. Ca. 1865.
35 leaves; 19 x 23 cm.
The company was located at 450–456 Washington Street, Boston, when it issued this sample book.
Contains 198 small swatches of black cloth grouped six to a page. The introductory notice states: “the very latest Foreign Fabrics in the newest designs and colorings … each style is designated by its own number, and the width and price plainly marked.”
Collection 50.
Records. 1829–1906, bulk 1830–40.
Approx. 135 items.
Joseph Breck & Sons was a Boston-based seed and agricultural implements wholesaler and retailer. Its founder, horticulturist and botanist Joseph Breck, was a lifelong Massachusetts resident, prominent author and editor, and president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In addition to maintaining the store, Joseph Breck & Sons also published periodicals, most prominently The New England Farmer, and eventually issued catalogues for seeds and agricultural implements.
Collection documents Breck’s business and publishing activities in letters, orders for various fruit trees, records of shipments, and bills and receipts for a variety of products.
Collection 517.
Account books. 1784–88, 1792–97.
1 microfilm reel.
Joshua Fisher & Sons was a family of merchants who operated a firm in Philadelphia.
The two account books in this collection include import-export records. Though the volumes indicate that the Fishers bought and sold a wide variety of goods, it is clear that they specialized in textiles. The firm established strong connections to a number of London-based traders.
Original manuscripts in private hands at the time of microfilming.
Microfilm M664.
20 leaves; 19 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this manuscript lived in Sussex County, Delaware.
Entries record the wood products sawed, including scantling, lathe, planks, and boards. Records indicate the number of lots sold and sizes of orders in terms of feet. Names of customers and the prices paid are recorded as well.
Document 254.
2 vols.; 19 cm. or smaller.
The unknown writer of this travel account may have lived in London.
The traveler wrote about the people he encountered and the landmarks he visited, including the Hermitage, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and the Czar’s warships. He also traveled to Paris and visited the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Palace of Luxembourg.
Document 593.
Music manuscript. Ca. 1795–1820.
35 leaves; 11 x 21 cm.
Manuscript includes music for seventy-one named pieces, including jigs, polkas, hornpipes, cotillions, and marches. Joy’s signature appears on three separate leaves toward the back of the volume, and one is dated 1820. Paper watermarked 1790, 1793, and 1795.
Document 167.
Notebook. 1801–2.
11 leaves; 16 cm.
Asa Judd may have lived in Boston.
Manuscript documents what Judd owned and purchased over a two-year period. Items mentioned include food, clothes, dry goods, household furnishings, and kitchen utensils.
Document 1073.
Les Anamorphoses. Ca. 1870.
1 game (24 cards): col. ill.
An example of anamorphic art, this game consists of hand-painted cards and a metal cylinder that is used by viewers to clarify the distorted images on the cards. Images on the cards include a king and queen, robber, men and women engaged in various activities, and animals in costume. It came from France and bears the inscription: “Merry Christmas Seymour from Aunt Susan, 1871.”
Collection 220.
Receipt book. 1784–1835, bulk 1784.
68 p.; 10 x 17 cm.
John Jutau was an auctioneer in Boston. The last time he was included in a city directory was 1820. Thereafter his widow, Mary, was listed.
Manuscript contains receipts signed by customers who bought items at Jutau’s auctions. Jutau sold a wide variety of goods, including products for the household, clothing, produce, and other “sundries.”
At the back of Jutau’s manuscript are ten pages of unrelated material for a J. Conant of Greenwich, Connecticut, and later Monson, Massachusetts.
Name index available.
Document 172.
Account book. 1884–86.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Granville Kane probably resided with his family in Tuxedo Park, New York.
Volume records Kane’s household expenses over a three-year period. Entries are arranged by category: housekeeping, gas and fuel, amusements, travel, etc. The names of some vendors are listed.
Document 490.
Recipe book. Ca. 1850.
17 leaves; 21 cm.
Manuscript contains recipes for foods and medicines as well as household receipts. Food recipes include directions for making puddings, beer, cakes, pickles, pickled oysters, vinegars, syrups, and mustards. Instructions for curing meats are also included. Medicinal cures include directions for relieving sprains and coughs, and there are recipes for cold cream and “yellow wash,” or paint.
Partial index available.
Document 984.
Journal. 1831–34.
1 microfilm reel.
Robert L. Kearney was a pictureframer from Albany, New York.
Account book was used to record domestic items that Kearney purchased, including floor coverings, furniture, hardware, metals, wood, textiles, and tools.
Original manuscript located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1964.4.
Account book. 1783–1811.
76 p.; 33 cm.
Micajah Kelley was a furnituremaker (specializing in chairs) and a weaver from Gilmantown, New Hampshire.
Many of the entries in this account book record orders for chairs and chair frames and for mending and bottoming chairs. Kelley also built and repaired beds, tables, and a variety of other kinds of furniture. He also wove cloth for blankets, towels, and handkerchiefs. He mentions some agricultural pursuits as well.
Name index available.
Document 423.
Bookplate. 1786.
1 item; 8 x 10 cm.
“The Property of Amasa Kelly 1786” is printed in the center of a hand-drawn, elliptical border of red, black, and green inks.
The plate is pasted in the sixth edition of A Dictionary, English-Latin, Latin-English … , by Elisha Coles (London: Printed by J. Richardson for Pater Parker, 1677).
Document 58.
Account book. 1816–43.
2 vols.; 38 cm.
Samuel Kendrick was a manufacturer of carding machines, a liveryman, and a carpenter who worked in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
Volumes document Kendrick’s work making carding machines. He sold his machines to local textile manufacturers and to businesses abroad. Included are several premanufacturing agreements with customers. Kendrick supplemented his income by transporting goods for other people, making rope and hatboxes, performing light carpentry work, and turning wood.
Folio 295.
Account book. 1847–53.
1 vol.; 13 cm.
Robert Kennedy lived in New London, Connecticut.
Manuscript records Kennedy’s expenses for domestic items over a seven-year period.
Document 476.
Daybook. 1797–99.
28 leaves; 34 cm.
Robert and John Kennedy operated a sawmill near Killingly, Connecticut.
Daybook documents the Kennedys’ sawmilling activities. To supplement their income, they farmed oats, corn, and rye and repaired wagons and such wooden farm implements as plows and harrows.
Document 1051.
Scrapbook. 1912–17.
1 vol.: ill.; 40 cm.
The Kensington Mfg. Co. made English-style reproduction furniture and imported art objects. The company was created when the John Somma Co. reorganized in 1913. John Somma was the president of the Kensington Mfg. Co. at the time this volume was kept.
Scrapbook contains clippings of advertisements from The Decorative Furnisher and Upholsterer as well as circulars promoting the furniture offered by the Kensington Mfg. Co. Advertisements depict furniture in room settings. Text describes the firm and its intention to adhere to period designs.
Folio 214.
Daybooks. 1832–39.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Daniel H. Kent was a hatter in Westport, New York.
Manuscript volumes record the production and sale of hats. In 1835 Kent listed the number of hats that he made each month.
Document 392.
Album. 1833–60.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 cm.
Ellen Kent lived in northern Delaware.
Album consists of signatures and accompanying poems and sayings recorded by Kent’s friends and relatives. Several engravings were inserted as well. Volume was a present from a W. Shortledge.
Finding aid available.
Document 520.
Drawings of Holkham Hall. Ca. 1725.
1 microfilm reel.
William Kent served an apprenticeship to a coachmaker in Yorkshire, England. In 1703 he moved to London to study painting and, in 1710, traveled to Rome to further his studies. In Italy he met Thomas Coke, first earl of Leicester, who became his patron.
Kent’s drawings document the earl’s country dwelling, Holkham Hall. They include illustrations of interiors, exteriors, and some of the landscape.
Drawings owned by the current Earl of Leicester at the time of filming.
Microfilm M845.
Sketchbook and trade catalogue. 1927–34.
2 vols.: ill. (some col.)
William Winthrop Kent was an architect and designer who also wrote books on hooked rugs, handicrafts, and architecture.
Sketchbook entitled “Sketches and Notes Made in Rome and Other Parts of Italy and North Africa, etc. Mostly in 1927” includes eleven hundred drawings, many of which are of mosaics. The trade catalogue is from the Firth Carpet Company and contains loose sheets of rugs that Kent designed.
Document 621.
Bills. 1796–1823.
10 folders; 26 cm.
Henry Kermit was a sea captain from New York City. He lived at 19 Wall Street until he constructed a home at 84–85 Greenwich Street around 1801 or 1802. He may have had a son named Robert Kermit.
Collection of bills documents the Kent family’s household expenses. Many relate to the construction of their house on Greenwich Street, which featured Italian brass, marble, wallpaper, carpeting, ornamental carvings, and draperies. Also included are bills for the purchase and/or repair of harnesses, carriages, clocks, watches, guns, and bayonets.
Finding aid available.
Collection 427.
Book of patterns for work of different kinds. 1826.
53 leaves: ill.; 21 cm.
Hand-drawn designs of leaves, flowers, animals, and geometric figures to be used as patterns for needlework. Notations indicate intended uses of designs, such as corners of pocket handkerchiefs, ribbon work, collarettes, and cut velvet for curtains.
Though the paper features an English watermark (Fincher & Sons and dated 1825), the brand was used in America as well as Britain and thus leaves the origin of the book uncertain.
Document 36.
Papers. 1750–1908, bulk 1750–1848.
1 box.
Members of the Kershner family were early settlers of Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Collection contains deeds, maps, and legal documents relating to the Kershners.
Collection 40.
Cookbook. 1820?–70?
140 p.; 20 cm.
Because Mrs. Keyworth is mentioned several times in the volume, she is assumed to be its original owner. She may have lived in Nottingham, England.
Book consists of recipes for food preparation written in a number of hands. Thirty-six pages contain recipes for medicines and such household preparations as glue, ink, and furniture oil.
Document 74.
Papers. 1799–1864.
1 box.
Members of the Kidder family originally lived in Massachusetts and later moved to upstate New York. John Kidder was involved in community politics in Batavia, New York.
Collection contains business, estate, and personal papers of the Kidder family. Minutes from a political meeting, a letter reflecting Kidder’s political sentiments, two letters referring to the Civil War, and two pieces of Confederate currency round out the collection.
Collection 527.
Music book. 1780–1820.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 26 x 16 cm.
George Killgore, a Pennsylvanian, contributed the artwork to this volume of Robert Killgore’s sheet music.
Volume opens with folk art illustrations of two horses, the sun, and the moon. Killgore’s Fraktur-style decorative motifs include birds, flowers, leaves, and hexagons.
Document 707.
Account book. 1861–64.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Joseph Killiam was a furnituremaker from Walton, New Hampshire.
Entries document the types and dimensions of furniture that Killiam made, including bureaus, commodes, tables, sinks, and beds. He seems to have shipped furniture parts to New York City and Boston for assembly in those cities. Killiam recorded dimensions of shipping crates as well as some shipping charges.
Document 719.
Account book. 1831–41.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Kimball, Kennedy & Co. was a firm of weavers based in Plainfield and Windham, Connecticut.
Book records income and expenses associated with weaving. Mentioned throughout the volume are such items as red flannel, stocking yarn, wool, and calico. Accounts for the purchase of wool, leather products, and cow hide are also recorded.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 754.
Bills. 1847–49.
25 items.
William Kimball and Andrew Gould were the proprietors of Kimball & Gould, a general store in eastern Massachusetts.
Most of this collection contains bills recording the purchases of Kimball and Gould, presumably for resale in their store. Items mentioned include glassware, lamps, cigar stands, lumber, buttons, and dry goods. A bill for dyeing a shawl and for the purchase of a linen dress and a pair of socks is also included. Other bills note repairs to harnesses, a carriage, and a wagon.
Collection 477.
Agent’s sample book. 1870–90.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 18 cm.
Includes thirty-two samples of calling and greeting cards in a variety of colors and designs. Illustrations with flowers and birds predominate. Most samples bear a number and price.
Document 282.
Account book. 1824–44, bulk 1824–25.
12 leaves; 17 cm.
Includes accounts with G. M. Company, which suggest that Kingsley bartered weaving services for room and board, food, and other domestic items.
Document 4.
Diary. 1850.
40 p.; 21 cm.
John W. Kinsey was born into a Quaker household in Philadelphia. By 1850 he was working for the Lowell Machine Shop in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Diary records a trip that Kinsey and a friend named Bemans took as far west as Chicago, Illinois, during the summer of 1850. Their itinerary led them from Lowell to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and then into the Midwest. On their return trip they traveled eastward along the Great Lakes into New York and, finally, through New England.
Document 269.
Receipt book. 1771–1812.
1 vol.; 16 x 11 cm.
William Kippin of New York City included receipts for purchases of leather, beef, pine logs, and a bedstead, although most of his entries relate to shop rent, house rent, and property taxes.
Document 658.
Diary. 1868–69, bulk 1868.
130 p.; 33 cm.
William Kirkbride was a clerk who lived with his parents in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia.
Diary consists mostly of entries that relate to Kirkbride’s social life. He courted Mame Churchman, worked in a store, regularly attended church and political meetings, joined a group called “The Invinsibles” (perhaps a forerunner to a Mummers association), and traveled to such places as New York City; Cape May, New Jersey; West Point, New York; and Poughkeepsie, New York.
Document 152.
Estate records. 1844–83.
2 vols.; 15 cm.
Nathan Kite lived in Philadelphia, where he died on January 4, 1867.
Includes a receipt book kept by Nathan Kite from 1844 to 1867 as a trustee of several estates of Philadelphia residents as well as a memorandum book kept from 1867 to 1883 relating to the settlement of his own estate.
Document 628.
Scrapbook. 1908.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Marie and Anna Klauder resided in Philadelphia with their mother.
Scrapbook contains twenty-seven letters written to Marie and Anna by other children or their mothers, responding to an invitation to a leap-year party. There is also a five-page description of the party.
Document 951.
Illuminated music book. 1808.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 x 11 cm.
Catharina Klemer resided in Lower Milford Township, Pennsylvania, when she received this volume as a gift.
Includes music and lyrics to 172 tunes. Some decorative lettering appears in the volume, and the first page features a Fraktur-style flower illustration within a decorative border. Text is in German.
Document 768.
Account book. 1790–1811.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Kline worked as a tanner in the vicinity of Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Book documents the activities, tools, and materials of the tanning trade. Includes information about such items as leather for soles and uppers, sheep and calf skins, and quarts of oil.
Original account book located at the Hanover Public Library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
Account book. 1856–78.
400 p.; 31 cm.
Jonas Kline (sometimes referred to as John) worked as a blacksmith in Liverpool Township, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript contains a record of accounts with area residents for making, repairing, and sharpening metal products.
Original name index bound in at front.
Document 133.
Inventory of goods. 1839–46.
65 leaves; 40 cm.
According to the 1840 census, Erastus Knight lived in Thompson, Connecticut.
Manuscript records the inventory in Knight’s store, taken each January over the course of seven years. The first four leaves have been used as a scrapbook.
Folio 26.
Sales book and photographs. 1919–23.
1 vol.: ill.; 38 cm.
Knodle’s Antique Store was located in Hagerstown, Maryland. Its proprietor was Edward Knodle, a collector and dealer of early American antiques and an authority on Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Duncan Phyfe, and Pennsylvania German furniture.
Volume features more than three hundred photographs of American decorative art objects, most likely purchased by Knodle for resale. Many are accompanied by handwritten notations. In addition, there are some records documenting sales of other antiques.
Document 883.
Cash, invoice, sales & bill book. 1837, 1839.
17 p.; 19 x 21 cm.
Records items purchased and sold at Moses F. Knowlton’s general store in Wendell, New Hampshire. Such items as food, fabric, crockery, and tools are mentioned.
Document 855.
Certificates. 1855–61.
3 items: col. ill.
Thomas P. Knox resided in eastern Pennsylvania and probably owned a farm on which he raised horses and cattle.
Knox was awarded a certificate as a lifetime member of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, a diploma from the Montgomery County Agricultural Society for his cows, and a diploma from the East Pennsylvania Agricultural and Mechanical Society for one of his mares. The certificates feature hand-colored illustrations of country scenes and ornate decorative borders.
Folio 80.
Sketchbooks. 1809–21.
7 vols.: ill. (some col.)
John Lewis Krimmel was a genre and portrait painter. Born in Ebingen, Württemberg, he immigrated to the United States in 1810 and settled in Philadelphia. He returned to Germany in 1817 but moved back to Philadelphia two years later. In 1821 members of the Association of American Artists elected him president. Several months later he accidentally drowned near Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Consists of seven sketchbooks in watercolor, pencil, and pen-and-ink. Sketches are of country and village scenes, harbors and ports, river views, children, women engaged in various domestic activities, anatomical depictions, and streetscapes. One volume contains studies for three of Krimmel’s paintings: A Country Wedding, News of Peace, and Return from Market. Captions to sketches are written in both English and German.
Photographs of all sketches as well as microfilm available.
Collection 308; Microfilm M186.
Sketches and drawings. 1883.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 21 x 30 cm.
Katie C. Kroeger attended the Maryland State Normal School in Baltimore at the time that she maintained this volume.
Includes twenty-one painted drawings and numerous pencil sketches. Most illustrations feature plants, flowers, geometric designs, or ornamental motifs.
Document 656.
Ledgers. 1792–1824.
2 vols.; 44 cm. or smaller.
Christian Kunkel was a native of Germany. He immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1766 and, twenty years later, established a mercantile partnership with his brother-in-law, George Hoyer, in Harrisburg. Kunkel’s son, George, was also a merchant. Kunkel was active in Harrisburg’s religious and civic affairs.
Manuscripts contain financial records relating to Kunkel’s business. Though Kunkel seldom mentioned commodities that he sold, he often recorded that he was paid in products or services. First portion of text is in German. Later entries are in English.
See entry 1169.
Name index included in second volume.
Folio 140.
Ledger. 1810–16.
288 p.; 43 cm.
George Kunkel was the eldest son of Christian and Anna Hoyer Kunkel. He became a merchant, like his father.
Volume documents financial transactions for Kunkel’s store. Goods are mentioned only when they came to Kunkel as payments for commodities that he sold.
See entry 1168.
Name index available.
Folio 141.
Notebook. 1785–93.
154 p.; 19 cm.
John Christopher Kunze, a Lutheran minister, was born in Saxony and graduated from the University of Leipzig in 1763. He came to America in 1770 to assume a pastorate in Philadelphia under Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. In 1784 Kunze moved to New York City, where he served as cleric to Christ Church. He taught Asian languages at Columbia College, wrote many books, participated in New York society, and married the daughter of his mentor.
Much of what Kunze included in his volume appears in the form of lists: memorable dates in American history, the counties of New York, the population of the United States by state, and salaries of government officials. He also describes a Chinese worship service and records the recipes for medicinal remedies.
Document 571.
Papers. 1828–84.
1 envelope.
The Kurtz family consisted of a long line of furnituremakers from Jarrettsville, Maryland. Martin and Edmund G. Kurtz built a wide variety of furniture forms and coffins.
Papers relate to the production of furniture by the Kurtz family and include materials on coffinmaking and local funerals; Martin Kurtz’s estate; a daybook containing accounts of a Philadelphia shipping partnership that could have been a sample ledger used to illustrate bookkeeping; recipes for treating and dyeing wood; and daybook entries for making and repairing various forms of furniture.
Catalogues and broadsides received by the Kurtz furnituremakers are in the Printed Books and Periodicals Collection, Winterthur Library.
Collection 10.
Collection. 1864–1900.
13 items: col. ill.
Louis Prang was a lithographer, wood engraver, and educator. Born in 1824 in Bresslau, Germany, from age thirteen through eighteen he served as an apprentice in his father’s calico printing and dyeing factory. He then moved to Westphalia to study the techniques of printing and dyeing. Prang fled Germany in 1848 and settled in Boston by 1850. He entered a lithographic partnership with Julius Mayer before establishing his own firm in 1860. He initially produced trade cards, announcements, and various kinds of advertisements but soon became known for excellence in chromolithography. In 1882 Prang established the Prang Educational Company. He retired from active business in 1899, and his company was sold to the American Crayon Company in 1918.
Collection includes proof books showing the color progression of chromolithographic images, greeting cards, albums and album cards, a map of Boston, teaching aids, canceled checks signed by Prang, and a letter from Edwin Austin Abbey, an American illustrator and muralist.
Collection 201.
16 items: ill.
Labels were intended for use in identifying bolts of cloth. They were made from silver paper on which a design or illustration was embossed.
Collection 273.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Manuscript records the hours worked by several employees of an unnamed Newark, New Jersey, manufacturer of school furnishings and scientific apparatus. The name William Griffin appears on the inside of the back cover, though it is uncertain if he was associated with the manufacturing firm. Particulars about the type of work done and amount of time expended are quite detailed; these reveal that the company manufactured desks and “settees” of various sizes and styles, chairs, blackboard frames, inkwells, tellurians, condensers, bell chimes, and gyroscopes.
Document 1033.
24 p.; 58 cm.
Consists of around five hundred variously sized and patterned samples of machine-made lace. Each bears a small paper label on which is printed “A. L. L.” Item numbers and prices are listed. The volume may have originated in the shop of a Nottingham, England, lace producer.
Collection 50.
Genuine upholstery leather: official upholstery leather colors. Ca. 1969.
1 item.
The Lackawanna Leather Co. of Hackettstown, New Jersey, made and sold upholstery.
Consists of samples of the colors and types of leather sold by the firm. Each sample bears a stock number and the name of its color.
Collection 107.
Record of personal expenditures. 1888–89.
32 p.; 17 cm.
Fred Ladd lived in or near Concord, New Hampshire.
Volume includes a six-month record of Ladd’s personal expenditures from June 1888 to January 1889. Ladd purchased food, clothing, and domestic goods, such as a lamp shade, lamp, curtain stick, door spring, and carpeting. He also had a footrest mended, a piano tuned, and a lantern repaired.
Document 224.
Collection. 1862–1940.
1 folder + 1 vol.: ill.
New York artist John LaFarge was a preeminent muralist, stained-glass designer, and chronicler of life in the South Seas. He graduated from Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland and, before becoming an artist, briefly read law. He studied art in Europe from 1856 to 1858 and then with William Morris Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island. LaFarge painted landscapes and flower studies until about 1876, when he began working on murals and stained glass.
Collection includes a sketchbook containing pencil sketches of human figures that appear to be studies for paintings. Biographical material includes tearsheets of magazine articles on LaFarge and a 1936 manuscript by Charles Cunningham comparing the work of LaFarge with that of Winslow Homer.
List of drawings in sketchbook and the paintings to which they relate is available.
Collection 443.
Research notes. 1964–90, bulk 1988–89.
21 boxes: ill.
Edward F. LaFond graduated from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture in 1964. He worked as a consultant in antiques, furniture, and architecture at the time that he compiled these research notes.
Notes document the clocks owned by the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. Material includes biographies of clockmakers, information about clock construction, and photographs of the clock collection. Essays on tall clocks, wall and shelf clocks, and bracket clocks; a glossary of terms; and a clock bibliography are included as well.
Finding aid available.
Archives 16.
Papers. 1880–1987.
79 boxes.
Samuel H. Laidacker was an antiques dealer, collector, author, editor, publisher, and lecturer. He specialized in early American glassware and Anglo-American historical ceramics. He also dealt in furniture, prints, firearms, stamps, and coins.
Consists of Laidacker’s business papers, correspondence, card files, notes, sales lists, photographs, and printed material from antiques shows and auctions. One box of his father’s (John Gideon Laidacker) papers are included as well.
Folder title list available.
Collection 64.
Diary. 1859–97, bulk 1859–67.
81 p.; 20 cm.
Josephine (or Josie) Lakin attended the State Normal School in Framingham, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1862. She worked as a schoolteacher in Massachusetts during the Civil War. Her work took her to Paxton and Shrewsbury, both in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Evidence suggests that she married someone named Sanborn and lived in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston in the 1890s.
Josie maintained the diary from age fifteen through twenty. She recorded her feelings about her mother’s death, her lack of friends, and her doubts about her religious faith. She also recorded her social activities and romantic attachments. Thirty years after she kept the diary, Josie recorded her reflections on the things she had written many years before.
Document 130.
Account book. 1808–15, 1854–57.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
John Lambert was a ship joiner in Philadelphia. In 1808 and 1809, he worked in partnership with someone named Davis. In 1812 he moved to nearby Chester.
Included are joiner’s records, kept from 1808 to 1809; Lambert’s minutes of employment with a Dr. Strong, kept in 1810; a daily record of Lambert’s work—chiefly carpentry—for various individuals, kept from 1810 to 1814; miscellaneous accounts dating from 1815; and a contract between Harwell Carper and Lambert along with other documents relating to the sale of property in Pittsford, New York, kept from 1854 to 1857.
Name index available.
Document 763.
Account book. 1823–25.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
John Lambert was from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Lists items sold when Lambert’s estate was liquidated, who bought each item, and how much the items cost.
Document 498.
Account book. 1819–59.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Jacob F. Landes was a furnituremaker and a Mennonite from Bedminster Township, Pennsylvania. He married Susanah Yoder in 1820.
Manuscript is a forty-year record of Landes’s furnituremaking and repair work. In 1837 he noted that his new apprentice was George Wismer. Toward the back of the volume are recipes for producing varnish and various paint colors, including polished black, olive, gold, flesh, and fine brown. There are also drawings for embroidery. Accompanying the account book is a family genealogy for the Landes-Landis family.
Document 845.
Illuminated music book. 1813.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 9 x 17 cm.
Maria Landesin, a Mennonite, was a student when she compiled this book.
Volume contains the Fraktur-style title page of a tune book given to Maria in 1813. It features an inscription in German and an illustration of an angel and two plants surrounded by a decorative border. The pages containing the music have been removed. Oliver Landes owned the book by 1863.
Document 1061.
New Haven engines. 1908–12.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 20 x 15 cm.
Volume contains more than forty drawings of various engines of the New Haven Railroad. A few are identified with labels, such as Hearty trustworthy engine, shore line, reindeer, and freight.
Document 796.
Account book. 1813–31.
220 p.; 33 cm.
George Landon was a furniture- and chairmaker from Erie, Pennsylvania.
From August 1817 to 1819, Landon used this manuscript as a daybook. He consistently recorded accounts of his work. Landon turned table feet, mended wheels, painted furniture, fixed chairs, and made a variety of furniture using primarily cherry, curly maple, and pine woods.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 580; Microfilm M2998.
Daybook. 1879–81.
2 vols.; 34 cm. or smaller.
E. A. Lane was a japanner, house painter, and wallpaper hanger from Manchester, Massachusetts.
Daybook records Lane’s work and the supplies that he used, including paint, rolls of wallpaper, putty, and varnish.
Document 491.
Daybooks. 1834–61.
3 vols.; 44 cm.
Stephen P. Lane and Abijah Asher Jr. were merchants in Hollis, Massachusetts.
In these daybooks Lane and Asher recorded sales of food, spices, linens, copper, lead, seeds, combs, and shoes. They also record that they rented houses to tenants and required the services of various craftsmen.
Collection 281.
The tragedy of Jack & Jill: old nursery rhyme. Ca. 1900.
8 p.: col. ill.; 20 cm.
Mary V. H. Lang was an illustrator.
Consists of nine watercolor illustrations to accompany the text of the Jack and Jill story.
Document 212.
Pattern book. 1798.
23 leaves: col. ill.; 23 cm.
The name “Langton” appears on the title page. No other clues to ownership are present.
Volume contains watercolor designs of stylized flowers, leaves, butterflies, feathers, and other subjects, apparently for use in the decoration of porcelain.
Document 40.
Milk bottle caps. 1940–59.
1,700 items: ill. (some col.)
David Lank collected most of these bottle caps by writing to American dairies asking for samples that they had available.
Collection consists of both large, fold-over caps and smaller, inner caps. Most caps feature advertisements and/or designs.
A companion collection of Canadian milk bottle caps is located at the McCord Museum, Montreal, Canada.
Collection 113.
200 items: ill.
Lantern slides of hand-painted romantic views and comic scenes. The artists illustrated works by Dickens, episodes in the lives of firefighters, Bible stories, and a western adventure. Some slides bear descriptive labels. Sets of slides that portray stories are numbered in the sequence in which they were to be shown.
Collection 229.
Papers. 1801–60, bulk 1815–33.
2 boxes.
James Latimer founded his family’s mercantile business in Delaware and participated in local politics. The papers of two of his sons, George (born in 1750), who followed his father into business, and Henry (born in 1752), a doctor and member of both houses of the United States Congress, are included in the collection. Subsequent generations of Latimers, whose papers are maintained within the collection, engaged in the China trade, pursued agricultural activities, and participated in the civic affairs of northern Delaware.
Collection includes two distinct sections, one dealing with Latimer household expenses during the early decades of the nineteenth century, the other chronicling the China trade. China commerce is documented through bills; two letter books dating from 1815 to 1820; a record book kept from 1828 to 1834 that details ship arrivals and departures from Canton, China, along with what they carried; a price and order book from 1833; and other documents.
Finding aid available.
Collection used in “A Delawarean in the Celestial Empire: John Richardson Latimer and the China Trade,” by Joan Kerr Farley Thill (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1973).
Other Latimer family papers at the University of Delaware.
Collection 235; Microfilm M367.
The papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe: the microtext edition. 1976.
315 microfiche.
English-born and German-educated Benjamin Henry Latrobe was an architect and landscape and topographical painter. He served as chief architect of public buildings in Washington, D.C., and his designs were incorporated into the construction of the United States Capitol.
The papers in this collection, gathered from a number of repositories, document Latrobe’s professional career and include journals, letter books, published works, sketchbooks, and drawings. Latrobe’s thoughts on politics, society, and science and letters to and from many notable figures of his day are recorded.
Includes a published finding aid: The Guide and Index to the Microfiche Edition of the Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, issued to accompany the microfiche.
Edward C. Carter II served as editor-in-chief of the project, and Thomas E. Jeffrey served as microtext editor.
Microfilm M2639.
Paper doll. 1897.
11 items.
Katherine Latta lived in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. She named her doll Barbara Lewis Latta.
Collection consists of a paper doll and several costumes, headwear, and a bird. It may be of German origin.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1880–1930.
1.3 cu. ft.
Collection of papers relating to the family of William J. Latta (1852–1938), agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad and avid collector of Napoleonic objects. Latta married Kitty Nigh Bingham, and they had five children. They lived in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia in a house called Grey Arches, which remained in the family until it was torn down in 1958. The Lattas also owned a summer home, White Cedars, in Rockport, Maine.
Collection includes household and personal bills, various types of railroad passes, visiting and reward-of-merit cards, family letters, diaries kept by daughter Rachel Latta, catalogues of sales of William J. Latta’s collection of Napoleonic objects, and architectural drawings and other materials related to Grey Arches.
Finding aid available.
Papers of Rachel Latta Franck located at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library of the University of Michigan.
Collection 104.
Account books. 1850–61.
5 vols.; 42 cm or smaller.
James Lauder operated a general store in Houlton, Maine.
Collection includes ledgers, order books, daybooks, and records of shipments of goods to Lauder’s store. Within these manuscripts are records of his wholesale purchases and retailing activities, an inventory of stock, and information on shipping costs.
Index available.
Collection 104.
Research papers. 1926–73.
25 boxes.
In 1928 Ledlie I. Laughlin became assistant dean of freshmen at Princeton University and eventually the associate director of admissions. He retired from Princeton in 1953. Laughlin was a pewter collector and a member of the Pewter Collectors Club of America.
Collection contains research notebooks and notecards about pewter and its makers, correspondence, records of touches of pewterers, and photographs. Most of this material was used for Laughlin’s three-volume study, Pewter in America: Its Makers and Marks.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 58.
Account book and correspondence. 1815–16.
1 microfilm reel.
William Law was the supercargo for the ship Lion.
Includes accounts of New York merchants with their Chinese counterparts, ship manifests, lists of chinaware, and other miscellaneous papers.
Original manuscripts located at the New York Public Library.
Microfilm M107.
Household account books. 1873–79.
4 vols.; 17 cm.
In 1873 Lucy W. Lawrence lived in Bangor, Maine, and, by 1877, had moved to Portland, Maine. Evidence suggests that she was married with children.
Volumes include entries detailing daily expenses for the household. In addition, there are monthly and annual summaries of income and expenditures for clothing, groceries, house rent, fuel, taxes, girl’s wages, a pew fee, and magazine subscriptions.
Document 221.
Business papers. 1862–1907.
1 box.
The Lawrence Manufacturing Company ran a cotton mill along the banks of the Merrimac River in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1830 and remained in business until about 1907.
Collection contains bills that record the purchase of supplies needed to operate the mill and repairs to its textile machinery. There are invoices for bales of cloth and hosiery that the firm consigned to shippers.
Collection 82.
Papers. 1829–61.
200 items.
Lazell, Perkins & Co. was a machinist firm located in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Most of these papers are orders for large machined and cast-metal items, such as ship anchors, rolls for mills, pipes, shafts, iron hoops, coupling boxes, and wheels. Some papers record the purchase of scrap iron and pig iron.
Collection 530.
Letters. Ca. 1800.
12 p.; 26 cm.
The four letters in this volume are addressed to Le Gueult & Dulongraix from Cattres & Martin regarding purchases of fabric. Swatches of material sent with the letters show the types of material the two firms marketed.
Collection 50.
Photocards. 1865–70.
13 items: ill.
H. Leach, a resident of Boston, was a folk art carver and wood sculptor. He was particularly respected for ship carving.
Collection is made up of albumen print cards made by T. R. Burnham to promote Leach’s work. Animal heads, men and women on horses, and a family seal are depicted.
Document 327.
Account book. 1815–20.
29 p.; 34 cm.
Contains records of port charges, pilotage fees, provision bills, cash advances to crew members, sundry disbursements, freight, and cost of cargo relating to voyages up and down the East Coast and to various European ports.
Document 189.
Copybook. Ca. 1830.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Includes student handwriting exercises done in a volume sold by J. Grout of Worcester, Massachusetts. The front cover features a picture of a Native American aiming an arrow at a large antlered deer or elk. There is a multiplication table on the back cover.
Document 816.
Extracts from portfolio of original figures of entomological and other subjects. Ca. 1820s.
1 microfilm reel.
John Eatton Le Conte was a naturalist and engineer who lived in New York City and, later, Philadelphia. The American Philosophical Society elected him to its membership in 1851.
Drawings in this volume depict beetles, flies, spiders, butterflies, bees, and other flying insects.
Summary of contents available.
Further described on pages 76 and 77 of Guide to the Archives and Manuscript Collections of the American Philosophical Society, compiled by Whitfield J. Bell and Murphy D. Smith and published by the society in 1966.
Original located at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.
Microfilm M838.
Account book. 1764–85.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Aaron Leaming was a landowner, public officer, farmer, merchant, and state legislator. He lived in Cape May, New Jersey.
Book records financial and other miscellaneous information relating to Leaming’s business ventures and personal purchases. There are numerous references to agricultural activities, the training of apprentices, inoculations for smallpox, the purchase of a sawmill and its subsequent rental, and the making of clothing.
Document 944.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
An unidentified Newport, Rhode Island, merchant maintained this ledger.
Such items as rigging, thread, sugar, rum, ribbon, assorted textiles, pewter teaspoons, nails, and twine are mentioned. Taxes and wharfage fees are noted. Many references are made to women purchasing products.
Name index in front of volume.
Document 603.
10 p.; 31 cm.
The unidentified keeper of this ledger seems to have been a New York City merchant.
Manuscript records a variety of products sold by the merchant, such as snuff, combs, indigo, tea, buttons, and chintz. The merchant often extended credit to customers for the purchase of goods.
Name index available.
Document 326.
36 leaves; 20 cm.
This manuscript belonged to a tailor who worked near New London, Connecticut. He made vests, coats, and pants, specifically mole jackets, great coats, pea jackets, surtouts, roundabouts, and other items.
Document 1001.
186 p.; 20 cm.
An unidentified hatter working in Danbury, Connecticut, kept this ledger.
Manuscript records the various styles of hats made by an anonymous Connecticut hatter, including drab, youths, silk, fine, plain, and muskrat. He sold to both individuals and businesses and seemed to swap his goods for those made by a local tailor.
Name index available.
Document 486.
149 p.; 39 cm.
This unidentified business was based in eastern Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River.
Volume contains references to mining; maintaining two furnaces; operating an iron refinery, a smith’s shop, and brick kilns; paying tolls, and boarding workers.
Original name index at front. Original one-page index to accounts at the back.
Document 136.
80 p.; 35 cm.
This manuscript was kept by an unidentified firm located in Boston.
Entries in the ledger record a diversity of financial pursuits, including dealings in real estate, operating a factory, maintaining an account with a Boston fire company, and handling a variety of monetary transactions.
Index of company names available.
Folio 104.
22 p.; 54 cm.
A scarfmaker kept this volume. She typically purchased machine-made lace and other fabric to piece together in making her scarves.
Volume includes twenty-seven entries providing a description of scarves made in February 1876. Each entry records the size of the finished product and the cost of the lace or fabric from which it was made.
Folio 85.
Album. 1853.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 17 x 14 cm.
This volume, inscribed “Christmas present for Phillie Lee, 1853,” contains a poem recorded on the occasion of Lee’s death, prints of outdoor scenes, and floral greeting cards produced by Marcus Ward & Co.
Document 608.
Approx. 325 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains a variety of documents relating to legal and financial affairs, both private and governmental. Among the private papers are agreements, contracts, and promissory notes. Business papers include stock certificates, bankruptcy documents, and powers of attorney. Among the many governmental papers are court decisions and proceedings, tax records, patents, and proclamations. The majority of the material dates from the last quarter of the eighteenth century or the first quarter of the nineteenth. Most documents are from New England and the Mid-Atlantic region.
Finding aid available.
Collection 268.
1 puzzle (24 pieces): ill. (some col.)
Puzzle consists of six sections, each depicting young couples engaged in an activity: reading, dancing, acting, playing with puppets, picking flowers, or riding in a carriage. There are four pieces to each section, and each piece is rectangular, measuring 2 ½" by 3". One piece is missing. On the lid of the puzzle’s box is an illustration of a castle. On the bottom is written: “Netting box, Ann Hume.”
Collection 220.
Daybooks. 1860–66.
2 vols.; 41 cm. or smaller.
J. C. Lengard operated a furniture store in Bath, Maine.
Volumes record the activities of J. C. Lengard’s store. He sold a variety of furniture forms and accessories. Included are accounts of thousands of sales that customarily note items purchased, buyers’ names, and prices paid. Manuscript also lists names of wholesale suppliers and records the firm’s furniture repair activities.
Folio 238.
Inventories. 1843–69.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
The Lenox Iron Works appears to have been a complex that included a furnace, smith shop, grist mill, saw mill, boarding house, and general store. Later, it became the Lenox Plate Glass Company. During the years that these volumes were maintained, the company operated in either Lenox, Massachusetts, or Troy, New York.
Inventories include lists of merchandise stocked in the general store and the value of equipment and supplies in the furnace, smith shop, and two mills. Real-estate values, including the boarding house, are also featured. An accounting of wages paid in 1857 appears at the back of the volume.
Document 507.
Petty ledger A. 1804–12.
510 p.; 34 cm.
Leonard & Crocker operated a nail manufactory in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records transactions with customers and employees. It appears that the firm maintained a company store. Products mentioned include nails, rods, white lead, bar iron, wood, and saws.
Name index available.
Document 760.
Watermark collection, Ca. 1671–1830.
3 boxes.
Collection includes both manuscript materials and miscellaneous papers and pages that contain various examples of watermarks. Most papers are of European manufacture, but a handful of American-made papers is included.
List of watermarks and descriptions of collection items (including names, dates, and locations) available.
Collection 70.
Sketchbooks and letters. 1816–36.
5 microfilm reels.
Charles Alexandre Leseur was born in Le Havre, France. He was a naturalist, a watercolor painter, engraver, and lithographer. He specialized in producing illustrations for scientific publications.
Collection contains drawings of various locations in the Delaware Valley as well as other places along America’s east coast. Also included are letters written in French that were exchanged between Leseur and French-born naturalist A. Demarest.
Original materials at the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre, France.
Microfilm M840–M844.
History of Philadelphia: a game for children. 1872.
1 game: ill.
Includes sixty cards, each containing information about a person or place associated with Philadelphia. This educational game was first issued in 1831.
Collection 220.
22 p.; 32 cm.
This is a short lesson book in mathematics kept by an unidentified student, perhaps from New York. Problems relate to mercantile exchange and the reduction of foreign monies in America.
Document 728.
99 leaves; 33 cm.
The unnamed keeper of this book served as a supercargo for the Boston-based firm Perkins & Co.
Volumes include copies of letters that document the trade of Chinese textiles, South American copper, hats, handkerchiefs, tea, spices, ivory chessmen, and opium.
Document 85.
1 item; 29 cm.
Letter conveys information about the ordering and pricing of textiles. Included are samples of velour, striped twill, cashmere, and Siberian kalmuck felt. Text in French.
Collection 50.
5 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains nearly six hundred personal and business letters. It is especially strong in material relating to nineteenth-century American artists and sculptors. The personal letters offer interesting views of nineteenth-century domestic life and often refer to current events, religion, health, and family issues. Business letters frequently mention the work of craftspeople and orders for supplies and finished products.
Brief letters on company stationery are generally housed with the billhead collection unless the contents of the letter are significant.
Finding aid available.
Collection 361.
Sales book. 1836.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Records the sales of general merchant John L. Leuch, listing names of buyers, articles sold, and prices paid for such merchandise as bed cords, padlocks, buttons, sheep shears, handkerchiefs, textiles, and razors.
Document 869.
Account book. 1844–49.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
F. M. Lewis may have been a teacher.
Records personal expenses incurred by Lewis. She spent a great deal of money on material for making dresses, usually buying nine to twelve yards of fabric at a time. Manuscript also notes expenses for board, travel, and the purchase of personal items.
Document 304.
Papers. 1734–1978.
14 microfilm reels.
Collection, assembled by Leon E. Lewis Jr., contains the business papers of Samuel and Abraham Rex, Alexander and Henry Schaeffer, Peter Zimmerman, and other general merchants from Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, or the vicinity. There are four series: account books and accounts; papers of Abraham and Samuel Rex; genealogy and other papers; and general papers.
Finding aid available.
Microfilm M2655–M2668.
Exercise book. 1801.
45 leaves: ill.; 34 cm.
Thomas Lewis was a student in Christiana Bridge, Delaware, at the time that he maintained this volume.
Manuscript contains mathematical exercises, including word problems, notes, and arithmetic calculations. Topics include single and compound interest, rebate and discount, equation, trigonometry, and mensuration.
Document 1068.
Papers. 1768–1876.
30 items.
The Lewis family lived in the Stratford, Connecticut, area. Family members included Daniel, Benjamin, Agur, Elizabeth, Lorintha, Freemund (or Freeman), and Alanson.
Papers contain land deeds and receipts for the purchase of a gravestone, snuff, shingles, rent, and school supplies and books for Lorintha as well as for breeding a cow. Several other documents are associated with the execution of wills and the appraisal and settlement of estates.
Collection 491.
Prints and drawings from the Lewis Walpole Collection.
37 microfilm reels.
Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, the editor of Horace Walpole’s correspondence, created the Lewis Walpole Library. The library includes a variety of materials that relate to Walpole and nineteenth-century England.
The prints and drawings in this collection are mostly English and show eighteenth-century historical scenes, political cartoons, landscapes, caricatures, various occupations, and dinner parties.
Original materials in the Lewis Walpole Library at time of filming.
Microfilm M2756–M2792.
Account book. 1845–1858.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
Levi Libbey was a boot- and shoemaker somewhere along the Sebasticook River in Maine. He also served as a tax assessor in the 1840s.
Manuscript records Libbey’s boot- and shoemaking endeavors as well as his farming work and some domestic activities. Entries regarding footwear are fairly detailed and describe the types of items that he made and repaired.
Document 442.
24 plates: ill.; 22 cm.
These photogravures show the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Interior views feature the reading room, upper stairway, the main hall, and various frescoes, wall paintings, and mosaics.
Document 1024.
Sewing exercise book. 1890–1910.
53 p.; 24 cm.
Estella M. Lichtenberger lived in Decatur, Illinois.
Consists of a series of twenty-five exercises in sewing and mending. Each includes handwritten instructions with the corresponding finished work attached to the facing page. Work is done in muslin and other textiles.
Document 100.
Account book. 1808–23.
1 microfilm reel.
George Lightner worked as a tinsmith in Baltimore.
Manuscript records Lightner’s craft activities over a fifteen-year period.
Original account book located at the Maryland Historical Society.
Microfilm M2436.1.
Embroidery patterns. 1790–1810.
26 items: ill.
These twenty-six patterns may have been used to decorate such things as aprons, handkerchiefs, dresses, collars, or bibs. One pattern is printed; the others are hand drawn. Two of the papers bear watermarks dated 1794. Pinpricks on several of the designs suggest that they were used.
Document 787.
Sample book. Ca. 1920.
1 vol.: ill.; 25 x 38 cm.
The Lincrusta Walton Co. headquarters were located in Hackensack, New Jersey. Branches were maintained in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Book contains samples of wall covers that are coarser and thicker than wallpaper.
Folio 177.
Ledger. 1778–91.
57 leaves; 21 cm.
Levi Lindley was a carpenter and furnituremaker, possibly from the Boston area. It appears that he did some weaving as well.
Ledger includes references to building, repairing, framing, weaving, planting and harvesting produce; chopping wood; and hewing timber. Lindley worked on such objects as carriage brakes, wagons, sleighs, carts, coffins, cradles, doors, window casings, cupboards, looms, pine and maple chests, beds, and bookcases.
Document 974.
Ledger. 1739–73.
24 p.; 34 cm.
Joseph J. Lindsey worked as a joiner in Marblehead, Massachusetts. His parents were Ralph and Mary Lindsey. He married Rebecca Hendley; they had five children.
Lindsey compiled the first part of this manuscript; the second part is in a different, unidentified hand. Both compilers were joiners. They built chests, cradles, window frames, doors, coffins, tea tables, and chairs. Both workers found employment repairing and constructing the interiors of ships.
Document 1054; Microfilm M295.
22 labels: ill. (some col.); 30 x 25 cm.
These labels, housed in an album, were used to seal bolts of linen. Several have been silvered on one side and then embossed; others have lithographs in their centers. Illustrations include floral arrangements, a woman spinning, birds, and women on horseback. Two have been hand colored.
Document 691.
18 leaves: ill. (some col.); 46 cm.
Scrapbook, with leaves of linen rather than paper, contains several hundred examples of chromolithographic and engraved cutouts; some are embossed. The creator of the album arranged the depictions thematically: flowers, fruits, vegetables, United States presidents, African Americans, famous people, and butterflies.
Folio 278.
17 leaves: ill. (some col.); 36 cm.
Scrapbook, with leave of linen rather than paper, contains hundreds of chromolithographic cutouts, greeting cards, and trade cards; some are embossed. Items depicted include birds, women and children, musical instruments, African Americans, women’s bathing suits, and flowers. Trade cards from the St. Louis area predominate, suggesting that the scrapbook may have been compiled there.
Folio 280.
Recipe and account book. 1871.
1 vol.; 29 cm.
R. D. Lingle was a druggist who operated a store in Reading, Pennsylvania.
The first half of the manuscript features recipes for lotions, ointments, and compounds and contains cures for scarlet fever, smallpox, asthma, and other ailments. There are also directions for making such household supplies as ink and furniture polish. The second half of the volume contains accounts for the purchase of drugs.
Document 613.
A miscellaneous collection of original designs made and for the most part executed during an extensive practice of many years in the first line of his profession, by John Linnell, upholsterer, carver, and cabinetmaker: selected from his portfolio at his decease, by C. H. Tatham, architect. 1800.
1 microfilm reel.
Includes drawings of furniture executed by Englishman John Linnell from 1760 to 1796.
The initials VAM are printed in the corner of each drawing, suggesting that the original drawings are located at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Microfilm M283.
Account book. 1832–42.
1 microfilm reel.
Robert L. Livingston was a landowner and president of the North River Steamboat Company.
This personal account book records the household accounts of Livingston’s family dwelling, Arryl House, in Clermont, New York. Included are lists of silver, glassware, ceramics, linens, and kitchenware.
Original manuscript located at the New York Historical Society.
Microfilm M2050.1.
Will and inventory. 1796.
1 microfilm reel.
Col. Edward Lloyd was a resident of Talbot County, Maryland.
The inventory lists a quantity if silver, furniture and other house furnishings, livestock, reading materials, and slaves.
Original document at the Maryland Hall of Records.
Microfilm M763.
Will, codicil, administration accounts, and personal inventory. 1787.
1 microfilm reel.
Richard Bennett Lloyd had extensive land holdings in three Maryland counties.
The will was made out in the county of Middlesex, England, but probated in Maryland. There are various codicils, a list of debts owed to Lloyd, and an inventory of possessions.
Microfilm M721.
Illustrations of early American churches. 1900–1914.
51 items: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Collection contains photographs, postcards, and loose pages depicting interior and exterior views of early churches located in the eastern United States. It was originally compiled to illustrate Early American Churches by Aymar Embury (published in 1914).
Index of captions included.
Collection 444.
Papers. 1822–86, bulk 1844–45, 1852.
35 items.
The Lodge family came from Boston. Giles Henry Lodge, who is prominent in this collection, was born in 1805, graduated from Harvard, and was trained in medicine. He spent considerable time writing and lecturing and served as an overseer of Harvard. He enjoyed membership in scientific and historical societies and also became a noted translator.
Most of these papers relate to the impending marriage of Giles Henry Lodge and Mary Williams and the settlement of the estate of Giles Henry’s father, also named Giles. Manuscripts relating to the marriage document clothing and food arrangements.
Finding aid available.
Collection 169.
Diary. 1815–39.
1 microfilm reel.
Deborah Norris Logan was a resident of Stenton, a house located in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Her husband, George Logan, was a physician, and her uncle Isaac Norris once served as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly.
Logan’s writings record cultural, political, and religious events in Philadelphia. Included are biographical notes on George Washington, William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte, and many other luminaries. She also wrote about slavery, financial matters, epidemics, household activities, and astronomical events.
Typescript (with some omissions) available.
Original manuscript at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2925.
Papers. 1681–1751.
11 microfilm reels.
James Logan was a jurist and William Penn’s secretary.
Papers include Logan’s letter books and meditations; a travel narrative of his trip to Great Britain and Spain from 1709 to 1711; and copies of correspondence featuring communications with members of the Penn family; a letter book kept by someone named James Steel; and miscellaneous material.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
Microfilm M322–M332.
Account book. 1863–67.
390 p.; 27 cm.
John Dickinson Logan and his family lived in the Philadelphia area. Logan was the administrator of a number of decedents’ estates.
Manuscript consists of entries recording the financial dealings of the Logans. The accounts are broad ranging and carefully entered. Expenses for wages, taxes, photographs, travel, books, and insurance are recorded.
Index of occupations and objects mentioned in text available.
Document 151.
Papers. 1700–1822.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Logan family resided in Philadelphia.
Collection includes real estate records, maps, letters, financial accounts, inventories, wills, and original manuscripts describing the activities of the Logan family and recording life in Philadelphia.
Summary of contents available.
Original materials owned by the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames.
Microfilm M956.
Record book. 1833–1846.
333 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
The London Cabinet Makers Job Settling Committee began around 1760 as part of the Cabinet Makers Society. Masters, journeymen, and customers formed the committee to assess grievances over pricing and payment resulting from strikes in the 1760s.
Manuscript records the by-laws of the committee, lists of associates, and members of cabinetmaking firms whose advice was solicited in resolving disputes. The illustrations are measured drawings of products and their prices.
Partial index by furniture form appears at the back of the volume.
Document 742.
Architectural drawings. 1839–46.
19 items: ill. (some col.); 68 cm.
Robert Cary Long was an architect working in Baltimore and New York City. He learned the profession from his father, was influenced by architect A. J. Davis, and studied with Martin E. Thompson and Ithiel Town. Long was known for his designs of churches and was a prolific writer.
Collection includes drawings of a private home, a Gothic-style house, and a school. Most of the collection consists of plans for the Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind in Staunton, Virginia, drawn in 1840–41, including a watercolor elevation, floor plans, and some detailed drawings.
Collection 422.
Account book. 1808–22.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
Jonathan Colton Loomis was a carpenter, weaver, and furnituremaker. He was a native of Whately, Massachusetts, and served in the War of 1812.
Volume records activities associated with woodworking. Loomis repaired looms, built sleighs, made and mended furniture, chopped wood, and planed and varnished. Additional entries pertain to weaving cloth and exchanging yarn. Furniture forms mentioned include cradles, clock cases, candlestands, tables, and beds.
Folio 179; Microfilm M1896.
Account book. 1771–72.
10 p.; 15 cm.
In this brief manuscript, Phineas Loomis, a shoemaker from Cornwall, Connecticut, kept a record of his shoemaking activities, mentioning women’s “pumps” and “mocs.”
Document 774.
Bills. 1805–44.
38 items.
Captain Nathaniel Lord owned a mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine. Daniel Lord apparently served as executor of Nathaniel’s estate.
Collection contains bills for repairs to Lord’s house in Kennebunkport, mentioning such products as lumber, shingles, clapboards, and glass.
Collection 513.
Household inventory. 1860–84, bulk 1884.
26 p.; 20 cm.
O. B. Lord lived in Cortland, New York.
Volume includes an eighteen-page, room-by-room list of goods in Lord’s house, dated September 1, 1884. Furniture and items in closets and pantries are listed. There are also three pages of accounts (dated 1864) relating to the settlement of Joseph Eggleton’s estate, and four pages of miscellaneous accounts kept from1860 to 1865.
Document 216.
Correspondence. 1841–90.
12 items: ill.; 26 cm.
Benson J. Lossing was a wood engraver, editor, and historian. In his twenties, he served as editor of the Poughkeepsie Telegraph and its literary magazine, the Poughkeepsie Casket. In 1838 he moved to New York City, where he spent most of his career. He was editor and illustrator of Family Magazine and published biographies and works on the history of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.
Letters relate to business concerns, private matters, and social commitments. Correspondents include sculptor John Rogers and Lucy Peale, of the Peale family of painters.
Finding aid available.
Collection 397.
Cigar box labels.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 15 x 20 cm.
Louis E. Neuman & Co. was a lithographic and printing firm located in New York City.
Volume includes eight samples of cigar box labels. Designs feature flowers, Romanesque-looking women among flowers and angels, two men in soldier’s uniforms, and busts of a man and a woman. Cigars mentioned include Red Duchess, Reinada, Plucky Riders, Majestas, Rip Van Dam, and Miss Swell.
Collection 860.
Account book. 1832–41.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Ira Loveland lived in Southampton, Connecticut, on property owned by a Mr. Kellegs.
Manuscript records Loveland’s income and expenses (chiefly related to agriculture) over a ten-year period.
Document 477.
Account Book. 1790–1826.
1 microfilm reel.
Alexander Low was a cabinetmaker, undertaker, and surveyor from Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Accounts in this manuscript refer to wood, furniture, coffins, and other materials related to Low’s profession.
Original account book located at the Monmouth County Historical Association.
Microfilm M2436.2.
Papers. 1826–44.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
James W. Low lived in New York City and was a shipowner and captain.
The first volume, kept from 1826 to 1832, contains freight lists for the brig Concordia, the ship Cabot, and the steamboat Phenix as well as agreements for shipping arrangements. The second volume details six trips by the Phenix, including a record of expenses for the crew’s wages, canal tolls, customs fees, provisions, and fuel. A partnership agreement between Low and Francis Dow, made in 1844, is laid in.
Document 179.
Account book. 1785–1804.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Stephen Luce was a ship chandler in Rochester, Massachusetts.
Manuscript contains entries relating to the outfitting and provisioning of sailing vessels, sailmaking, painting, and repairing marine hardware and compasses. In addition, accounts mention earthenware, stoneware, clothing, lumber, thread, fabrics, hardware, and other domestic supplies.
Name index available.
Folio 106.
Inventories. 1864–67.
160 p.; 34 cm.
Volume appears to have been kept by either J. P. Lund or P. M. & E. P. Lund. The keeper operated a general store and factory complex of some sort.
Includes four inventories taken in four separate years. References are to china, glass, hardware, crockery, pewter, and baskets. The amounts on hand and dollar values are included. Inventories are organized by rooms, including a store cellar, stove room, carriage house, wood shed, counting room, store and office, and barn.
Document 939.
Account book. 1736–72.
1 microfilm reel.
Joshua Lunt worked as a furnituremaker in Newberry, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the activities of a busy artisan engaged in the furniture trade.
Original account book located at the Essex Institute.
Microfilm M1527.
Records. 1849–52.
Approx. 160 items: ill.
The Winchester, Massachusetts, lyceum was erected between 1850 and 1852, supported by private enterprise. Stores occupied the lower part of the building. The local Young Men’s Literary Association maintained offices in the building and sponsored lectures, debates, and entertainment on the upper floors. Concerts and religious services also took place at the lyceum.
The bulk of this collection features material relating to constructing and furnishing the Winchester lyceum, including items describing the purchase of lumber, windows, hardware, furniture, gas fixtures, and chandeliers. Painting, plastering, cellar digging, and masonry work are also documented. A stock certificate, lithographed by J. H. Bufford, illustrates the building.
Finding aid available.
Collection 439.
Account book. 1800.
1 microfilm reel.
Fenwick Lyell was a furniture- and chairmaker in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, and New York City.
Manuscript documents Lyell’s production during the course of a year.
Original manuscript located at the Monmouth County Historical Association.
Microfilm M2436.3.
Account book. 1821–28.
1 microfilm reel.
Internal evidence suggests that Andrew Lyman was a builder from Meriden, Connecticut. He is the supposed compiler of this manuscript.
Account book records agricultural activities and the purchase of household goods and a large amount of building supplies.
Original account book located, at the time of filming, at the International Silver Co.
Microfilm M744.
Account book. 1825–29.
230 leaves; 34 cm.
Elam Lynds was a prison administrator who oversaw the construction of Mount Pleasant Prison at Sing Sing, New York. In addition to serving as warden at Sing Sing, Lynds was also in charge of the Auburn, New York, State Prison. He served as an officer in the War of 1812 and, at one time, was a hatmaker.
Manuscript contains lists of supplies, costs, and vendors for building the prison. Information is included on prison furniture; tools for tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, stoneworkers, and carpenters; Bibles for the prison library; clothing, food, and medicine. There are some references to the convicts at the prison.
Index to accounts available.
Document 17; Microfilm 2864.
Papers. 1879–1941.
14 boxes.
Irving Whitall Lyon (1840–96) was a doctor in Hartford, Connecticut. A heart and lung specialist, he was chief medical examiner for the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company. He collected and researched antiques. His main interest was seventeenth-century oak furniture, particularly from Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Guilford, Connecticut. Irving Phillips Lyon, one of his three children, followed in the elder Lyon’s footsteps as a doctor, collector, and researcher. The younger Lyon also favored the work of wood carver Thomas Dennis.
Papers consist of research notes on furniture, ceramics, cabinetmakers, carvers, and genealogy; drafts of published articles; letters discussing details of furniture construction; and photographs.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 62.
Account book. 1830–35.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Gilbert M. Lyons lived in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He seems to have worked as a furnituremaker.
Manuscript records work that Lyons performed and some personal expenses he incurred. He made pine stands, rockers, tables, secretaries, book cases, and beds, and he spent money on board, tools, gloves, slippers, and other personal items.
Document 877.
Silk samples. Ca. 1880s.
1 vol.: ill.; 24 cm.
Booklet with linen embroidered covers that features samples of washable silks advertised by the Heminway firm.
Document 879.
Diary. 1866.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
Charles A. Mabie was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. He later repaired watches for S. Chapin & Son, a jewelry concern in Oneida, New York.
Entries refer to Mabie’s activities and thoughts from January 1 to April 24, 1866. His initial writings record his inner struggles, depression, and despondency stemming from his military service and the death of his mother. He later focused on discussing his work and commented on repairing glasses, rings, pins, clocks, and earrings while working in Oneida.
Document 859.
Invoice. 1764.
2 leaves; 28 cm.
Mary McAllester operated a ladies’ boarding school beginning in 1767 near Sixth and Market streets in Philadelphia.
Manuscript invoice for materials and instructional services for waxing and shell work provided by McAllester for Sarah Morrice. In addition to the invoice, there is an explanation of wax and shell work as well as an article written in 1868 about McAllester.
Document 980.
Account book. 1848–83, bulk 1848–66.
280 p.; 32 cm.
George Washington McAllister lived in McAllisterville, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript contains accounts with many different people and records the purchase of agricultural goods, often in exchange for farm work. Many of the debits are for cash and relate to specific items such as tobacco, grist, and travel.
Document 137.
Daybook. 1803–5.
118 leaves; 21 cm.
John McAllister began business as a whipmaker in 1796 in Philadelphia. He eventually expanded and, by 1803, advertised “Spectacles, Hardware in general, also Whips and Canes, of every Description, made and Sold.”
Consists of a daily record of sales, including daily, weekly, monthly, and annual totals. Also includes a list of “The Profits of the Whips from 1st July 1805––Germantown Manufacture” and “Family Expenses 1805.”
Document 70.
Papers. 1803–1935, bulk 1830–90.
90 items: ill.
Members of the McAllister family operated a business in Philadelphia that produced whips, eyeglasses, optical devices, and mathematical instruments. John McAllister (1753–1830), a native of Scotland, was the founder of the business. His son, John (1786–1878), and grandson, William, inherited the firm.
Collection contains both personal and business papers. Included is a daybook used by John Sr.; undated photographs of family members and one of the family store; pencil sketches of a McAllister residence; bills from various firms; trade cards and catalogues; and postcards.
Collection 534.
Photographs. 1873–1913.
85 photographs: ill.
The McBurney family probably lived near Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Photographs depict family members, architecture, automobiles, a baseball game, beach scenes, and gravestones of the Percival family (perhaps a branch of the family). Included are photo postcards, cartes de visite, and tintypes.
Collection 531.
Thad. MacCarty’s book. 1718–29.
1 microfilm reel.
Book contains records of voyages that MacCarty took between Boston and points in the Caribbean on the brigantine Success. He mentions the weather and the courses taken.
Original manuscript located at the American Antiquarian Society.
Microfilm M288.1.
Architectural drawings and account book. 1794–1849, bulk 1820s.
1 microfilm reel.
John McComb was an architect and a native of New York City. In 1783 he became an assistant in his father’s architectural business. After traveling in Europe, he opened his own practice in 1790. McComb is known for his work designing public buildings, lighthouses, and churches. He built New York’s City Hall, Alexander Hall at Princeton Theological Seminary, and St. John’s Chapel on Varick Street, New York City. McComb was a New York City street commissioner from 1813 to 1821 as well as a prominent member of the American Academy.
Collection includes drawings of New York’s City Hall, churches, private homes, a building for the American Tract Society, and buildings at Princeton Seminary.
Original materials located at the New York Historical Society.
Microfilm M90.
Order book. 1835–39.
136 p.; 33 cm.
McCurdy, Aldrich & Co. imported printed textiles from its headquarters in New York City.
Records spring and autumn orders for cloth sent to English and French suppliers. The majority of orders bound for England went to Samuel D. Casey and the majority bound for France went to Low & Berry. The orders are detailed, noting the kind of cloth wanted, patterns, colors, weight, amounts needed, and expected prices. There are some remarks about the fabrics Americans deemed fashionable and the success of some materials in the marketplace.
Document 387.
Bills. 1866–75.
1 folder.
Mrs. E. H. McDonald lived in Flushing, New York.
Collection contains bills addressed to Mrs. McDonald for the purchase and repair of household items. There are references to furniture, textiles, tableware, wallpaper, and other domestic goods.
Collection 476.
Account book. 1827–43.
148 p.; 42 cm.
Henry McElwee owned a cider mill in Bath, New York.
Book includes financial transactions relating to McElwee’s cider mill and his agricultural pursuits. It also contains references to the building of a house, including amounts owed for framing, walling the cellar, building a chimney, and plastering. A piece of paper glued to the front cover reads: “Our house (Charles H. Robie and Marion S. Robie) was built in 1831––it was begun on June 28 by E. McCoy… . The last date entered is November 13 when Earl Stone was credited with five days plastering.”
Folio 182.
Papers. 1860–69.
3 folders.
James McFadien was a millwright and migrant worker originally from Lewisville, Pennsylvania. Between 1866 and 1868 he moved to another, unnamed location.
Collection contains letters from Emmeline Lutton of Christiana, Delaware, noting her affection for McFadien; a contract between Thomas Eweng and McFadien for building a house; and letters to McFadien from family members.
Collection 467.
Research notes. 1930–65.
6 folders.
Helen McKearin, daughter of George Skinner McKearin, was a collector of American glassware.
Collection of research notes chiefly includes bibliographic citations of articles published on decorative arts in newspapers and magazines, many from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Topics include pottery, painting, furniture, wallpaper, and pewter. Bandboxes, bags, beads, and tortoise shells are also mentioned.
Collection 445.
Account book. 1835–44.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Edwin J. McKie was a wool buyer from Easton, Massachusetts.
Manuscript consists of invoices and receipts for wool that McKie bought from importers and other sources as well as references to wool that he shipped.
Folio 102.
Account book. 1841–63.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
George McKie operated a general store in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Manuscript begins with an inventory of goods on hand in McKie’s store as of April 5, 1841, including books, clothing supplies, wallets and pocketbooks, tools, plates, and mugs. Much of the rest of the volume is devoted to descriptions of agricultural pursuits, though not necessarily on a farm operated by McKie.
Document 577.
Expense book. 1875–1903.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
M. Mary McKoon lived in Long Eddy, New York, appears to have been married around 1875, and had at least one child.
Manuscript documents the personal expenses of the McKoons during the first two years of marriage. It includes a list of furnishings and other goods that they acquired, including furniture, bedding, carpets, window shades, a parlor stove, glassware, and cooking utensils. In subsequent years, the McKoons hired servants and purchased recreational items. They supported a young girl named Daisy who attended a boarding school in Portland, Maine.
Document 1032.
Scrapbook. 1956–60.
1 vol.: ill.; 34 x 26 cm.
David McLane was a photographer who worked for the New York Daily News.
Scrapbook contains clippings of cityscapes of New York taken from a series in the Daily News called “New York’s Changing Scene.” Two representations of the same views and buildings are shown. The first set of images was photographed in 1919 or 1920 by A. N. Hoshing. The second set was done by McLane from 1956 to 1960. Captions describe changes over time.
Document 374.
Photograph album. 1940–60.
116 p.: ill.; 30 cm.
Roger MacLaughlin was an antiques dealer in New York City.
Album contains black and white mounted photos of antiques. Most images feature porcelains and lamps, though silverware, paintings, brackets, mirrors, and chairs are illustrated as well. Captions include coded inventory numbers, item descriptions, and prices.
Document 125.
The judge’s game cards. 1889.
1 game (52 cards): col. ill.
McLoughlin Bros. developed out of a printing company started in New York in 1828. After an 1840 merger with John Elton, John McLoughlin Jr. and his brother, Edmund, took over the business and gave it the name by which it is identified here. The firm came to be known as a premier publisher of children’s books and games. Milton Bradley bought it in 1920 and maintained it as one of its divisions until 1944.
Game consists of four sets of cards. Instruction booklet explains that “three distinct games can be played with these cards, directions for which are given below, and the ingenuity of players will, in a short time, suggest many other methods of playing here not given. In fact, any game of cards can be readily played with this pack.”
Document 88.
The little post card painter. 1904.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 18 x 29 cm.
McLoughlin Bros. developed out of a printing company started in New York in 1828. After an 1840 merger with John Elton, John McLoughlin Jr. and his brother, Edmund, took over the business and gave it the name by which it is identified here. The firm came to be known as a premier publisher of children’s books and games. Milton Bradley bought it in 1920 and maintained it as one of its divisions until 1944.
This children’s book contains sixteen postcards, perforated at the edges, that were meant to have been painted before being mailed. The publisher furnished full-color samples. A house, children, animals, flowers, and pieces of furniture are illustrated.
Document 239.
The new folding doll house. 1894.
1 game (8 hinged panels in box); 33 cm.
McLoughlin Bros. developed out of a printing company started in New York in 1828. After an 1840 merger with John Elton, John McLoughlin Jr. and his brother, Edmund, took over the business and gave it the name by which it is identified here. The firm came to be known as a premier publisher of children’s books and games. Milton Bradley bought it in 1920 and maintained it as one of its divisions until 1944.
Patented on January 30, 1894, this game unfolded to reveal four rooms of a house: a parlor, dining room, bedroom, and kitchen. Inside the box lid is a large color lithograph showing two girls playing with the doll house.
Folio 42.
Paper soldiers. 1870–84.
6 items: col. ill.
McLoughlin Bros. developed out of a printing company started in New York in 1828. After an 1840 merger with John Elton, John McLoughlin Jr. and his brother, Edmund, took over the business and gave it the name by which it is identified here. The firm came to be known as a premier publisher of children’s books and games. Milton Bradley bought it in 1920 and maintained it as one of its divisions until 1944.
Consists of six paper soldiers sometimes referred to as Type IIs. Each is wearing a different uniform.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1791–1910.
1 box.
Members of the McNary family lived and had contacts in several New England states, New York, and Pennsylvania. A focus of their activities seems to have been Springfield, Massachusetts.
Includes a variety of material (chiefly poems) by Margarette McNary Spencer and Martha A. McNary as well as letters that relate to family members. Collection also includes two copies of The Springfield Musket dating from December 1864, apparently an ephemeral newspaper printed for distribution at a local fair.
Collection 28.
Daybook. 1817.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Patrick McNulty ran a general store in New Holland, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records daily transactions at McNulty’s store.
Document 647.
Letter. 1825.
1 microfilm reel.
Alexander Macomb gained fame as a general during the War of 1812.
Macomb wrote this letter to his sister, Jane Kennedy, on November 6, 1825. In it, he gives a good description of the President’s residence and discusses the making of furniture in Philadelphia and New York.
Original letter at the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, at the time of filming.
Microfilm M301.5.
Papers. 1786–1815.
130 items.
Colonel Thomas Macon lived in Hanover County and later Orange County, both in Virginia. He seems to have owned a large amount of land, but, apart from activities associated with his real estate and military title, his occupation is not known.
Collection includes bills, receipts, letters, promissory notes, and other materials referring to household and personal goods. Among the documents in this collection are a property tax bill that mentions furniture owned by Macon and another tax bill for thirteen slaves. There is also a bill of sale for slaves.
Collection 501.
Essay on the nature of the medical sciences: read before the medical society of Natchez. 1825.
23 p.; 32 cm.
J. A. McPheeters was, presumably, a physician.
On May 4, 1825, McPheeters spoke on the state of medical knowledge in the early nineteenth century.
Document 466.
Diary. 1856–58.
153 p.; 23 cm.
W. A. McPheeters was a doctor. He was in Paris observing French medical practices at the time that he maintained this diary. McPheeters was a member of the American Medical Society in Paris.
Diary entries contain detailed descriptions of observations of French society, history, and the state of medical education. He frequently mentioned other Americans whom he met in Paris and other locations. Before returning to the United States, McPheeters traveled through England and Scotland.
Typescript also available.
Document 465.
Designs and photographs. 1870–90.
2 boxes: ill. (some col.)
Hermann A. W. Maerklein was a native of Stettin, Pomerania, where he served his apprenticeship and began his career as an upholsterer. In 1848 Maerklein immigrated to America. He settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked as an upholsterer and decorator from 1853 until 1911. Maerklein operated shops for cabinetry, upholstery, and drapery, all in the same building.
Includes pencil sketches for window treatments and furniture, presumably drawn by Maerklein; photographs of furniture and furniture frames; cartes de visite showing Maerklein’s couches and sofa beds; and plates from Desire Guilmard’s journal, Le Garde-Meuble, and other periodicals.
Finding aid available.
Other Maerklein papers located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Collection 305.
Collection. 1850–90.
Approx. 150 items: ill. (some col.)
Charles Magnus was a publisher, map dealer, bookseller, and stationer working in Washington, D.C., and New York City. He issued more than one thousand different letter sheets, maps, song sheets, patriotic envelopes, games, and prints during his career. Magnus was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family around 1850. He learned the printing business from his brother, Emil.
Collection consists of a variety of lithographed letter sheets, envelopes, song sheets, prints, and games (“Running the Blockade,” “New Game of Snake,” and “Comical Game of Pigs and Kittens”). Images depict a number of American cities and patriotic scenes. Several of the pieces indicate that Magnus used the same image in different printing projects.
Finding aid available.
Other items by Charles Magnus located in the Print Study Collection.
Collection 123.
Papers. 1818–1918.
3 boxes.
Augustine Mailly immigrated to America from Lyon, France. He married Mary Ann Thomas in 1831, and they settled in her hometown, Cantwell’s Bridge (now Odessa), Delaware.
Most papers refer to Augustine Mailly and include letters he received and financial documents to which he was a party. Three of his most frequent correspondents were Daniel Corbit, N. Chauncey, and William McCauley. Papers also include letters to Mary Ann Thomas from her father while she attended boarding school in the 1820s.
A few letters to Augustine Mailly are in French.
Collection 37.
Account book and register of portraits. 1794–1807.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Edward Greene Malbone was a miniature painter. A native of Newport, Rhode Island, he began his career in nearby Providence in 1794. In addition to working in Rhode Island, Malbone was active in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia as well as Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. He traveled to Jamaica for health reasons in 1806 and, shortly after his return to America, died in Savannah.
Book records Malbone’s expenditures for a variety of activities and money he received. He lists portraits that he painted, including the names of his subjects and amounts they paid for his work.
Name index available.
Collection 331.
Account book. 1728–39.
2 microfilm reels.
Godfrey Malbone was a merchant in Newport, Rhode Island.
Account book records that goods were exchanged between Newport, Rhode Island, and ports in the West Indies, Europe, America’s southern colonies, and Massachusetts (Boston). Malbone shipped a wide variety of goods, including coal, pottery, and pewter.
Original manuscripts located at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M2857.3, M2858.1.
Account book. 1893–1900.
488 p.; 32 cm.
George E. Manchester was a dairyman in Winsted, Connecticut, who worked in partnership with his father, Edward, and brother, Harry G., under the names E. Manchester & Sons and G. E. & H. G. Manchester. In 1896 all three joined the Connecticut Dairyman’s Association as life members.
Entries in the account book list sales of ice cream, milk, eggs, cream, ice, potatoes, grain, and hay. On July 5, 1897, more than one hundred dollars worth of ice cream was sold, provoking the comment: “the largest day in the Ice Cream business.”
Partial index of accounts available.
Document 135.
12 p.; 21 cm.
Inscriptions indicate that this swatch book came from Nathaniel and Joshua Gould of Manchester, England. It originally consisted of twelve panels of twelve numbered swatches each. A few that are missing have reduced the total count to 141 swatches.
Collection 50.
30 p.; 23 cm.
Consists of thirty panels of numbered swatches. The swatches are of various cottons from Manchester, England. The panels unfold outward from the center so that the source’s 402 swatches can be viewed at once.
Collection 50.
16 p.; 26 cm.
Consists of sixteen panels containing 432 swatches of printed cottons, velvets, dimities, quiltings, cords, and diapers. On the reverse side of one of the panels is the inscription “Thomas Smith, Manchester, 23 August 1783.”
Collection 50.
16 p.; 25 cm.
Consists of sixteen panels; onto each were originally pasted twenty-seven swatches of colored, patterned textiles, many identified as corduroys. Three swatches are now missing. Bears inscription: “Manchester, 2nd Oct. 1783.”
In Textiles in America, 1650–1870, author Florence Montgomery notes that this item is identical to a book at Colonial Williamsburg.
Collection 50.
Biographies. 1705–49.
226 leaves; 32 cm.
Carel van Mander was a Flemish painter, poet, and artists’ biographer. He was born in Meulebeke, West Flanders, Belgium, traveled to Rome and Vienna, and eventually settled in Haarlem, where he founded an academy. Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1615?–96), an Italian librarian, antiquarian, collector, and biographer, also contributed to this volume.
Consists of anonymously translated writings by van Mander and Bellori about European artists.
Translated from Dutch and Italian into English.
Document 121.
Invoice book. 1862–63.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Nathaniel Manley was a storekeeper from Haywardville, Connecticut.
Manuscript begins with an inventory of the goods in Manley’s store on January 20, 1862, and records the items he subsequently acquired from wholesalers to stock his store.
Document 238.
Account book. 1820–22.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Jonas Mann, a general, was probably a resident of Philadelphia.
Volume records domestic and personal purchases made by Mann for himself, his wife, and son. If a product was intended for Mann’s spouse or child, a note so indicated. Mann also documents sending money to individuals upon request and to fulfill obligations.
Document 418.
Bill of lading book. 1853–54.
282 p.; 42 cm.
Mann, Vail & Co. were forwarding agents for merchandise and produce sent via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, for subsequent transport to America’s western cities.
Includes 282 bills of lading documenting the varied cargo shipped by the company. Each bill features an engraving showing a lake or harbor scene.
Folio 126.
Papers. 1909–65.
12 vols. + 1 microfilm reel.
Gustav Manz was a German-born jeweler and goldsmith who worked in New York City. He specialized in creating animal sculptures. Manz created pieces for many well-known firms of the day, including Tiffany; Cartier; A. A. Vantine; and Baily, Banks & Biddle.
Collection includes three manuscript volumes, nine printed volumes, and a reel of microfilm. The manuscripts are illustrated sources that record Manz’s work up to about 1925; the printed volumes are books on jewelry and gemstones; and the microfilm contains a scrapbook and notes compiled by Manz’s daughter documenting her father’s work.
Collection 53; Microfilm 2430.
Photographs of cup plates. 1930–48.
143 items: ill.
Albert C. Marble, a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, was an avid collector of glass cup plates.
Most of the photographs in this collection feature several plates within a single photo. Their dimensions, patterns, and colors are often described on the back. Many include prices, perhaps those paid by Marble for the glassware. Most historical cup plates feature depictions of important people and places. Others feature decorative designs.
Collection 161.
Memorandum book. 1850–52.
36 p.; 20 cm.
J. E. Markley, a resident of South Carolina, taught reading, sewed for a social club, and attended church regularly.
Manuscript is a diary of Markley’s activities. She noted traveling to Charleston, South Carolina, where she remained for two months, and charted her movements in the city. Back home, she wrote about sewing, teaching young boys, visiting neighbors, keeping house for her ill mother, and doing needlework.
Document 322.
26 leaves: ill.; 28 cm.
Records pottery and porcelain marks of English and continental European makers. Volume is organized by the type of pottery or porcelain, then by where the product was made. The majority of the volume relates to Sèvres porcelain, including explanations and chronologies of marks and designs. Text is in French.
Document 263.
Architectural drawings. 1876–79.
20 items: ill.
Charles Marsh was an architect who lived at 88 Griswold Street, Detroit, Michigan.
Collection consists of eleven designs for the Washtenaw County, Michigan, courthouse; six designs for a Fireman’s Monument at Elmwood in Detroit; a design for the Detroit Grape Sugar Co.; a drawing of a house for the Honorable Philo Parsons; and a ground-floor plan for an unidentified dwelling.
Finding aid available.
Collection 129.
Memoir of the centennial exhibition of 1876. 1876–77.
35 leaves: col. ill.; 25 cm.
E. S. Marsh lived in Brandon, Vermont.
Volume records Marsh’s impressions of his three-week visit to the Centennial Exhibition, held in Philadelphia. He wrote his thoughts into a blank volume issued for that purpose by J. H. Coates & Company. The volume contains eight color lithographs drawn by L. Aubrun (and published by Thomas Hunter) that depict buildings that had been featured at the Fair.
Document 113.
Account book. 1765–72.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Christopher Marshall was a druggist and merchant from Philadelphia. He was in business as Christopher Marshall & Son and, later, as Christopher & Charles Marshall.
Volume includes an inventory of drugs and other stock on hand as of March 1, 1765, when Christopher & Charles Marshall began business. In addition to drugs, they carried such products as teas, pepper, paints, linseed oil, newspapers, and magazines. Manuscript also includes invoices and miscellaneous accounts.
Diaries kept by Christopher Marshall located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Document 668.
Account book. 1790–1810.
1 microfilm reel.
Nathaniel F. Martin was a chairmaker from Hampton, Connecticut.
Accounts in the manuscript relate to chairmaking and Martin’s employment of workmen.
Original manuscript located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2834.2.
Papers. 1687–1839.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Mascarene family worked as merchants in Boston.
Collection contains business papers relating to merchandising, including orders of goods for the import-export trade and such personal materials as letters and poetry.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M1411.
The comical-tragical history of a little pig written for the amusement of a little duck by her pa. 1870?
5 p.: col. ill.; 36 cm.
Original child’s story written in rhyme about a pig that runs away from home and is punished by having his throat slit upon his return.
Document 256.
Random rhymes, by Pa, Christmas 1870. 1870.
8 p.: ill.; 36 cm.
Manuscript contains children’s poems featuring such subjects as animals, pets, and play. Each selection is accompanied by an illustration.
Document 255.
Diary or an account of the events of everyday life. 1825–27, 1830–34, 1836.
92 p.; 21 cm.
Hannah Rogers Mason was a resident of Boston. Her husband was attorney William P. Mason.
Many entries focus on sickness and death and reflect a contemplative, thoughtful nature. Rogers mentions a trip that she took to Niagara Falls and another to the Catskill Mountains. In 1826 she discussed how domestic and literary lives were incompatible for women.
Document 361.
Recollections of a septuagenarian. 1866?–81.
3 vols.: ill.; 20 cm.
Jonathan Mason was a portrait and figure painter, a student of Gilbert Stuart, and a friend or acquaintance of many major nineteenth-century American artists.
Mason’s memoir begins with his parents’ recollections of the American Revolution and his own remembrances of his childhood in Boston. He continues with accounts of his friendships with artists and other luminaries, including Gilbert Stuart, Washington Allston, Horatio Greenough, Thomas Sully, Charles Robert Leslie, Washington Irving, Andrew Jackson, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Volume includes copies of unpublished letters from Allston, Greenough, and others as well as an account of Mason’s extensive European travels.
Volume was commissioned by the author and, except for a few comments, is written in another’s hand.
Document 30.
Bristol County probate court records. 1687–1881, bulk 1758–1821.
25 microfilm reels.
Bristol County is located in southeastern Massachusetts and spans about 520 square miles. Its county seat is Taunton.
Includes two reels of indexes and twenty-three reels of probate records.
Original volume indexes available.
Typescript listing volumes, the years they cover, and reel numbers available.
Records housed at the Bristol County Registry of Probate in Taunton.
Microfilm M2892–M2916.
Plymouth County Probate Court records. 1686–1827, bulk 1758–1827.
19 microfilm reels.
Plymouth County is in southeastern Massachusetts, bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Its county seat is Plymouth.
Includes one reel containing an index and eighteen reels containing probate records.
Original volume indexes available.
Typescript listing volumes, the years they cover, and reel numbers available.
Records located at the Plymouth County Registry of Probate in Plymouth.
Microfilm M2873–M2891.
Probate records for Hampshire County, Massachusetts. 1660–1820.
12 microfilm reels.
Hampshire County is located in western Massachusetts in the Connecticut River Valley just east of the Berkshire Mountains. Its county seat is Northampton.
Includes wills and inventories of Hampshire County residents. In 1812 Hampden County was carved out of Hampshire County territory. Thus, these records cover pre-1812 Hampden County inhabitants.
Microfilm M939–M950.
Register. 1809–25.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Columns on each page list the date, memoranda, taxable cost, and amounts paid. The memoranda column provides a place to summarize the case in question, to list witnesses, and to record action taken by the court. The taxable-cost column includes amounts paid for copies, pleas, notaries, and transcripts of trials.
Name index laid in.
Document 716.
25 microfilm reels.
Records include daybooks of selectmen, petitions, indentures, and lists of people who owed taxes. Twenty-one communities, most from the Boston area (though not including Boston), are represented. Records are not complete.
Finding aid available.
Original items located at the Charles Warren Center, Harvard University Library.
Microfilm M1375–M1399.
Lithographs. 1853–54.
16 items: ill.
Lithographs by J. H. Bufford depict plans for the enlargement of the three-story Massachusetts state capitol. Longitudinal and transverse sections, plans for the cellar, and floor plans are featured. Gridley J. F. Bryant was the architect.
Collection 357.
Commonplace book. 1830–36.
1 vol.; 26 cm.
Susan Anne Masser lived in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript contains poetry and personal sentiments written to Masser by her friends.
Document 419.
Cookbook. 1893–95.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
M. Masson attended Mrs. A. B. Marshall’s cooking school in London.
Contains recipes taught at Marshall’s cooking school, including directions for the preparation of continental cuisine, garnishes, sauces, and jellies.
Document 659.
4 microfilm reels.
Records include reports, pamphlets, correspondence, and lists of artists related to various government-sponsored art projects. There are many letters to and from Fiske Kimball, one-time director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Original material located at the National Archives and Records Administration and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Microfilm M2867–M2870.
Account book. 1790–1813.
41 p.; 20 cm.
Hannah Matthews lived in Yarmouth, Maine. She contributed to the household economy by combing and weaving textiles.
Manuscript records Matthews’s work weaving, spinning, and carding in exchange for such needed commodities as lime, corn, rye, mutton, hog lard, candles, mowing, etc.
Alphabetical name index in front of volume.
Document 301.
Papers. 1731–43.
11 items.
The Comte de Maurepas was a nobleman in the court of Louis XV and at one time served as his secretary of the navy. He also served as secretary of both the king’s and the queen’s households.
Includes two groups of items: reports on English cloth manufacture and the Levant trade and reports analyzing the feasibility of selling cloth from Rouen in Spain and the West Indies. Included in the reports are discussions of wool produced in England, how French woolens competed successfully with those made in England, marketing cloth in Turkey, and unethical practices in the trade. Sixty-four swatches of French-made fabric are also included.
French-language text on details of woolen cloth manufacture translated into English and in the Florence Montgomery Papers (Collection 107).
Collection 300; Microfilm M850.
Letters. 1925–32.
17 items.
Louis Maurer was a German-born lithographer and painter who spent much of his life in New York City. He studied art in Mentz, Germany, came to the United States with his family in 1851, and found early employment with the publishing firm of T. W. Strong. Maurer also worked for Currier & Ives and then Major & Knapp before establishing his own firm, Maurer & Heppenheimer. He died shortly after his one hundredth birthday.
Most letters are from Louis Maurer to Harry T. Peters, author of Currier & Ives, Printmakers to the American People, issued in two volumes, the first published in 1929 and the second in 1931. Many of the letters contain personal greetings, invitations to social events, and acknowledgements for favors. A few letters relate to lithographers and lithography.
Collection 450.
Perpetual almanack: dedicated to the citizens of the United States. 1804–11.
1 leaf: ill.; 20 x 24 cm.
P. R. Maverick was an engraver from New York City.
Almanack is a perpetual calendar consisting of moveable parts that can be adjusted to display days, months, and years.
Folio 59.
Letter books. 1884–1912.
2 vols.; 31 cm.
James R. Maxwell was a civil engineer from Newark, Delaware, who spent most of his career working for railroad companies. His career took him to the American West, Peru, and Central America. In his capacity as chief engineer of explorations for the Isthmian Canal Commission, he scouted possible routes for what would eventually become the Panama Canal.
Letter books include copies of personal and official correspondence. Maxwell comments on western topography, real estate he owned near Puget Sound, work for the Union Pacific Railway and the Colorado Southern Railway, the development of the railroad in Peru and Colombia, his time in the Isthmus, and contacts that he and his coworkers maintained with South American natives. Some letters are addressed to Charles Francis Adams.
Other James Riddle Maxwell papers located in the Special Collections Department of the University of Delaware library.
Document 180.
Papers. 1765–1809.
7 vols.
Robert May worked in the iron industry. He was born in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; after marrying into the Potts family, he became a partner in its business, the Joanna Furnace. Robert’s brother, Thomas, was a merchant from Wilmington, Delaware, who also worked in the iron industry at a furnace named Elk Forge in Cecil County, Maryland. In 1794 Robert formed a partnership with John and Stephen Hayes and Joshua Seal to operate the furnace at Elk Forge under the name Robert May & Company.
Collection consists of three exercise books: two contain mathematical exercises, and one is a copybook containing writings of a religious nature. In addition, there are two account books relating to the estate of Thomas May and two volumes recording the activities of the Elk Forge.
Collection 291.
Bills of the Mechanic, Benjamin Hallet, master. 1821.
41 items.
Benjamin Hallet, a captain, commanded the sloop Mechanic, and Stephen Herrick, a New York City grocer, was a part owner of the vessel.
Collection of bills documents repairs made to the Mechanic and supplies needed for its crew, including mattresses, blankets, compasses, cutlery, tableware, and cabin curtains.
Collection 514.
Account book. 1825–48.
74 p.; 33 cm.
John Mehargue was a furnituremaker from either Lebanon or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Mehargue recorded his activities making, mending, and painting furniture. He also worked on wagons, turned wood, repaired signs, and chopped wood. The last page of the volume lists remedies for healing ailing horses.
Name index available.
Document 682.
Diary. 1827–36, 1850–55.
188 p.: ill.; 21 cm. + 1 microfilm reel.
Henry Meigs was a lawyer, judge, and congressman from New York City. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale in 1799 and then studied and practiced law. Apart from his life as an attorney and congressman, Meigs served as the recording secretary of the American Institute and secretary of a group called the Farmers Club.
Consists of three diaries. Entries include information about Meigs’s daily routine and social activities, running his household, gardening, health, astronomy, balloon ascensions, weather, and his family.
Document 590; Microfilm M2852.
Papers. 1856–1892, bulk 1856–60.
1 vol. + inclusions: ill.; 40 cm.
Montgomery Meigs was an army officer and engineer. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1836. Between 1852 and 1860, he served as supervising engineer for the Washington Aqueduct and for the wings and dome of the Capitol. After serving in the Civil War, he supervised planning of the Department of War building. Meigs also submitted plans for buildings for the Smithsonian, National Museum, and Pension Department. Meigs was a regent of the Smithsonian and belonged to the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Science.
The volume that constitutes the bulk of these papers contains 166 salted paper prints of floor plans, elevations, views, and diagrams of the United States Capitol, Washington Aqueduct, the General Post Office, the Patent Office, and buildings at the University of Virginia. Newspaper clippings include Meigs’s obituary.
List of contents at front of volume.
Folio 61.
Papers. 1865–75.
1 envelope: ill.
Gershom F. Melcher was a watchmaker and jewelry salesman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Collection includes more than one hundred loose bills and receipts and a bound invoice book. Materials document charges for glass, cutlery, and ceramics as well as Melcher’s wide-ranging contacts with other businesses in New England and New York.
Name index available.
Collection 4.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Contains just a few pages with information on rental properties that were probably located in Virginia. Also included are records of miscellaneous births and deaths in 1803.
Document 880.
Diaries and letters. 1905–6.
26 items.
Estelle M. Mendinhall was married to William Mendinhall. She resided at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware.
Consists of three diary volumes, twenty-two letters, and one page containing miscellaneous notes written while the Mendinhalls toured Europe and northern Africa. The manuscripts offer a nicely detailed record of the Mendinhall’s itinerary, social life, and activities. The couple traveled in England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Egypt. Many of the sights they visited were either associated with literary figures or important for art historical or antiquarian reasons.
Collection 271.
Scrapbook. 1877–83.
39 leaves: ill (some col.); 39 cm.
Sarah and Sallie Mendinhall compiled this album. It contains primarily chromolithographed Christmas and New Years cards. Illustrations depict children, flowers, winter scenes, fairies, angels, and animals. Some cards fold out, and some have fringe decoration. The work of Marcus Ward, L. Prang, Raphael Tuck, and Hildescheimer & Faulkner are represented.
Folio 287.
1 box: ill (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection contains menus primarily from hotel restaurants. A few are from railroads and ships. Most have illustrations showing the hotel that housed the restaurant. Many menus contain wine lists. Menus do not include food prices.
Finding aid available.
Collection 326.
47 leaves; 22 cm.
Volume includes menus for breakfast, tea, and dinner. All have been written in pencil, and some contain ink corrections. Most are in French, though there are occasional examples in English.
Document 68.
Letter. 1844.
1 item.
John Mercer was a calico printer and chemist. He was born in the parish of Great Harwood, England, and was the son of a weaver and farmer. After his father’s death, Mercer became a bobbin winder and then, like his father, a weaver. In 1807 he began to learn the techniques of dyeing cloth. Over the years, Mercer studied mathematics and chemistry, entered into business partnerships, and developed a process called Mercerizing that thickened and shortened cotton strands to make them stronger.
Letter was written on September 24, 1844, by Mercer to his son. He commented on the kind of fabric that shoppers were buying in London at the time and included twelve samples. Mercer critiqued the appearance of the samples and expressed displeasure with unnecessary blotches and spotting.
Collection 50.
Bills. 1787–1804.
50 items.
Jonathan Meredith was a tanner from Philadelphia. Evidence suggests that he owned property, including four houses that he rented to tenants, a store, and a tanning yard. City directories list Meredith as a “Gentleman,” suggesting that he was a wealthy and prominent member of the community.
Collection contains bills for renovations to several of the properties that Meredith owned. Bills refer to glazing; constructing stair mouldings, columns, cypress shingles, cellar doors, windows, marble chimney pieces; and purchasing bricks and stone.
Collection 489.
Exercise book. Ca. 1810.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 34 cm.
Thomas T. Merrick resided in Balston Spa, New York.
Consists of mathematical exercises related to weights and measures, money conversions, decimals, barter, interest, and insurance. Of particular note are money conversion problems comparing pounds to federal money as well as various state currencies to federal money.
Document 615.
Account book. 1831–43.
1 vol.; 41 cm.
George Merrifield was a furnituremaker in Albany, New York, who worked in at least two partnerships before striking out on his own.
Manuscript reveals the different kinds of furniture that Merrifield made: cabinets, beds, case furniture, tables, desks, and stools. He also installed and trimmed blinds, made and installed cornices, repaired furniture, and performed various carpentry services. The book was later used by a family member to record farming activities.
Folio 159.
Account book. 1808–54.
192 p.; 39 cm.
Freedom Merrill of Vernon, New York, appears to have been the first person to record accounts in this manuscript. A second, unidentified individual maintained the book from 1851 to 1854. Entries refer to blacksmithing, building and framing, carpentry, carriage and wagon work, furniture work, weaving, agriculture, and day labor.
Name indexes available.
Folio 31.
Bill book. 1845–46.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Merrill & Rowell Company appears to have operated a general store in Franklin, Massachusetts.
Records of goods purchased by Merrill & Rowell from other merchants, presumably to stock the shelves of their store. Such items as glass, earthenware, tea sets, dishes, mugs, hats, barrels of fish, and combs are mentioned.
Document 267.
Bills. 1850–76.
1 envelope.
Charles B. Merriman lived in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Collection consists primarily of bills for harness, carriage, and jewelry repairs as well as horse and saddle supplies. There are a few bills for table flatware and furniture.
Collection 86.
Diary. 1858–59, 1863, 1895, 1900–1902.
7 vols.; 15 cm. or smaller.
Benjamin H. Merritt worked in a sawmill owned by J. Ruxer in Somers Center, New York. He was later involved in a business venture at Sing Sing Prison, near Ossining, New York. To supplement his income, Merritt rented properties that he owned.
Diary records Merritt’s activities as a young man getting started in his career and as an elderly man who seemed quite ill. In addition to writing about sawing, he wrote about the construction of his house, a training program at Sing Sing Prison that occupied some of his time, leisure pursuits, and his rental properties.
Collection 336.
Account book. 1825–54, bulk 1825–41.
62 p.; 20 cm.
Elias Merwin was a cobbler and tailor from Warren, Connecticut. His wife, Annes, and son, Alonzo, continued using the book after Elias’s death in 1830. The names Rolla Merwin and Esther Minerva Merwin also appear.
Contains accounts of work done by the family, including weaving a blanket, fixing shoes, work on the highway, haying, chopping wood, and boarding people. Also includes a list from November 1837 of goods that Annes let her son have when he set up his own home as well as undated instructions for making a “brilliant whitewash.”
Document 79.
Notebook. 1873.
1 vol.: ill.; 24 cm.
Lyman B. Messinger was born and raised in Massachusetts. He entered the United States Military Academy in 1872 but resigned his commission after completing only three years.
Messinger kept this notebook aboard the USS Constellation, sister ship of the USS Constitution, during a practice mission in 1873. His remarks provide detailed descriptions of the vessel’s rigging, sails, lines, and general equipment. Twenty-one hand-drawn illustrations of the Constellation are also included. Caption title: “L. B. Messinger, U.S.S. Constellation practice cruise of ‘73.”
Document 413.
Papers. 1814–81.
26 items: ill.
A native of Marburg, Germany, Conrad Meyer was a cabinetmaker and, later, a piano manufacturer. After serving in the army, he apprenticed with a cabinetmaker in his hometown. In America, Meyer built pianos, first in Baltimore and then in Philadelphia. His sons eventually joined the business. Meyer is credited with advancing the methods of pianomaking and won many awards at public exhibitions between 1833 and 1879.
Most documents refer to Meyer’s career as a pianomaker. His earlier actives are preserved, however, though his “Wunderbuch,” in which he recorded information about his apprenticeship in Marburg and other material concerning his life. Letters from business associates, printed ephemera, photographs, an obituary, and other items complete the collection.
Finding aid to collection available.
Collection 171.
Papers. 1910–70.
10 boxes: ill.
Rieman William Michel was a silversmith. He began his career in 1909 with the firm of Jenkins & Jenkins. In 1913 he left to join Samuel Kirk & Son, where he remained until 1952. He collected silversmithing and chasing tools.
Papers include drawings and photographs of silver objects, photos of tools, nine small ledgers, and a few pieces of correspondence. Objects depicted include candlesticks, tankards, mace, loving cups, platters, baskets, goblets, tea sets, and trays.
Finding aid available.
Books from Michel’s library in Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals.
Collection 277; Microfilm M3003–3008.
Account book. 1873–82.
330 p.; 35 cm.
S. Miekle was a blacksmith in Chatham, New York.
Manuscript contains entries for blacksmithing work, including making horseshoes, repairing wagons, mending forks, repairing or replacing whiffletrees and neck yokes, and making bolts.
Document 198.
Design book. 1865–90.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 57 cm.
Richard Chaytor Millar was an architect in Dublin, Ireland. He studied under E. H. Carson from 1860 to 1864 and then went to London to work for Frederick William Porter and John Newton for two years. Millar traveled in Europe for six months in 1867. He then returned to Dublin and started his own architectural firm. He was an architect for the Bank of Ireland and by 1883 worked in partnership with Sandham Symes. Millar was a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Manuscript contains designs for ceramic tiles, floor coverings, architectural details, rooms in houses, alterations to buildings, furniture, and embroidery. Drawings are sketched in pencil and many have been colored. Most are signed and dated.
Folio 253.
Financial accounts. 1908–26.
227 p.; 23 cm.
Charles Miller resided in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He owned several rental properties and, according to a newspaper article that is laid in, popularized a local hotel. A hobby was fishing.
Accounts consist of records of rent receipts, dividends, bills, taxes, and salaries for domestic help. Also featured are newspaper clippings of local interest, handwritten comments on employees, and a twenty-page record of the estate of Peter Miller for which Charles H. Miller was executor.
Name index of people and subjects at front of volume.
Document 220.
Daybook. 1854–92.
760 p.; 40 cm.
David C. Miller was a marble worker who operated the Newburgh Monument and Grave Stone Manufactory, also known as Miller’s Marble and Granite Works and the Miller Monument Works. It was located in Newburgh, New York.
Dated entries list names of customers, products purchased, and prices paid. Among the products Miller sold were grave markers, sills for doors and windows, black marble for mantels, bases for piers, stone for door jambs, tops for wash stands, and chimney caps.
Folio 5.
Illuminated music book. 1809, 1839–54.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 17 cm.
George Miller attended Vincent School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, at the time that he compiled this volume.
Manuscript includes music and accompanying lyrics. The first page features a Fraktur-style illustration. Genealogical information and recipes for salves and home remedies are recorded toward the back of the book.
Document 769.
Exercise book. 1800.
45 leaves: ill. (some col.); 33 cm.
Godfrey Miller was a math student at the time that he compiled this manuscript.
Book contains notes, word problems, and arithmetic calculations for numerous mathematical exercises. In studying mensuration, young Godfrey noted techniques for measuring and calculating surface area and volume with examples taken from such work as glazing, painting, joining, sawing, bricklaying, carpentry, and surveying.
Document 1067.
Letter. 1811.
1 microfilm reel.
James Miller wrote this letter on July 19, 1811, from Pittsburgh. In it, he described the glass trade in that city. He addressed it to someone named Catherine, presumably his sister, Catherine Miller, a resident of Philadelphia.
Original letter located at the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, at time of filming.
Microfilm M301.2.
Copybook. 1789.
4 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
Johannes Miller was the son of Nicholas and Dinah Miller. He attended the Vincent School in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript includes copies of the letters of the alphabet. Its cover bears a Fraktur-style illumination featuring four stars joined by decorative bands and leafy vines. There is an illustration of a boy in a long coat carrying an arrow as well. Text is in German.
Document 906.
Galt-Motter-Bowman-Sitgreaves-Vail-Miller papers. 1806–1970.
28 boxes.
Mrs. Edgar Grim Miller was a genealogist who compiled information about her ancestors. She researched family members who lived in Baltimore; Emmitsburg, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Kansas.
Consists of correspondence referring to the social lives and customs of Miller’s forebears. Several ministers, military figures, and medical practitioners are mentioned, including Episcopalian bishops Samuel Bowman and Thomas Hubbard Vail; Civil War participants Alexander Hamilton Bowman and I. Everett Vail; and physicians James Taylor Motter and Murray Galt Motter. Some material has been organized into genealogical charts.
Folder title listing and summary of some genealogical information available.
Collection 45.
Bills and receipts. 1805–43.
Approx. 230 items.
The Miller family lived in Worcester, Massachusetts. According to an 1829 city directory, Henry W. Miller worked as a chairmaker and fire engine manufacturer. By 1842 he owned a hardware business, sold window glass, and made cooking stoves. Lucy A. Miller was a tailor.
Most bills record the expenses of Henry W. Miller, who bought a wide variety of household and personal goods, including furnishings, fabric, reading material, and hardware. Another set of bills have to do with settling John Miller’s estate. They document household repairs, paper hanging, and the acquisition of household furnishings.
Collection 462.
Letters. 1899–1900.
29 items: ill.
Cecil R. Mills lived in Chicago. He may have been a traveling salesman and appears to have been an amateur singer.
Mills sent these letters to family members while traveling on business in Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Utah. He often wrote on hotel stationery. Though many of the letters are about family matters, Mills also discusses his experiences during travel and the sights he saw. He recounts being robbed at gunpoint.
Collection 378.
Data on the Peale family. 1790–1829.
1 microfilm reel.
Coleman and Charles Mills collected miscellaneous information on the Peale family of artists and created a scrapbook containing what they assembled, including newspaper clippings, genealogical information, correspondence, and pamphlets.
Separate list of pamphlets available.
Original scrapbook in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M884.
Papers. 1808–53.
17 microfiche.
Robert Mills was an architect, engineer, and watercolor painter. It is said that he was America’s first native-born professional architect. From 1836 to 1851, he was Architect of Public Buildings. Mills submitted the winning drawing for the design of the Washington Monument.
Records contain correspondence, an autobiographical sketch, lists of projects, drawings and specifications, family portraits, and other miscellaneous materials.
Microfilm M2726.
American fire department: a sectional picture toy. 1882.
1 game (54 cards in wooden box): col. ill.
After having worked as a lithographer for about four years, Milton Bradley (1836–1911) established the firm that carries his name in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1864. The company made games, puzzles, and scientific toys; published books and magazines; and popularized the game of croquet. In 1920 it purchased McLoughlin Brothers, a competing firm.
Toy consists of fifty-four cards on which are pictured “a complete modern American Fire Department, consisting of Steamer, Horse Carriage, Chemical Engine, Insurance Patrol Team, and Hook and Ladder Truck, on the run to a fire.”
Document 55.
The contraband gymnast. 1872.
1 toy: col. ill.
After having worked as a lithographer for about four years, Milton Bradley (1836–1911) established the firm that carries his name in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1864. The company made games, puzzles, and scientific toys; published books and magazines; and popularized the game of croquet. In 1920 it purchased McLoughlin Brothers, a competing firm.
Movable toy in a decorative envelope showing possible positions of a black gymnast who is dressed in a suit colored red, white, and blue. Item is accompanied by a horizontal bar.
Collection 220.
The game of Rip Van Winkle: a modern version of an old tale. 1909.
1 game (40 cards) + booklet.
After having worked as a lithographer for about four years, Milton Bradley (1836–1911) established the firm that carries his name in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1864. The company made games, puzzles, and scientific toys; published books and magazines; and popularized the game of croquet. In 1920 it purchased McLoughlin Brothers, a competing firm.
Booklet and cardgame based on the story of Rip van Winkle.
Collection 220.
Myriopticon: a historical panorama of the rebellion. 1866–1868.
1 box: col. ill.; 13 x 21 x 5 cm.
After having worked as a lithographer for about four years, Milton Bradley (1836–1911) established the firm that carried his name in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1864. The company made games, puzzles, and scientific toys; published books and magazines; and popularized the game of croquet. In 1920 it purchased McLoughlin Brothers, a competing firm.
Object provides a visual history of the Civil War from the battle at Fort Sumter to the evacuation of Confederate forces from Richmond, Virginia. Accompanied by a lecture, showbill, and sheet of admission tickets. Milton Bradley is reputed to have drawn the pictures and written the script himself.
Collection 220.
Exercise book. 1833.
20 leaves; 32 cm.
Michale Minnich was a student of accounting, perhaps from the Boston area.
Minnich used this manuscript to learn the standard accounting practices of maintaining a daybook and corresponding ledger. Inconsistent spellings, mock names (such as John Teacher), and made-up prices indicate that the volume was used solely for educational purposes.
Document 986.
Account book. 1732–35, 1767–85.
1 vol.; 36 cm.
George Minot lived in Boston.
Volume records personal expenses of the Minot family, ranging from groceries to tuition for a student. There is a section called “sundrys laid out for daughter Sarah, in order for marriage, 1767.”
Folio 259.
Patterns. Ca. 1870.
3 items: col. ill.
Minton, Hollins & Co., a tilemaking firm, was established by Michael Daintry Hollins in 1868. It continued to operate at Stoke-upon-Trent, England, into the 1950s.
Patterns used to decorate enameled tiles included in the firm’s landscape series. Illustrations included here feature a swan and bird in a pond, a ship at sea, and a church situated in a field.
Document 698.
24 leaves; 16 cm.
Manuscript is a travel narrative written by unidentified individuals who traveled from Sacketts Harbor, New York, to present-day West Virginia. They seem to have been scouting the area for possible settlement. There are many descriptions of landscape, climate, and vegetation. They traveled by wagon, boat, foot, and horseback.
Document 192.
4 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of accounts, invoices, orders, and promissory notes. They have been gathered together to document goods and services associated with domestic and personal products. Such things as house furnishings, food and drink, clothing, clocks and watches, pottery, books, plumbing, and sewing are highlighted. Of the more than four hundred items in the collection, sixty percent date from the nineteenth century, and forty percent date from the eighteenth century.
Finding aid available.
Collection 156.
Approx. 50 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of scale drawings and paintings of furniture and decorative objects. Drawings depict carriages, boats, fire engines, locomotives, and other subjects. Media used include watercolor, pen-and-ink, pencil, and chalk. The bulk of the collection dates from the nineteenth century. Some (though not many) of the artists are identified.
Finding aid available.
Collection 200.
100 items: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of a variety of etchings, engravings, and lithographs. Approximately twenty percent are views of American cities, and several are in the form of folding paper souvenirs. Also featured are fashion illustrations, political cartoons, and engravings of paintings.
Finding aid available.
Collection 211.
Letters. 1830–31.
4 items.
Edward E. Mitchell grew up at 32 Duane Street, New York City, and was the son of a clergyman.
Consists of four letters written by Mitchell to his family while he traveled from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, on a vessel called the Empress. Though he did not favor sea travel, he wrote that he would not return by stagecoach because of the expense and poor road conditions.
Document 291.
Bills and receipts. 1816–57.
16 items.
Randall H. Moale was a lawyer from Baltimore.
Collection consists of printed and nonprinted bills recording items that Moale purchased, including clothing, candles, floor coverings, fabric, drugs, gloves, and hats.
Collection 493.
Funeral and mourning ephemera collection. 1809–1963, bulk 1855–1909.
1 box + 1 framed picture: ill.
Consists of a wide variety of mostly late nineteenth-century printed material about American funerary and mourning practice. Included are bills for gravestones, printed eulogies, invitations to funerals, illustrative billheads for funeral-related businesses, memorial cards, death announcements, cemetery deeds, mourning card sample books, a mourning badge honoring President McKinley, and photographs.
Name index available.
Collection 6.
117 items: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Collection contains printed or embossed monograms clipped from envelopes and letterheads. Most are from colleges or universities. Others come from hotels, clubs, churches, and public offices. Collection also includes a sample sheet of embossed designs and other associated papers.
Collection 401.
Papers. 1947–74.
153 boxes + 1 map case drawer: ill.
Charles F. Montgomery was an antiques dealer, collector, and museum curator. He began his museum career in 1949 when he joined the staff of Winterthur Museum. He played a major role in establishing the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, a graduate program offered with the University of Delaware. From 1954 to 1961 Montgomery served as director of Winterthur. He remained at Winterthur until 1970 as a research fellow and instructor and then joined Yale University as curator and professor of art history. He remained at Yale until his death.
Papers consist of correspondence, lectures, class notes, research notes on pewter and furniture, notes for a second volume of American Furniture, and material about Walpole Society activities and history.
Finding aid available.
Archives 14.
Diary. 1826–28.
28 p.; 22 cm.
Emeline Moore was a seminary student, perhaps near Cornwall, Connecticut, when she kept her diary.
Much of young Emeline’s diary reflects her ambitions to learn and apply her knowledge, wisdom, and virtues to everyday life. Many entries are religious in nature, and there is a section entitled “Extracts from different Authors on several useful subjects particularly on the various Sciences.” Emeline also wrote definitions of words she wanted to remember.
Document 1046.
Daybook. 1853–67, bulk 1853–61.
93 p.; 21 cm.
George H. Moore was a jeweler and silversmith from Hopkinton, New Hampshire.
Manuscript includes more than 650 entries relating to its keeper’s profession. Moore engraved a coffin plate, installed curtain fixtures, repaired tinware, and repaired the hands of the town clock.
Document 21.
Linen scrapbook. 1885–95.
13 leaves: ill. (some col.); 33 cm.
Esther Morgan lived in St. Louis.
Volume contains several hundred examples of chromolithographic cutouts, greeting cards, and trade cards. Some are embossed. Morgan did not arrange the depictions in her album in any particular way. There are illustrations of animals, women and children, African Americans, and women’s fashions. Trade cards are from St. Louis businesses.
Folio 279.
Estate records. 1825–33.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Daniel Morison made nails in New York City.
Volume relates to the settlement of Morison’s estate and includes an inventory of his possessions. Expenses associated with the construction of a building in the Bowery for Morison’s heirs and its furnishings are documented.
Document 635.
Account books. 1794–97, 1802–6.
2 vols.; 33 cm.
Anthony Morris was a lawyer and merchant from Philadelphia. As a youth, he studied with private tutors; in 1783 he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Morris gained admittance to the bar in 1787, but instead he became a merchant. He was particularly focused on trade with his East Indian contacts. Morris served as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate, unofficial American envoy to Spain, director of the Bank of North America, and a trustee of his alma mater. He and his wife, Mary Smith Pemberton, raised four children, including a son, James Pemberton Morris.
Volumes include a daybook and cashbook documenting personal and household expenses incurred by the Morris family. Most entries refer to the construction and furnishing of The Highlands, the Morris’s residence outside of Philadelphia.
Ledgers that correspond to these account books located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
See entry 1405.
Document 737.
Diary. 1823–25.
55 p.; 32 cm.
James Pemberton Morris owned a farm near Bristol in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He served as president of the county agricultural society, vestryman at St. James Church, and promoter of the local library. He was the father of four daughters. His father was Anthony Morris.
Diary entries record daily weather and agricultural activities. Morris documented his planting schedules, kept records of what his orchards produced, noted a barn raising, and recorded trips to Philadelphia.
See entry 1404.
Document 516.
Receipt book. 1769–81.
1 vol.; 21 x 17 cm.
Samuel C. Morris was a Philadelphia-based merchant who appears to have been in business with Cadwalader Morris and later Thomas Morris.
Many of the entries record the amounts paid by Morris for various goods and services. Such things as payments for carting tons of iron from the Carlisle Works, hauling hay, renting a store, dyeing velvet, and repairing shoes are noted. The purchase of such products as bushels of food, hats, books, and chests of tea are recorded.
Document 734.
Account book. 1839–53.
180 p.; 43 cm.
John Morrison was a wheelwright in Tolland County, Connecticut.
Manuscript records Morrison’s work. He repaired wagon seats, tool handles, and agricultural equipment; painted wagons; and hung wallpaper. He often received products and services in return for his labor.
Folio 221.
Bills. 1860–81.
1 envelope.
Asa P. Morse manufactured shooks in Boston.
These bills refer to a wide range of items dealing with the upkeep of a house. Many refer to plumbing, carpentry, and repairs, while others are for such supplies as paint, lumber, hardware, window glass, and woodwork. Also included are bills for such furnishings as lighting devices, furniture, carpets, wallpaper, fabrics, and marble mantels.
Collection 84.
Diary. 1876–81, bulk 1876–77.
3 vols.; 20 cm.
James W. Morse appears to have been a successful businessman, perhaps a merchant. He owned properties in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York City. He was a good friend of Ambrose C. Kingsland, a fellow merchant and New York City mayor during the 1850s. At one point early in his life, Morse resided in Lyons, France. He claims to have been a ’49er.
Volumes document Morse’s travels. He took an extended trip south with Ambrose C. Kingsland during the winter of 1876; visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia; traveled to Sharon Springs and Saratoga, New York; and enjoyed a six-month vacation with Kingsland in Europe in 1877.
Document 222.
Account book. 1848–57.
146 p.; 33 cm.
Amos D. Moser was a farmer in Pottsgrove Township, Pennsylvania.
Contains financial accounts for plowing, harrowing, hauling, and mowing. Includes a number of agreements whereby fathers arranged for their sons to work for Moser for set periods of time. Also records numerous tax payments.
Name index available.
Document 138.
Copybooks. 1832.
2 vols.; 19 cm. or smaller.
Consists of lecture notes, compositions, and writings about general knowledge and criticism kept by Sarah Gratz Moses when she was a student in Philadelphia. Covers of volumes include depictions of “flying artillery” and buildings.
Document 821.
Account book. 1867–72.
152 p.; 20 cm.
Mary Ellen Mott lived in Saratoga Springs, New York, with her husband, William, and daughter, Mella.
Volume includes a record of household expenses and purchases of food in addition to an account of income earned by taking boarders. There is also an inventory of “memorandum of table linen and bedding.”
Document 157.
Disbursements. 1802–3.
1 microfilm reel.
Lists disbursements made at Canton, China. Also includes invoices and lists of Philadelphia merchants whose cargo was on board the Mount Vernon.
Original material located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M106.
Records. 1810–27.
5 items.
The Mount Vernon Glass Works was established in 1810 in Mount Vernon, New York, by a number of partners. It was known for making bottles, vials, and several varieties of historical flasks. The works closed in 1844 because a shortage of timber, necessary for making the fires needed for the glassmaking process, impeded the firm’s growth. Its proprietor, Oscar Granger, then moved the business to Mount Pleasant, New York.
Consists of a manuscript copy of the act incorporating the business; minutes of an 1818 company meeting; and deeds relating to the works and a burial ground in Mount Vernon.
Collection 159.
37 items: ill.
Consists of embossed mourning cards, possibly used as samples by a card salesman. One card is stamped with the initials “S & H.” Another card bears the name and location “Haddon & Co., London.” Twenty-one cards bear the name “Wood.” The cards depict angels, cherubs, flowers, willows, women, arches, and other typical mourning iconography.
Collection 343.
Lecture notes. 1922–23.
2 vols.
Alberta Mowitz was a student at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia.
Volumes include class notes and drawings of architectural details, motifs, and historic ornaments. Mowitz created the first volume during a class on design taught by Huger Elliot. She created the second volume for a class on interior decoration taught by a Mr. Warwick. Included are numerous drawings of furniture in various styles.
Collection 372.
Album of knitting, crocheting, and lacemaking instructions. Ca. 1891.
20 p.; 19 cm.
Mrs. C. D. Mowry lived in Mount Vernon, New York, and either compiled these instructions herself or received them from someone else.
Album includes instructions are for making lace, decorative edging, a diamond insertion, infant’s shirts and socks, baby shoes, and a knitted cape. Album contains four finished samples and occasional comments on the patterns, such as, “I don’t like this one.”
Document 300.
Account book. 1834–40.
70 p.; 40 cm.
Thomas J. Moyers and Fleming K. Rich were furnituremakers in Wythe Court House, Virginia.
Lists prices charged for a variety of furniture, coffins, lumber, glazing, and related items and activities. The firm produced tables, desks, sideboards, bureaus, clock cases, beds, and card tables.
Folio 262.
Illuminated music book. 1812.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 21 cm.
Philip Mumbower was a schoolmaster in Lower Milford Township, Pennsylvania. He eventually gave this book to Joseph Miller, perhaps one of his pupils.
Manuscript contains eight pages of music and accompanying lyrics. The first page bears an inscription and illustrations of potted plants within a decorative border.
Document 767.
Account book. 1805–25.
198 p.; 37 cm.
Moses Munson ran a mill in Whately, Massachusetts, and later in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Records the activities of Munson’s mill, listing the costs associated with sawing, grinding, and carting. He also indicated that he accommodated boarders.
Document 506.
50 items: col. ill.
Cards are from the “College Series,” numbers twenty-six to seventy-five. Each card features an athlete in uniform or playing a sport. Pennants or seals of athletes’ colleges are also featured.
Folio 86.
74 p.; 29 cm.
Notation on front endpaper indicates that the manuscript was kept by someone from the Windham, Connecticut, area. Watermarks reveal that the paper came from England and had been made in 1823.
Contains manuscript scores for thirty-five songs, possibly scored for a lute or guitar. Of the songs with lyrics, twenty-four are written in English, four in French, and four in Italian.
Document 73.
47 leaves; 34 cm.
Contains twenty-six songs and voice exercises scored for the voice and the piano. Lyrics to a few of the songs are in Italian. The composer’s name is frequently mentioned. Three of the songs are “The Mansion of Love,” “ I’ll Never Do So Anymore,” and “How Happy Could I Pass My Days.”
Document 110.
Account book. 1868–75.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
Musser & Bowman worked as watchmakers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records such activities as cleaning clocks and watches; repairing clocks; and supplying clock cords, watch dials, and watch glass. Some entries mention the name or type of watch to be repaired or made.
Name index available.
Document 729.
Exercise book. 1789, 1801–6.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 34 cm.
Jacob Myers lived in Virginia.
Contains mathematical exercises. The volume is profusely illustrated with watercolor images. Floral decorations predominate. Jacob Mayer’s illuminated birth record, dated 1789, is laid in.
Document 782.
Account book. 1781–1852.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Samuel Nash was a wheelwright in Hanover, Massachusetts, and Holden, Massachusetts.
Nash made and mended cart wheels, fixed yokes and rakes, repaired plows, carted, and engaged in other labor. He was often paid in molasses, sugar, coffee, or other commodities. Beginning in 1840, Cornelius Nash, presumably one of Samuel’s relatives, used the volume to record money he was owed for day labor.
Document 397.
Scrapbooks. 1889–97.
2 vols.: ill.
Thomas Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator. A native of Germany, he went to New York City at age six. Nast studied under Theodore Kaufman and Alfred Fredericks and attended the National Academy. Over the course of his career, he worked for Frank Leslie, served on the staff of the New York Illustrated News, worked as an artist for Harper’s Weekly, and contributed to a number of other periodicals. In 1892 and 1893, he published Nast’s Weekly. He died in Ecuador just as he was about to assume a diplomatic post.
Scrapbooks feature newspaper and magazine clippings about Nast and reviews of his work. A few letters, invitations, and an announcement for his daughter’s wedding are laid in. A clipping service probably compiled the material for these volumes.
Folio 231.
Photograph album. Ca. 1924.
68 leaves; 29 x 36 cm.
L. F. Nathan lived at 101 West Forty-second Street in New York City. His name and address are embossed into the first and last leaves of the album.
Consists of formal photographic portraits of public rooms and some guest rooms in the Hotel Roosevelt, New York City. Several N. C. Wyeth paintings, including Half Moon in the Hudson (done specifically for the Roosevelt’s Hendrick Hudson Dining Room), are featured.
Folio 49.
Records. 1919–76.
26 cu. ft.
Nathan Margolis established his furnituremaking firm, the Nathan Margolis Shop, in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1894. He employed hand-skilled craftsmen who both made and restored furniture. Nathan’s son, Harold, inherited the firm upon his father’s death and began reproducing antique furniture and selling high-fidelity audio systems. Harold eventually changed the name of the firm to the Margolis Shop.
Documents record all facets of the firm’s activities and include correspondence; personnel records; photographs and clippings of antique furniture, room interiors, and views of the shop; price lists; and trade catalogues.
Approximately twenty-one hundred templates as well as plaster casts, examples of inlay, and sample boards of drawer pulls are stored off-site.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 95.
Lantern slides. Ca. 1910.
45 items: ill. (some col.); 11 cm.
Headquartered in New York City, the National Audubon Society is dedicated to the study of birds and other forms of wildlife and to the maintenance and protection of their natural habitats.
Collection includes photographic and hand-painted lantern slides, each depicting a different species of North American birds. Some of the hand-painted slides are signed by R. Bruce Horsfall.
Collection 390.
Record of historical pieces shown at Jamestown exposition: April 26 to November 30, 1907.
1 vol.; 24 cm.
The National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, Pennsylvania Society, was a patriotic organization engaged in educating and preserving information associated with early British settlement of North America. Other chapters existed throughout the country. The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition was scheduled in observance of the three hundredth anniversary of the European settlement of Jamestown, Virginia.
Record lists pieces of pewter and silver lent to the society for exhibition. Entries include the type of object, its owner, and the maker and provenance, if known. The exhibit never took place because the tercentennial exposition managers could not guarantee adequate security. The society kept this record for future reference.
Document 920.
Collection. 1793–1828.
2 vols. + 188 drawings: ill. (some col.)
Nazareth Hall, the first American drawing school, was established in 1759 by Moravians. Because of fluctuating enrollments early in its operation, the school was forced to close between 1779 and 1785. It was reopened in 1785 by the Rev. Charles G. Reichel, who redesigned the curriculum. By the time the school closed in 1929, it was regarded as a military academy.
Collection includes drawings and architectural renderings in pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolor. Some are crude sketches; others are finished paintings. Most are signed and dated. A scrapbook of student illustrations compiled by an unidentified teacher and a test book for the 1793 autumnal examination are also included.
Finding aid available.
Other records for Nazareth Hall located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 212.
Approx. 350 items.
Collection of patterns, both manuscript and printed, for domestic needlework, including white work, furniture embroidery, cushion embroidery, costume embroidery, and dress accessories. Some bear notations for colors to be used. Items are of English, Irish, and French origin. Some of the printed patterns bear the names of Paris-based patternmakers.
Collection 26.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
Volume contains twenty-six individual pieces of needlework samples in a wide variety of styles and fabrics dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Most are English in origin, and some are French or Italian.
Collection 50.
Sketchbook. 1811–12.
80 leaves: col. ill.; 39 cm.
Nestell was a native of New York City and the son of Christian I. Nestell. By 1820 he was living in Providence, Rhode Island, where he rented shop space from cabinetmakers Daniel and Samuel Proud. Identified as an ornamental signpainter and gilder in Rugg’s History of Freemasonry in Rhode Island, Nestell also advertised during the 1820s that he sold chairs. From 1837 to 1844, city directories list him as a bank clerk and after 1850 they do not list an occupation by his name. A Christian B. Nestell later appears in Providence directories as a cabinetmaker.
Nestell began this sketchbook on June 1, 1811, and completed it on March 9, 1812, following what he termed his second quarter of drawing instruction. The sketchbook contains watercolor renderings that were completed for a number of uses, including wall decoration, painted furniture, and signs. He also designed motifs for chair backs.
Folio 24.
Wills, inventories, and administration papers. 1679–1801.
22 microfilm reels.
Consists of original records relating to the settlement of estates in Salem County, New Jersey, from its founding until 1801. This represents a portion of a larger microfilm series.
Microfilm M2734–M2755.
Bills and receipts. 1821–49.
90 items.
Thomas Newbold was born in 1760 in Springfield Township, New Jersey. He worked as a farmer and also served in the New Jersey state legislature and the United States House of Representatives. When Newbold died in 1823, William Black Jr. became the guardian of his daughter, Mary, and his son, Thomas J. Newbold, took over management of the family farm.
Collection consists primarily of bills and receipts directed to Thomas Newbold’s estate for Mary’s purchases of personal and household products. Sometimes purchases were made through her guardian. Other records relate to Mary’s schooling and the settlement of Newbold’s estate.
Collection 226.
Account book. 1812–30.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Josiah Newcomb was a sawyer in Norton Township, Massachusetts. He may have worked for a time with his son, Josiah L., whose account book is also housed in the Downs Collection.
Includes records of sawing and chopping wood, farming, and carting coal and lumber. The cover of the volume is a large sheet that contains uncolored wood-block prints of playing cards.
Document 282.
Account book. 1839–45.
46 p.; 16 cm.
Josiah L. Newcomb was a building contractor in Norton Township, Massachusetts. He may have worked with his father, Josiah, whose account book is also housed in the Downs Collection.
Volume records such work as painting, carting bricks, building sheds, making doors and window sashes, framing, wallpapering, and laying floors.
Document 279.
Architectural plans. Ca. 1880–1900.
6 items: ill.
W. J. Newman was an architect who lived in Olean, New York.
Drawings for a late nineteenth-century dwelling, one of which is signed by Newman, feature plans for the south and east elevations, two floors of living space, a cellar, and the framing of the structure.
Folio 65.
Account book. 1849–52.
166 p.; 29 cm.
Barack T. Nichols lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1833 to 1836; Augusta, Georgia, from 1836 to 1851; and Newark, New Jersey, beginning in 1851. At the time he maintained this account book, he worked with Smith, Wright & Company, a saddle- and harnessmaker in Newark.
Volume records expenses paid by Nichols when he moved into his house at 17 Park Place, Newark. He paid for such things as painting, carpets, lighting fixtures, a piano, kitchenware, furniture, linens, and magazine subscriptions. Also includes records relating to St. Matthew’s Congregation and Christ Episcopal Church, both in Newark, New Jersey.
Document 39.
A journal of a cruise on board the United States frigate Chesapeake. 1812–13.
96 p.; 33 cm.
Francis Nichols served under Samuel Evans on the frigate Chesapeake.
From December 12, 1812, to March 20, 1813, the Chesapeake sailed the Atlantic to harass and capture British warships. Nichols’s entries document the details of sailing and indicate the importance of wind direction, air and water temperatures, and changes to the sails and mast. He noted when other vessels, especially British ships, were encountered.
Document 781; Microfilm M2829.
Daybook. 1831–60, bulk 1831–33 and 1844–60.
86 leaves; 39 cm.
The firm of weavers was probably located in Roxbury, Connecticut.
Manuscript includes accounts for weaving and dyeing, such as “Cash payd for Dye Stuff,” “By Weaving 33 1/4/yds of Hair Cloth,” and “To 15 1/4 yds of Satinett.” Also included are minutes of meetings of the fifth School District of Roxbury, Connecticut, kept from 1841 to 1843.
Document 15.
Account book. 1782–1835.
342 p.; 31 cm.
Phineas Nichols was a blacksmith from Haverhill, Massachusetts. In 1799 his son, Benjamin, became his business partner.
References are made to mending pitchforks and shoeing horses and crafting iron into gates, tools, butcher knives, and plane irons.
Document 617.
Diary and book of watercolor paintings. 1816.
20 p.: col. ill.; 21 cm.
Susan W. Nichols resided in Fairfield, Connecticut, and later Greenfield Hill, Connecticut.
Volume contains twelve watercolors of fruit trees, wild flower blossoms, and a butterfly, and one pencil sketch of a flower. In two diary entries, Nichols discusses sermons and her lessons in Virgil, Cicero, and surveying. A few miscellaneous items are laid in.
Document 675.
Papers. Ca. 1778–1800.
5 microfilm reels.
John Nicholson was a financier, land speculator, and politician. He served as comptroller general of Pennsylvania. In that capacity, he was impeached for, but found not guilty of, mismanaging state funds for personal gain.
Collection includes both business and personal papers, including bank records, land records, vouchers, receipts, and correspondence.
Finding aid available.
Original manuscripts located at the Pennsylvania State Archives.
Microfilm M2710–M2714.
Diary. 1857–68.
125 p.; 14 cm.
Bertha Olmsted Niles, the youngest half-sister of author and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, was a native of Hartford, Connecticut. After attending local schools, she spent six months in 1852 learning French and music at a female seminary in Middlebury, Vermont. She then traveled to Europe with the widow of the school’s late headmaster and pursued further studies in France, Italy, and Germany. Bertha married William Woodruff Niles, an Episcopal priest, in 1862. Niles eventually became bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.
Diary records a portion of Niles’s time in Europe, her pursuits upon her return to America, some personal expenses, and sermons that her husband preached. She mentioned visits to New York’s Central Park, which her half-brother was designing at the time. She helped him with office work and copied his writings.
Document 871.
Letter book. 1859–61.
261 p.; 29 cm.
J. Nilis was a wine and tea importer who worked in New York City and lived in Hudson City, New Jersey.
Letters document Nilis’s professional life and personal activities. Much of his business correspondence was written in French and concerns the ordering and shipping of goods. Toward the end of his letter book, Nilis wrote that he wished to give up his business in favor of settling in the country to be a farmer. He discussed some of the political events that led to the Civil War.
Document 495.
Account book. 1869–73.
175 p.; 31 cm.
Robert L. Nixon was a house and sign painter, grainer, and paperhanger from Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Manuscript records Nixon’s work in and around Mount Holly. He worked for both individuals and organizations (mostly churches).
Other Robert L. Nixon papers located in the special collections department of Rutgers University, the Library of Congress, and the Burlington County Library in New Jersey.
Document 148.
Weaving patterns. Ca. 1808.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 12 x 22 cm.
Warren Nixon may have lived in Massachusetts.
Manuscript contains five weaving drafts for “Counter Panes” drawn by Nixon. He also recorded patterns called double diamond, compass work, small rose work, love knots, and small diamond. Volume contains a heart-shaped, hand-drawn bookplate that has the inscription “Warren Nixon’s Book 1808.” A picture of him as an elderly man is laid in.
Document 1086.
Embroidery patterns and designs. Ca. 1804–20.
26 items: ill.
Amelia Smith Nobart lived in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Includes patterns for embroidery that may have been executed on handkerchiefs, dresses, collars, and bibs. Several patterns show evidence of use. Some of the paper is watermarked “W. Young, 1804.”
Collection 215.
Papers. Ca. 1930–64.
9 boxes: ill.
Gregor Norman-Wilcox was curator of decorative arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1931 to 1969. A graduate of the Cleveland School of Art, he wrote extensively on the decorative arts and published a syndicated newspaper column. He married Grace A. Stern in 1934.
Collection includes research notes, correspondence, typed drafts of writings, photographs, reports on silver pieces considered for acquisition by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, drawings of gallery installations, and copies of articles on the decorative arts.
Collection also includes 144 keepsake books that Norman-Wilcox made for his wife during the late 1930s. Each book is typed, hand illustrated, and bound. Topics addressed often refer to incidents in his early married life.
Finding aid available.
Collection 115.
A journal of Albert L. Norris: Epping, New Hamps. from April 1st 1858. 1857–62.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Albert L. Norris, a native of Epping, New Hampshire, received his early education at Phillips Exeter and Wilbraham Academies. At various times in his academic and postgraduate life, Norris served as a clerk in several dry-goods stores. He then served in the military as an assistant surgeon during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862 and received a medical degree from Harvard in 1865. Norris then studied in Europe and returned to the United States, where he established a successful medical practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Includes a diary that Norris kept from 1858 to 1860 and drafts of diary entries and letters written between 1857 and 1862. In his diary, especially, Norris discusses the dry-goods trade, his business activities, and his religious convictions. The letters reveal his opinions about the Civil War.
Document 339.
Scrapbook. 1761–1860.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 39 cm.
Members of the Norris family were prominent Philadelphians.
This scrapbook, evidently compiled by a member of the Norris family, consists of views of Philadelphia sites, historic events, buildings, and people chiefly from the nineteenth century. Some of the illustrations include handwritten captions.
Folio 241.
Papers. 1814–79
3 boxes + 2 microfilm reels.
Jedediah North (1789–1855) was a native of Worthington, Massachusetts. His father and grandfather were both blacksmiths. Jedediah pursued the family trade before becoming a toolmaker. He eventually made tinner’s hand tools and sold them to customers in almost every state east of the Mississippi River. In 1825 Jedediah’s younger brother, Edmund (1797–1874), became his partner. They formed the J. & E. North Manufacturing Company in East Berlin, Connecticut. After Jedediah died, Edmund renamed the company after himself. In 1857 he merged the business with its chief competitor, Roys & Wilcox Co.
Collection contains more than eight hundred original items that document the business and personal life of the North family. Business materials include a daybook, lists of tools sold, bills and receipts, legal documents, correspondence and orders, and an inventory of tools and objects kept in the forging shop. Personal papers feature several hundred letters regarding family members, an inventory of Jedediah’s house, and school compositions and poems.
Finding aid available.
Includes microfilm of an account book and letter book, kept from 1814 to 1868, the originals of which are located at the Connecticut Historical Society and Yale University.
Collection 380; Microfilm M1555–M1556.
2 boxes.
Collection consists of loose advertisements, trade cards, bills, drafts, and receipts that document the silver, jewelry, and watchmaking trades in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. Also included are six bound volumes that record the activities of nine New York City businesses through their account books, daybooks, invoice books, and inventories.
Detailed contents listing available.
Collection 20.
Agent sample book. Ca. 1878.
1 vol.: ill.; 16 cm.
Includes seventy-nine samples of calling cards and a few trade cards. While the outside of the volume shows the name Card Mills, inside the name Wemple & Kronheim is prominent. Floral patterns are most commonly featured.
Document 218.
Letters from W. E. Norton to Frank T. Robinson. 1875–80.
38 items.
William Edward Norton was a marine painter who lived in Europe for a time.
These letters chronicle Norton’s life in Paris and his travels to London and elsewhere over a five-year period. While many are social in nature, they also describe painting and drawing, art exhibits, and studies for painting.
Collection 331.
89 p.; 18 x 27 cm.
Consists of about fifteen hundred small numbered swatches of variously colored worsteds from Norwich, England. A few pages include handwritten notes about the kind of textile shown.
Collection 50.
111 p.; 23 cm.
Includes about five hundred small, numbered swatches of various fabrics, such as “camelots,” “sattins,” “tabourets,” “callemandres,” and “camelottines.” Although the names of the fabrics are written in French, an 1831 inscription relating to the coronation of King William IV suggests an English origin for this book. In Textiles in America, 1650–1870, author Florence Montgomery dates the volume to 1785.
Collection 50.
94 p.; 33 cm.
Contains about forty-three hundred small swatches of variously colored and patterned worsteds. Manuscript notes within the volume, such as “order DF sent Jany. 1788,” suggest that the book was kept to record fabric ordered by customers.
Cover title: Counter 1788.
Collection 50.
46 p.; 24 cm.
Consists of some 850 small, numbered swatches of variously colored worsteds. The inside cover bears the name “Booth & Theobald, Norwich.” A corresponding volume may be maintained in the Castle Museum, Norwich, England.
Collection 50.
91 p.; 21 x 29 cm.
Book includes approximately two thousand numbered swatches of colorful and patterned worsteds. A few titles to swatches are in German script. A torn paper label reads: “Copy of a Pattn. Book Sent to C O &… .” The letters “ICH” are also stamped in the volume.
Collection 50.
51 p.; 27 cm.
Consists of 685 small, numbered swatches of variously colored worsteds. Includes two sheets giving prices and noting that material was sent to D. Callaghan, a Mr. Collins, Messrs. William Fox and Sons, and Nethrop & Harris, all between 1794 and 1797.
Collection 50.
1 vol.: ill.; 19 cm.
Contains instructions for making 104 types of fireworks, many of which are described as rockets. Illustrations depict some of the fireworks.
Document 732.
52 leaves: ill. (some col.); 52 cm.
This anonymously kept notebook contains drawings, measurements, and calculations. Of special note are the architectural drawings for a house and shop, possibly a coachmaker’s shop. A few mechanical drawings are included, and a lengthy description of the workings of a “perambulator,” a type of odometer attached to a wheel, accompanies a corresponding mechanical drawing. There are some pencil silhouettes and two lectures, one on dynamics and equilibrium and the other entitled “On the Best Method of Elevating the Common Mind—Sketches Preparatory to a Lecture.”
Folio 294.
13 p.; 21 cm.
Includes notes taken in twenty-one art lessons as well as comments on travel. The art lessons, given by a Mr. Wood, instructed the unidentified student how to draw landscapes and to represent such things as trees, water, the sky, shadows, mountains, and moonlight. Notes on travel refer to a tour of Europe.
Document 905.
1 vol.: ill.; 19 cm.
This manuscript, probably of English origin, contains a number of writings that relate to the textile industry. Notations include a description of the mechanics of the carding machine and calculations detailing the best way to manage the finances of a spinning factory. Writings may have been excerpted from The Theory and Practice of Cotton Spinning, written by James Montgomery and published in several editions during the 1830s.
Document 749.
1 microfilm reel.
Consists of descriptions of various port cities, including their trade regulations, prices of locally available products, goods that were expected to sell, and products available for purchase. There is information on American-made furniture sold in Rio de Janeiro and descriptions of life in Canton, China, as well as references to current prices for Chinese porcelain and French textiles.
Original manuscript located at the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M6.
An index key to the union book. 1788–Ca. 1812.
47 p.; 28 cm.
W. Notman was probably a journeyman cabinetmaker from London. An A. Notman, cabinetmaker, is listed at 20 Queen’s Row, Hoxton, in an 1811 London city directory. In the 1809–10 issue, there is someone called Notbone at this address. It is possible that all three—W. Notman, A. Notman, and Notbone—were the same person.
Volume includes forty-seven engraved steel plates depicting furniture. Thirty-three include manuscript notations relating to repairs. Numbers associated with index entries correspond to pages in the 1811 edition of the London Cabinet-Maker’s Union Book of Prices. Also included is a list entitled “bedstead prices agreed to April 11, 1812.” Plates were done by Thomas Shearer and Thomas Sheraton.
Document 727.
Trade catalog and photocards. Ca. 1900.
6 items: ill.
The Novelty Cutlery Co. was located in Canton, Ohio, and employed agents throughout the United States. It specialized in making customized knives, the handles of which were transparent for bearing messages or displaying illustrations. By 1900 the company offered customers more than three thousand designs.
Catalogue includes an overview of the firm’s manufacturing process and descriptions of its products. The photocards feature various illustrations, such as famous people, flags, and statues, available on the cutlery.
Document 297.
Records. 1903–31.
156 items: ill.
The Novelty Wood Turning Works of Jamestown, New York, made and sold turned walnut and mahogany candlestands, lamps, and other household furnishings. Much of its business was conducted by retailers. Members of the Hallstrom family operated it, and the business maintained close ties to the Eagle Furniture Company, also located in Jamestown.
Collection consists of a wide variety of business records, including letters (some in Swedish), bills, receipts, orders, and price lists along with photographs, blueprints, and drawings of objects produced by the firm. In addition to illustrating its furniture, the papers show how the firm sought suppliers for components of its products, how it delivered its goods, how it responded to customers, and how expenses changed over three decades.
Collection 75.
Ledger. 1823–24.
79 p.; 33 cm.
This manuscript was kept by the proprietor of a general store in Connecticut. It is unclear if the storeowner was George W. Noyes or Minard & Noyes.
Volume records amounts owed to the general store and contains descriptions of purchases, chiefly food and textiles, and the dates they were bought. Peter Maverick engraved the stationer’s label in the volume; it bears the name of Thomas A. Ronalds of New York City.
Name index in front of volume.
Document 681.
Exercise book. 1838.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Joshua M. Nutter was a student who may have lived in New Hampshire at the time that he maintained this book.
Nutter used his book to practice mathematical problems. He also copied recipes for making ink and paste.
Document 764.
Invoice book. 1842–57.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Thomas W. O’Brion was the proprietor of a store in Portland, Maine.
Volume includes information on what O’Brion bought for later resale in his store. O’Brion maintained contacts with firms in Boston and New York City as well as with local merchants.
Folio 139.
Papers. 1875–85.
36 items.
Timothy G. O’Donovan was a ticket agent and telegraph operator. He worked for a time at the Walkers Mills, Pennsylvania, station of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway and then in New England. O’Donovan lost one of his legs in 1879.
Collection consists of a diary and expense book and thirty-five letters. In his diary, O’Donovan discussed labor problems and the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, travels from the Pittsburgh area to New England, his efforts to secure a patent for a car coupler, and people that he boarded with. In addition to money paid out, O’Donovan also records his salary. The letters, many of which are addressed to a maker of artificial legs, detail problems with his own prosthesis.
Collection 368.
Catalogue of books at Oak Lawn. 1841.
1 vol.; 28 cm.
Catalogue is arranged by bookcase; titles are recorded in alphabetical order by case. History, literature, government, and philosophy predominate. There are periodicals, works in French, and a number of books about Ireland. The sizes of the volumes are noted, and there is a record of multivolume works.
Document 938.
Abbey scrapbook. 1878–1912.
1 vol.: ill.; 26 cm.
Thornton Oakley compiled this scrapbook about Edwin A. Abbey, a painter and illustrator for Harper’s and other publications. Much of the book features clippings of illustrations from Harper’s that were either signed by Abbey or were engraved after his work. Most show scenes of ordinary American life. Articles from Scribner’s detail Abbey’s work as a muralist.
Document 684.
24 leaves; 16 cm.
Diary was kept by an unidentified visitor to Maine. The writer commented on the lifestyle of residents, their political leanings, religion, the lumber industry, shipbuilding, and the economics of the area. There is a fairly lengthy discussion about the Shaker religious sect.
Document 1004.
Papers. 1827–1905, bulk 1827–28.
2 vols.: ill.; 21 cm. + 2 microfilm reels.
Walter Mason Oddie was a landscape painter who illustrated scenes of New England, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island. An associate member of the American Academy, he exhibited his work at the Boston Athenaeum, National Academy, Apollo Association, and American Art Union. Oddie was an early teacher of artist Edward Lamson Henry. He also worked as a merchant and stockbroker. Oddie married Julia Meigs, the daughter of Henry Meigs, a New York City jurist and congressman.
Papers include two diaries for 1828 and 1829, a sketchbook dated 1828, and family papers. In his diary, Oddie discussed his family, health, financial difficulties, the art work of his contemporaries, politics, and lessons taken from Anthony Lewis De Rose. Sketches include land- and seascapes. Two watercolors by Julia Oddie are also included.
Microfilm used for “The ‘Mysterious Mr. O.’: Walter Mason Oddie (1808–1865),” by Annette Blaugrund, published in the American Art Journal, Spring 1980, pp. 60–77.
Document 591; Microfilm M2852–M2853.
1 microfilm reel.
Drawings and information about methods of setting up an armed military camp with cavalry.
Original manuscript owned by the Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England. It presumably descended through his family.
Microfilm M846.
Account book. 1804–23.
1 microfilm reel.
Aaron Ogden worked as a furnituremaker in Newark, New Jersey.
Accounts recorded in this manuscript relate to Ogden’s furnituremaking and repairing business as well as his domestic life.
Index of personal names, furniture forms, and raw materials available.
Manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M848.
Agent’s sample book. Ca. 1870–80.
24 p.: ill. (some col.); 18 cm.
Volume contains thirty-two samples of calling cards, greeting cards, postcards, and “joke” cards along with instructions for ordering them. Each card has a stock number, title, and price. Mostly showing floral patterns and birds, other illustrations feature summer scenes, springtime subjects, and lovers’ poses.
Document 286.
Sample album. Ca. 1870–90.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 18 cm.
Consists of ten samples of calling cards. Each one includes a stock number and price. All feature floral patterns and fancy borders and contain sayings.
Document 355.
Sample cards. Ca. 1870s.
20 p.: col. ill.; 18 cm.
Includes thirty-six samples of friendship and greeting cards, including their stock numbers and prices. Designs illustrate pastoral scenes, flowers, birds, and outstretched hands that signify friendship.
Document 354.
Record book. 1852–54.
1 vol.; 35 cm.
The Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Company was formed in 1854 when the Old Colony Railroad, established in 1844, merged with the Fall River Railroad Company.
Contains records of railway accidents in Boston, a printed notice of the first meeting of the company in 1854, manuscript minutes of the meeting, and the bylaws of the railroad.
Document 785.
50 leaves: ill.; 15 x 21 cm.
Album contains ninety-two photographs of historic buildings in Boston and other locations in Massachusetts. Includes structures from Cambridge, Dorchester, Revere, Quincy, Sudbury, Lexington, Concord, and the Shaker village at Shirley.
Document 53.
Photographs. Ca. 1920–35.
8 items: ill.; 10 x 12 in.
Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson, built the Old Manse House in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1769. Nathaniel Hawthorne rented it from 1842 to 1846 and gave it its name.
Collection consists of photographs of the exterior of Old Manse House and a pamphlet about its history that was written in 1934. Evidence suggests that A. W. Hosmer, a local photographer, may have taken some or all of the pictures.
Collection 512.
Photographs. 1931.
21 items: ill.
Old Ship Meeting House, built in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1681, is the oldest meetinghouse in continuous use in the United States.
Photographs show both the exterior and interior of the church.
Collection 460.
51 p.: ill.; 29 cm.
The bulk of the volume consists of large fabric swatches pasted onto card stock with notes relating the origin or use of the fabric. Swatches featured include “Pillow case linen, Eliza Halsey,” “Merrimac calico, Civil War,” and “Linens from Long Springs Farm, now Hampton Park, ancestral home of Mrs. Henry A. Herrick.” In addition, the volume contains ten pages of typed extracts from Alice Morse Earle’s Home Life in Colonial Days, originally published in 1898.
Collection 50.
Diary. 1900.
18 p.; 28 cm.
Herman Olde was single and traveling aboard a steamer when he wrote this diary.
Manuscript records a trip by sea that Olde took for three weeks from Buenos Aires to Southampton, England. He described shipboard events, traveling companions, and stops in the Cape Verde Islands and on Madeira.
Document 461.
58 p.: ill.; 19 x 27 cm.
Contains fifty-eight photographs of houses and other buildings built in New England, chiefly Massachusetts, between 1628 and 1780. The birthplaces and residences of many well-known individuals are featured.
Document 54.
Invoices. 1864–94.
62 items.
Albert H. Olds, a clerk, and Alfred A. Olds, a bookkeeper, residents of 9 Wadsworth Street, Hartford, Connecticut, were possibly father and son.
This collection of printed invoices reflects the Oldses’ relationships with Hartford business people. Included are references to grocers, clothiers, doctors, dentists, and hardware and lumber merchants. There are invoices for gas, water, street sprinkling, pew rent, and stove supplies. Also featured are exercises in bookkeeping methods and rental agreements.
Collection 383.
424 p.; 33 cm.
This is an anonymous milliner’s order book probably kept in either Greenville or Centreville, Rhode Island. It records descriptions of bonnets and capes ordered and the names of the women who ordered them. Prices are not consistently noted. The last forty-four pages consist of notices of births, marriages, deaths, and burials.
Document 163.
Account books. 1783–1834.
8 vols.; 42 cm. or smaller.
Members of the Osborn family (including Shadrack, Erastus, and Benjamin) and Nathan Preston operated a general store in Southbury, Connecticut.
Collection includes daybooks, ledgers, and an order book as well as a volume used by Erastus to record his work as a sheriff’s deputy. Business records focus on the variety of goods sold in the Osborn’s store and trade with firms in New Haven and New York City. The sheriff’s records are for New Haven County, Connecticut. Names, dates, writs, plaintiffs and defendants, and fees are customarily mentioned in each entry.
Name indexes available.
Daybooks F and G also available on microfilm.
Collection 237; Microfilm M2824–M2825.
Papers and drawings. Ca. 1870–1920.
3 lin. ft.: ill. (some col.)
Charles Osborne designed silver objects for the Whiting Manufacturing Co., where he eventually became a vice president, and for Tiffany and Co. Osborne was a member of the Art Students League in New York City and was active in New York’s community of artists, although for part of his career he worked in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Collection is of Osborne’s professional and personal papers. Included are photographs of silver objects that he designed, pencil sketches of silver patterns, and colored drawings depicting such objects as spoons, pitchers, vases, trophies, kettles, pots, sugar containers, and trays. Most of the drawings show spoons, ranging from conceptual designs to illustrations of finished products. Items of a personal nature feature Osborne’s marriage certificate, family pictures, and receipts for medical treatment.
Finding aid available.
Collection 137; Microfilm M3014.
Writing book. Ca. 1860.
22 p.; 21 cm.
Oliver Osgood probably grew up in Worcester County, Massachusetts.
Manuscript contains Oliver’s handwriting exercises from school. Volume made by H. R. Phelps & Co. of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Document 278.
Scrapbook. 1894–1909.
143 p.: ill. (some col.); 27 cm.
Stella Morris Osgood was a schoolteacher and may have been a graduate of Wellesley College. She taught at Pittsfield High School in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, and at Lyman Boys School in Westboro, Massachusetts.
Many of the items in this volume relate to Osgood’s profession and include her teaching certificate, programs from teacher conventions and meetings, and graduation invitations and programs. There are wedding invitations, photos, pressed flowers, student drawings, and invitations to social functions as well.
Folio 91.
Drawings. 1835–69.
3 vols.: ill (some col.); 43 cm. or smaller.
William Osmond was a sculptor and mason from Salisbury, England. He created monuments, tablets, tombs, headstones, and chimney pieces. Osmond was interested in medieval architecture and became a professional acquaintance of A. W. N. Pugin.
Volumes consist of depictions of architectural details, ornaments, stained glass, illuminated lettering, and coats of arms and other heraldic devices. Many of the drawings relate to specific, identified churches and cathedrals. Five sketches of St. Marie’s Grange attributed to Pugin are included, as are drawings thought to have been done by John Britton.
Folio 189.
Notes on clay pipes. 1947–77.
2 boxes: ill.
Adrian Oswald was an English archaeologist who pioneered the study of clay pipes to help document and date archaeological sites.
Includes typescript and manuscript notes along with illustrations that relate to clay pipes and their marks. Oswald compiled the names and working dates of clay pipemakers, maker’s marks, and motifs used to decorate pipes.
Collection 347.
Patterns for pottery. Ca. 1870–90.
64 items: ill. (some col.)
Joseph Ott and John Hart Brewer established their pottery firm in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1871. Between 1871 and 1876, the company primarily produced ironstone and queensware. In addition, the pottery made cream-colored earthenware, white graniteware, and porcelain busts. In 1876 Ott and Brewer perfected what they called ivory porcelain, designed to simulate Irish Belleek. In 1892 the proprietors sold their firm to Cook Pottery Company.
Collection includes a daybook, dated from November 1877 to July 1878, that details what the firm produced; patterns used for decoration; and hand-colored drawings illustrating decorated wares. Numbers on the drawings correspond to numbers in the daybook.
Collection 185.
Entry 1501. Ott and Brewer Co., of Trenton, New Jersey, produced pottery from 1871 to 1892, chiefly ironstone and queensware. This pitcher is representative of the firm’s work.
Account book. 1845–56.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Richard Owens was a building contractor in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Owens plastered, whitewashed, drilled, performed stonework, and built chimneys and furnaces. In his account book, he mentioned loads of lime, bricks, and sand and recorded tools that he purchased.
Index at front of volume.
Document 680.
Account book. 1751–53.
Thomas Oxnard was a Boston-based shipper who specialized in textiles and brassware.
Manuscript describes Oxnard’s activities as an importer, opening with a record of ready money, goods, and debts owed to him. Volume entries note goods transported (kettles, muslin, velvet, damask, and gloves); the names of the ships in which they were sent; and the names of the ships’ captains. Retailers and craftsmen frequently bought from Oxnard.
Folio 76.
Account book. 1866–71.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
Philip Oyler worked as a tanner in Quincy, Pennsylvania, and Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. In 1866 he was in partnership with someone named Minick.
The book begins with accounts for Minick & Oyler for 1866. Other entries relate to Oyler’s personal accounts. Such things as hides and skins, leather, and leather products are mentioned.
Document 670.
Account book. 1761–62.
10 p.; 32 cm.
Jeremiah Page worked as a brickmaker in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Book documents bricks made and sold by Page to residents of Essex County, Massachusetts. He sold hard bricks, pale bricks, well bricks, and tile.
Name index available.
Document 789.
Letter book. 1829–33.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Lewis Page was a toy merchant in New York City.
Volume includes copies of letters that Page wrote to order toys and related wares from France, England, and Germany. Other, unrelated letters seem to have accompanied invoices. There are also references to miniature furniture.
Name index available.
Document 610; Microfilm M1895.
Papers. 1930–77.
725 cu. ft.
William Carroll Pahlmann was a prominent interior decorator known for promoting the “eclectic look.” Pahlmann received his education at the Parsons School of Design in New York. He worked for Lord & Taylor, an upscale clothing, home furnishings, and personal goods store during the 1930s and eventually became the head of its decorating department. After serving in the armed forces during World War II, he established his own firm, William Pahlmann Associates, Inc. Pahlmann installed interiors in a wide variety of public buildings and private dwellings in the United State and abroad. He wrote a newspaper column, published a book on home decorating, and won many awards for his work.
Papers consist of Pahlmann’s personal files and the office files of William Pahlmann Associates, which are divided into a number of series: blueprints, drawings, correspondence, scrapbooks, vendor catalogues and sample books, client records, and photographs. Also includes the transcript of an interview with Jack Connor, one of Pahlmann’s longtime colleagues.
Finding aids available.
Collection 77.
Letters. 1856–81.
5 folders.
Erastus Dow Palmer was a sculptor from New York. Early in life, he worked as a carpenter, woodcarver, cabinetmaker, and cameo portraitist. In 1846 he began his career as a sculptor, specializing in reliefs and busts. Notable sitters were Washington Irving, Moses Taylor, Erastus Corning, Robert R. Livingston, and Governor Edwin D. Morgan. He died in Albany, New York, in 1904.
Most of the letters in this collection are addressed to Colonel Edwin Barker Morgan of Aurora, New York. They document Palmer’s personal life, professional work, and political sentiments.
Other Palmer material located at the Oneida Historical Society in Utica, New York; the Albany Institute of History and Art in Albany, New York; and Wells College, Long Library in Aurora, New York.
Collection 522.
Poster. 1901.
1 item: col. ill.
The Pan-American Exposition was held in Buffalo, New York, from May to November 1901. It turned out to be a financial failure and may be best remembered as the site where President William McKinley was assassinated.
This poster, designed by a man named Helmer, was an advertisement for the fair and featured illustrations of the electric tower, the electric building, the machinery building, and the temple of music.
Folio 116.
Pennsylvania at the Panama Pacific International Exposition: scrapbook. 1915.
24 leaves; 33 x 26 cm.
The exposition was held to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914.
Scrapbook contains twenty-five photographs of the building representing the state of Pennsylvania at the exposition, including both interior and exterior views.
Document 454.
3 items: ill.
Consists of a paper doll dated 1857 and a newspaper clipping from around 1855 that features an illustration of a similar doll.
Collection 220.
13 items: col. ill.
Consists of one six-inch-tall paper doll and twelve clothing changes, all hand drawn and colored. Clothing includes various dresses, pajamas, a coat, and play and school clothes. Dolls, teddy bears, and other accessories for the doll are included.
Collection 220.
28 items: col. ill.
Consists of twenty-one paper soldiers dressed in Napoleonic costume and seven paper horses. The items were made and colored by hand. Playing cards were used to make bases for the figures.
Collection 220.
1 microfilm reel.
These materials feature drawings, accounts, maps, etc., that relate to the manufacture of carpets and other floor coverings in London.
Name index and occupation list available.
Original manuscripts located at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Microfilm M1414.
Album. Ca. 1820–60.
1 vol.: ill.; 58 cm.
John Woody Papworth was a British architect and antiquarian best known for his heraldic reference book, Ordinary of British Armorials. He was the first son of John Buonarotti Papworth, a British architect, essayist, and artist.
Album contains drawings and tracings of architectural designs and furniture styles. Although several people executed the drawings, John Woody Papworth created the majority of those that are signed. His father’s work is represented in the collection as well. The drawings record ornament and detail in a large number of churches and public buildings. There are drawings of 138 chairs, 55 tables, 28 dressing tables, 20 clothes or hat racks, 50 draperies, 3 game tables, and 3 fire screens.
Folio 32.
The elements of astronomy and geography explained on 40 cards beautifully engraved and coloured. 1795.
1 set (40 cards): ill.; 10 cm.
This card set, issued in London by John Wallis Co., was designed to teach people about astronomy and geography. The cards are numbered, engraved, and hand colored. They feature illustrations of geometric shapes, exotic peoples and locales, and the positions of the sun and moon.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1908–24.
2 boxes.
Lawrence Park, an 1896 graduate of Harvard University, was an architect. He wrote about colonial art and served as a nonresident curator in the department of colonial art at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Papers relate almost exclusively to American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart. To get his information, Park corresponded with owners of Stuart portraits and with Charles Henry Hart, an authority on the history of portraiture. Other colonial portrait painters mentioned in the papers include Thomas Sully, John Singleton Copley, John Trumbull, and Charles Willson Peale.
Nearly 550 photographs accompanying Park’s papers available in the Visual Resources Collection.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 96.
Account book. 1747–64.
1 microfilm reel.
John Parker worked as a potter in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Accounts in this volume relate to a variety of items having to do with Parker’s craft and domestic life, including pottery, food, agricultural implements, furniture, textiles, and tools.
Original manuscript located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1964.2.
Expense book. 1798–1809.
170 p.; 20 cm.
John Rowe Parker was a Boston merchant. He belonged to Trinity Church, the Boston Cricket Club, and the Anacreontic Society. He may have been the author of A Musical Biography, published in 1825.
Volume is primarily concerned with documenting Parker’s personal expenses, including the furnishing of his house. In addition, there are statements of profits, losses, and expenses for several commercial voyages to the West Indies.
Four-page index of ninety-three names at front of volume.
Document 208.
Exercise book. 1799–1807.
44 p.; 31 cm.
M. S. Parker, a resident of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, recorded mathematical problems in her exercise book. On the front cover is a multiplication table, and on the back cover is an advertisement for Gray, Childs & Co. of Portsmouth, the firm that published the exercise book.
Document 863.
Birth and death records. 1791–1837.
22 p.: col. ill.; 19 cm.
John and Elizabeth Parlett probably lived in Frederick County, Virginia, and raised nine children.
Contains ten double pages of drawings that record the marriage of the Parletts, the births of their nine children, and the death of two sons. Drawings emphasize flowers and birds, and borders are both fanciful and abstract.
Document 805.
Collection. 1880–1912.
3 items: ill.
Stephen Parrish was an etcher and a painter. Born into a Quaker family from Philadelphia, his artistic talents were nurtured by his parents. He married Elizabeth Bancroft, and they had one son, Frederick. Parrish operated a stationery store in the 1870s, but by the end of the decade had committed himself to the life of an artist. He painted, then turned to etching, and finally returned to painting. Parrish moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he worked until a stroke forced him to retire.
Collection consists of two scrapbooks and a sheet of photographs. The scrapbooks include a mix of exhibition announcements, reviews of Parrish’s work, lists of etchings, copies of letters, his obituary notices, and one of his etchings. The photos show Parrish’s studio and a class in etching.
One scrapbook includes a name index to magazines and newspapers from which clippings were taken.
Collection 202.
Invoice book. 1783.
12 p.; 34 cm.
A firm of merchants, Parrish, Potts, Shields & Company was located in Philadelphia. In 1783 the firm employed fourteen people, some of whom were based in London.
The company’s invoice book records the varied kinds of commodities that it purchased in October 1783: cloth, glass, linen, pins, rugs, tea, and padlocks. It would appear that some members of this company operated their own businesses, because records indicate that the company bought goods from individual partners.
Document 310.
Receipt book. 1860–69.
108 p.; 18 x 10 cm.
Samuel C. Parrott was a watchmaker and jeweler from Bordentown, New Jersey, who worked most often in Philadelphia.
Receipts are for such items as store rent, papering the parlor, and purchases of a safe, fixtures, gas, watches, medical services, stock, hair jewelry, etc.
Document 248.
Papers. 1764–1873, bulk 1764–67.
4 vols.; 39 cm. or smaller.
The Parsons family lived in New York.
Collection contains both personal papers and business records of a number of Parsons family members. A journal, for example, reflects the activities of an importer who supplied local merchants with a variety of goods. A receipt book seems to cover work for a household.
Collection 22.
Receipt book. 1760–71.
1 vol.; 16 x 10 cm.
Stephen Paschall lived in Philadelphia and founded Paschall’s Steel Furnace.
Book records the Paschall family’s household expenses and records purchases for a variety of goods and services.
Other Paschall records located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Document 657.
Papers. 1768–1900.
35 items.
Members of the Patten and Wales families lived in Delaware.
This miscellaneous collection features papers relating to estate settlement, family genealogy, expense accounts, letters, and copies of speeches delivered at Yale College by John Wales.
Collection 525.
118 leaves: ill.; 21 cm.
On the inside of one cover is noted “E. Warren her Book 1743,” and the inside of the other cover has the inscription “George Williamson 1812.” On one of the pages is written “James Williamson’s Book.” The book indicates that a branch of the Williamson family once resided in Castlehill, County of York, England.
Weaving patterns, which fill twenty-seven leaves of this manuscript, diagram methods for creating decorative jacquard fabrics. Most include small swatches of the finished product. The balance of the volume includes recipes for home remedies, some of which originated in the 1600s.
Document 120.
2 vol.; col. ill.; 38 cm.
The name of Johannes Schiefner, a resident of Parchen, Bohemia, is written in one of the volumes. Schiefner has been linked to an international export and commission business in 1805. One of his employees was Franz Anton Zahn, who sold glass on commission for him from 1791 to 1793.
Volumes were discovered on Gardiner’s Island, New York, and contain the bookplate of John Gardiner. They were probably given to an American merchant by a German glass manufacturer or glasshouse agent. Volumes are familiarly called the Gardiner’s Island glass catalogues.
Pattern books contain more than two hundred ink-and-wash illustrations of many glass objects and chandeliers. Each illustration is numbered and is accompanied by a description of its decorative elements and designs. A price list accompanies each volume. Text is in German.
Many illustrations published in “The Baltimore Glass Trade, 1780–1829,” by Dwight P. Lanmon, Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 5, pages 15–47.
Folio 115; Microfilm M206.
4 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of printed patterns for clothing that originally appeared in women’s magazines. Included is a printed pattern for a woman’s tucked shirtwaist, a printed embroidery design sheet, and instructions for drafting and cutting articles of clothing.
Finding aid available.
Collection 322.
Recipe book. Ca. 1870s.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Mrs. Fred Patterson resided in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Although the manuscript chiefly contains recipes for entrees, breads, and desserts, medical remedies and household hints are also included. Mrs. Patterson made an effort to record local events and pasted in illustrations of nearby sites.
Document 391.
Journal. 1860–61.
154 p.; 19 cm.
Mary Patton came from Philadelphia. In 1860 she married her second husband, Rev. William Patton, who was living in New Haven, Connecticut. Rev. Patton was noted for his contributions to the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches. He was an outspoken critic of slavery and supported temperance reform, education, and missionary work.
Journal describes the Patton’s thirteen-month wedding trip from New York City through Western Europe. Many of the sites that the Pattons visited were religious in nature. During the journey, Rev. Patton rekindled friendships that he had established earlier with other clergyman. The couple visited England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.
Document 272.
Receipts. 1866–69.
27 items.
T. Patton worked in Newark, Ohio, possibly for the firm of Edward Franklin’s Sons.
Receipts record cash payments made for a wide variety of goods, including flint glass, cutlery, paper hangings, birdcages, toiletries, china, and earthenwares.
Collection 474.
Papers. 1805–13.
9 items; 26 cm.
Samuel Payson was born in East Sudbury, Massachusetts. He apparently lived for a time in Richmond, Virginia, but moved back to his native state and settled in Boston, where he worked as a furnituremaker.
Collection includes six letters from Payson’s friends in Richmond, one of which mentions patterns for woodworking tools; a tax bill; and an indenture for the lease of Fiske’s shop.
Collection 419.
Papers. 1784–1864.
2 boxes + 2 microfilm reels: ill.
A number of Peale family members, including Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) and James Peale (1749–1831), were prominent American painters.
Collection contains original manuscripts, approximately seventy black and white photographs of paintings by Peale family members, and two microfilm reels of Peale family sketchbooks and “News of the Painting Room,” in which Rembrandt Peale offers instructions for painting. Most of the original manuscripts are business letters concerning exhibitions, the transport of paintings, and works in progress. An essay by Rembrandt Peale entitled “Washington and his Portraits,” which he often delivered as a lecture, is included as well. Sketchbooks, most dating from 1800 to 1864, feature drawings in various media of landscapes, animals, insects, furniture, people, and flowers.
Finding aid available.
Original sketchbooks located at the American Philosophical Society; “News of the Painting Room” at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 396; Microfilm M915, M2051.
Sewing exercise book. Ca. 1880–1910.
59 p.; 21 cm.
Muriel Pearce’s signature appears in pencil at the top of the front cover; otherwise she is unidentified.
Consists of a series of nineteen sewing and mending exercises. Each includes handwritten instructions and the corresponding finished work (in muslin and other fabrics) is attached to the facing page.
Document 75.
Letter book. 1815–18.
172 p.; 34 cm.
Edward A. Pearson is listed as a “glass factor” in Boston city directories.
Volume contains letters Pearson sent as an agent for the Boston Glass Manufactory, soliciting business, conveying orders, and describing his firm’s products and shipping arrangements. (One satisfied customer was Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale College.) Pearson corresponded with people from New England and the southern colonies. His firm later became the parent company of the South Boston Flint Glass Works and the Chesterfield Glass Works.
Document 112.
Diary. 1905.
124 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
Ethan W. Pearson was an organist and baritone singer at the Free Baptist Church, South Berwick, Maine. He was also an amateur photographer.
At the heart of this diary is a discussion of a trip that Pearson took into the southern White Mountains. He includes good descriptions of the scenery and recounts his experiences creating a “rustic site” at a family residence. In addition, Pearson wrote about the Garrison House in Dover, New Hampshire, a local historic landmark.
Document 992.
Book of housekeeping. 1843.
22 p.; 16 x 20 cm.
Although F. Pearson’s residence is not identified, a watermark in her book suggests that she lived in or around York, Pennsylvania. She was a wife and mother.
Volume includes a complete record of household expenses for 1843.
Document 213.
Account books. 1684–1797.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Pearson family operated a fulling mill in Newbury and Rowley, Massachusetts. They also operated a gristmill and sawmill.
These two manuscripts include entries for a wide variety of items, including animals, building materials, firearms, food, furniture, hardware, plants, and textiles.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1965.1.
Autograph album. 1893.
1 vol.: ill.; 26 cm.
W. A. Pearsons was from Rutland, Vermont. He attended Eastman College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and graduated in 1893.
Album contains autographs of Pearsons’s fellow students and teachers. A few autographs are supplemented by words of friendship, and many are accompanied by small photo stamps with a portrait of the signer. Two illustrations of the college are also included.
Document 874.
Ledger. 1804–41.
441 p.; 41 cm.
Flavius Pease was a shoemaker in and around Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Manuscript documents Pease’s shoemaking and mending work. In some instances, customers supplied Pease with the raw materials needed to make their footwear.
Name index available.
Folio 135.
Daybook. 1847–48.
234 p.; 40 cm.
It would appear that Smith Peck, a native of Sandgate, Vermont, maintained this volume.
Daybook contains records of sales and payments on account of a Sandusky, Ohio, hatter. Various forms of headgear, including straw hats, oil silk caps, “musk” caps, fine silk hats, palm hats, skull caps, and glazed hats, are documented. Sales of shoes, muffs, bandboxes, slips, and gloves are mentioned.
Folio 15.
1 item: col. ill.
Peep show pulls out into a three-dimensional representation of a ceremony (perhaps a knighting) at Westminster Palace.
Collection 220.
Account book. 1757–66.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
Preserved Peirce was a merchant in Swansea, Massachusetts. Using his sloop, the Rosemary, Peirce sailed around Mount Hope Bay and along the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut selling woodenware, pewter, pottery, and the raw materials needed by potters and metalworkers.
Accounts document the sale of such products as glass, tea, needles, butter, sugar, pipes, paper, books, sewing supplies, and earthenware. The manuscript also includes itemized invoices addressed to Peirce’s trading partners.
Collection 220.
Imagerie d’Epinal. Ca. 1875.
60 leaves: col. ill.; 42 cm.
Pellerin was a publishing firm in Epinal, France, established in the early nineteenth century by Jean-Charles Pellerin. In 1854 Nicholas Pellerin, the founder’s son, assumed leadership of the business and expanded the scope of the materials that they published to include moral and didactic literature.
Volume includes sixty sixteen-panel cartoons that convey moralistic tales about the unfortunate consequences that befall ill-behaved children. A few stories recount such well-known tales as “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” A note reads: “Printed expressly for the Humoristic Publishing Co., Kansas City, Mo.”
Folio 13.
Account books. 1759–1852.
4 microfilm reels.
Elias Pelletreau worked as a silversmith on Long Island, New York.
Manuscripts document the working life of Pelletreau and also include accounts for sewing, pewter and brass work, and furniture. John and Charles Pelletreau maintained the last account book of the series, kept from 1801 to 1852, after Elias’s death.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at the East Hampton Free Library and the Long Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M712–M714, M1619.
Account book. 1756–1811.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
Elijah Pember was a carpenter and farmer from Ellington, Connecticut.
Pember made doors, tables, chests of drawers, benches, cradles for grain, and quilting frames. He also framed, shingled, and repaired wells. Manuscript also contains many references to various kinds of mills (cider, stone, and saw).
Name index available.
Folio 225.
Daybook. 1850–51.
161 p.; 39 cm.
Pembroke Iron Works was located in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Robert Watts, an employee, maintained this volume.
Manuscript records the daily activities of the company and its production of rails, nails, furnace parts, pumps, brass box patterns, and other items. Watts records payments to laborers for goods produced and hours worked. Watts tracked other expenses, including payments for insurance, shipping, travel, and raw materials.
Folio 129.
8 boxes.
Collection contains documents printed on watermarked papers and blank sheets of watermarked papers from England, Scotland, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Finding aid available.
Collection 68.
Papers. 1890–1936.
1 box: ill.
Philadelphia-based artist Joseph Pennell studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. One of the finest sketch artists of his time, he won numerous awards, illustrated many books, and wrote a number of manuals on book illustration. Pennell was an expert on James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Papers principally contain business letters from Pennell to arts administrators, discussing Pennell’s exhibitions, lectures, travel arrangements, reproductions of his works, and proposals for articles, exhibits, and lectures. Other letters record his thoughts on politics and mention the clubs to which he belonged. An article, “The Art of Charles Keene,” and a copy of a speech that he gave on the status of art are included in the papers as well.
Finding aid available.
Other Pennell manuscripts located at the Archives of American Art, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Rosenbach Museum and Library.
Collection 403.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1820–59.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
John Penniman was a Baltimore-based lithographer and artist active from 1835 to 1842. In 1842 Penniman relocated to New York City, where he remained until 1850. He was the son of John Ritto Penniman, a portrait and ornamental painter and lithographer. His own son, Horace Penniman, became an artist as well.
Album includes engravings of bank notes, horses, mythical and allegorical scenes, portraits, landscapes, advertisements, and title pages for various publications. This scrapbook may have served as a design source for all three generations of Pennimans.
Folio 46.
List of stockholders. 1830.
13 leaves; 20 cm.
Manuscript lists the names of people who were delinquent in paying for $3,636.00 in stock for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and notations recording the results of their attempts to settle accounts. Some of the more prominent names mentioned are Thomas Sully and members of the Peale family.
Document 1058.
Photographs. Ca. 1910.
12 items: ill.
The Pennsylvania Hospital was established in 1751. Construction of its building, designed by Samuel Rhoads, began in 1755.
Illustrations depict the interior and exterior of the hospital building from a number of perspectives.
Document 598.
Records. 1798–1886.
4 microfilm reels.
Peter and David Maulden Perine operated pottery firms in Baltimore under a variety of names.
Includes daybooks, workbooks, business and household account books, recipes, and miscellaneous records. Also contains an account book for Dr. Samuel Thomson’s medical practice and minutes and an account book of the Thomson Friendly Botanic Society of Maryland.
Summary of contents available.
Original manuscripts located at the Maryland Historical Society.
Microfilm M195–M198.
Notes and receipts. 1805–49.
305 p.; 28 cm.
George W. Perkins lived in Bridgewater and Boston, Massachusetts, and Augusta, Maine. He was involved in many surveying activities and land transactions in Maine.
Volume contains G. W. Perkins’s invoices, receipts, and records for the purchase of a wide range of domestic products and personal items and services. The volume opens with the sentence: “These papers give an idea of what it cost to live a hundred years ago.”
Document 242.
Recipe book. Ca. 1870–90.
23 p.; 16 cm.
Mary Perkins probably resided in Virginia. Her name and that of a Mrs. Ellis Perkins are mentioned in the manuscript.
Volume contains recipes for food, medicines, and cleaning supplies. There is a list of bed linens “brought from home when I went to housekeeping.”
Document 195.
Account books. 1838–44.
2 vols.; 34 cm.
Mason A. Perkins was a furnituremaker in Ticonderoga, New York. Inscriptions in his volume indicate that he worked with William Fitch, first as Fitch’s partner and later as his supervisor.
Manuscript accounts contain records of furnituremaking and records of both personal and professional expenses. Perkins’s outspoken nature prompted him to comment about a customer who “disputed my account which I know to be correct, therefore I now expunge the lousy, low lived scoundrel from my book by drawing black lines around the black hearted rascal’s name.”
Document 99.
Letter books. 1785–1822.
2 vols.; 33 cm.
Thomas Perkins was a merchant from Boston. He served as commissioner of the United States Loan Office in Boston from 1798 to 1804.
Volumes contain copies of letters to merchants and other individuals in the United States, England, continental Europe, and China. Among the topics discussed are the China trade, rules for commerce, recommendations for employment, and transactions with merchant houses. Part of the second volume pertains to activities of the United States Loan Office.
Document 761.
Wrifford’s writing books. 1815.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Mary Perley, a student from Massachusetts, used this volume to practice her handwriting exercises. The book includes poetry and a list of sermons that Perley had heard.
Document 703.
Papers. 1828–45.
3 microfilm reels.
George and P. F. Perry operated a general store and tin shop in Saxton’s River, Vermont.
Film includes letters, accounts, peddler’s records, insurance information, and general accounts referring to the business.
Summary of contents available.
Original manuscripts located at the Saxton’s River Historical Society.
Microfilm M2433–M2435.
Ledger. 1817–51.
256 p.; 33 cm.
Nathaniel Perry appears to have been a Boston-based machinist skilled in metal- and woodworking.
References are made to such activities as working on machine molds, installing window sashes in houses, whitewashing, turning handles, forging hammers, and designing patterns.
Document 718.
6 vols.; 15 cm.
The unidentified compiler of these volumes probably lived in Sussex County, New Jersey, and worked for a railroad.
Volumes record the cost of a variety of personal goods: clothing, food and drink, furniture, eyeglasses, house rent, and newspaper subscriptions. The writer traveled frequently, most often to New York, and seems to have supported a woman named Mame.
Document 1019.
1 vol.: ill.; 18 cm.
Volume of perspective drawings includes pencil and pen-and-ink depictions of geometric figures, houses and other buildings, trees, a railroad tunnel, and people. There are instructions for describing how to draw lines and shapes properly.
Document 878.
Account book. 1823–30.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Marshall Peterson, who appears to have been an agricultural laborer, lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Book contains a record of Peterson’s work as a day laborer: mowing, planting, shearing sheep, killing pigs, hauling, and plowing. The manuscript was probably intended to be used as an exercise book. Its front cover features an illustration of a gentleman strolling along with the aid of a walking stick, and the back cover includes a multiplication table, a list of the days of the week, and a variety of sayings.
Document 830.
18 items.
Includes petitions for licenses submitted to the Court of General Quarter, Session of the Peace, Cumberland County, New Jersey. Signed statements attest to the petitioner’s honesty and sobriety. Documents also indicate that petitioners owned two or more spare feather beds and could provide lodging, stabling, and dry animal feed.
Separate index of petitioner’s names, locations of taverns, and dates petitions were filed available.
Collection 175.
Drawings of lighting equipment. Ca. 1910.
24 items: ill.
The Pettingell-Andrews Company of Boston manufactured a variety of lighting fixtures that fell into one of three stylistic categories: colonial, English, French, or commercial. Production staff specialized in specific phases of the manufacturing process, such as modeling, chasing, spinning, plating, etching, and galvanizing.
Drawings and hand-colored tracings illustrate various fixtures drawn to one-quarter scale, including ceiling fixtures, electric chandeliers, electric brackets, and electric pendants. Drawings are numbered and correspond to illustrations printed in the firm’s trade catalogue.
Trade catalogue from Pettingell-Andrews in Printed Book and Periodical Collection.
Finding aid available.
Collection 166; Microfilm M3013.
Cookbook. 18--.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
The name E. A. Phelps appears on the inside front cover and on a loose piece of paper that is laid into the volume. Nothing is known about the individual.
Manuscript contains a number of recipes written by different hands. Most recipes are for cakes, cookies, puddings, jellies, and cordials.
Document 47.
Records of indentures. 1771–73.
1 microfilm reel.
John Gibson and William Fisher served successively as Philadelphia’s mayor when these records were kept.
Contains lists of apprentices and servants as well as German and other redemptioners (indentured servants).
Description included in Guide to the Archives and Manuscript Collections of the American Philosophical Society, compiled by Whitfield J. Bell and Murphy D. Smith, published in 1966, page 114.
Original documents located at the American Philosophical Society.
Microfilm M307.
Wills, county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1682–1875.
396 microfilm reels.
Index to this collection available separately and recorded on the first three reels.
Microfilm M959–M1355.
Surveys. 1752–1900.
12 microfilm reels.
Organized in 1752, the Philadelphia Contributionship was the first fire insurance company in America. It is still in existence.
Includes surveys, journals, minutes of directors’ meetings, a book indexing policies, architectural drawings, and a few building specifications.
Original manuscripts retained by the Philadelphia Contributionship.
Microfilm M32–M43.
Deeds and mortgages. 1682–1840.
165 microfilm reels.
Contains county tax assessment records kept from 1779 to 1812; state tax records kept from 1776 to 1854; deed books kept from 1682 to 1830; and mortgage books kept from 1736 to 1779.
Summary of contents available.
Original documents located at the Department of Records, Philadelphia.
Microfilm M492–M656.
Scrapbooks. 1950–54.
1 microfilm reel.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, located in Fairmount Park, was established in 1876. Its collection includes American painting and sculpture; decorative arts; Pennsylvania German arts; Indian, Far and Near Eastern, and European art; period room displays that re-create domestic settings from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries; and arms and armor.
Scrapbooks include clippings relating to the museum’s Diamond Jubilee of 1950, various exhibitions, and collection holdings.
Original materials retained by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Microfilm M741.1.
Daybooks. 1820–62.
2 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
Joseph Philbrick followed in the footsteps of his father and brother by becoming a potter. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, Joseph’s brother established the Philbrick Pottery in Norridgewock, a section of Skowhegan, Maine. After serving his apprenticeship, Joseph joined the family business in 1820. Records suggest that he assumed control of the business shortly thereafter. By 1850 only two people were employed at the pottery and its capital value amounted to $600.00. It specialized in the production redware and remained in existence until 1874.
Manuscripts record Philbrick’s work as a potter. His product line included chamber pots, teakettles, gallon jugs, many kinds of pots, and refuse ware. Daybooks include references to a number of Philbrick’s additional occupational pursuits: serving writs, carting, painting, and wallpapering. Evidence suggests that he may have operated a general store.
Folio 74.
Account book. 1796–1820.
376 p.; 31 cm.
Samuel Philbrick was a potter from Exeter, New Hampshire. He had three sons who followed him into the potterymaking business. He seems to have built barrels as well.
Item records the production and sale of various kinds of pottery, including jugs, mugs, bread pans, platters, and porringers. Many records refer to other area potters, including Jabez Dodge.
Photocopy of original manuscript located at the Exeter, New Hampshire, Historical Society.
Document 588.
Papers. 1869–94.
1 box.
Horace F. Phinney, from Centreville, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, came from a family of ship captains. As a young man, he moved to Boston and worked for Nicholson, Frost & Co., importers and dealers in crockery, china, and glassware. He remained with the firm for twenty or more years.
Most of this collection consists of letters to and from family members about family and personal news. There are business letters to Phinney from various retailers inquiring about items available from Nicholson, Frost & Co.; prices are often mentioned.
Finding aid available.
Collection 381.
Invoices. 1774–96.
35 items; 26 cm.
Stephen Phipps was a tailor from Philadelphia.
Invoices are mostly for the purchase of lumber (pine, oak, poplar, and cedar), sand, lime, nails, and screws. One bill documents work performed at his home and another documents a payment made for a chimney cleaning.
Collection 402.
24 p.: ill.; 15 cm.
Album contains twenty-four albumen prints of infants and children. The portraits were taken by many photographers from several geographical areas east of the Mississippi River.
Document 411.
1 vol.: ill.; 18 x 28 cm.
Consists of forty-seven black and white photographs of “scenes taken in vicinity of New Windsor, Orange County, N.Y., some taken in N.Y. City.” Included are photos of sailboats, a lumber wagon, two Hudson River mansions and their furnishings, young men and women, rural scenery along the Hudson River, a bridge over the Hudson near New York City, and Central Park.
Document 174.
112 p.: ill.; 25 x 32 cm.
Album contains more than three hundred photographs depicting scenes in Boston Harbor; the aftermath of fires in Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1889; the Victorian interior of the Trade Club of Boston; a parade honoring the Grand Army of the Republic; and the landscapes of several New England states. Approximately one-third of the photos include captions. Interior shots often include technical information recording camera exposure times and settings.
Document 160.
50 p.: ill.; 18 x 29 cm.
Consists of ninety-two photographs of historic sites in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and cemeteries in Arlington, Virginia (Arlington National Cemetery) and the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. (Oak Ridge Cemetery). Typed descriptions, many including the dates on which the photos were taken, accompany each photograph.
List of cities and towns pictured in album available.
Document 182.
2 vols.: ill.; 44 cm or smaller.
Volumes include photographs and blueprints of a large house located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. One volume features exterior shots and pictures of room settings. The other volume contains photos of furniture in the house. Colonial revival, arts and crafts, and medieval furniture styles are featured.
Collection 117.
47 leaves: ill.; 44 x 48 cm.
Album includes mounted black and white photographs of both the interior and exterior of a large structure in Palm Beach, Florida, identified as “Il Palmeto.” It was either a private mansion or a hotel decorated in the Spanish style.
Folio 45.
2 vols.: ill. (some col.); 30 cm. or smaller.
The first volume contains photos of Italian paintings and sculptures, primarily with religious themes. Artists are identified in most photos. The second volume contains portraits, houses, gravestones, statues, and landscape scenery from both Europe and the United States.
Document 632.
12 photoprints on glass slides + viewer: ill; 5 x 11 cm.
Collection includes twelve images of the Grand and Petit Trianons, their gardens, a mill, a milk cellar, a farm, the Temple of Love, and the music pavilion. A “viewer” device is meant to produce a three-dimensional effect.
Translation: Stereoscopic photographs on glass in warm tones; Versailles.
Collection 395.
8 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains photographs and stereopticon cards, most from the second half of the nineteenth century. A wide variety of photographic processes is represented, including collotypes, cyanotypes, platinotypes, albumen, and gelatin prints. Photos represent both amateur and professional work, snapshots and posed portraits. Many of the illustrations depict scenes of domestic life, such as furnished interiors and household artifacts. Others photos depict buildings, shop interiors, and views. The stereopticon cards feature both American and European views, interiors, and scenes from stage productions.
Finding aid available.
Collection 182.
10 items.
Photos depict Victorian-style furniture crafted from walnut and mahogany. Beds, bureaus, and washstands are featured. Each photo is numbered, suggesting that the images were used in a catalogue or for ordering purposes. Some depictions also feature the furniture’s dimensions and include brief textual descriptions.
Document 534.
74 items: ill.
Includes mounted photographs depicting various forms of seating furniture, including rockers, swivel chairs, a convertible chair that could be used either as a high chair or stroller, upholstered chairs, and folding chairs. Many photos include pencil notations of prices. A few are stamped “National Chair Manufacturing Co.”
Collection 344.
80 p.: ill.; 35 cm.
Contains photos of “cottage furniture” that include prices and notations of the woods used in construction. Many photos feature bedroom suites. Although the manufacturer’s name is not mentioned, it is probable that the volume was used to promote sales.
Folio 217.
60 items: ill.
These sixty mounted albumen prints illustrate furniture available for sale by either an antiques dealer or a reproduction furnituremaker from Boston. Items depicted include tables, candle stands, mirrors, wash stands, desks, bureaus, chests, and various kinds of chairs. Comments written in pencil on the prints feature prices, types of furniture, and woods used in construction. Photos were taken by Charles E. Beane. The name of Richard Allen, a clerk, is written on the back of each photo.
Collection 406.
29 leaves: ill.
Collection contains 185 variously sized, black and white photos of reproduction furniture that may have served as the basis for a sales catalogue. Most photos include at least one reference number. Furniture forms featured include chairs, daybeds, settees, tables, and benches. William and Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale, and neoclassical styles predominate.
Collection 138.
185 items: ill.
Photos were taken either for a catalogue or for ordering purposes. Furniture forms featured include desks, chairs, chests, shelving, tables, and headboards. Styles featured include mission, early English, and Louis XVI. Additional information, such as cost, the type of wood used to make a piece, and dimensions, is included for some items.
Collection 184.
35 items.
Many of the photographs were taken by Carl Klein and Brown Brothers, probably of New York City. The photographs were probably used by a vendor.
Oriental ceramics make up the bodies of the thirty-five lamps pictured. Photos include notations recording the selling prices, dimensions, and in most cases detailed descriptions of the lamps.
Collection 135.
6 items: ill.; 36 x 28 cm.
Mounted photos depict the living room, study, and dining room of a Philadelphia residence. Several decorative styles, including Chippendale, arts and crafts, and colonial revival, are featured.
Collection 136.
Papers. 1801–54.
.5 cu. ft.
Duncan Phyfe was a native of Loch Fannich, Scotland. He immigrated to America with his parents in 1783 and settled in Albany, New York. Sometime before 1792, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a highly successful furnituremaker until 1847. Phyfe counted many of New York’s leading citizens among his clients and employed nearly one hundred craftsmen at one point in his career. In 1837 two of Phyfe’s sons, William and James D., joined him in partnership and eventually took over the business.
Papers consist of bills and receipts for furniture made in Phyfe’s shop and an inventory of Phyfe’s estate that lists the contents of his home.
Finding aid available.
Collection 313.
8 microfilm reels.
Trade ephemera in this collection was compiled by Sir Ambrose Heal. Items relate to English workers and advertising. Some labels appear to be reproductions.
Alphabetical listing of occupations available.
Original labels and billheads located at the British Museum at the time of filming.
Microfilm M230–M237.
Account book. 1796–1805.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Jacob Pierce probably lived in Pennsylvania.
Account book documents income and expenses related to the estate of Jacob Pierce. Items purchased include clothes, food, hay, and advertisements for estate vendues. Corn, oats, buckwheat, and Pierce’s property were sold for a profit after his death.
Index of names at rear of volume.
Document 1070.
Legal papers. 1856–60.
31 items.
The firm of Pierce & Baldwin (Frederick Pierce and Warner Baldwin) made and sold furniture in Brandon, Vermont. The two men entered into partnership in an effort to revive the furnituremaking business founded by Frederick’s father, Rodney.
Collection contains papers relating to a lawsuit between Pierce & Baldwin and Abraham Clark and Levi Briggs, sheriff of Rutland County. The lawsuit related to a party defaulting on a promissory note, furniture being held on account, and, from Pierce & Baldwin’s point of view, a less than enviable settlement of another lawsuit. Documents include inventories, writs, referee’s reports, arguments, bills for court costs, and other documents.
Collection 459.
Checks. 1823–59.
33 items: ill.
Jonathan Pike owned a lumber and coal business in Providence, Rhode Island.
Checks, most dating from the 1850s, bear engraved illustrations. Images featured include ships, steamboats, coal mines, trains, George Washington, a farmer, blacksmith, and a steelworker. The work of several firms is represented, including G. H. Whitney of Providence; Benjamin Loring of Boston; and D. Bugbee & Co. of Bangor, Maine.
Collection 447.
Recipe book. 1847.
48 p.; 16 cm.
H. N. Pilsbury resided in Dedham, Massachusetts, when this recipe book was compiled.
Book includes recipes for various cakes, puddings, custards, and jellies. Also included are instructions for such domestic chores as polishing furniture, dyeing hair, removing grease from silk, and curing various maladies.
Document 275.
4 items: col. ill.
Drawings consist of watercolor depictions of people’s heads and other details along with pinpricks outlining their torsos and costumes. Each individual is either an actor or musician and is engaged in some kind of activity on a stage. The paper on which the drawings were made is very thin, resembling tracing paper.
Document 937.
1 item.
Handmade pincushion with maroon fabric at the top and sides. The cushion sits on a detachable base with small ball feet made of thread. An illustration of a girl is featured on the bottom of the object, which was made with a piece of cardboard taken from packaging for paper collars produced by the Lockwood Manufacturing Co.
Document 646.
Business records. 1787–91.
2 vols.; 34 cm. or smaller.
The Pine Grove Furnace was probably located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
The first volume is a daybook kept from 1788 to 1789, perhaps by John Arthur. It documents the products made at the furnace, including skillets, plates, castings for griddles, and castings for Franklin stoves. The second volume is a time book kept from 1787 to 1791. It records work accomplished at various locations within the furnace (the casting house, kitchen, blacksmith shop, etc.) and includes references to work agreements and information on hauling and driving teams.
Name index available.
Document 715.
Daybook. 1823–34.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
James F. Place was a tailor in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Place records making coats, pantaloons, and suits and cutting vests, capes, and coats. He also records that he repaired pants and sold sewing supplies.
Document 524.
Receipts. 1800–1804.
20 items.
Daniel Plummer was a constable in southeastern New Hampshire.
Receipts, addressed to Plummer, are for items seized by writs of attachment. They name the people involved in the proceedings, list property to be forfeited, and the value of the goods. Items mentioned include beds, a table, bedding, and livestock.
Collection 515.
Approx. 20 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of printed and handwritten poems. It consists of both original poems and famous works copied for inclusion in the collection. Some pages are illustrated or decorated in some way.
Finding aid available.
Collection 324.
Copybook. 1821.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Volume includes handwriting exercises that Poor practiced when she was a student. Because there is a stationer’s label for E. Stedman, Newburyport, Massachusetts, on the front cover, she may have been from that area. The cover features an illustration of chickens and hens outside a barn.
Document 834.
Daybook. 1858–61.
215 p.; 34 cm.
Napoleon B. Pope was a tinsmith from Bordentown, New Jersey.
Volume records daily sales and payments for a number of metal goods, including tin pipe, lamps, pans, parlor ash sifters, cake turners, tea caddies, and nails. At least three different hands contributed entries to the volume. A notation made on June 14, 1861, states that all assets and debts were transferred from Pope to Hudson S. Ellis.
Document 105.
Invoices and receipts. 1799–1845.
12 items: ill.; 26 cm.
William Porter appears to have been a physician who lived in Southampton, Massachusetts.
Collection contains bills and receipts addressed to William Porter for hardware, silverware, jugs, mirrors, furniture, wallpaper, and spectacles.
Collection 423.
1 game (64 cards): ill.
“E. I. H.,” which may refer to E. I. Horsman of New York City, is written within a lozenge-shaped design. There are no other indications of its maker.
An educational card game in which the players try to assemble groups of cards containing lithographed portraits and printed biographical sketches of thirty-two nineteenth-century authors.
Document 89.
52 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
Contains three hundred Christmas greetings, the majority of which depict Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, or Father Christmas. The cards, printed in the United States, Germany, and England, are postmarked between 1906 and 1917. They were probably collected in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Document 27.
Approx. 520 items: ill.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of both photographic and picture postcards. The majority of illustrations feature views of the United States and Canada produced between 1900 and 1930. Many depict gardens or domestic architecture. Of the foreign postcards, the majority illustrate Germany during the pre–World War I era. Some of the cards were produced as advertisements. A number of cards were manufactured as sets. The picture postcards include greeting cards, reproductions of works of art, and humorous cards. Among the well-known publishers represented are the Detroit Publishing Co., the Albertype Co., and Raphael Tuck and Sons.
Finding aid available.
Collection 274.
Approx. 300 items: ill. (chiefly col.); 50 x 50 mm. or smaller.
This artificial (and still open) collection includes poster stamps, sometimes referred to as cinderellas, that advertise products used in the home, leisure activities, and personal goods. Many promotional stamps feature landmarks of American cities. Many stamps are colorful and reflect contemporary design styles. Some of the artists whose work is represented in the collection are Charles H. Stone, F. S. Church, F. G. Cooper, and Franklin Bittner.
Finding aid available.
Collection 408.
Notebooks. 1899–1923.
Jewell Irwin Potter was an engraver from Oneida, New York. He worked for the Oneida Silverware Manufacturing Company and later for William A. Rogers, Limited. In 1906 Potter joined the Brotherhood of Silverworkers of America, though he became disenchanted with the organization and eventually quit. In his leisure time, Potter took part in Masonic activities, played the organ, and bottled wine.
Notebooks record Potter’s engraving work. He engraved flatware, trophies and cups, a seventy-two piece heirloom tea set, ice pitchers, and other items. He recorded details of Rogers, Ltd.’s takeover of Oneida. He also recorded information about efforts to unionize labor in the silverworking trade in the early twentieth century. There are no volumes for the years 1914–17.
Finding aid available.
Collection 110.
Exercise book. 1820.
140 p.; 36 cm.
Exercise book with a cover decorated with wallpaper. Its pages contain mathematical exercises, including problems in basic arithmetic, weights and measures, fractions, proportions, and buying and selling stock.
Document 791.
1 microfilm reel.
The potter who compiled this receipt book is not identified, though evidence suggests that he may have been from Dillwyn, England.
Manuscript contains formulas for producing glassware, ceramic bodies, and glazes.
Original manuscript located at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Microfilm M1414.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
The poundkeeper’s records were probably kept by Charles H. Washburn and Osgood Robertson. The name of the diarist is unknown, though she is known to have resided in Otisfield, Maine.
The poundkeeper’s part of this manuscript, kept from 1855 to 1876, consists of a series of agreements for keeping horses, cattle, and sheep. The diary, kept from 1897 to 1898, records a woman’s household tasks, domestic purchases, information about the education of her children, family health, a description of a blizzard in 1898, and other personal notations.
Document 508.
Business papers. 1724–78.
33 items.
Members of the Powel family were Quaker merchants and shippers from Philadelphia. Samuel Powel and his son, also named Samuel, were involved in trade with other mercantile firms in Europe and the West Indies. Both men died in the late 1750s and passed on a sizable fortune to Samuel Powel III. Samuel III managed the family investments, served as Philadelphia’s last colonial mayor, and was active in political and civic affairs until his death in 1793.
Includes manuscripts relating to the affairs of the ship Tryall, business letters, an invoice book recording goods bought in London in 1724 and 1725, a daybook dating from 1735 to 1739 listing transactions relating to a range of household products and personal goods, a receipt book documenting day labor performed for Samuel III, and some legal documents.
Invoice book contains name index.
Finding aid available.
Collection 232.
Account books. 1800–ca. 1809, 1839–86.
Stephen Powell was a tailor in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It appears that he lived in Tyringham and later in New Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Powell cut various patterns and made a number of garments, including coats, pantaloons, vests, sailor’s jackets, great coats, overalls, flannel drawers, and woolen shirts. Powell also made alterations to clothes and sold sewing supplies. Another Stephen Powell, presumably a son, used the second volume to record his lumbering activities.
Folio 50.
Papers. Ca. 1855–1869.
12 items: ill.; 26 cm.
Sculptor Hiram Powers was born in Vermont and spent his early youth in Ohio. He first sculpted out of wax while an employee of Dorfeuille’s Western Museum in Cincinnati. Powers moved to Washington in 1834 after securing the patronage of Nicholas Longworth. In 1837 he and his family relocated to Europe. Powers spent the rest of his life in Florence, Italy.
Papers include correspondence and photographs of Powers and his works dating from his years in Florence.
Collection 400.
Letters. 1910–17.
19 items: ill. (some col.)
N. C. Powers lived in White River Junction, Vermont.
Letters contain orders for household goods placed by N. C. Powers and advertisements for new items available for sale. Bookcases, toilets, swings, camping furniture, wallpaper, desks, upholstered furniture, mattresses, mirrors, and lamps are mentioned. All of the letters feature illustrative vignettes. The firms represented in the letters were based in Boston, New York, and Chicago.
Collection 435.
Copybook. 1740, 1752.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Book contains sample letters bearing the date 1740, including a letter from a nobleman to a schoolmaster (with a reply), sympathy letters, a letter to a king, etc. Some poems are recorded as well. The volume bears a Dutch excise stamp.
Document 606.
Account book. 1730–68.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Thomas Pratt was a chairmaker in Malden, Massachusetts. His wife was Lydia Lyndie.
Book records Pratt’s chairmaking and woodworking activities. He engaged in fixing handles on tools, repairing plows, mending wheels, and fixing wiring carriers to make spinning wheels work. There are also references to weaving.
Document 917.
Daybook. 1831–40.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Pratt & Allen were shoemakers from Boston.
This volume records Pratt & Allen’s activities making and mending shoes for the year 1831. The majority of the book, however, contains diary entries and recipes for medicines.
Document 494.
Papers. 1835–1975, bulk 1835–65.
76 items.
Papers relate to James Pratt (1810–65) and members of his family. Pratt lived in Springfield, Maine, and later moved to Skowhegan. He was a carpenter and self-proclaimed “peacekeeper.”
Collection includes bills and receipts relating to household purchases, Pratt’s carpentry records, papers referring to Pratt’s work as a peacekeeper, several deeds for property in Somerset County, Maine, letters—principally from Pratt’s two sons, Henry and Charles—about family matters, and a few miscellaneous manuscripts, including a family register on a lithograph by Nathaniel Currier.
Collection 314.
Account book. 1851–56, 1885–1902.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
Volume was first used by William Praul, a worker on a road crew in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was later used by David C. Praul, a watchmaker.
Manuscript reflects both men’s personal and professional expenses. William’s section contains household accounts; David’s section records his work wiring barns and working on telephones, in addition to his watchmaking activities.
Partial name index at front of volume.
Folio 224.
Exercise book. 1803.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Contains arithmetic problems, many of which relate to the calculation of prices and discounts. Word problems provide examples of barter.
Document 793.
Interiors of a house built in 1692. Ca. 1890s.
11 p.: ill.; 13 x 18 cm.
B. Taylor Prescott lived in Pennsylvania on an estate that he called Rollins Farm.
Eleven photographs depict interiors of a Pennsylvania farmhouse taken in the 1890s. Depictions feature both furnishings and architectural elements. Views of the parlor, the dining room, the kitchen, the library, and bedrooms are all included.
Document 857.
20 cards: ill.; 12 cm.
Flashcards contain black and white portraits of the first twenty United States presidents. Each card lists the birthdate, birthplace, and date of death for each president. J. H. Bufford printed the cards and the A. B. Chase Art Gallery of Narwalk, Ohio, used them for advertising purposes.
Collection 220.
Correspondence. 1833–34.
25 items.
William B. Preston was the postmaster for Menallen, Pennsylvania, in 1833. He studied for the bar and moved to Baltimore in 1834.
Preston was the recipient of all of the letters in the collection. Several relate to post office business. Others refer to contemporary American political matters, canals, farms, and the landscapes of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Document 317.
Journal. 1774.
1 microfilm reel.
Augustine Prévost was the Governor pro tempore of the colony of Pennsylvania.
Journal is a record of a four-month trip that Prévost made to Pennsylvania to recruit men for the First Battalion of the Royal Americans and to see George Croghan about Croghan’s real estate interests. Prévost met with little success in either endeavor.
Further discussed on page 116 of A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, editedby John W. Raimo (Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1979).
Original manuscript located at the London Library, England.
Microfilm M739.
Diary. 1832–1908.
Henry Edward Price was an inmate of the workhouse at Warminster, Wiltshire. In May 1842, he was sent to the United States under the poor law emigration scheme. He returned to England in 1848 and, two years later, began a career as a furnituremaker in Islington.
Written some years after the events occurred, Price discusses his voyage to America and his employment in New York City as a varnisher, polisher, and furnituremaker. He also recorded his observations of the installation of the telegraph in New York, P. T. Barnum, racial segregation, and mesmerism.
Further discussed on page 114 of A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, editedby John W. Raimo (Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1979).
Original located at the Islington Central Library, London.
Microfilm M734.
Album of tatting instructions. 1904.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Contains fourteen samples of tatting and handwritten instructions for making each type. Most are examples for edges and insertions. A few include specific designations, either for a towel, collar, or bag.
Document 832.
Postcard album. 1906–56.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 28 cm.
Mrs. William S. Prickett lived in Wilmington, Delaware.
Volume contains ninety postcards depicting views in Europe, Canada, and the eastern United States. Some have been hand colored.
Folio 84.
Daybook. 1842–47, 1860–61.
107 p.; 19 cm.
Hiram Prier made boots and lived on a farm near Brookfield, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the daily activities of a bootmaker, shoe repairman, and farm laborer.
Document 438.
Scrapbooks and card files. 1917–60.
25 vols. + 20,000 cards: ill.
Phoebe Phillips Prime was an expert on early silver objects. She continued the work of her late husband, Alfred Coxe Prime, who died in 1926, by assembling information on eighteenth-century artisans. Prime wrote Three Centuries of Historic Silver (Philadelphia: Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1938).
Volumes in collection contain clippings from newspapers and magazines, antique dealers’ advertisements, illustrations of art objects, and a few exhibition catalogues. There are a number of volumes related to furniture, china, glass, and silver. Another album records marks of American silversmiths. Still another contains photographs of trade cards and newspaper advertisements by eighteenth-century American artisans.
Card files record information culled from city directories on eighteenth-century Philadelphia craftspeople and material on New England and Middle Atlantic artisans taken from newspapers dated from 1730 to 1800.
Various indexes available.
Card files located in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection.
Collection 187.
4 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains more than sixteen hundred printed bills and billheads representing a wide variety of products related to household activities and products. Bills refer to house furnishings, toys, games, jewelry, gas appliances, hardware, clothing, and soap. Most bills are from the eastern United States; a few are from Europe.
A listing of firms, addresses, dates, printers, buyers, subjects, and descriptions of items bought is available.
Collection 71.
80 p.; 22 x 29 cm.
Consists of 304 colorful swatches of challis, a soft wool or wool-cotton cloth, in varying sizes (the largest is 25 by 18 cm). A printed label from a French papermaker and bookbinder is pasted in.
Collection 50.
Account book. 1869–71.
80 p.; 35 x 10 cm.
The Prize Churn Co. made and marketed churns in Maine, perhaps Bath. They sold to wholesalers and operated a retail shop. The company either changed its name or was bought out by Mayers, Sanford & Co.
Volume includes expenses incurred from operation of the shop, costs of materials for making churns, amounts paid in wages, the number of churns sold and the names of buyers, and how churns were paid for.
Document 237.
Ledger and daybook. 1834–65.
1 microfilm reel.
Leonard Proctor sold and perhaps made furniture in Hartwick, New York, for more than thirty years.
Accounts relate to Proctor’s furniture business.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at the New York Historical Association.
Microfilm M665.
1 box: ill.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains programs for such events as orations, operas, award ceremonies, plays, dances, pageants, and commencements. Also included are dance cards.
Collection 473.
Daybook. 1813–34.
1 microfilm reel.
Daniel Proud was a furnituremaker in Providence, Rhode Island.
Accounts in Proud’s daybook detail the daily transactions relating to his furnituremaking business.
Original manuscript located at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M2858.10.
Ledger. 1782–1825.
2 microfilm reels.
William Proud was a furnituremaker in Providence, Rhode Island.
Accounts in Proud’s ledger detail the transactions relating to his furnituremaking business.
Original manuscript located at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Microfilm M2856, M2858.11.
Account book. 1677–87.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Pudetor was a blacksmith in Salem, Massachusetts.
Accounts in this volume relate to Pudetor’s professional and household expenses. He mentions the purchase of metals, food, hardware, agricultural implements, and textiles tools.
Original manuscript located at the Essex Institute Library.
Microfilm M2027.3.
Daybook. 1889–93.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Newton B. Pumphrey was a tinsmith in Sublette, Illinois.
Manuscript records the variety of tin objects that Pumphrey made and repaired, including pots, dippers, pails, washers, boilers, and stove pipe. Daybook entries note dates of transactions, names of customers, prices, and brief descriptions of work performed.
Document 865.
Autograph album. 1845–47.
1 vol.; 14 cm.
Edward Pusey, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, attended Prospect Hill Boarding School.
Contains “a list of names and places of residence of the students of Prospect Hill B.S. during the summer of 1845” and during the winter of 1846/47. Entries are written in a number of hands, probably those of Pusey’s classmates.
Document 801.
Copybook. 1854.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Consists of student handwriting exercises in a volume called “Pictorial Writing Book.” The front cover features an illustration of a parrotlike bird and the back cover features a picture of a lynx.
Document 819.
Papers. Ca. 1940–70.
32 boxes.
Russell J. Quandt was a painting conservator who worked for both private collectors and institutions. He began his training with Caroline Keck during the late 1940s. He concentrated on treating American works, especially those of the Hudson River School and the primitives.
Collection contains treatment reports, correspondence with other conservators, technical data, and photographs and negatives of many of the paintings Quandt treated. The photos often record the item before, during, and after treatment.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 59.
1 vol.: ill.; 13 cm.
Volume is a scrapbook containing quilt block designs primarily in the form of newspaper and magazine clippings. Titles of designs include Columbia, Log Cabin, Bride’s Knot, Lost Ship Pattern, Uncle Sam’s favorite, and Star of Texas.
Document 440.
Account book and diary. 1663–1750s, bulk 1663–93.
1 microfilm reel.
Edmund Quincy was an early settler of Massachusetts. He arrived with his family in 1633. His first wife, Joanna Hoar, died in 1680, and he soon remarried Mrs. Elizabeth Gookin Eliot. One of their children, also named Edmund (1681–1737), graduated from Harvard, became a judge, served in a local regiment, and died in London while serving on a commission to determine the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Manuscript, most of which is written in the hand of Edmund Quincy, records the family’s financial transactions. Later entries were written by Quincy’s son, Edmund, who recorded family genealogy.
Microfilm M88.
Travel diary. 1858.
9 p.; 18 cm.
Nothing is known of Sarah A. Quincy beyond what is revealed in this travel account. It chronicles her three-week journey through Portland, Maine, to Canada, Niagara Falls, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, and back to New England. She commented about several places: the falls at Niagara, high mass at a Montreal cathedral, the White House and other government sites in Washington, New York’s Central Park, and a Quaker meeting in Philadelphia.
Document 1027.
Papers. 1856–62.
1 folder.
R. Hoe & Co. were machinists, pressmakers, and sawmakers who operated in both New York City and Boston..
Collection includes letters and receipts that document interactions between the firm and its customers. Most letters concern orders, shipping, and payments. Goods mentioned include saws, gunning or riffling machines, hammers, springs, and planers.
Collection 468.
Ledger. 1791–96.
459 p.; 42 cm.
Michael Rahm and John Baum operated a general store in the borough of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, beginning around 1790. Rahm also operated a hotel.
Ledger records the debits and credits accrued in the general store and includes records of sales for the wide variety of commodities that Rahm & Baum carried.
Name index available.
Folio 21.
Receipt book. 1800–1818.
1 microfilm reel.
Alexander Ramsey worked in the construction business in Philadelphia.
Consists chiefly of building accounts for construction materials used to erect private dwellings.
Brief name list available.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M882.
Account book. 1794–1817.
122 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
Peter Ranck was a joiner, furnituremaker, and innkeeper from Jonestown, Pennsylvania. One of Ranck’s sons, Peter Jr., became a furnituremaker as well.
Manuscript records Peter Ranck’s early work as a joiner, his furnituremaking activities, and some information about his innkeeping. Included are references to case furniture, tables, corner cabinets, and other furniture forms, and detailed sketches of designs that Ranck presumably executed.
Volume contains entries written in English and German. For a complete English version, see “The Account Books of Two Pennsylvania German Furniture makers,” by Alan Keyser and others (Kutztown, Pa.: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1978).
Document 708.
Bills. 1839–56.
7 items; 24 cm.
William A. Randall was from Boston.
Bills record the purchases of furniture, glassware, porcelain, pottery, pots and pans, and textiles. Quantities and types of items purchased (such as 64 yards of sheeting, 10 fancy tea sets, 6 creamers, etc.) suggest that he may have kept boarders.
Document 1018.
Account book. 1763–87.
1 box + 2 microfilm reels.
Benjamin Randolph was a leading colonial furnituremaker, gilder, and carver. He was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and, by the time his career had begun, was a resident of Philadelphia. Operating from his Chestnut Street shop, the Golden Eagle, Randolph produced many kinds of furniture. Among his customers were many prominent Philadelphia residents. He retired in 1782, returning to live near Burlington, New Jersey, until his death.
Collection includes a receipt book (both in manuscript form and microfilmed) used from 1763 to 1777, an account book (microfilmed) kept from 1767 to 1787, and two bills, all relating Randolph’s business and household finances. In addition there are letters and orders relating to Randolph’s interest in the iron furnace located at Speedwell, New Jersey.
Name indexes available.
Original account book located at the New York Public Library.
Collection 337; Microfilm M7, M1406.
Sundry memos of R. Randolph, Esq. 1835–37.
17 p.; 16 cm.
R. Randolph traveled through Europe, Asia, and Africa with a Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Haight and their servants.
Information in this manuscript includes a list of cities that Randolph visited and a record of money that he spent. Among the countries Randolph and his companions visited were Germany, Sweden, Russia, Egypt, Syria, France, and England. While much of Randolph’s expenses were for accommodations and personal items, he included a number of entries recording other purchases for such items as engravings, lithographs, clocks, and lamps.
Document 775.
2 microfilm reels.
These 214 inventories were selected at random from the probate files in the Delaware State Archives as a cross section of estates settled in colonial Kent County.
Typed version also available.
Microfilm M2835–M2836.
Album of 25 drawings. Ca. 1510.
1 microfilm reel.
Raphael (Raffael Santi) was a Renaissance Italian painter, architect, and sculptor.
Drawings, mostly of unidentified buildings and antique statues, were purchased in Rome by Thomas Coke, first earl of Leicester, in 1716.
Discussed in Raphael d’Urbin et son père, Giovanni Santi, by J. D. Passavant, volume 2, pages 517–522.
Drawings owned by the current earl of Leicester at time of filming.
Microfilm M846.
Recipe book. Ca. 1810–40.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Andrew S. Rappe’s family emigrated from France to America in 1808 and settled in Canton, Ohio. This volume is attributed to a Grandmother Rappe, perhaps Andrew’s wife.
Consists of recipes for food, medicine, and household concoctions, including soap, pastries, puddings, sweets, and fabric dyes. There are instructions for mending china, preparing wine, and varnishing furniture to resemble a mahogany finish.
Caption title: Various Recipes, 1830.
Document 512.
Receipts on dyeing. 1815–17.
74 p.; 31 cm.
John Rauch was an industrial dyer. During his career he worked in Switzerland, France, Germany, and America. He invented a substitute for woad, a European herb used to create blue dyes.
William Pierpont II printed most of Rauch’s recipes in Receipts on Dyeing: a Series of Letters to a Friend … , first published in 1815. Manuscript includes sixty-four letters detailing the production of commercial dyes for use with wool and cotton and contains the letter describing the substitute for woad. This letter was omitted from the printed version.
Document 308.
Price list. Ca. 1830s.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
John Rawson was a dealer of metalwares in Skipton, England.
List records prices for a variety of metal objects sold by Rawson: copper saucepans, iron drip pans, glass “lanthorns,” and candlesticks.
Document 921.
Research papers. 1905–52.
6 boxes + 7 vols.: ill.
Percy Edward Raymond graduated from Cornell in 1902. From 1904 to 1910, he served as assistant curator in charge of invertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. By 1929 he was a full professor at Harvard. He wrote many articles on paleontology, stratigraphy, and sedimentation. Raymond studied pewter in his spare time. He was instrumental in founding the Pewter Club of America.
Collection deals with all aspects of pewter and its makers. Included are research notes, drafts of many of Raymond’s talks and articles, correspondence, clippings, and photographs.
Finding aid available.
Collection 63.
Account book. 1799–1801, 1805–11.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
John Read was a lawyer, financier, and philanthropist from Philadelphia. He graduated from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton, in 1787 and then studied law in his father’s office in New Castle, Delaware. Read was admitted to the bar in 1791. From 1794 to 1809, he served as Agent General of the United States. A Federalist, Read held a number of elective offices. From 1819 to 1841, he was president of the Philadelphia Bank. He also served a number of corporations in various capacities.
Read used the first part of his manuscript to record his official accounts as Agent General from 1799 to 1801. The second part of the manuscript, kept from 1805 to 1811, contains personal accounts and household expenses.
Name index available.
Folio 236.
Letters. 1849–69.
25 items + 1 microfilm reel.
Thomas Buchanan Read was a portraitist, historical painter, and poet. Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Read was apprenticed to a tailor in 1835. He soon ran away, first to Philadelphia and then to Cincinnati, and became a ship and sign painter. In 1840, after having developed his talents as an artist, Read received a commission to paint a portrait of William Henry Harrison. One year later, he moved to Boston, where he befriended Washington Allston and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Read then lived in Philadelphia, and in 1850 he took his first of many trips to Europe. Read was active for the Union cause during the Civil War. After the war, he resided mainly in Italy.
Letters on microfilm concern exhibitions, prices for artwork, and other business matters. Original manuscripts are letters from Read to Philadelphia art collector and patron James Claghorn, written between 1853 and 1855, that document his life as an artist in Florence, Italy. Some of these letters refer to his work as a poet.
Microfilm versions of manuscripts located at the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
Collection 452; Microfilm M1955.
Account book. 1828–31.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
The Read family lived in Trenton, New Jersey.
Manuscript records household expenses and documents the purchase of such domestic items as groceries, a tea set, plates, chintz, and lace. Some entries feature detailed descriptions of items that decorated the Read home.
Document 930.
Approx. 270 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains deeds, leases, mortgages, and bills of sale for real estate. Most of the material relates to property located in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Of particular note is a group of seventy-five deeds and bills of sale from Washington, D.C., dating from 1810 to 1865. Many items in this collection also include lists of personal property.
Finding aid available.
Collection 292.
Engineering drawings. 1875, 1877.
20 items: col. ill.
William B. Reaney was an engineer and architect in Philadelphia.
Includes drawings for the Canton, Maryland, grain elevator and for the Northern Central Railway of Pennsylvania. Plans, sections, elevations, and details are drawn to scale.
Finding aid available.
Collection 349.
1 box.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains receipts for household products and personal items. Such things as house furnishings, clothing, pottery, textiles, and food are mentioned. A vast majority of the receipts date from the nineteenth century.
Finding aid available.
Collection 149.
10 leaves; 20 cm.
Evidence suggests that the unnamed woman who maintained this volume may have been part of the Pennsylvania German community.
Book contains instructions for making baked goods and medicinal mixtures.
Document 1020.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Contains recipes for making such things as gold powder, red sealing wax, and adhesive cement; instructions for repairing broken china, removing spots from fabric, and engraving on ceramic items; and directions for staining to imitate tortoise shell.
Document 320.
18 p.; 17 cm.
Contains recipes for cakes, macaroons, gingerbread, puff paste, tart paste, buns, biscuits, jellies, custard, and wines.
Document 797.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Includes handwritten recipes for such foods as puddings, breads, biscuits, muffins, pies, jelly, syrup, and wines. Also included are remedies for illnesses and notes for making paint, ink, and fabric dye.
Document 270.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Consists of recipes for producing a variety of dyes and directions for making cleaning agents and medicines.
Document 797.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Kept by either a doctor or druggist, this book contains recipes to treat a wide range of ailments, including pain in the breast, nervous irritability with wandering pains, congestion, and cuts and wounds. In addition, there are instructions for making such things as cheek rouge and shoe blackening paste.
Text partially written in German.
Document 756.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Inscribed “From Old Lane House (John Norton House) attic, Hingham, Ma.,” this slim volume contains recipes for breads, cakes, cookies, puddings, pies, and meats.
Document 701.
1 vol.; 13 cm.
Includes recipes for cakes, cookies, meat pies, puddings, and wine jelly.
Document 858.
22 p.; 20 cm.
Includes recipes for cakes, cake filling, frosting, pudding, and preserves.
Document 902.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Volume includes handwritten recipes for cookies, cakes, candy, doughnuts, puddings, pickles, and preserves. There are also medical remedies for such maladies as bloody noses, cancer, and snake bites. The volume contains instructions for dyeing fabric and other household hints.
Document 416.
1 vol.; 15 cm.
Consists of manuscript recipes for such foods as snow pudding, baked bean soup, coffee jelly, bird’s nest toast, milk bread, boiled salad dressing, spiced fish, and Boston cookies.
Document 265.
48 p.; 20 cm.
Contains manuscript and printed instructions for cooking food, creating medicinal cures, and managing a household. Recipes are primarily for desserts. There are directions for curing hams and for making candles, canvas, paint, wool dye, and furniture polish. A cure for cancer and a recipe for an eyewash are also included.
Document 973.
1 vol.; 18 x 11 cm.
Consists of recipes for food and medicine and household hints. Includes directions for relieving dyspepsia, making plaster, mixing cheap paint for floors, cleaning carpets, and preparing puddings, breads, biscuits, fritters, and jelly rolls.
Document 538.
16 p.; 16 cm.
Contains medical and veterinary cures as well as instructions for cleaning wool and directions for making applesauce.
Document 838.
Approx. 50 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of miscellaneous manuscript and printed recipes for food, household products, and medicines as well as directions for dyeing, varnishing, painting, and making glue.
Finding aid available.
Collection 323.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
Includes cooking recipes, advice on medical cures, and directions for making a shirt. The manuscript is of English origin.
Document 390.
5 vols.
This artificial collection consists of five record books documenting legal matters handled by justices of the peace in southeastern Pennsylvania. Such matters as summonses, disputes between parties, dockets, and pleas as well as abstracts of cases are represented. Includes records from Bethel Township, Earl Township, Fredericksburg, Womelsdorf, and Myerstown.
Index available.
Collection 303.
1 microfilm reel.
Includes miscellaneous letters, invoices, cargo lists, bills of lading, and other documents referring to ships sailing to China; letters from an American consul in China; and an account of a trip to Canton by someone named Charles Frederick Waldo.
Summary available.
Original materials located at the Peabody Museum and Essex Institute.
Microfilm M108.
1 microfilm reel.
The fire occurred in Boston on March 20, 1760.
Records include inventories of losses, a list of taxes paid by individuals who suffered losses, a list of contributors to a relief fund, and a list of people who incurred losses with their compensation.
Name index available.
Original materials located at the Boston Public Library.
Microfilm M298.
1 microfilm reel.
Includes lists of people bound as apprentices and marriage records for residents of Philadelphia.
Mentioned in Guide to the Municipal Archives of the City and County of Philadelphia, published in 1957.
See entry number 275.
Original records located at the Department of Records of the City of Philadelphia.
Microfilm M308.
20 microfilm records.
The towns represented in this collection, all located to the west of Boston, are Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln.
Included are records of taxes and assessments, selectmen and town meetings, committee reports, constables’ warrants, records of poor houses, petitions, proprietors, and highways. Vital records already in letterpress have not been included on these microfilms.
Constitutes part of a larger series called Early Massachusetts Records, available through a commercial vendor.
Microfilm M1535–M1554.
Account book. 1829–44.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Daniel S. Redfield was a cabinetmaker in Guilford, Connecticut, who also briefly maintained a store.
Volume records what Redfield made, repaired, and sold, including a clotheshorse, desks, coffins, tables, bedsteads, chairs, windows, and cupboards. He maintained accounts with Samuel Weld for shoemaking and repair.
Document 352.
Autograph album. 1876–80.
52 leaves: col. ill.; 20 cm.
Ralph W. Redman received this volume from his grandfather, G. T. Gilkey. Because the autographs note locations of either Bucksport or Islesboro, Redman probably lived in Maine.
Inscriptions express sentiments of friendship and sadness at parting. They appear on blank interleaved pages of Happy Child Life in Pictures, by Oscar Pletsch (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1875).
Document 37.
Papers. 1821–94.
33 items: ill. (some col.)
Ann Eliza Reed’s father, Rev. Eliphalet Reed, was an itinerant preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. She graduated from the Wesleyan Female Collegiate Institute in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1841. One year later she married Dr. Robert Bowes, who died in a horse and buggy accident twenty years after that. The Boweses had no children.
Most of this collection consists of drawings and watercolors that Reed made as a student in the Wesleyan Institute. The collection also contains her diploma, magazine and newspaper cutouts, a copy of a temperance newspaper, and other miscellaneous items.
Collection 148.
The Massachusetts register, 1799. 1873?
1 vol.; 14 cm.
Consists of a printed book, The Massachusetts Register, with handwritten notes at the back of the volume. Annotations record the arrivals and departures of ships, the weather, and such activities as dining and sweeping the parlor and kitchen. The inscription “M. P. Robinson, Boston, 1873,” is written on the first page along with the note “bought of J. Harris Reed, Oct. 1873.”
Document 247.
Account book. 1803–45.
84 p.; 33 cm.
William Reed was a cabinet- and chairmaker from Hampden, Maine.
Entries in Reed’s account book document his professional activities making and repairing chairs, tables, looking glass frames, stands, plain and painted furniture, desks, and clocks. Most of his work was done in exchange for goods or services. Several food recipes are written in the back of the volume.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 363.
2 vols.; 36 cm.
The doctor who maintained these registers, perhaps John Schoenfeld, treated patients from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Manuscripts contain patient records, including names, the medicines and doses prescribed, and costs of visits.
Name indexes available.
Folio 207.
Photograph album. Ca. 1920s.
1 vol.: ill.; 42 x 30 cm.
Howard C. Reifsnyder collected furniture over a thirty-year period and amassed a wide variety of Philadelphia-made pieces. His collection was auctioned in 1929.
Album contains photographs of Reifsnyder’s collection of colonial American furniture and decorative art objects.
Folio 87.
87 p.; 17 cm.
The keeper of this diary was from Buffalo, New York. The diary frequently mentions the names Mary and Etta, who may have been relatives.
Manuscript records the activities and impressions of a family during their ten-day visit to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Most entries are devoted to naming the various exhibitions they saw and commenting on the highlights of each.
Document 280.
Daybook. 1793–96.
266 p.; 21 cm.
John H. Remsen was an attorney in New York City. He was appointed private secretary to Governor John Jay on July 6, 1795, and was involved with the New York Tontine Coffee House, forerunner of the New York Stock Exchange.
Daybook contains Remsen’s business and personal financial accounts. He wrote letters of attorney; drew up deeds, bonds, and depositions; and rendered legal advice. Personal accounts include records for the purchase of clothing, books, hiring a dancing master, and lending money.
Document 34.
Accounts. 1803–36.
1 microfilm reel.
The Rensselaer Glass Factory was located in Rensselaer, New York.
Collection includes an account book, kept from 1803 to 1832 by William Richmond, an employee of the firm, and additional accounts of glass made and sold at the factory from 1823 to 1836.
Original manuscripts located at the New York Public Library.
Microfilm M1362.
Plans, hints, and sketches for making pleasure-ground on the banks of the lake at Holkham. Ca. 1789.
1 microfilm reel.
Humphry Repton was a well-known landscape painter and writer from Ireland. Holkham Hall was the country residence of the earl of Leicester, located in Norfolk, England.
Included are building and landscape drawings and comments about the images written by Repton.
Materials owned by the current earl of Leicester at the time of filming.
Microfilm M846.
Bookplate. Ca. 1764.
1 item; 10 x 8 mm.
Paul Revere was a silversmith and engraver from Boston and a well-known patriot of the American Revolution.
Revere scholar Clarence S. Brigham describes this bookplate on page 111 of his Paul Revere’s Engravings (Worcester, Ma.: The American Antiquarian Society, 1954) as an “elaborate Chippendale style of mantling, scroll work, flowers, and motto ribbon,” the coat of arms of David Green, “a Boston merchant who frequently bought silver from Revere.” Pasted on detached front cover of John Potter, Archaeologia Graeca: Or, the Antiquities of Greece, 8th edition, volume two (London: A. Wilde, 1764).
Document 190.
Papers. 1746–1964.
15 microfilm reels.
Collection includes personal and business papers of silversmith and engraver Paul Revere, his family, and descendants. Papers include foundry and workshop records of the Revere firm.
Finding aid available: Catalog Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Revere Family Papers, 1746–1964, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Original papers located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Microfilm M2837–M2851.
Approx. 90 items: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of printed cards given by schoolteachers to students for excellence in studies, good behavior, and attendance. Most carry a moral or message, such as “diligence is the best guarantee of success.” The larger, more brightly colored cards, which were produced later in the nineteenth century, often depict children at play and ornate floral designs.
Finding aid available.
Collection 228.
Daybooks. 1790–1829.
49 vols.: ill.; 26 cm.
Samuel, Abraham, and Franklin Rex lived in Heidelberg, Mount Pleasant, and Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. Samuel and Abraham owned a general store together.
Collection includes forty-four daybooks recording transactions at Samuel and Abraham Rex’s general store; Samuel and Franklin Rex’s exercise books for the study of accounting and bookkeeping; and a copybook. The general store sold such goods as earthenware, dry goods, glassware, tobacco, spices, hardware, and clothing.
Collection 417.
Account book. 1880–82.
277 p.; 33 cm.
E. A. Reynolds was a carriage repairman from Hamburg, Connecticut.
Consists of debits and credits accrued by individuals for whom Reynolds performed repair work. Tasks mentioned include painting and varnishing carriages, repairing and replacing wheels, repairing iron work, fixing chairs, making bodies, welding, and trimming.
Document 253.
Daybook. 1866–72.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Reynolds & Bigelow was a carriagemaking firm in Hamburg, Connecticut.
Volume records carriages made and repaired over a seven-year period. Work included repairing carts and baby carriages; fixing rims, spokes, and other wheel parts; lengthening axles; lowering dashes; adjusting seats; repairing ironwork; and painting and varnishing.
Folio 260.
10 leaves: ill.; 22 cm.
Consists of ribbon samples on ten panels that fold out accordion style. Geometric-shaped leaves and flowers are the most common ribbon designs. Each set of ribbons has samples in red and blue; other colors featured are lavender and gold.
Collection 50.
74 leaves; 49 cm.
Evidence suggests that this sample book was compiled by a large nineteenth-century French firm.
Contains hundreds of samples of colorful silk fabric and ribbons ranging in size from 1 x 8 cm to 14 x 14 cm. The arrangement of the samples suggests that the book was either a sample book to show to prospective customers or a record of work completed by the maker.
Collection 50.
119 p.; 27 cm.
Includes 345 samples of woven ribbons, each measuring 6.5 x 15.5 cm. They are thought to be the work of a firm based in Coventry, England, though notes on the first page read: “French. Recd. from Mr. Dresser, 10 Sept. 1864, E.D.” Below that: “James Dudden Dresser.” And to the sides: “(Coventry)” and “From the firm Dresser in Coventry.” Paper is watermarked 1826 by J. Green & Son, a Maidstone, Kent, England, papermaker.
Collection 50.
Instruction book. Ca. 1802–25.
169 p.; 17 cm.
Silas Rice worked as a silversmith in Lancaster, Massachusetts, from at least 1777, when he placed an advertisement in the Massachusetts Spy, and in Worcester, Massachusetts, from roughly 1800 to 1835.
Contains instructions for processes used to work with silver, gold, brass, and copper. Instructions for clockmaking, japanning, etching, marbling, polishing, plating, and making various colors and varnishes are included as well.
Alphabetical index to processes and recipes available.
Document 2.
Composition book. 1817–18.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 19 cm.
Consists of compositions written by New Yorker G. E. Richards on such topics as piety, history, manners, war, novel reading, hope, and patriotism. The volume contains three Fraktur-style drawings.
Document 826.
Daybook. 1837–47, 1854–57.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Augustus Richardson was a shoemaker and leatherworker from Genesee Township, New York.
Volume was used by Richardson to document his shoemaking activities and purchases made from 1837 to 1847. It was later used by an unidentified medical practitioner to record his work, and, still later, by Philander D. Hawley as a scrapbook. Richardson records that, in addition to making shoes, he also made and repaired other leather products. The medical practitioner mentions visiting patients and dispensing medicine. For his scrapbook, Hawley pasted in clippings of historical events and depictions of United States presidents.
Folio 97.
Account book. 1855–70.
80 p.; 39 cm.
Joseph R. Richardson was a jeweler in Hamilton and, later, Lowell, Massachusetts. When he worked in Lowell, he was a partner in the firm of Richardson & Bennett.
Manuscript records the selling of different kinds of jewelry and watch parts: pins, watch keys, rings, lockets, chains, cameo pins, and buttons. Also noted are store expenses, rent charges, and items purchased.
Folio 265.
Papers. 1673–1892, bulk 1680–1820.
12 boxes.
The family of Francis Richardson settled in Philadelphia in the late 1600s. Several family members became known for their silversmithing work, including Joseph (1711–84), Joseph Jr. (1752–1831), and Nathaniel (1754–1827). Joseph Gibbons Richardson (1836–86) was a prominent Philadelphia doctor. The Allen, Clark, Gibbons, Growder, Hoskins, Howell, Shippen, and Webb families were all related to the Richardsons.
Collection includes items related to the silversmithing businesses as well as Richardson and allied family manuscript material. Included are Joseph Richardson’s letter book, kept from 1758 to 1774, which discusses the silversmithing trade; his account book, kept from 1743 to 1769, featuring entries recording products made in his shop; his estate inventory; and business letters. Family documents include legal papers, wills, marriage certificates, letters, bills, and receipts. The collection also contains Joseph Gibbons Richardson’s garden book, in which he records his vegetable and herb plantings.
Finding aid available.
Originals of some of the microfilm holdings located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 536; Microfilm M4, M89, M208.
Papers. 1889–1932.
29 items.
Walter Scott Riegel grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical College and established a practice in Philadelphia. He later specialized in life insurance examinations.
Papers include materials from Riegel’s days as a medical student, including some lecture notes, his records of patient visits during some years of the 1890s, a notebook recording treatments and therapies, and material unrelated to his profession.
Collection 179.
Exercise book. 1835, 1838–40.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 33 cm.
In this book, William H. Riegel, a resident of Lower Saucon Township, Pennsylvania, kept two sections of mathematical exercises. The first section, dating from 1835, includes rules and problems associated with simple arithmetic. The second section, kept from 1838 to 1840, records more complicated calculations related to proportions, roots, and interest. Headings of sections are written in colored inks, and there are decorative designs between problems.
Document 688.
Esquisse d’une maison de campagne… . Ca. 1820.
4 leaves: col. ill.; 32 x 45 cm.
A. P. Rigel (or Riegl) was an architect and engineer. Born in Rome, he began his career as an associate of Carl von Auersperg. He designed houses in Vienna and Budapest for the nobility and is best known for his work on the Karolyi Palace in Budapest.
Leaves contain drawings of floor plans and facades of a country seat designed for Count Antoine DeZasz. The structure, reflecting the neoclassic style of the early nineteenth century, was probably built in Hungary. The floor plan includes a central circular room, and the facade views show the front and rear of the house with trees on either side.
Text in French.
Folio 117.
Records. 1902–37, bulk 1915 and 1831.
4 cu. ft.
This firm was established in 1818 by William H. C. Riggs, a clock- and watchmaker from Philadelphia. The business remained in the family for generations and eventually expanded to include repair work, supplying nautical paraphernalia and industrial timepieces, and retailing jewelry and silverware.
Collection includes business correspondence, orders, invoices, bills, and receipts both to and from Riggs & Brother. The firm’s clients were not confined to the Philadelphia area and included various offices of the United States government. One inquiry came from the Imperial Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 13.
Papers. 1794–1920.
Approx. 400 items: ill.
The Risdons were early settlers of Burlington County, New Jersey. Samuel Risdon and Anna Elizabeth Nightingale were the progenitors of the family represented in this collection. One of their children, Isaac N., a tailor by trade, helped establish the Mount Holly Cemetery Company. One of Isaac’s sons, Henry C., was a Civil War soldier and businessman in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
The bulk of the collection pertains to the settlement of Isaac N. Risdon’s estate. Other papers relate to Henry C. Risdon’s military career and his connection with the Risdon Mutual Building and Loan Association. The collection also includes some portraits and other miscellaneous family papers.
Finding aid available.
Collection 256.
Autobiography. 1836.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Ritter worked as a supercargo and then as a shopkeeper in Philadelphia.
Contains an account of Ritter’s life as a seaman on voyages to such places as Batavia, St. Thomas, and the island of Bartholomew. His partnership, J. & A. Ritter, sold such products as books, quill pens, and pencils.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M302.
Household account books. 1848–90.
8 vols. + 1 folder.
Charles W. and Martha Roberts were lifelong Pennsylvania residents. Charles was born in 1807 in Plymouth. He worked in Philadelphia as a marble cutter and then farmed in East Goshen. In 1871 he built a house in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Roberts was a Quaker, served as a West Chester borough councilman, and was Director of the Poor of Chester County. He died in 1893.
Martha Corson Roberts was born in Conshohocken in 1808. She first married Enoch P. Walker, who died in 1839. She married Charles W. Roberts in 1845. They had three children. She died in 1877.
Collection consists of records of household expenses, summaries of wages paid to domestic help, lists of tax assessments, income, and sundry expenses. The manuscripts also document family history and the construction of a kitchen at Charles Roberts’s West Chester house.
Household accounts form the basis of “The Dynamic Look at Material Life: The Charles W. Roberts Family, 1848–1890,” by Tracey Winters (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1991).
Collection 55.
Album. 1837–52, bulk 1837–41.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 20 cm.
Contains poetry, personal sentiments, and illustrations from friends and relatives of Helen Mar Robertson, a resident of Fort Edward, New York. Album was printed by J. C. Riker and features several engravings of landscapes in the Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain area.
Document 836.
Account book. 1771–94.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Zecariah Robins was a shoemaker and tavernkeeper in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Although the principal use of this volume was to record Robins’s shoemaking work, many entries also refer to stock in his tavern. The first page features a Fraktur-style drawing.
Name index available.
Document 842.
Sermons. 1726, 1788–1806.
6 items.
Dr. John Robinson was the second minister of the Church of Christ in Westborough, Massachusetts, and occupied its pulpit from 1789 to 1807.
Robinson preached five of these manuscript sermons at different times between 1788 and 1806. His father or grandfather possibly presented the other. Two were prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Document 299.
Notebook and lecture notes. Ca. 1903–31.
2 vols: ill.; 28 cm.
Maude Robinson was a potter. In 1903 she entered Newcomb College to study art, where she remained until 1909. She learned pottery decoration, embroidery, and glassmaking. For three summers, Robinson studied with Alfred Dow and later, in 1928 and 1929, taught a class on pottery in New York City.
The earliest of these volumes contains notes from lectures on potterymaking taken at Newcomb College, possibly dating from 1903. The second volume, a loose-leaf notebook, includes Robinson’s lecture notes for her New York classes. Topics discussed were clay and its formation, glazes, kilns, and methods for firing. Small sketches, charts, and diagrams appear throughout both manuscripts.
Document 1002.
Account book. 1827–49.
139 p.; 20 cm.
Thomas S. Robinson was a carpenter who worked in Boston; Gardiner, Maine; and Richmond, Maine.
Robinson framed houses, hung windows, made closets, built furniture, repaired sashes, glazed glass, and planed rails. Book includes a list of tools owned by Marshall A. Lewis.
Document 999.
Account book. 1837–81, bulk 1856–81.
104 leaves; 33 cm.
Volume begins with accounts for inventory purchased in 1837 and 1838 for a store in Bennington, Vermont, featuring a detailed list of dry goods. Later pages contain farm accounts that record the exchange of farm goods for labor over a twenty-five-year period.
Document 94.
101 items.
The Robinsons settled in Christiana Hundred, Delaware, during the seventeenth century. Family members engaged in agriculture and fruit growing and worked the same acreage for more than 250 years. Robert L. Robinson, who died around 1886, married Frances E. Delaplain, the daughter of a prosperous storeowner from Centreville, Delaware. Robert’s son, Robert Pyle Robinson, a Republican, was elected Delaware’s governor in 1925.
Collection includes legal documents relating to Robinson family lands in Christiana Hundred, estate records of various family members, papers concerning the development of the railroad in Delaware, tax records of Christiana Hundred residents kept by James Delaplain between 1781 and 1786, and miscellaneous manuscripts that include a manumission document.
Finding aid available.
Collection 230.
Letters. 1750–1820, bulk 1790–1820.
1 microfilm reel.
Contains one volume of letters written by or to members of the Robinson family. Many are addressed to residents of Newport, Rhode Island, and refer to family matters. Mary R. Morton, whose obituary is included at the end of the reel, wrote a number of the letters. Many of the letters in the collection are copies of originals that were transcribed by Benjamin R. Smith with notes in the margins by S. A. G. Smith.
Name index available.
Microfilm M296.
Memorandum book. 1718–1888.
86 p., 9 leaves; 8 cm.
Ebenezer Roby was a physician from the Sudbury, Massachusetts, area. A 1719 Harvard graduate, Roby enjoyed an early career as a teacher and at one time tried to prove that the aurora borealis was composed of meteors. He traveled to Europe in 1726.
Manuscript contains various types of memoranda: excerpts and summaries of books on Greek philosophy, meditations on Biblical passages, a list of items that Roby took to Europe in his trunk, and genealogical material on the Roby family. Other family members continued these genealogical records well into the 1800s.
Document 993.
Account book. 1852–70.
141 p.; 39 cm.
Cornelius Rodgers was a cooper and farmer in Unionville, New York, and was active in the butter trade.
Account book documents Rodgers’s activity making and repairing tubs, covers, hoops, buckets, churns, staves, firkins for butter, and pails. Rodgers and his business associates sometimes bartered for goods and services. Bills, receipts, letters, and other ephemeral material is inserted throughout the volume.
Partial name index available.
Folio 95.
Account book. 1828–45.
75 p.; 21 cm.
Daniel Rodman was a resident of Rhode Island who worked in a textile factory. He spent the first half of 1831 in Pendleton, South Carolina.
Manuscript contains brief miscellaneous cash accounts of both personal and professional matters and features a record of expenses for building an addition to a house.
Document 134.
Papers. 1660–1839.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Rodman family left England in the seventeenth century for the New World. John (d. 1686) settled in Barbados, and his descendants eventually moved to Newport, Rhode Island; New Bedford, Massachusetts; Flushing, New York; Bristol, Pennsylvania; Burlington, New Jersey; Philadelphia; and Boston. Among the Rodmans were merchants, landowners, a member of the United States House of Representatives, a doctor, soldiers, and farmers. The Rodmans were Quakers.
Collection includes correspondence, legal documents, letters between members of the family, shipping documents, estate records, and papers referring to the political involvements of family members.
Original manuscripts in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M2994.
Letters. 1828.
13 items.
Jason H. Roe was a cloth manufacturer in Trenton, New Jersey. His correspondent, William Young, owned a yarnmaking business in Philadelphia.
Collection consists of letters from Roe to William Young concerning orders and payments for and shipment of yarns. Roe apparently made ticking and other goods from yarn supplied by Young.
Collection 488.
Tax book. 1777–79.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Edward Rogers, the tax collector of Cornwall, Connecticut, recorded the names of approximately 250 inhabitants of his town and the taxes they paid from 1777 to 1779.
Document 808.
Account books. 1852–1971.
8 vols.; 16 cm.
John Rogers resided in East Boston, Massachusetts.
Most of the entries in these account books relate to farm products, activities, and sales of agricultural products by Rogers to local merchants. Some of Rogers’s customers paid their bills in labor rather than currency. Rogers notes the purchase of domestic and personal products. One of the volumes was probably used by a young member of the Rogers family as a mathematical exercise book.
Collection 249.
Catalogues. 1877–82.
3 vols.: ill.; 33 cm.
Sculptor John Rogers was especially known for his small genre and literary group statues. He was a native of Massachusetts and spent most of his youth there and in Cincinnati, Ohio. Early on he worked as a draftsman and mechanic. He did not sculpt in clay until 1849. Rogers studied in Europe for a while and then returned to America and opened a studio in New York. He sold about eighty thousand items between 1860 and 1894 when he retired to Connecticut.
These illustrated ephemeral price lists, depict about fifty groups of statuary made by Rogers. Themes represented include scenes from everyday life such as school, the doctor’s office, the theater, the photographer, and the traveling magician. Civil War and literary motifs are also present.
Collection 404.
Account book. 1864–66, 1881–84.
72 p.; 21 cm.
John M. Rogers operated a grist mill in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
The first half of the volume includes records of accounts with a number of people who had wheat and corn ground at Rogers’s mill. Numerous entries appear for the Ephrata Cloister. The second half of the book contains accounts for wages earned by various people who planted, harvested, and otherwise labored for Rogers.
Document 244.
Business records. 1885–87.
2 vols.; 30 cm. or smaller.
S. Ronk operated a harness store in Painesville, Ohio.
Volumes, a daybook, and a ledger, record Ronk’s work and sales. Products include saddles, collars, straps, bridles, and whips.
Name index available.
Document 376.
Account book. 1820–60.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Merrick Roper was a cabinetmaker and joiner in Francestown, New Hampshire.
Volume records Roper’s activities making and repairing furniture and other wooden objects. In later years, Roper’s account book was used as a scrapbook by another person who pasted in a variety of trade cards issued by firms based in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Folio 71.
Commonplace book. 1825–64, bulk 1825–36.
134 p.: ill.; 20 cm.
Charlotte Rose may have lived in New Haven, Guilford, or Branford, Connecticut.
Contains signed and dated poetry of a sentimental nature. Themes of friendship, love, and sadness predominate. Laid in at the back are two valentines and a sketch of a scene from Port Royal, South Carolina, dated November 29, 1864, and signed by Jno. Donagley.
Document 170.
Account book. 1837–38.
1 vol.; 16 cm.
Records amounts spent for groceries, soap, and other supplies for what appears to be a hotel and dining room. Also noted are salaries paid to chambermaids, waiters, and other individuals associated with the establishment.
Document 907.
21 boxes.
William L. Price and M. Hawley McLanahan, architects and partners in the firm of Price & McLanahan, founded the Rose Valley Association near Philadelphia as an artistic community dedicated to popularizing the arts and crafts movement. While the active life of the association lasted only about eight years, some projects associated with it continued until 1971.
Collection consists of three record groups: Rose Valley Association Papers, documenting the formation of the association, its financial affairs, real estate holdings, and tax records; Rose Valley Press Papers and Objects, the printing establishment of the association, including some printing blocks; and M. Hawley McLanahan Papers, reflecting the activities of an architectural firm that was involved with buildings in Florida, a proposed resort in North Carolina, a Hudson River bridge, and hotels in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Collection used for “A Poor Sort of Heaven, a Good Sort of Earth: the Rose Valley Arts and Crafts Movement (1901–1910),” by William S. Ayres (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1982).
Folder title listing available.
Collection 41.
A description of the picture of the home of Washington after the war: painted by T. P. Rossiter and L. R. Mignot with historical sketches of the personages introduced. 1859.
52 p.; 20 cm.
Thomas Prichard Rossiter was a historical, religious, and portrait painter. By the time he was twenty, he had his own studio. He traveled and studied in Europe for nine years and in 1856 devoted himself to historical and religious painting.
Consists of the text of Rossiter’s work along with two handwritten testimonials by Edward Everett and Manton Eastburn on behalf of Barlow’s engraving of “The Home of Washington.” It was issued by D. Appleton and Co. of New York, in 1859.
Document 650.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1900–30.
24 items: col. ill.
Emery Roth was an architect who specialized in designing apartment houses. A native of Czechoslovakia, he moved into the home of an uncle in Chicago, Illinois, in 1884. Roth served his architectural apprenticeship in Bloomington, Illinois, and then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, to work as a draftsman. Before establishing his own business in New York City early in the twentieth century, he worked for Burnham & Root in Chicago and Richard M. Hunt in New York.
Architectural drawings feature interiors. Labeled rooms include a main lobby, library, drawing room, and private hall. Furniture and decorative elements are included in the drawings.
Finding aid available.
Collection 188.
Livre de dessiner de Christiane Rotsten de Paars. 1760.
1 vol.: ill.; 32 cm.
Christiane Rotsten probably lived in Paris, France.
Volume includes floral and foliate designs. Pinpricks on some of the pages suggest that they may have been transferred to fabric for embroidery or needlework or to some other surface.
Document 638.
Sample book of designs for printed cotton. Ca. 1795–99.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 24 cm.
Archibald Hamilton Rowan was an Irish-born calico printer who lived and worked along the Brandywine River, near Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Society of United Irishmen. Rowan and a partner, William Aldred, worked together for several years before their association ended in October 1798. Rowan then managed the business alone. Unable to successfully compete with his British counterparts, he sold his concern in 1799 to James Lea. Eventually, Rowan returned to Ireland.
Volume includes more than 140 block impressions on paper, many heightened by watercolors, of late eighteenth-century calico designs. The paper on which the patterns were printed came from the papermill of James Gilpin, who, like Rowan, lived and worked along the Brandywine River.
Collection 50.
Exercise book. Ca. 1820s.
1 vol.: ill.; 30 cm.
Samuel Rowley, a resident of Hudson, New York, used this volume to practice trigonometry problems. Pen-and-ink illustrations of castles, gulleys, towers, windmills, houses, and boats are included in the volume. The front cover features illustrations of the Battery in New York, a bison, and other sights. The back cover contains a multiplication table.
Document 847.
Register of students at the Royal Academy of Arts. 1769–1922.
1 microfilm reel.
The Royal Academy of Arts was established in London in 1768 by George III to promote the arts of design. The Academy maintained a library, sponsored exhibitions, and operated a school for art students.
The three manuscript volumes on this reel contain lists of students who studied at the Academy’s school, their ages, professions, lists of awards, admission dates, and other biographical information.
Originals retained by the Royal Academy of Arts.
Microfilm M2449.
The drawings collection: phase B. 1806–ca. 1850.
2 microfilm reels.
The Royal Institute of British Architects was established in 1834 to foster “an uniformity and respectability of practice in the profession” of architecture. Today it maintains a library, operates a publications program that includes the production of periodicals and monographs, sponsors exhibitions, and promotes the education of architects.
Collection contains two of eighteen reels of a series of drawings. Most items depict buildings that were executed by members of the Pugin family, the Wyatt family, and by the office of J. B. Papworth.
Finding aid available.
Original drawings located at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Microfilm M2800–M2801.
1 uncut sheet: col. ill.
Set includes a female paper doll with four garments and instructions for cutting out and dressing the doll. Featured are both the front and back of a woman, four period dresses representing different years (1820, 1860, 1900, and 1920), and matching headwear. The costume collection of the Royal Scottish Museum inspired this modern paper doll.
Collection 220.
American correspondence of the Royal Society of Arts. 1755–1840.
2 microfilm reels.
The Royal Society of Arts, located in London, was established in 1754 as the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.
Correspondence refers to the making of potash and pearlash in the American colonies as well as to raising mulberry trees, manufacturing silk, growing food, and other matters.
Includes an introduction by the curator/librarian of the society and a name index.
Microfilm M737–M738.
Collection. Ca. 1900–1938.
Approx. 160 items: ill.
Founded by Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) in East Aurora, New York, in 1895, the Roycroft Shops hoped to combine the ideals of William Morris, an English proponent of the arts and crafts movement, with the techniques of capitalism. By 1900 the Roycrofters were successfully marketing handcrafted objects, including furniture, metalware, carpets, sculpture, and decorative items. A decade later, Hubbard and the Roycrofters found themselves concentrating on smaller goods, producing such things as lines of hand-wrought copper and leather products. Hubbard died on the Lusitania. Unable to sustain the Depression, the Roycroft Shops folded in 1938.
Collection consists of lantern slides, glass-plate negatives, postcards, and an advertising circular relating to the operation of the Roycroft Shops and rural life in East Aurora.
Finding aid available.
Trade catalogues and periodicals issued by the Roycroft Press located in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection.
Collection 254.
Bills and letters. 1795–1841.
24 items.
John Ruckman lived in Solebury, Pennsylvania. He may have been the proprietor of a store in nearby New Hope, and purchased his stock from Philadelphia suppliers.
Bills and letters document the purchase of a variety of goods for an all-purpose store. Ruckman stocked tea, watches, muslin, shirt buttons, tobacco, a washstand, a mahogany bureau, and a high-post stead.
Collection 143.
Copy book. Ca. 1828.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Sarah Ruckman probably lived in Burlington, New York.
Volume contains poems copied by Sarah, some done calligraphically. Themes of religion, farm life, friendship, and sadness at parting predominate.
Document 281.
Memoirs. 1938.
55 p.; 28 cm.
Samuel Canby Rumford was descended from two prominent Wilmington, Delaware, families. He attended the Friend’s School in Wilmington and Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Rumford practiced medicine in Wilmington and later became the medical director of the Continental American Life Insurance Company, also located in Wilmington.
Memoirs contain Rumford’s recollections of growing up in Wilmington and vacationing in Odessa, Delaware. He described his city and neighborhood, household activities, and general features of his privileged lifestyle. Rumford also wrote about the growth of Wilmington, its old and new buildings, and the emergence of municipal services.
Edited and published by Claudia Bushman as “Life along the Brandywine between 1880 and 1895 by Samuel Canby Rumford,” in the periodical Delaware History, 1988 and 1989.
Document 341.
Papers. 1916–29.
6 boxes: ill.
Charles Gideon Rupert lived in Wilmington, Delaware, and had a farm in nearby Marshallton. He collected antiques, mostly silver spoons, and wrote a book about the history of Apostle spoons.
Collection contains several hundred black and white photographs used in Rupert’s book on Apostle spoons, galley proofs of the book, and his research notes. Inventories of Rupert’s two homes, which list a large number of antiques, are also included.
Collection 526.
Account books. 1823–31.
3 vols. + 1 microfilm reel.
Thomas Russell and Luke Plumb were partners in a silversmithing and jewelry business in Windsor, Vermont.
Collection consists of financial records that document the activities of the partnership. In addition to selling silverwork and jewelry, an inventory of tools on hand that mentions a table spoon mold suggests that Russell and Plumb also made silverware. Records of Luke Plumb’s estate are included in one of the manuscripts as well.
Name list for account book on microfilm available.
Collection 260; Microfilm M462.
Papers. 1783–1823.
62 items: ill.
Members of the Russell family lived in Richmond, Virginia. William and his son were both involved in finance, shipping, and real estate, and often traveled from Richmond to New York City to transact business. William’s wife was named Sarah.
Collection documents household purchases, shipping matters, and the settlement of William Russell’s estate, and includes copies of letters written by father and son. Also included is a drawing of the family dwelling in Richmond.
Collection 219.
Sketchbook. 1800?–50?
16 leaves: col. ill.; 23 x 30 cm.
Printed trade card pasted in front cover reads: “T. Rutter. (late Lovegrove) 586 Cumberland Row, Kennington Green, Summer House Builder, Garden Seats, Grotto Baskets, Flower Stands, &c. Venetian Blinds. Established 1819.”
Contains watercolor sketches of rustic furniture, gazebos, and baskets. Designs are laid out to resemble a catalogue or sample book.
Document 103.
Entry 1762. Sketchbook of T. Rutter, who, beginning in 1819, operated a store in England that sold rustic furniture, baskets, and gazebos.
Recipe book. 1831–59.
27 p.; 20 cm.
Charles Ryan worked as a dyer. He lived in Webster and then Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Book contains recipes for dyeing and samples of dyed woolen cloth. Many of the recipes predate the introduction of aniline dyes.
Document 482.
Guide map of the city of Detroit. 1863.
1 sheet: ill.; 65 x 69 cm.
The front side of the map shows a street plan of Detroit, Michigan, drawn by Eugene Robinson. Depicted are a number of churches, schools, and public buildings. The back side of the map contains thirty-six advertisements for railroads and a variety of Detroit businesses as well as a table showing the time in more than one hundred locations at 12:00 noon in Detroit.
Document 43.
1 vol.: ill.; 37 cm.
This volume was maintained by an unidentified saddler who may have been from Virginia.
Volume contains drawings of saddler’s tools; drawings and specifications for halters, buckle pieces, and bridles; drawings that show how to reinforce or repair equipment; directions for the modification of the “McClellan Saddle”; and instructions for making dog masks, calf and cow halters, and pony equipment. Hints for caring for leather and lists of saddle supplies are recorded as well.
Document 566.
Inventory. 1845.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
E. O. Safford compiled this volume on April 1, 1845. He recorded the contents of a general store operated by Martin Wires in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and noted his outstanding debts. A wide range of products is noted, including clothing, fabrics, books by title, combs, and fancy goods.
Folio 193.
A pattern and order book for works in the precious metals, silks, papers, &c.: being a relick of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
40 leaves: col. ill.; 28 cm.
Contains more than six hundred samples of papers featuring gilt and embossed designs, decorative borders, brilliantly colored plaids, floral motifs, and other embellishments.
Document 45.
Account book. 1809–29.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Martin Sampson was a furnituremaker in southeastern Massachusetts, possibly Marshfield.
Book reveals that Sampson made many kinds of furniture over the course of his twenty-year career, including tables, clock cases, chests, trunks, desks, beds, light stands, chairs, and chests of drawers.
Name index available.
Document 629.
Account books. 1844–54.
1 microfilm reel.
Samuel Kirk & Son was a Baltimore-based silversmithing firm.
Records relate to the silversmithing activities of the firm.
Original manuscripts in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M1566.
Ledger. 1777–78.
1 microfilm reel.
Samuel Wetherill was a Philadelphia manufacturer and merchant. He was a stockholder in the United Company of Philadelphia for Promoting Manufactures and served as treasurer pro tem of the Manufacturing Committee from 1787 to 1788 and as chairman in 1803.
Ledger covers sales of hardware, red and white lead, and cloth.
Original manuscript located at the Industrial Research Department, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Alphabetical name list available.
Microfilm M187.
Recipe book. 1860.
104 p.; 20 x 25 cm.
Lydia S. Sanborn lived in New York City, where her husband, Nestor, was a merchant.
Includes recipes for pies, puddings, cakes, cookies, and other sweets. Also included are a variety of household and medicinal recipes.
Document 953.
Account book. 1725–61.
122 p.; 14 cm.
Richard Sanborn was a bookseller from New Hampshire.
Volume records Sanborn’s activities as a bookseller. He specialized in selling “great bibles.” Book also documents household purchases made by Lisah Sanborn.
Name index available.
Document 429.
Account book. 1875.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
The Sanborns resided in Cornish, Maine, and were probably grocers.
Manuscript records the kinds of foods that Sanborn Bros. sold, including meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables. There are thirteen pages of accounts regarding the construction of a house and include records of needed supplies and labor.
Folio 51.
Memorandum book. 1784–96.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Samuel Sanford was a merchant from Newport, Rhode Island. He also may have worked in the state’s insurance office.
Manuscript records applications for insurance for sailing vessels and descriptions and destinations of proposed voyages. Most applications are in letter form. Names of prominent Rhode Island merchants are included in the volume.
Document 492.
Account book. 1836–45, bulk 1836–37.
419 p.; 35 cm.
Sanford & Brown, the names appearing on the spine of this volume, seems to have been a metalworking firm. Other names in the manuscript (Raymond, Sanford & Brown; Raymond & Brown; Sanford, Brown & Groves; S. C. Raymond; and S. H. Brown) suggest a progression of business names over the course of the firm’s history. Most of the firm’s customers were from Bennington, Vermont.
Contains debits and credits for such activities and items as repairing a sleigh; casting a churn; crafting tea kettles, stoves, and grates; shoeing horses; building ploughs, and “to 1 pair Large Dogs.”
Document 186.
Silhouette albums. 1790–1800.
2 vols.: ill.; 25 cm.
Joseph Sansom was a traveler, author, and amateur landscape draftsman from Philadelphia. He married Beulah Biddle in 1798.
Volume 1 contains fifty-eight profiles of people from the Philadelphia area, including Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Benjamin Chew, members of the Sansom and Perot families, and local merchants, gentlemen, and clergymen. Volume 2 contains silhouettes of sixteen celebrated Europeans, including Pope Pius VII, Napoleon Bonaparte, King George III, William Pitt, and others.
Document 52.
Exercise book. 1857.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
Bradley Sargent lived in Danville, New Hampshire, and was probably a student when he created this volume.
Manuscript was used as an exercise book. Bradley recorded the daily transactions of a fictitious store for August 9 and 11, 1857. He mentioned sales of such products as cloth, candles, boxes of matches, suspenders, stationery, pitchers, tumblers, and other domestic goods. The blank book that Sargent filled contains engravings of several early American presidents. There is a multiplication table on its back cover.
Document 809.
Patent application. 1863–64.
9 items: ill.
Charles William Hine Sargent lived in Paris and manufactured carriages.
Sargent’s “invention consists in an improved mode of opening carriages, and in the arrangement of the seats for the purpose of facilitating the access to, and use of the same by invalids and other sick or infirm persons.” Four watercolor drawings accompany the textual description.
Collection 283.
Papers. 1782–1868, bulk 1829–61.
21 items.
The Sargent family lived in Lynn, Massachusetts. John Jenks Sargent and Nathaniel Sargent were most actively involved in the maintenance of this book.
Collection consists of two account books and related family documents. Most of the entries in the account books relate to John Jenks Sargent’s work as a shoemaker and some personal financial matters, including charges for repairs to his house, rental fees received, and lists of goods he gave to his daughters prior to their marriages. Other records relate to the settlement of his estate.
Partial name index available.
Collection 227.
Collection. Ca. 1830–96.
31 items.
John Sartain was an engraver, portrait and miniature painter, and, from 1849 to 1852, the publisher of Union Magazine of Literature and Art. A native of London, he immigrated to Philadelphia, where he spent the rest of his life. In addition to his regular work, Sartain served as chief of the Bureau of Art for the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, vice president of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and president of the Artists Fund Society. Four of his children became engravers.
Collection includes some of Sartain’s engravings, correspondence, scrapbooks recording the art scene in Philadelphia, commonplace books attributed to Sartain’s daughters, Emily and Harriet, and a few ephemeral items related to Sartain’s work.
Other Sartain material located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Collection 398.
Ledger. 1742–49.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
Samuel Phillips Savage was a merchant in Boston.
Manuscript records Savage’s transactions with merchants, craftsmen, and store keepers. He had contacts with local businesses as well as with individuals in Newport and Providence, Rhode Island; London; and other cities. Volume also includes four pages that relate to the settlement of the estate of Arthur Savage, Samuel’s father.
Name and occupation index available.
Folio 122.
Papers. 1767–1858.
10 items.
William Savery was a joiner and chairmaker from Philadelphia. Thomas Savery, also of Philadelphia, was a carpenter. Other family members were Mary, Elizabeth, and William III.
Collection contains several wills, estate papers, letters, elegies, an account book documenting Thomas Savery’s work as a carpenter, and three marriage certificates.
Collection 500.
Account books. 1829–31.
1 microfilm reel.
Robert C. Scadin was a furnituremaker from Cooperstown, New York.
One volume in these papers is a daybook, the other is an account book that includes a shop inventory. The books include orders for goods as well as miscellaneous material from Justus Dunn, who succeeded Scadin in business. Many furniture forms, including beds, tables, chairs, and stools, are mentioned.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at the New York State Historical Association.
Microfilm M665.
Invoice book. 1834–36.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Scamman & Cutts were general merchants from Boston.
Volume records purchases of goods by the partners, presumably to stock the shelves of their general store. There are two inventories of stock on hand, one dated March 19, 1835, and the other March 16, 1836.
Document 553.
Account book. 1854–58.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
John Schaeffer was a farmer in Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records agricultural activities such as pasturing livestock, raising feed and other farm products, and haying. Several pages note that boarders were kept, and there are references made to visits to Philadelphia.
Folio 198.
Account book. 1869–90.
384 p.; 32 cm.
Theodore and Clarence E. Schance were blacksmiths, farmers, and handymen from Cherry Point, Illinois.
Account book was originally used by Theodore Schance as a daybook to record his blacksmithing activities; it was then used as a ledger. Later entries, written in a different hand, were probably made by Clarence E. Schance. The manuscript documents various blacksmithing activities, including sharpening plows and planes and making horseshoes, hinges, and barrel hoops. The Shances record that they sold apples, corn, pigs, and other products.
Partial index to ledger available.
Document 997.
Design book. Ca. 1800–1850.
23 leaves: ill.; 33 cm.
Wiliss Schantz was a Pennsylvania German furnituremaker, possibly from Franconia Township, Pennsylvania.
Design book includes twenty-two measured ink drawings of such furniture as chests of drawers, cupboards, blanket chests, drop leaf tables, cradles, bread tables, and mirrors.
Document 1080.
Accounts. 1847–62.
1 folder.
The Scharff family seems to have consisted of three school-age orphaned children (Emma, John, and William) who lived in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Their guardian was John Mosser. All were enrolled in Meyerstown Academy. Later, John attended Franklin and Marshall College.
Collection contains bills, receipts, and an expense book documenting goods and services purchased for the Scharffs. Most bills were for their food, clothes, dry goods, and schooling.
Collection 466.
Cahier de dessin linéaire. 1867.
22 leaves: ill.; 32 cm.
Arthur Scheppers was a student of line drawing at St. Vincent de Paul boarding school in Malines, Belgium.
This notebook of forty-two drawings includes designs for such architectural elements as balusters, urns, vases, and pedestals; furniture, including chests, bookcases, secretaries, a desk; implements, including presses, pulleys, and a farm plough; and numerous doorways, entablatures, porticos, stone and iron fences, balcony railings, altars, and tombs. Each drawing includes a caption written in French.
Document 1005.
Scrapbooks. Ca. 1890s.
3 vols.: col. ill.; 37 cm. or smaller.
Laura D. Scherffius was born in Evansville, Indiana, attended the University of Michigan, where she met her husband, James F. Seiter, and then lived in Washington, D.C. with her husband. She, her sister, Norma, and brother, Willie, compiled these volumes. Their mother, Louisa, owned the photo album described below.
Scrapbooks contain more than seven hundred brightly colored Victorian die cuts made by publishers and chromolithographers in both the United States and Europe. Depictions on the cuts vary widely and include flowers, fruits, animals at the circus and in zoos, Santa Claus, baseball players, children, buildings, boats, soldiers, and travel views.
Collection 120.
Photograph album. Ca. 1870–1900.
1 vol.; 25 cm.
Louisa Scherffius, the former owner of this scrapbook, married William Scherffius, a German who immigrated to America in 1872, at age sixteen. They lived in Evansville, Indiana, where William established a department store. Their children compiled the scrapbooks described in entry 1790.
Contains photographs and lithographed trade and friendship cards. The majority of photos depict the Scherffius family, their home and department store, and their friends and relatives. Historic figures are also depicted.
Document 488.
Account book. 1815–32.
1 microfilm reel.
Account book records the activities associated with Adam Schlyder’s general store, located in York County, Pennsylvania. Products mentioned include wine, sugar, molasses, screws, thread, fabrics, and plates.
Original manuscript located at the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
Bills and receipts. 1869–82.
2 folders.
David Schneider owned a mine near Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
The manuscripts in this collection document Schneider’s personal purchases and sales. He seems to have made several improvements to his property, including remodeling his kitchen and replacing gutter spouts and sinks. He also purchased many household goods. Schneider records that he sold oats and wheat. Collection also includes the vendue of Schneider’s estate.
Collection 414.
Account book. 1821–31.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Entries document the legal matters in which Jacob Schnotterly of Slumpstown, Pennsylvania, participated. Documents record his activities calling a vendue and composing the conditions of the sale, selling a plantation, writing advertisements, and negotiating agreements. Varieties of agricultural activities and products are also mentioned.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 663.
Papers. 1851–69.
26 items.
Samuel Schober was a merchant from Philadelphia.
Includes contracts, specifications, bills, and other materials relating to an agreement between Samuel Schober and John Vogel in which Vogel agreed to build three, three-story houses for Schober on Vine Street in Philadelphia.
Document 470.
Bills. 1826–30.
43 items.
This collection of bills addressed to the School House Committee documents the construction of four local school houses, designated as North, South, East, and West. All document labor and the purchase of supplies such as lumber, stone, clapboards, shingles, joists, posts, fences, and soapstone for the chimney as well as painting, plastering, and mortaring services.
Collection 480.
Papers. 1806–75.
1 microfilm reel.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was an ethnologist, geologist, Indian agent, and glassmaker.
This reel contains the manuscript of Schoolcraft’s “Vitreology, or the Art of Smelting,” dated 1817, which is said to be the earliest technical treatise on glassmaking written in America. Collection consists of one reel out of sixty-three.
Name index available.
Original manuscripts located at the Library of Congress.
Microfilm M2669.
Ledger. 1855–70.
332 p.; 34 cm.
A. S. Schoonmaker operated a general store in Mill Hook and worked at Accord Mills, a granary in Ulster County, New York.
Manuscript records debits and credits accrued by Schoonmaker for his milling activities. Volume also contains a list of goods sold at a public auction that once belonged to a firm called Schoonmaker & Humphrey.
Name index available.
Document 527.
Account book. 1797–1803.
1 microfilm reel.
Manuscript records the activities of John Schultz, a shoemaker, who lived in the vicinity of Hanover, Pennsylvania. Also included are records that document the purchase and rental of land and buildings.
Original book located at the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
Architectural drawings. 1853.
8 p.: ill.; 46 x 55 cm.
Paul Schulze was an architect. A native of Breslau, Silesia, he immigrated to Boston in 1849. He designed a number of buildings for Harvard. Schulze later worked in New York City and Washington, D. C. He designed and supervised the construction of government buildings, submitted designs for major competitions, and published a series of designs for funerary monuments. Schulze was the founder and president of the Palette Club in the 1870s.
Drawings are pen-and-ink plans, elevations, and perspective drawings of an Italianate villa. Both interior and exterior views are included.
Finding aid available.
Folio 204.
Sketchbook. 1867.
13 leaves: ill. (some col.); 22 cm.
August Schwanitz was a coppersmith from Philadelphia. He probably worked for the coppersmithing business of Geo. Megee & Sons.
Book contains twenty-one watercolor sketches by Schwanitz illustrating distilling apparatus for beer, water, and whiskey. Captions are primarily written in German, though some descriptions use a mixture of both German and English. Schwanitz modeled some of what he drew after German stills and copied the work of coppersmiths named Magrowitz, Strumpf, and Hartmann.
Document 989.
1 game: col. ill. + instruction booklet.
Includes forty cards, one through ten of each suit, and a joker. Cards are reproductions of an original set designed by W. S. Anonimo of Nuremberg, Germany, in 1887. Illustrations feature images of children and castles; the joker card depicts a young man riding a black cat. Game instructions are in both German and Italian.
Collection 220.
Records. 1853–83.
4 boxes.
Scott & Hutchinson was a Philadelphia-based firm of wheelwrights and blacksmiths formed by John Scott and John Hutchinson. The business seems to have included making (or at least selling) wagons, carts, and wheelbarrows.
Records consist of bills and receipts for wheelwright work and blacksmithing. In addition there are a number of student notebooks kept by William, David, and Joseph Scott, sons of one of the partners.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 52.
Salesman’s sample book. Ca. 1870.
1 vol.; 30 cm.
The company, a metalware manufacturer, was incorporated in 1850 in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Sample book contains 112 brass and silvered buttons sewn onto two panels. Stock and catalogue numbers are associated with the buttons.
Document 77.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 21 cm.
Contains 208 coats of arms for British families; watercolor designs featuring scrolls and leaves; several pages of shield shapes; watercolors depicting flowers, a deer, and a street scene; two designs for trade cards; notes on Homer; and recipes for varnish.
Document 475.
1 vol.; 29 cm.
Includes two sections, one containing forty-seven late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century watch papers and the other containing twenty-five letters written to Henry and Charles Tobias about the American watch industry. Most of the watch papers are engraved, and they depict historical figures, allegorical subjects, and other scenes. Henry Tobias seems to have managed a Brooklyn, New York, firm that imported British watch movements and may also have engaged in manufacturing timepieces.
Finding aid describing watch papers available.
Document 499.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 37 cm.
Includes newspaper clippings and engravings. Textual material consists of verses, short stories, anecdotes, and essays offering advice to people in various situations. Illustrations are of historical figures, houses, fish and animals, caricatures, and fashion plates.
Folio 191.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 43 cm.
Contains newspaper clippings, original drawings, advertisements, engravings, manuscript notes, sketches of what looks like white-work patterns, wallpaper samples, and poems. Most items are from London. Topics represented include the Great Exhibition of 1851, English politics, the royal family, the Bible, and the Russo-Japanese War. Volume was used earlier by a seller of liquor.
Folio 240.
48 p.: ill. (some col.); 29 cm.
Volume contains woodcuts, color fashion plates, humorous illustrations, and drawings of birds. Such things as public buildings, churches, cityscapes, ships, a magic lantern, stoves, and the latest fashions from Paris are featured. Several illustrations were taken from Godey’s Ladies Book.
Document 269.
44 leaves: ill.; 47 cm.
Contains mounted drawings in pen, pencil, and watercolor. Most designs are sketched onto the kind of thin tracing paper that is used by engravers to transfer designs to grounded plates. Many show pinpricks or needle marks and some show traces of chalk having been pressed through to the blackened background. Designs include ornamental head and tail pieces, borders and corners, coats of arms, ornamental initials, cyphers, monograms, caricatures, animals, and human figures.
Inscriptions are in French.
Folio 41.
240 p.: ill.; 32 cm.
Item once served as a ledger for an unknown business in Richmond, Maine, from 1823 to 1825. Its first 170 pages contain short stories clipped from newspapers and pasted over the accounts. The last few pages contain a manuscript short story and several love poems.
Folio 304.
1 vol.: ill.; 34 cm.
Volume was once a catalogue of the Meriden Britannia Company, a silversmithing firm. It contains clippings about the Centennial Exhibition and on such topics as manners and etiquette, the Civil War, illness, religion, clocks, and American presidents. Laid in is a small account kept by an unidentified tailor, dated 1836 and 1837.
Folio 163.
1 vol.: ill.; 30 cm.
Volume contains an architectural drawing showing the front view of a bay window. It was probably drawn by Richard Upjohn for a house constructed for Charles M. Russell in Newport, Rhode Island, during the 1850s. The remainder of the volume contains clippings about Newport, featuring stories about its history, summer social life, C. M. Russell and his family, and the construction of the town’s Naval War College.
Document 501.
19 p.: ill.; 24 cm.
Contains lithographs and engravings of hardware storefronts located in such cities as Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo. They appear to have been clipped from the tops of stationery and billheads.
Index of firms represented available.
Document 478.
48 p.: ill. (some col.); 38 cm.
Contains engravings, cards, clippings, and other items that feature images of women in fashionable dress, soldiers, animals, farm scenes, and domestic life. Of special interest are the more than twenty-five decorated and embossed textile labels and cigar box labels.
Folio 272.
76 p.: col. ill.; 30 cm.
Contains scores of Christmas and New Year’s greeting cards along with a few valentines and many carefully trimmed illustrations. Most of the greeting cards were issued by London-based publishers. The illustrations depict well-dressed women, brightly colored flowers, children, animals, vegetables, and ships.
Folio 34.
1 vol.: ill.; 18 x 11 cm.
Volume, originally intended to be a photo album, consists of illustrated advertisements of pianos and organs manufactured by three firms: Smith American Organ Co.; Weber, Whellock; and Kronich & Bach. Prices, identification numbers assigned to each instrument, and the number of their octaves are recorded.
Document 641.
21 leaves: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Scrapbook contains more than two hundred trade cards and cutouts. The trade cards feature illustrations of birds, children, home life, house interiors, sewing machines, stoves, and shoes. Many of the firms represented in the volume were based in the Buffalo, New York, area.
Folio 290.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 32 x 24 cm.
Volume contains fifty-nine Victorian-era greeting cards, sample cards, and scraps. Collection includes a set of album cards by L. Prang & Co. and a series of cards produced by J. H. Bufford showing children engaged in various activities.
Cover title: Card Album and Scrapbook.
Document 443.
1 vol.: ill.; 36 cm.
Contains pencil or pen sketches of architectural drawings and details pasted into a volume. Scrapbook also features plates from issues of American Architect and Building News, published in 1877 and 1878. In addition there are drawings of such furniture as chairs, bookcases, sofas, and beds. Some illustrations note where the item shown was located.
Folio 269.
35 p.: col. ill.; 38 cm.
Scrapbook contains about four hundred scrap pictures, many of which are embossed. The pictures are grouped by subject and carefully arranged on each of the pages. Illustrations are of soldiers, flowers and flower arrangements, animals, birds, cherubs, shells, various costumes, cricket and rugby games, pets, and war scenes.
Folio 98.
1 vol.: ill.; 32 cm.
Contains in excess of two hundred chromolithographed trade cards, die cuts, cutouts, calling cards, rewards of merit, and greeting cards. Because most of the businesses represented by trade cards were located in Philadelphia, it is likely that the scrapbook was compiled in that city. Evidence suggests that E. or Mattie Kiehl maintained the volume.
Document 725.
34 p.; 36 cm.
Includes chromolithographed trade cards, Christmas cards, calling cards, reward of merit cards, and Santa Claus figures. Many of the trade cards are for Bridgeport, Connecticut, businesses. John H. Bufford and Major & Knapp (Richard C. Major and Joseph F. Knapp) are two of the chromolithographers whose work is represented.
Finding aid available.
Folio 149.
18 leaves: ill. (some col.); 34 cm.
Book features chromolithographic cutouts; visiting, greeting, and trade cards; and rewards of merit. Animals, flowers, children, and birds are illustrated. Trade cards advertise firms that made thread, soap, corsets, sewing machines, cotton thread, and cologne.
Folio 281.
32 leaves: ill. (some col.); 39 cm.
Scrapbook features about 285 examples of chromolithographic cutouts and greeting cards. Captions are in English and French. Animals, nicely dressed women and children, and birds are illustrated. Cards issued as series are maintained together within the volume.
Folio 276.
34 p.: col. ill.; 28 cm.
Volume contains printed scraps, some of which were Christmas cards, calling and token of affection cards, valentines, Easter cards, and a few paper dolls. The greeting cards either fold out or are mechanical. Many of the items were printed in Germany, and some were printed in England by Raphael Tuck.
Document 360.
32 leaves: ill. (some col.); 28 cm.
Volume includes more than one hundred chromolithographed scraps, trade cards, and calling cards. Illustrations are generally grouped by subject and depict flowers, cherubs, children playing, and animals.
Document 1021.
1 vol.; 18 cm.
Includes magazine clippings on various topics and a few photographs. Illustrations depict women engaged in domestic activities, house interiors featuring furnishings of the period, and someone speaking on the telephone. The Underwood devil, Heinz pickle, and packaging for Uneeda biscuits and toasted cornflakes are among the advertisements illustrated.
Document 720.
89 leaves: ill.; 24 cm.
Volume contains clippings of prose and poetry from newspapers and magazines, many of which were published in Maine. Subjects range from curious facts of nature and history to stories for the edification and enjoyment of young people. Clippings are pasted into the annual report of the Maine State Board of Health for 1892 and 1893.
Document 49.
1 vol.: ill.; 28 cm.
Volume contains clippings from magazines that show the evolution of women’s and children’s fashion during the first half of the twentieth century. Other ephemeral materials, including pictures of animals, fruits and flowers from seed catalogues, and cats, are laid in. A woman named Barbara Watkins may have compiled the scrapbook.
Document 347.
143 p.: ill.; 32 cm.
Evidence suggests that this scrapbook was compiled by an unnamed furniture retail seller to advertise his wares. It consists of hundreds of photographic illustrations of a wide variety of furniture forms. Most depictions feature arts and crafts–style furniture. Mission and colonial revival styles are also featured. Many illustrations were clipped from the published catalogues of William Leavens & Company of Boston and Thomas Beels Furniture Company of Portland, Maine. Each piece of furniture is priced; some bear several prices to account for different sizes or finishes.
Folio 48.
1 vol.: ill.; 36 cm.
Volume contains articles and photographs from newspapers and magazines about the history of lighting and lighting devices. Long pieces discuss such topics as lamps used in colonial America, nineteenth-century lamps, candlesticks, and lanterns. A two-page article entitled “Iron and Brass Implements of the English and American Home,” featuring sixteen illustrations, shows the variety of candleholders available in the eighteenth century.
Folio 62.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 35 cm.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a painter of portraits and landscapes, an etcher, and lithographer. Born in 1834 in Lowell, Massachusetts, he was the son of a drawing teacher, George Washington Whistler. Young James grew up in the United States and Russia. In 1851 he entered the United States Military Academy but dropped out in 1854. In 1855 he traveled to Paris, where he studied art for five years. He then settled in London, where he began to establish his reputation as an artist. He never returned to America and died in London in 1903.
Scrapbook contains magazine articles about Whistler’s career and lithographed reproductions of his work by T. R. Way. In addition there are portraits of Whistler and reviews of a book, The Life of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, written by Joseph and Elizabeth R. Pennell (London: Heinemann, 1908).
Folio 249.
2 vols.: ill.; 28 cm.
These two volumes contain British and American engravings and feature the work of Charles Heath and Charles Roth. Depicted are mastheads, medallions, men in armor, family crests, historical figures, stoves, title pages for books, reproductions of paintings, and country scenes.
Index available.
Document 587.
2 vols.: ill.; 31 cm.
Consists of two scrapbooks featuring decorated Victorian covers and containing a total of ninety-two engravings, the majority of which were engraved and printed by Illman Brothers, a Philadelphia-based firm. The first volume contains portraits of girls and young women. The second volume includes a wider variety of scenes and topics.
Document 106.
115 items: col. ill.
Consists of cutouts, greeting and calling cards, a postcard that doubles as a calendar, a set of scraps representing rural activities that took place during each of the twelve months, and two copies of a book called Pressed Flowers from Palestine. Illustrations of roses and other flowers predominate.
Collection 139.
36 pieces: ill.; 17 cm.
Thirty-six pieces of decorated animal bone are tied into a sample book that may have been used by an engraver. Most designs are related to Great Britain and feature Queen Victoria, the British arms, and views of London landmarks. Some are heraldic or mythological. Still others illustrate a steamship, suspension bridge, and train. “Old Kentuck” appears beneath one mythological beast, suggesting an American connection.
Folio 282.
10 p.; 31 cm.
The unnamed man who maintained this journal recorded his travels from Gravesend, England, to Port Royal, Jamaica. He was married and had a young son named Dick.
Records the trials and tribulations of a sea journey presumably undertaken to set up a new home in a strange land. The writer seems to have recorded shipboard life with the intention of sharing his diary with his son and wife. Once in Jamaica, he wrote about tropical diseases, tropical fish, and the appearance of the natives.
Document 780.
1 vol.; 44 cm.
Manuscript was kept by the unnamed supercargo of the ship Confederacy during a voyage from New York City to Canton, Calcutta, and Manila. Early entries record sailing details. Another portion of the manuscript, devoted to trade, features instructions on how to interact with the Hong merchants in China as well as how to conduct business with the nationals of Calcutta and other ports of call.
Folio 153.
Scrapbook. 1871–84.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 26 cm.
Ella K. Seal lived in Richmond, Virginia. She was the eldest daughter of Captain T. Seal and married J. H. Beveridge in 1881.
This modestly sized scrapbook contains five reward of merit cards, an invitation to Ella’s sister’s wedding, an announcement of her own wedding, chromolithographic cutouts, and a calligraphic name label.
Document 1088.
Diaries. 1872–1905, bulk 1899–1905.
6 vols.; 19 cm. or smaller.
Clarence Barnard Seal and Martha Campbell Talley Seal married on September 9, 1903, and lived in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Clarence, a graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, spent part of the year teaching a class on textiles to students at an agricultural school in Mississippi.
Clarence kept three of the diaries, and Martha kept the other two. The other collection piece is an inventory of Talley family possessions originally written in 1872 and updated to 1892. The diaries provide a glimpse into the daily lives of the Seals both before and after their marriage. Some financial transactions are also mentioned.
Collection 118.
Account book. 1829–45.
114 p.; 20 cm.
Abraham Seigle made and repaired wagons.
Book notes the details of Seigle’s work on wagons and wagon parts as well as his shoeing horses, mending shovels, hooping, and other activities.
Document 645.
Pin the tail on the donkey. After 1870.
1 sheet + 20 tail pieces: col. ill.
Selchow & Richter, one of the toy industry’s leading distributors, was established in 1867.
An early version of the popular party game, this sheet features an illustration of a brown donkey printed on fabric.
Collection 220.
Account books. 1775–1824.
1 microfilm reel.
Nathan Sellers was a wiremaker in Darby, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia, who made molds for papermakers.
Manuscript lists many early American papermakers and mills and their locations. Records of Nathan Sellers & Company are also featured.
Original materials located at the American Philosophical Society.
Microfilm M1916.
Records. 1840–75.
175 items: ill.
William Sellers was an inventor and mechanical engineer who founded a business in Philadelphia in 1847. He served as president of the Franklin Institute from 1864 to 1867, was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania from 1868 to 1905, and became a member of a number of professional societies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Collection contains bills and receipts, some bearing illustrative vignettes, for Sellers’s personal expenses. Items mentioned include clothing, food and drink, books, a bathtub, and other domestic items.
Other repositories holding papers of William Sellers are the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the Hagley Museum and Library.
Collection 510.
Collection. Ca. 1848–1906.
36 items: ill.
Lars Gustaf Sellstedt was a portrait, landscape, and marine painter. A native of Sweden, at the age of eleven he worked as a cabin boy on a Swedish sailing vessel and, later, as a merchant seaman. In 1845 he settled in Buffalo, New York, where he began his career as a painter. Sellstedt helped to found the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and served as its president from 1876 to 1877. He was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design and published his autobiography in 1904.
Collection includes photographs of Sellstedt, family members, friends, house interiors, and a crucifixion scene that he painted. Also included are valentine greetings addressed to Caroline Scott, Sellstedt’s second wife.
Collection 177.
Account book and weaving pattern book. 1843–68.
1 microfilm reel.
Abraham Serff, a resident of York County, Pennsylvania, wove coverlets, carpets, and many varieties of cloth.
Account book documents Serff’s weaving activities and financial transactions. The pattern book contains sketches of weaving patterns.
Index to account book available.
Microfilm M932.
14 leaves; 17 cm.
This sermon, delivered by an unidentified minister, is based on the biblical verse of Galatians 6:15: “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”
Document 1042.
Sketchbook. 1847.
5 p.: ill.; 29 cm.
Amateur artist Cletus Setley, a resident of Reading, Pennsylvania, drew several sketches of Native Americans, weapons, a cabin, ships at sail, a mill, fishermen, and a hunter on these pages.
Document 777.
Account book. 1814–18.
31 p.; 32 cm.
Sewell Raymond & Co. operated a general store in Potsdam, New York.
Consists of lists of items purchased by the store for retail sale, their prices, the names of the distributors from whom goods were purchased, and store inventories for 1814 and 1816. The firm seems to have had five categories of merchandise: hardware, Oneida bottles, crockery, groceries, and dry goods. Most favored suppliers were William Wright of Rome, New York, and David Barnum.
Document 251.
Killing no murder. 1658?
111 p.; 21 cm.
Apparently a manuscript copy of the 1658 French translation of the pamphlet, Killing No Murder, which related to despotism, Oliver Cromwell, and a history of England beginning in 1649. French title is Traicté Politique… . It may have been translated by Jacques Carpentier de Marigny. Original work has been variously attributed to Edward Sexby, Silius or Silas Titus, or William Allen.
Document 50.
32 microfilm reels.
Material reflects many aspects of Shaker life and the history of Shaker communities, including daily events, construction of buildings, travel, education, religious practices and beliefs, accounts of visions and spiritual communications, music, and legal and business transactions. Collection includes diaries, letters, financial and legal papers, poetry, inspirational writings and drawings, memoirs, clippings, and hymnals.
Summary of contents and index on first reel.
Original materials located at the Library of Congress.
ASC M9–M40.
9 microfilm reels.
Manuscript includes diaries, recollections, accounts of seances, recipes, spirit messages, songs, covenants, accounts, correspondence, drawings, and printed material relating to the Shaker religious sect. Most materials are specific to the Shaker communities at New Lebanon, New York, and Watervliet, New York.
Original materials located at the New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division.
Index available.
ASC M164–M172.
4 microfilm reels.
A community of Shakers established a settlement at South Union, Kentucky, from 1807 to 1810. It remained in existence until 1922, when the site was sold. At its peak, the community counted four hundred members.
Collection contains diaries, business papers, letters, broadsides, and hymnals from South Union. Items of note include an autobiography of John Rankin Jr., “A Sketch of the Life and Experiences of Issachar Bates,” a mill ledger, a seed selling account book, and several manuscript hymnals kept by Mary Edwards and H. L. Eades.
Original manuscripts located at Western Kentucky University.
ASC M195–M198.
Church records. 1790–1875.
1 microfilm reel.
The Shaker village in Harvard, Massachusetts, was established in 1793. It began with four families and at its peak counted two hundred members. The village disbanded in 1918, and its occupants took up residence in other Shaker communities.
This one-volume manuscript includes membership lists for the Shaker society, a copy of the Shaker covenant of beliefs, accounts of expenditures, notices of deaths, and entries describing notable events of the Harvard village.
Original manuscript located at the American Antiquarian Society.
ASC M173.
Diary and account book. 1858–67.
274 p.: ill.; 32 cm.
Christian H. Shank was a prosperous farmer and partner in a dry goods business, Shank & Horst. He lived in Annville, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript volume consists of 26 pages of invoices for Shank & Horst dating from 1856 to 1858, 149 pages entitled “Farm Diary” for the years from 1858 to 1864, 29 pages of financial accounts kept from 1856 to 1862, and 70 pages of further diary entries kept from 1864 to 1867. Most diary entries are brief and recount such things as farming activities, the construction and renovation of farm buildings, Shank’s recreational pursuits, and the Civil War. The financial information relates to Shank’s partnership and records both wholesale purchases to stock the shelves of his general store and retail sales to customers.
Name indexes available.
Document 370.
Household arts: student notebook. Ca. 1905.
48 leaves: ill.; 22 cm.
Because a number of cities in Massachusetts are mentioned, this manuscript may have originated in that state.
Covers the first six of ten divisions of the household arts as listed on the first page: planning and building the house; furnishing and decorating; lighting; heating; plumbing; and water supply and disposal of waste. State-of-the-art methods for managing these domestic concerns are discussed. Manuscript is typewritten. There are hand-drawn floor plans and illustrations of houses, and their interiors have been cut from magazines and pasted into the volume.
Document 48.
Account book. 1854–65.
12 p.; 18 x 22 cm.
Jonathan B. Shaver was a cooper in Rockingham County, Virginia.
Short book records Shaver’s work repairing churns, hooping barrels and buckets, and making washtubs and firkins.
Document 922.
Trade recipes, etc. 1882.
21 p.; 30 cm.
Fred G. and Alfred G. Shaw were jewelers, silversmiths, and goldsmiths in Oneonta, New York.
Consists of notes and instructions related to the Shaws’ work. Formulas and procedures for testing precious metals, working with gold and silver, and performing watch and clock repairs are included. Sections are headed with such titles as “To Make Gold Coin,” “Acids for Testing Gold,” “To Make 18 kt. Gold for Rings,” “To Tighten a Ruby Pin,” and “Brittle Gold: How to Remedy.”
Index to recipes at back of volume.
Document 861.
Drawings and blueprints. 1875–1925.
Approx. 80 items: ill.
J. William Shaw was an architect. His name appears sporadically in Philadelphia directories as both a draftsman and architect. After 1899 he was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at its Broad Street station. Shaw lived in Wayne, a Philadelphia suburb, and often worked out of his home.
Items include drawings in pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolors; photographs; and blueprints and other plans related to Shaw’s work for the railroad. Plans pertaining to the Pennsylvania railroad include locomotive shops, engine houses, stations, truss bridges, and timber trestles. Complete plans for a residence for Horace F. Smith of Germantown, Pennsylvania, are also included.
Finding aid available.
Collection 279.
Letter. 1785.
1 microfilm reel.
Samuel Shaw wrote this letter from New York City on November 10, 1785, to Winthrop Sargent Jr. of Boston. In it he discussed shipping to and from China, mentioned accounting practices, discussed the empress of China, and referred to pending lawsuits.
Original manuscript located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M106.
3 boxes: ill. (some col.)
This artificial (and still open) collection contains sheet music, most printed in the United States, that feature engraved or lithographed covers. Among the engravers represented are Sarony & Co. and J. H. Bufford; among the publishers represented are Oliver Ditson, Forth, Pond & Co., and John Cole. City views, schools, public buildings, Civil War scenes, and portraits of singers and dancers are featured in the illustrations.
Finding aid listing title, composer, date, publisher, artist or engraver, subject, and further description is available.
Collection 240.
Account book. 1830–67.
60 leaves; 21 cm.
Pardon Sheldon was a clock and watch peddler from the Hartford, Connecticut, area. He worked as a farmer for a time, and his account book entries suggest that he may have been the proprietor of a general store as well.
The first part of this manuscript details Sheldon’s clock- and watch-selling activities. A boy’s diary, which may have been kept by Albert Perry, appears in the middle of the volume. Toward the end of the manuscript, records of Sheldon’s accounts resume and detail the sale of items associated with a general store.
Document 1040.
Workbook. 1787–88.
240 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
James Shields probably resided in or near Philadelphia.
Manuscript contains mathematical problems and their solutions, drawings of geometric shapes, and hand-colored illustrations of ships, towers, and windmills. Many of the problems relate to the activities of a craftsman. Workbook also contains mock journals of round-trip ship voyages between Philadelphia and the West Indies.
Document 463.
Daybook. 1775–91.
101 p.; 45 cm.
Thomas Shields was a silverworker and goldsmith from Philadelphia.
Manuscript contains daily entries of credits and debits for the production and repair of a wide variety of silver and gold articles. Many of the entries refer to the fabrication of buckles, scabbards, knives, and buttons. Dr. Benjamin Rush was a steady customer. Two letters of a religious nature are laid in.
Folio 27.
The artists’ complete assistant in drawing; and painting in oil, and watercolours: with instructions in oriental, and tinted, and mezzotinting; chalk drawing; crayon; and transferring, velvet painting; varnishing, &c. 1832.
66 p.: ill.; 33 cm.
Thomas E. B. Shillinglaw was a drawing master from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Manuscript contains handwritten instructions relating to the subjects mentioned in the title. Plates illustrate shading, outlining, stippling, and tinting. Portraits and landscapes are both discussed.
Table of contents available.
Document 709.
Account book. 1756–93.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
William Shipley was a resident of Wilmington, Delaware. Several members of his family were successful merchants. The family owned a mill and brewery in which William Jr. appears to have held an interest.
Manuscript relates to the activities of the Shipley’s brewery. Most account book entries refer to the exchange and/or purchase of bread, malt, and barley and refer to the sale of beer. Shop, lot, and house rents are also included.
Partial name index available.
Folio 178.
Papers. 1757–1961, bulk 1760–1800.
25 items: ill.
Members of the Shippen family were prominent in Philadelphia’s early history. Edward (1639–1712) served as the city’s first mayor, and his grandson, Edward III (1703–1781), also held the post. Sarah, Edward III’s daughter, married Colonel James Burd.
Collection consists of letters, obituary notices, portraits, and newspaper clippings about the Shippen family.
Other Shippen family records are located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Manuscript Division, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and the Clements Library at the University of Michigan.
Collection 521.
5 boxes.: ill.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains a wide variety of documents pertaining to shipping. Included are certificates of ownership and insurance, bills of lading, manifests, invoices, accounts, lists, and letters relating to shipping and trade. Some of the items are printed and include small woodcut illustrations of sailing ships or patriotic symbols. Most of the manuscripts relate to trade taking place in Boston, New York, or Philadelphia, though other ports are mentioned as well.
Finding aid available.
Collection 245.
26 leaves; 48 cm.
Logbook records the daily activities of the Pembroke, a schooner, over the course of a nine-month voyage. The schooner was initially commanded by William Gibbs, but leadership passed to Robert Woodbury in midvoyage. The vessel routinely carried nails from Wareham, Massachusetts, to ports along the eastern seaboard and returned with cargoes of coal and/or flour.
Folio 289.
1 microfilm reel.
The journals in this collection record the maritime activities of a number of ships. In addition to the customary weather and course observations, writers recorded land sightings, ocean depths, ship repairs made at sea, the work of the crew, and viewings of unusual fish and birds. The ships sailed from New England with cargoes bound for many ports around the world.
Original journals located at the Essex Institute.
Microfilm M2924.
1 microfilm reel.
Includes lists of cargo on board vessels returning to Philadelphia from Canton, China. Tea, ceramics, textiles, and other commodities are noted.
Original records located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M106.
Account book. 1834–38.
76 p.; 31 cm.
George Shirk was a blacksmith in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records Shirk’s blacksmithing activities. Text is written phonetically. Shirk most frequently made horseshoes. He also mended dung forks, repaired an apple peeler, sharpened plow irons, and pointed colters.
Document 197.
35 p.; 15 cm.
Inventory lists record items stocked by an unidentified general store and their estimated value. Items mentioned include food, fabric, clothing, personal goods, dishes, books, and kitchenware.
Document 223.
Account book. 1768–1810.
1 microfilm reel.
George Shove worked as a potter in Dighton, Massachusetts.
Account book records transactions related to Shove’s work as a potter and his personal expenses, including the acquisition of such items as furniture, glassware, building materials, and textiles.
Original manuscript located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1963.
Records of the Sicily, Gershon Bradford, Master. 1822–23.
50 items.
Collection contains records for the fourth voyage of the brig Sicily. The ship set sail from Boston in September 1822, bound for Trieste, and returned to Boston via Messina, Italy, in 1823. Many items are bills for goods and services related to the voyage, including repairs to the vessel. Supplies needed were cordage, knives and forks, rags, brooms, nails, water, and food. Freight lists indicate the Sicily’s cargo; also included is a roll list of crew members.
Collection 505.
Account book. 1851, 1883.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
In 1851 an unnamed shoemaker from eastern Pennsylvania maintained this volume. Annie M. Sick, who operated a dairy, apparently acquired the volume in 1883.
Book includes records associated with the production and repair of footwear, written in 1851. Later records, written by Sick in 1883, detail sales of eggs, butter, and other items.
Name index available.
Document 636.
Drawing book. 1825–34.
1 vol.: ill.; 31 x 23 cm.
Robert William Sievier was an engraver, sculptor, and scientist who became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1841.
Drawing book contains thirty-nine full- and half-page pencil drawings by Sievier and four drawings by an artist identified as W. H., possibly William Haworth. Depicted in the drawings are a fireplace ornament for Chatsworth, the principal seat of the dukes of Devonshire; finials; looking-glass frames; mantels; “gothic panels”; and a clock.
Document 651.
1 box.
Consists of packets of different varieties, colors, and brands of silk threads to be used for embroidery. Accompanying the threads are washing instructions and design recommendations. Firms represented include the Richardson Silk Co.; Belding Brothers; M. Hemingways & Sons; and J. P. Coats.
Collection 348.
22 leaves; 51 cm.
Consists of more than six hundred swatches of bright and colorful silk organized within a portfolio. The swatches are thought to be French in origin, though the German word Stoffmuster appears on the cover.
Collection 50.
Account books. 1804–16.
2 vols.; 19 cm. or smaller.
Samuel Silliman was a joiner from Chester, Connecticut. In 1831 he established a factory where he made lamp brackets, mallets, rulers, spool stands, sandboxes, and inkwells. After merging with a number of partners in 1832, the business became known as S. Silliman & Co.
Both volumes, which predate the establishment of Silliman’s factory, document his joining and woodworking activities and his personal expenses. Records indicate that he helped build a shop (perhaps a carpentry shop), made furniture, painted and varnished, turned, and built fences. Personal expenses for such things as food, board, clothing, and sundries are also recorded.
Document 913; Microfilm M665, M2426.
Account book and periodical subscription record. 1861–82.
185 p.; 34 cm.
Margaret Sillyman was the postmistress of Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript records the business activities of the Pottsville, Pennsylvania, post office. Sillyman recorded periodical subscriptions for townspeople. She listed the title, place of publication, frequency of delivery, subscription price, and names of subscribers for each periodical that passed through her post office. Entries were marked when a reader or publisher cancelled a subscription.
Folio 198.
Letterbook and bills. 1799–1810, 1831.
17 items.
Enoch Silsby was a merchant who maintained headquarters at 21 Long Wharf in Boston in 1830. At that time he owned three houses in Boston on Prince, Somerset, and Washington Streets.
Letterbook contains copies of letters that Silsby wrote between 1799 and 1810 regarding the case of Sarah and Abigail Silsby and others against Enoch Silsby and Thomas Young, administrators of the estate of Daniel Silsby. It appears that Sarah and Abigail would not part with a portion of Daniel’s estate despite a court order. Bills, sixteen in number and all dated 1831, record the purchases of such household items as furniture, kitchen utensils, bedding and linens, hardware, and cleaning supplies. There are invoices for whitewashing, painting, glazing, plastering, and mason work as well.
Collection 432.
Scrapbook. 1815–19.
68 leaves; 27 cm.
Phebe Sinton resided in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Clippings of prose and poetry have been pasted onto pages that may have been originally used for penmanship exercises.
Document 38.
Business papers. 1851–67.
9 vols.
John Sise was a merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who sold stoneware, earthenware, cream-colored earthenware, parian ware, white granite, china, and terra cotta. He may also have been an insurance agent.
Collection consists of a small number of bills and nine volumes of waste and sales books that record Sise’s business activities. Prices are listed as well.
Collection 88.
Account book. 1821–24.
73 leaves; 40 cm.
Noyes Sisson worked as a furnituremaker in Stonington, Connecticut; Westerly, Rhode Island; and Bozrah, Connecticut. He seems to have also sold alcoholic beverages.
Manuscript contains accounts for furnituremaking and repair. Sisson worked with cherry, maple, and mahogany and made or repaired bedsteads, bureaus, chairs, stands, tables, chests, and coffins. There are references to gin, brandy, rum, and other drinks.
Folio 9.
Daybook. 1871.
315 p.; 32 cm.
William M. Sisson worked as a general merchant in Lyme, Connecticut.
Daybook records retail sales by Sisson in his store. He sold such items as tobacco products, spices, shoes, sewing supplies, tools, rifles, clothing, and food.
Document 975.
Photograph album. 1893.
1 vol.: ill.; 15 x 23 cm.
Adelaide Skeel, a resident of Newburgh, New York, took her photographs while traveling through New England. Most of the twenty views in the album feature the Northampton, Massachusetts, area and Smith College. Each photograph is labeled.
Document 853.
Bills. 1782–1833.
275 items.
James Skene (1775–1864) and his wife, Jane Forbes Skene (1787–1862), resided near Aberdeen, Scotland, on an estate called Rubislaw. Skene inherited it from his older brother but only spent part of his time there. He traveled extensively and lived on the European continent much of the time. Skene was a lawyer, an artist, and an active member of several literary and scientific societies. He was also a friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Many of the bills in the collection were issued by firms located in Paris and Versailles, France, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Addressed to both Mr. and Mrs. Skene, the bills provide a sampling of the goods available to a wealthy, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century family.
Name and occupation list available.
Collection 91.
48 leaves: ill.; 55 cm.
Consists of mounted drawings of ecclesiastical silver and gold objects. The drawings, most done with ink-and-wash techniques, depict chalices, ciboria, monstrances, crosses, and crucifixes. A few drawings include brief manuscript notes written in French.
Spine title: Dessins anciens: orfèvrerie d’église; Bapst et Falize.
Folio 43.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 x 16 cm.
A student named Albert drew eighteen pencil sketches depicting building facades, landscapes with houses and trees, a boat at full sail, and other outdoor views in this sketchbook. An engraving on the front cover features a geography class in session, and the back cover has a multiplication table.
Document 795.
29 leaves: ill. (1 col.); 18 cm.
Someone whose initials were J. A. K. maintained this volume.
Includes thirty-seven drawings of various facial expressions, expressing such emotions as astonishment, esteem, horror, hope, fear, or amusement.
Document 330.
20 p.: ill (some col.); 18 x 11 cm.
This volume, which bears the label of a New York City stationer, was found in Maine.
Includes watercolors and a few pencil sketches of a variety of images, including scenes with trees and animals, a ship under sail, and a factory whose chimney is belching smoke.
Document 348.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 20 cm.
Though the creator of the sketchbook remains unknown, someone named Louis Messmer signed one of its pages and dated his signature “January 1884.”
Volume includes designs and transfer patterns assembled by a decorator of ceramics. Many of the drawings feature designs for teacups and plates. Transfer patterns feature depictions of birds, people, religious figures, and Asian scenes. Two of the designs are identified as registered patterns. Text is in Swedish and English.
Document 530.
Bills and architectural drawings. 1833–45.
73 items: ill. (some col.)
Samuel Tredwell Skidmore was a dry-goods merchant from New York City. He began his career in 1821 as a partner of Samuel D. Wilkins. After Wilkins died in 1838, he associated himself with John Ingraham as Skidmore & Co. In addition to his activities as a merchant, Skidmore was president of the Howard Insurance Co., served as a trustee of the United States Trust Company, and was a vestryman of Trinity Church. His grandson (and namesake) studied architecture at Columbia University.
Collection includes seventy bills and three architectural drawings by T. Thomas & Son that relate to the construction and furnishing of Skidmore’s Greek-revival house at 369 Fourth Street, New York City. In addition there are bills for furnishing a house at 5 Mott Street.
Finding aid available.
See entry number 1896.
Additional Skidmore papers located at the New York Historical Society.
Collection 310.
Architectural drawings. 1887–89.
10 items: col. ill.
Samuel Tredwell Skidmore studied architecture at Columbia University but did not pursue the profession. His grandfather (for whom he was named) was a dry-goods merchant in New York City.
Consists of pencil and watercolor drawings that Skidmore made as a student. Ground plans, elevations, longitudinal sections, a Dutch-baroque house, tombs, and public buildings are featured.
Finding aid available.
See entry number 1895.
Collection 309.
Papers. 1843–93.
1 vol. + 3 folders.
According to census records, Hall Slack lived in West Fallowfield, Pennsylvania. This volume also refers to a New Garden Township residence.
Manuscript used as both an account book and a daybook, in which Slack recorded transactions related to his work as a wheelwright. Loose material related to his personal life, his debts, the deaths of relatives, and the migration of family members to Illinois and Florida is included.
Collection 14.
Business papers. 1816–43.
13 vols. + 2 loose items.
In 1809, upon graduation from Dickinson College, Henry Slaymaker took over management of his father’s inn and general store in Salisbury, Pennsylvania. In 1820 Henry and his brother, Amos, began to sell hardware in Columbia, Pennsylvania, but three years later Henry returned to the business in Salisbury. Henry eventually became postmaster of Salisbury (a post his father once held). During the 1830s he established a hotel and store along the Gap Railroad.
Collection contains daybooks and ledgers regarding the operation of the Slaymaker store and inn in Salisbury. Also included are four articles relating to the post office and a ledger covering Henry’s activities between 1836 and 1843.
Name indexes to three of the volumes available.
Collection 206.
Ledger. 1797–1827.
1 microfilm reel.
Edward Slead was a furnituremaker from Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Accounts record Slead’s furnituremaking activities.
Index available.
Referred to in entry number 258 of Manuscripts in Baker Library: A Guide to Sources for Business, Economics and Social History, fourth edition (Boston: Baker Library, 1978).
Original ledger located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M254.
Samples and designs. Ca. 1945–60.
27 items: col. ill.
Sloan-Delaware Floor Products Co. of Trenton, New Jersey, manufactured flooring.
Includes twenty-seven prototype designs for floor coverings and sample pieces of flooring. Several designs resemble rugs. Original watercolors, printing proofs, and linoleum prints are featured.
Collection 257.
Account books. 1842–44, 1885–93.
2 vols.; 40 cm. or smaller.
Members of the Sloat family were blacksmiths in Carmel, New York.
Volumes record transactions of blacksmiths who worked at different times. The most recent volume is attributed to W. H. H. Sloat.
Folio 132.
Smith’s pictorial parlor oracle. 1868.
1 game: ill.; 29 cm.
Anthony W. Smith lived in Pittsburgh and engaged a local business, Krebs & Brother, to create lithographic images for his game.
Smith designed six games to be played with one set of game pieces. Players answered such questions as “What is a prominent trait in your character?” “Where will you reside next?” or “What is your idea of beauty?” The game cost $1.00 and was “sold by dealers in Varieties, Toys, Books, and Papers everywhere.”
Folio 28.
Account book. 1772–1848.
286 p.; 31 cm.
Daniel Smith was a shoemaker in Exeter, New Hampshire.
From 1772 to about 1808, Daniel Smith used this volume to record his accounts for making and repairing shoes. Beginning in 1803, John Smith, presumably a relative, used it to settle accounts for agricultural commodities. Also included are various records of the local school district, a list of building materials for the construction of a house in 1841, and family genealogies.
Document 162.
Ledger. 1773–1831.
178 p.: ill.; 32 cm.
Ezekiel Smith was a carpenter and a joiner, possibly from Taunton, Massachusetts.
Smith recorded the labor he performed for others on the verso pages of this volume. On the recto pages, he noted the goods and services he received in payment. In several instances, Smith worked for other businesses, including a sawmill and a forge. Smith mended chairs; built beds; hooped pails and tubs; and made looms, coffins, and window and door frames. The last page of this ledger includes a rough drawing of the floor plan of a house.
Partial index at front of volume.
Folio 300.
Account book. 1861–78.
210 p.; 20 cm.
Henry W. Smith was a lawyer and businessman in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Berks County Bar Association, was active in local politics, and held interests in the Reading Water Co. and the Farmer’s Bank. He, a Catholic, and his wife, a Lutheran, were active in their respective churches.
Manuscript contains detailed entries documenting Smith’s household expenses, including costs associated with food and drink, clothing, travel, furnishings, and acquisitions to expand his law library.
Document 952.
Letterbook. 1775–81.
1 microfilm reel.
Paschal Nelson Smith was a merchant in New Haven, Connecticut; New York City; and Boston. He was a partner in the firm of Sears & Smith, a mercantile business involved in both the transatlantic and coastal trades. Smith’s partner may have been Isaac Sears, his father-in-law.
Includes copies of 708 letters written by several hands. They indicate that a large portion of Smith’s business included the selling of shares in and/or the outfitting of privateers. Scattered through the letters are references to current events in the Revolutionary War. Correspondents include Benedict Arnold, Horatio Gates, Lewis Morris, Baron von Steuben, and other luminaries.
Microfilm M2964.
Account book. 1796–1811.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
Richard and Gilbert Smith were furnituremakers and joiners in Canaan, Connecticut, and, later, in New Marlborough, Massachusetts.
The Smiths made such furniture as cupboards, bedsteads, and chests and worked as carpenters. Pages recording the daily activities of a physician, probably Luman Stevens, have been bound with Smith’s accounts. His entries document doses of medicine prescribed, the dressing of wounds, drawing a tooth, and advice to patients.
Folio 170.
Research notes and photographs. 1969–71.
1 folder: ill.
Robert C. Smith was a professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in eighteenth-century Portuguese and Brazilian art.
Consists of a typed copy of Smith’s article, “Some Eighteenth-Century American Finial Busts,” for Antiques Magazine and photos and papers used in preparing for its publication.
Collection 146.
Bills. 1767–97.
15 items.
Most bills are from the Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, areas, suggesting that Smith lived there. Items mentioned include a looking glass, clock case, walnut table, stand, and food and drink.
Collection 465.
Letter and record of vendue. 1786–91.
2 items; 24 cm.
William Smith was a merchant from Hightstown, New Jersey.
A letter written by Issacher Polock of New York, dated February 16, 1786, inquires about a shipment of flour and cornmeal and requests information about the current price of flax. A record of the sale of items from Smith’s estate, which took place on April 13, 1791, is included as well.
Document 1015.
Papers. 1764–1833.
Approx. 150 items.
Merchant mariner Edward Smith lived in Salem, Massachusetts, until 1790, when he moved to York, Maine, where he lived until his death in 1805. He had at least two sons, Edward Jr. and Israel O., who seem to have been very active in the York community.
Collection contains letters, deeds, bills, receipts, promissory notes, an auction notice, and miscellaneous papers kept by the Smith family. Much relates to Edward Smith’s shipping business from the 1770s through the 1790s. Many bills and receipts record the purchase of such goods and services as food, candles, tobacco, tea, carding wool, boarding, and sawing lumber.
Collection 509.
Account book. 1826–37.
1 vol.; 11 cm.
Edward Snavely worked in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, probably as a furnituremaker.
Account book was primarily kept by Edward Snavely, but also by James Forney and possibly by Jacob Zehring and Peter Roebuck as well. Entries document the purchase of lumber and sales of furniture, including beds, bureaus, frames, and coffins. Measurements for a “Dearborn” chair and other items are noted. Genealogical notes on the Troxler and Forney families are scattered throughout the volume.
Document 1078.
Trolley: the great card game. 1904.
1 set of cards: ill.
Snyder Bros., a printing and manufacturing firm, was located in Elmira, New York.
Instruction leaflet offers rules for nine games using this one set of sixty cards. Cards bear either Arabic or Roman numerals or are face cards or aces. Illustrations of motormen, conductors, passengers, and other images associated with trolley travel decorate the cards.
Collection 220.
Ledger. 1773–87.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Richard Somers was a merchant from New Jersey.
Manuscript records financial transactions transferred from a daybook kept by Ephraim Bates, one of Somers’s employees. Entries mention names of schooners and sloops, freight charges, and “sundries per day book.” Also included are accounts having to do with the settlement of Job Somers’s estate.
Includes name index.
Document 648.
Account book. 1884–92.
82 p.; 30 cm.
John H. Sonner operated a stoneware pottery that had been founded by his father in Strasburg, Virginia. Sonner closed his business in 1892 because he could not keep pace with technological improvements that swept through the profession.
Manuscript describes Sonner’s pottery business, including his geographic market, accounting system, names of employees, the pottery forms that he produced and their costs, railroad shipping details, and objects fired in various kilns during 1884 and 1885. In addition to making crocks, stoneware, jars, and spittoons, Sonner manufactured tile from 1886 to 1889.
Name index in front of manuscript.
Account book used for “John H. Stonner’s Stoneware Pottery, Strasburg, Virginia,” by Doris Fanelli, in Spinning Wheel 37, no. 1 (January–February 1981): 42–45.
Document 378.
Account books. 1848–54.
1 microfilm reel.
Emanuel Spangler painted buggies and wagons in York County, Pennsylvania. For a time he was a partner in the firm E. & H. Spangler.
These two volumes record Spangler’s and E. & H. Spangler’s painting activities.
Original account books located at the Hanover, Pennsylvania public library.
Microfilm M2988.
Book of poetry. 1792.
10 leaves: ill. (some col.); 19 cm.
Phebe Spaulding lived in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Volume contains twelve original poems on such topics as liberty, love, morals, death, and marriage. Pages often feature calligraphic ornamentation. The cover is decorated with watercolor illustrations. Jeremiah Smith Boies of Milton, Massachusetts, made the paper used in this volume.
Document 873.
Pattern book. Ca. 1880
56 p.; 18 cm.
Book contains instructions for more than twenty patterns for knitting and crocheting. There are six samples of fancywork designs pinned onto the pages. Pattern names are listed on pages two and three. Explanations of abbreviations appear on pages 55 and 56.
Document 8.
Receipt book. 1786–1841, bulk 1826–40.
155 p.; 10 x 16 cm.
Joseph and Sarah Spencer are listed in Philadelphia city directories beginning in 1817. At different times, Joseph Spencer is listed as a merchant, professor of languages, and gentleman.
Manuscript consists of receipts for expenses incurred over the course of building and improving the Spencers’ home.
Document 207.
Account book. 1832–48.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
William E. Spier was a farmer and sawyer in Northampton, New York.
Much of this manuscript relates to Spier’s agricultural activities, including plowing, planting, trading livestock, and exchanging farm produce.
Document 544.
Shape book. 1820–21.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 cm.
Josiah Spode operated a pottery at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is thought to be the inventor of English bone china. From 1805 to 1822, Henry Daniel and his staff of artists decorated Spode porcelains in Daniel’s workshops, which were located within the Spode factory. The firm Copeland & Garrett took over the Spode works in 1833.
Book records shapes of hollowware pieces made at the Spode pottery works. Entries include illustrations of the shapes, dimensions to be followed by the throwers and turners, and the trade sizes of pieces. Forms featured include bowls, cups, candlesticks, beakers, garden pots and stands, and jars and vases. The book was probably meant for internal use by factory and sales staff. Because an identical volume was discovered at the Spode factory, this one may have been used at Spode’s London warehouse.
Document 655; Microfilm M2828.
John Martin’s spool zoo. 1931.
6 items: col. ill.
The Spool Cotton Co. was located in Newark, New Jersey. It supplied its product to the leading threadmakers of its day, including J. P. Coats and Clark’s O. N. T.
The spool zoo consisted of cards with front and back images of various animals: fox, bear, lion, zebra, elephant, and hippopotamus. The images were to be cut out and then pasted onto the flat ends of a spool of thread to create a plaything.
Collection 220.
Copybook. 1832.
1 vol.: ill.; 19 cm.
Mary Ann Stanford may have lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Volume includes copies of spiritual songs. The front cover features a multiplication table and an engraving of a ship, both within an ornamental border.
Document 970.
Papers. 1808–53.
54 items + 1 microfilm reel.
The Stanger family immigrated to southern New Jersey in 1768 from Dornhagen, Germany, where they had operated a glassworks. Members of the family established several glasshouses in New Jersey upon their relocation to the United States. Christian Stanger worked as an innkeeper in addition to being a glassworker, and Christian L., his son, founded a bottleworks at Malaga, New Jersey, in 1810. Members of the Stanger family were instrumental in the development of the Isabella Glass Works and the Union Glass Works.
Papers include glassmaking recipes, a price list, genealogical information on the Stangers, coupons to be used at a company store, miscellaneous financial accounts, and petitions for a tavern license.
Petitions for a tavern license written in manuscript form. Except for the microfilm reel the rest of the collection consists of photocopies.
Photographs of Stanger-made products in the Decorative Arts Photograph Collection, Winterthur Library.
Collection 141; Microfilm M1534.
Ledger. 1804–17.
434 p.; 42 cm.
Ebenezer Starr was a shoemaker in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Manuscript records Starr’s activities making and repairing footwear.
Name index in front of volume.
Folio 197.
Diary. 1835–36.
60 p.; 16 cm.
John Starr was a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, and may have been involved in shipping with Thomas Starr, probably a relative.
Diary entries are brief and customarily record weather conditions during the winter of 1835–36. Starr also noted ships being loaded on the Christiana Creek before sailing for New York City, sometimes specifically mentioning their cargo.
Document 700.
Daybook. 1794–95.
1 vol.; 38 cm.
Startwout & Dumont operated a paint and supply store in New York City.
Book records sales of paints and related supplies, including gold leaf, putty, and white lead. The firm sold items by the case and keg, suggesting that it was a wholesaling business.
Name index available.
Folio 230.
American engravings––portraits chiefly. 1901.
1 vol.; 23 cm.
David McNeely Stauffer was an engineer, author, and antiquarian who collected letters, manuscripts, and drawings for the study of printers and engravers. He wrote a two-volume work entitled American Engravers upon Copper and Steel (New York: The Grolier Club, 1907).
Volume lists engravers, names of individuals whose portraits they engraved, and portrait titles. It was probably used in writing American Engravers.
Document 570.
Papers. 1792–1812.
37 items.
Members of the Stearns family (Horace, Samuel, Jacob, Thomas, and James) were Boston-based merchants of fur accessories.
Collection contains bills, receipts, letters, and a trade card pertaining to the sale of fur accessories. Many of the letters were orders for furs and finished products, including muffs and hats. The firm maintained contacts with businesses based in Holland.
Collection 496.
Ledger. 1813–24.
1 microfilm reel.
Brainerd Stebbins was a farmer and textile dyer from Barre, Vermont.
Accounts in Stebbins’s ledger record his work as a farmer and a dyer as well as some domestic affairs.
Original manuscript located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1964.1.
Alfred Stebbins autograph collection. 1834–72.
2 vols. + approx. 100 items laid in: ill.; 40 cm.
Alfred Stebbins was a librarian for the San Francisco Mercantile Library Association.
Consists of letters, autographs, and photographs of artists solicited by Stebbins and pasted into his copy of Book of the Artists, written by Henry T. Tuckerman and published in 1867. Among the artists featured are F. O. C. Darley, John F. Kensett, Jervis McEntee, S. F. B. Morse, Thomas Nast, George Smillie, and John Vanderlyn.
Collection 331.
Receipt book. 1854–75.
54 p.; 17 cm.
James W. Steel was an engraver from Philadelphia, who learned the craft under Benjamin Tanner and George Murray. For a short time, Steel worked as a banknote engraver for Tanner, Vallance, Kearney & Co. Later, he became an accomplished line engraver and produced a number of portraits, landscapes, and annual plates. Toward the end of his career, he resumed work as an engraver of banknotes.
Most of the book contains receipts for rents paid by Steel for his home, office, and other properties. Occasional entries pertain to his career as an engraver. Some entries list personal expenses.
Document 778.
Journals. 1847–53, 1855–57, 1860–69.
6 vols.; 20 cm.
Mary Service Steen was born in Philadelphia. She attended Van Doren and David’s Institute and later the Misses Gill’s School. Mary seems to have been a good student, was an avid reader, belonged to an organization called the Dorcas Society, and attended church regularly. Her father, Robert, was a successful merchant.
Journals include diaries, a report card for 1847, letters, some financial accounts kept from 1861 to 1863, and a list of social calls kept from 1868 to 1869. Mary wrote about her years as a student; handicraft activities; summer trips to Cape May, New Jersey; journeys to Saratoga, New York; and an extended trip to England and Ireland.
Document 265.
Receipt book. 1848–52.
120 p.; 16 cm.
Mrs. Jacob Steffe and her husband were patternmakers and furniture dealers from Philadelphia. The couple did business with many of the city’s better known chairmakers.
Contains receipts given to Mrs. Steffe for patternwork done on chairs and sofas. There are also references to purchases of tables, rocking chairs, and bureaus. Some mention is made of clocks, glasses, and bed laces. Craftsmen who produced furniture sold by the Steffes are named.
Document 779.
Notebook. 1853–58.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Caroline Sophia Steidle was a student when she used this volume. In 1853 and 1854, she resided in Kirchberg, Bavaria. By 1858 her family had immigrated to Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Consists of German-language spelling exercises and copies of letters that Caroline wrote to friends and teachers. She wrote about her family, job prospects, and the death of a girl. The front and back covers feature illustrations of events in the life of Martin Luther.
Document 841.
Accounts. 1772–89.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Stephen Jones & Co. was a firm of merchants based in Salem, Massachusetts.
Consists of a fragment of a larger manuscript recording items purchased by the company, including earthenware, foodstuffs, fabrics, and spices.
Document 936.
Stephens’ album drolleries no. 1: our relations at home and abroad in oil colors. 1863.
12 items: col. ill.; 7 x 10 cm.
Henry Louis Stephens was an illustrator, caricaturist, and watercolorist. He worked in Philadelphia, his native city, through the 1850s and moved to New York City in 1859 to assume a position with Frank Leslie. He then became an illustrator for Harper Brothers, and accepted some freelance assignments as well.
Drolleries consist of a complete set of twelve cards (stored in an envelope) chronicling relations between England and Ireland and England and the United States during the American Civil War.
Document 336.
Daybook. 1835–38.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
William D. Sterette was a harness- and saddlemaker in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Book records the many products that Sterette made and repaired, including harnesses and saddles, whips, bridles, collars, halters, straps, and trunks.
Document 667.
Daybook. 1843–57.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Calvin Stetson was a furnituremaker from Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Stetson made and repaired such items as armchairs, bedsteads, tables, rocking chairs, looking glasses, chests of drawers, desks, and coffins.
Document 713.
Account book. 1815–23.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Elias K. Stevens was a shoemaker from Killingworth, Connecticut.
Account book records the activities of a shoemaker who made and mended boots and shoes. Also included is “an account of the expenses on the old house which Jane Stevens pays one third and Elias K. Stevens pays two thirds,” in which costs of building materials are itemized.
Document 896.
Receipt and recipe book. Ca. 1850–90.
1 vol.; 10 x 16 cm.
Consists primarily of recipes for pies and cakes, some of which were pinned onto the pages of the volume. There are receipts for expenses incurred by Stauffer Stevenson in settling the estate of Peter Weinhold in 1860.
Document 891.
Receipt book. 1831–35.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
George Stewardson was a Quaker and a merchant from Philadelphia. He was associated with the firms George Stewardson & Co. and Stewardson, Cabot & Co.
Receipts record amounts owed and paid to other merchants, shippers, and craftsmen. There are also occasional references to such activities as sign painting, dyeing, carding, and finishing.
Index of names and occupations available.
Document 773.
Album. 1838–52.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 cm.
Charlotte Stewart probably lived in Delaware or southeastern Pennsylvania.
Includes poetry, sentimental verses, and sayings written to Stewart by her friends. The album features engravings of famous paintings. It was issued by J. C. Riker of New Yorker.
Document 954.
Receipt book. 1799–1808.
65 leaves; 10 cm.
James Stewart lived in New York City, and evidence suggests that he was a baker.
Manuscript records cash payments made by Stewart to individuals in the form of signed receipts. The majority of the entries note only the amount paid; however, the few items mentioned include such baking supplies as butter, lard, and flour.
Document 1057.
Papers. 1773–96, bulk 1792–95.
111 items.
Walter Stewart, an Irishman who immigrated to the American colonies, served as a military officer during the Revolutionary War, gaining fame as an aid to General Horatio Gates. Stewart took part in the Pennsylvania battles at Brandywine and Germantown and retired from active duty as a brigadier general. He then settled in Philadelphia, where he was a merchant, local official, and a member of several organizations.
Papers document the construction and furnishing of Stewart’s mansion in Philadelphia and two other dwellings occupied by family members. Several manuscripts record the contents of Mrs. Stewart’s wardrobe and one item relates to Stewart’s military career, documenting what he spent on camp equipment.
Collection 142.
Business papers. 1889–1962, bulk 1901–39.
50 boxes, 121 vols.
Gustav Stickley was instrumental in promoting the arts and crafts movement with his distinctive style of furniture. The furniture is often described as simple, almost rustic, and well made. In addition to his furniture business, headquartered in Eastwood, New York, Stickley published The Craftsman and owned and operated the Craftsman Restaurant atop the Craftsman Building in New York City. His furniture business operated until 1915, when Stickley was forced to declare bankruptcy.
Papers contain material relevant to Stickley’s business concerns and include cash vouchers, stock information, minutes, correspondence, cash receipts, time sheets, payroll records, and glass-plate negatives that were used for the production of Stickley furniture trade catalogues.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 60.
Papers. 1846–1911.
10 items.
Nathaniel Stickney was a carpenter from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who worked with Sumner Shepard. Other family members were Moses, Frederick, Katherine, and Helen.
Papers relate to the estate of Nathaniel Stickney. Manuscripts include mortgages, bonds, letters, a release of mortgage, and a list of tools. Other items relate to the transfer of land and estate property.
Collection 516.
Records of Manheim Glass Works. 1763–73.
1 microfilm reel.
Henry William Stiegel operated the Manheim Glass Works in Manheim, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm reel contains business records of the works, including a rent book, ledgers, and daybooks.
Summary of contents available.
Original materials located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2454.
Receipt book. 1773–1827.
1 vol.; 20 x 13 cm.
James Stiles was a planemaker in New York City. In 1775 he lived on Barclay Street.
Manuscript documents amounts paid for goods and services by Stiles in sporadic entries kept over a fifty-five-year period. Also included is a list of births and deaths of Stiles family members.
Name index available.
Document 474.
Scraps. 1898–1912.
48 items: ill. (some col.)
This modest collection assembled by A. E. J. Stofflet features examples of Victorian chromolithography, including greeting cards, postcards, trade cards, and scraps. Depicted are children, birds, Santa Claus, landscapes, fruits, women’s fashions, calendars, and a leather postcard.
Collection 338.
Recipes and notes. 1858–86.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Augustus E. Stolzenbach was a photographer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His father and brother were photographers as well.
Volume contains formulas and procedures for the preparation and development of negatives and collodion prints. Also included are a school copybook; recipes for preparing food; directions for crocheting; and suggestions for cleaning hairbrushes and polishing brass.
Document 346.
Tramp diary. 1871.
74 p.; 18 x 10 cm.
Charles Wellington Stone was born in Templeton, Massachusetts. He attended Phillips Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, and Harvard University, where he earned both a B.A. and an M.A. He taught for a number of years and eventually founded an elite academy to prepare boys for college. Stone was also a poet and a botanist. He published six scholarly works over the course of his career.
Diary records a six-day hike that Stone and a childhood friend, Abbot Fitzhale, took through the New Hampshire mountains. Stone comments on New Hampshire’s topography, traveling accommodations, hospitality of the local residents, flowers, and other hikers met along the way
Document 335.
Expense book. 1875–77.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Lucy E. Stone lived in or in the vicinity of Boston.
Volume records Stone’s expenses over a three-year period. She bought such items as candy, buttons, gloves, trimming, and clothing accessories.
Document 956.
Daybook. 1810–11, 1817–21.
175 p.; 33 cm.
The Stoney Grove Mills were paper and lumber mills on North East Creek between East and West Nottingham Townships, Pennsylvania. Josiah Kirk operated the paper mill. After his death in 1821, he was succeeded by two of his brothers, first Lewis and then Timothy. Other family members, Elisha and Levi Kirk, operated a general store in the vicinity.
Manuscript documents the activities of the mills from 1817 to 1821 and notes purchases of paper and wood. Often customers paid with farm produce or rags that were, in turn, used to manufacture paper. Volume also includes invoices for purchases made by the Kirk family store from 1810 to 1811.
Document 380.
Account book. 1862–68, bulk 1867–68.
40 p.; 15 cm.
Members of the Story family lived in Merrimack County, New Hampshire. They were somehow connected to the Concord and Hopkinton Stage Line and may have owned it.
Book records the daily expenses of the family. There are also records regarding the purchase of the Concord and Hopkinton Stage Line and accounts related to the settlement of W. R. Story’s estate.
Document 226.
Journal of a tour from Alexandria D of C to the western country: commenced May second one thousand eight hundred and thirty three, by A. F. Stover and Ralph Stover, and returned after an absence of thirty-five days.
36 p.; 20 cm.
Ralph Stover and his brother, A. F., lived in Alexandria, which in 1833 was part of the District of Columbia.
Stover’s travel account describes the scenery between Alexandria and the Ohio-Indiana state line. Occasionally he remarked about political matters and internal improvements.
Document 349.
Weaving samples. Ca. 1920–40.
11 items: ill.
May Bourne Strassburger was heiress of the Singer family, producers of the popular brand of sewing machines. She married Ralph Beaver Strassburger, a newspaper publisher and founder of the Pennsylvania German Society. In 1923 they moved to an estate named Normandy Farms in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The presence at Normandy Farms of a large number of looms, yarns, spinning machines, and books about the textile arts suggests that a craft school might have operated there.
Collection consists of nine weaving samples, one initialed “M.B.S.,” and two knotted belts.
Books associated with Strassburger’s work located in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection.
Collection 360.
Strawbridge & Clothier child’s shopping game. 1908.
1 board game: col. ill.
Strawbridge & Clothier is a department store chain that was first established in Philadelphia.
Participants who played this children’s game used a spinner and tokens to move to points around the game board that represented different departments in the store.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1920–83.
1 box.
Robert S. Stuart, a resident of Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, was a collector and student of American decorative arts. He worked as an appraiser and often lent objects from his collection to museums for exhibition.
Papers consist of letters referring to Stuart’s interests in early American silver and furniture. His most frequent correspondent was Jesse Bair, proprietor of a furnituremaking firm. Photographs and some printed material are also included.
Collection 81.
Papers. 1852–67.
12 vols.: ill.; 25 cm. or smaller.
John Moore Studley began his career as a carpenter and stairbuilder in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1861 he joined the United States Army and served under Gen. George McClellan. By 1864 he had left the army and settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he worked for a merchant and relative, Theodore Studley. In 1866 Studley moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked a clerk.
Collection includes an order book and account book that Studley maintained when he worked as a stairbuilder; nine diaries, most kept during the period of his military service; and an address book in which he retained the names and addresses of members of his military unit, Company D of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteers.
Collection 335.
Receipt book. 1786–1800, Ca. 1840s.
1 vol.; 17 x 11 cm.
Stephen Styer resided in southern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Few entries in Styer’s manuscript mention specific products or services, though there are records of payments made to his children’s teachers and a few notes of purchases for the household goods. The volume was later used as a scrapbook for newspaper clippings.
Document 583.
Album. Ca. 1978.
1 vol.: ill.; 32 cm.
David Style was a collector of antiques from England.
Consists of black-and-white photographs of Style’s house, Wateringbury Place, in Kent, England, taken before it and its contents were sold by Christie’s in 1978.
Document 178.
Papers. 1826–72.
1 box.
Thomas Sully was a portrait, miniature, and figure painter. A native of England, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1792. After painting in a studio that he shared with his brother, Lawrence, he embarked on an independent career in 1801 in Norfolk, Virginia. By 1808 he had settled in Philadelphia and married his brother’s widow. He eventually became a well-known and respected artist. He knew many of the leading artists of his day, both in America and abroad.
Collection includes two manuscript volumes dated 1837 and 1838 that contain copies of fourteen letters that Sully and his daughter, Blanche, wrote to family members in Philadelphia during a trip to England. There is a lengthy document, written in Sully’s hand, entitled “Memoirs of the Professional Life of Thomas Sully: Dedicated to his Brother Artists.” Additional material includes Sully’s estate inventory, letters, an invitation, and a certificate entitling Sully to a share in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Finding aid available.
Collection 164.
Surveys. Ca. 1850–99.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Surveys feature the boundaries to lots located in Philadelphia. The first few surveys were copied from the records of the recorder of deeds and outline the boundaries of property owned by James Logan and Andrew Hamilton. Some surveys trace city streets. Some surveys outline plans for properties on which owners were about to build.
Document 551.
Account book. 1850–53.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Josiah Swank was a potter from Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Because his name and the name Samuel Swank appear on the front page, it is unclear who actually maintained the volume.
Manuscript contains information about customers, shop production, and pricing for the Swank pottery. Sales were made to both private individuals and retailers. Products most commonly mentioned were jugs, crocks, jars, dishes, chamber pots, and cuspidors.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 555.
9 p.; 26 x 31 cm.
Consists of nine large swatches of printed calicos and dimities bound together using pink ribbon. The back cover bears the handwritten name of Mrs. R. Rolles.
Collection 50.
35 p.; 28 cm.
Consists of swatches of a wide variety of fabrics: printed cottons, woven linens, silk ribbons, net, baize, wool, velvet, cassimere, sinchaw, chambray, cambric, and leno. Written remarks next to each swatch indicate the producer and the amount of fabric on hand, suggesting that this was an inventory or order book.
Discussed in Florence Montgomery’s Textiles in America, 1650–1870 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1984).
Collection 50.
61 leaves: ill.; 21 cm.
Includes sixty-one swatches of white cloth, fifty-eight of which are mounted into a swatchbook. Each swatch features a single image (chiefly of animals or flowers) printed in inks of various shades of red.
Document 71.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 40 cm.
Contains more than eight hundred numbered cotton fabric swatches produced by a roller printing process from an unidentified mill, probably located in Manchester, England. Wide varieties of colors and patterns are represented. Flowers and leaves within striped patterns, geometric figures, and rococo designs predominate.
Collection 50.
6 lin. ft.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of bound volumes of textile fabric samples, yarn samples, and needlework samples.
Finding aid available.
Collection 50.
1 item: ill.
Contains twelve swatches of Londrins fabrics, which are fulled woolen cloths made in France, usually in Languedoc, for sale in the Levant trade. Each sample is numbered.
Collection 50.
Commonplace book. 1890–1917.
190 p.; 36 cm.
Evidence suggests that Annie H. Swayne resided in or near West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Commonplace book that consists of about forty pages of clippings pertaining to religious subjects, followed by about one hundred pages of poems and writings about the Bible.
Folio 18.
Memorandum and cash books. 1847–51, 1856–58.
3 vols.; 32 cm.
Halstead Sweet was an innkeeper in Middletown, New York. He served as town supervisor from 1856 to 1857 and was a member of the Hoffman Masonic Lodge.
Manuscripts document the affairs of Sweet’s public house and tavern. There are many references to food and drink. The volumes also feature diary entries that document Sweet’s personal life.
Collection 192.
Estate auction account. 1882–86, bulk 1885–86.
80 p.; 17 cm.
Includes records of the settlement of the estates of Clark S. Swift, a Mrs. Hopkins, and Burton Gilbert.
Document 225.
Account book and letter book. 1797–1905, bulk 1797–1823.
75 leaves; 33 cm.
Edward Swift was a farmer who may have lived in Bustleton, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Shewell in 1791, and they had ten children.
Volume compiled by four different people. It was used first as a letter book by the captain of the ship Manchester, whose initials were B. S., and whose letters referred to difficulties encountered in the merchant marine. In 1799 Edward Swift used the volume to record the sales of his farm produce and to detail his family’s personal expenses. Following several years of disuse after Edward’s death, another member of the Swift family used the volume to record personal expenses during the early 1820s. Finally, in the twentieth century, Jackson Draper used the volume to document his business activities as a tailor and laundryworker.
Document 1050.
1 deck (51 cards); 12 cm.
These cards were sold by E. L. Carey and A. Hart of Philadelphia.
Cards containing versified advice for and admonitions to courting couples. One card in italic type indicates that this deck of “harmless prophecies” could be used for amusement “as each fond hope is told, betrays each wile.”
Document 63.
Record book. 1839–48.
148 p.; 30 cm.
Thomas Symmes was a merchant based in Charlestown, Massachusetts, who specialized in textiles and dry goods.
Manuscript documents the operation of Symmes’s store and records the kinds of fabric that he sold. It also contains an inventory of Symmes’s property taken at the time of his death, which included a list of the holdings of his private library. Other documents related to the settlement of his estate are noted as well.
Document 379.
Research papers. 1910–58.
16 boxes.
Robert W. Symonds was the pre-eminent 20th century scholar and authority on English furniture. As well, he served as a consultant to museums and private collectors, was a prolific writer, and was an architect (F.R.I.B.A. and F.S.A.). He worked from 1910 to 1958. His many books and articles cover subjects such as collecting English furniture, clocks, interior design, craftsmen, and fakes.
Collection consists of typescript copies of articles from British and Irish newspapers dating from about 1660 to 1742. The typescripts are of advertisements, bills, and inventories that contain information about craftsmen. Notebooks and albums feature images of various furniture forms that Symonds studied.
Loose photographs available in Decorative Arts Photograph Collection.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 57.
Autograph album. 1845–51.
43 leaves: ill.; 20 cm.
It appears that Sarah A. Taber lived in Massachusetts.
Contains forty-three inscriptions expressing sentiments of friendship and religious faith recorded by Sarah and her friends.
Album published as The Scriptural Album with Floral Illustrations, written by J. C. Riker of New York. The date of publication was not recorded.
Document 69.
Hotel bills. 1875–77.
14 items: ill.
C. M. Taintor often traveled with his wife, a Mrs. Wakeman, and Mrs. Wakeman’s daughter.
Bills are from hotels located in the eastern United States and document goods and services that hotels provided in the 1870s. Each bill features a woodcut illustration of the hotel that issued it.
Document 296.
Accounts and specifications. 1851–52.
24 items.
Charles Taintor lived in Buffalo, New York.
Consists of a builder’s proposal, mason’s specifications, and other accounts relating to a dwelling house for Taintor. Included are accounts for joists, doors, stones, window frames, shutters, side lights, and a furnace.
Document 790.
Letters. 1853–98.
21 items.
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was an English-born painter who often created images of sporting scenes and animals. He studied art as a boy in Manchester, England, before immigrating to the United States in 1850. Tait settled in New York City and spent many summers in the Adirondack Mountains. Louis Prang and Currier & Ives later lithographed some of Tait’s paintings.
Most of these letters were written by Tait and addressed to Louis Prang. They describe Tait’s painting activities, complain that Currier & Ives reproduced one of Tait’s paintings without securing permission, and reveal an argument among Tait, Prang and Clarence Cook about the placement of an artist’s name in relation to the placement of a lithographer’s name on a particular print.
Collection 448.
Daybook. 1839–48.
1 vol.; 39 cm.
Nelson Talcott operated a general store in Garrettsville, Ohio.
Book records the financial transactions of the general store and documents the products that Garrettsville residents purchased. Daybook also records agricultural activities, the pasturing of cows, and the sale of hay and produce.
Folio 244.
Papers. 1802–1927, bulk 1815–69.
2 boxes.
Samuel Talcott was a resident of Gilead and later Hebron, both in Connecticut. In some papers in this collection, Talcott is referred to as Captain and, in others, as Deacon. He served as the administrator of at least five estates during the years that these papers cover.
Collection includes Talcott’s receipts for school tuition, subscriptions, food, cloth, a sewing machine, textiles, glassware, and china. Papers also include deeds, letters, and poems.
Collection 49.
Advertisements. 1908–11.
22 items: ill.
Allen H. Talmage may have been a retail salesman of carriages and carts in Athens, Georgia.
Collection contains advertising ephemera, much of it published in the Midwest, promoting the sale of carriages and wagons.
Collection 382.
Account book. 1834–52.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Joseph Tappan worked as an auctioneer in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records items sold at sixty-one auctions. Entries record the names of successful bidders, descriptions of objects sold, and prices paid.
Document 931; Microfilm M2426.
Notebooks. 1740–61.
31 items; 28 cm.
Members of the Tarleton family were merchants in Liverpool, England.
Notebooks contain dinner menus and information about the dinner parties at which the dishes were served and recipes for preparing and preserving foods. There are also critiques of the meals.
Photocopy from microfilm.
Document 307.
Scrapbooks. 1810–1925.
2 vols.; 31 cm.
Lucy R. Tatnall, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, compiled these volumes. They were kept in the Tatnall family for several generations.
Volumes feature engravings depicting American presidents and their wives, historic figures, physicians, views of landmarks in Washington, D.C., portraits of Quakers, and poetry. One of the volumes contains a brief Pemberton genealogy, and several silhouettes are laid in.
Document 710.
1 vol.: ill.; 12 x 10 cm.
Consists of thirty-four samples of handmade tatting representing different stitches.
Collection 50.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 22 cm.
Volume contains twenty-seven drawings for tattoos. Many designs feature such themes as patriotism, religious devotion, friendship, romance, and love of sailing. The first page contains a formula for dyes and the last page contains a list of “Bursting Charges.”
Document 22.
2 microfilm reels.
Records list taxes assessed in the towns of Upper and Lower Smithfield, Lowhill, Lynn, Northampton, Penn, Plainfield, Ross, Salisbury, Towamensing, Upper Milford, Upper Mount Bethel, Upper Saucon, Weisenberg, Whitehall, and Williams. All towns are located in Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2860–M2861.
1 microfilm reel.
Records list the taxes assessed for twelve Massachusetts cities and towns, including Boston.
Lists include people’s name, the value of their dwellings, and the number of servants, livestock, investment monies, and acres of land in their possession.
Original records located at the Archives Division, Massachusetts State House.
Microfilm M1412.
42 microfilm reels.
Includes Pennsylvania state tax assessments dated from 1776 to 1779 and for 1841; the poor tax county register kept from 1832 to 1847; and the county tax assessment ledger kept from 1779 to 1844.
Original materials located at the Department of Records, Philadelphia City Archives.
Microfilm M667–M708.
Sketchbook. 1861.
1 vol.: ill.; 27 x 34 cm.
A Philadelphia-based artist named Taylor maintained this volume.
Consists of fifty-seven detailed pencil drawings of Philadelphia buildings and sites, originally sketched for Ferdinand J. Dreer. Illustrations depict shops, cemeteries, churches, hotels, taverns, dwellings, and schools. The name and address of each location is recorded. A number of drawings are of Philadelphians engaged in various activities.
Spine title: Views of Old Philadelphia.
Folio 268.
Account book. 1806–32.
145 p.; 23 cm.
Abner Taylor was a furnituremaker from Lee, Massachusetts.
Manuscript documents Taylor’s work on a variety of furniture forms: looking glasses, cradles, breakfast tables, bureaus, chests, and trundle beds. Taylor also framed buildings, repaired wagons, stained wood, fixed a loom, and made a shuttle. He often received wood and agricultural products as payment for his goods and services.
Name index available.
Document 755.
Copybook. 1785.
20 leaves; 21 cm.
Elizabeth Taylor, a student, probably lived in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Copybook contains young Elizabeth’s handwriting exercises and some poetry.
Document 1048.
Bills. 1816–18.
16 items.
Evidence suggests that Erastus Taylor was a merchant from Massachusetts.
Bills in the collection document purchases made by Taylor. Because he bought in such large quantities, he may have been stocking a general store. Products purchased include fabrics, glassware, earthenware, hardware, food, liquor, and items for personal adornment.
Collection 495.
Account book. 1828–55.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Hiram Taylor was a furnituremaker in Easttown Township, Pennsylvania. He later became a farmer and sawyer.
Entries before 1837 document the types of furniture that Taylor made and the payments he received as well as his customers and employees. In addition to his furnituremaking, Taylor worked at sawing posts, making fences, repairing agricultural implements, and varnishing. Later entries document Taylor’s work as a sawyer in New Valley, Pennsylvania. The volume was later used as a scrapbook by members of the Kidd family who pasted in clippings and recipes and made a number of handwritten notations.
Folio 248.
Diary. 1892.
281 p.; 25 cm.
John Young Taylor lived in Oswego, New York. He worked as a traveling salesman for the first newspaper syndicate in the United States. Taylor sold illustrated advertising cuts (he called them services) to merchants in the eastern United States; Havana, Cuba; and Manitoba, Canada.
Diary records Taylor’s observations and feelings about the places he visited, the businessmen he met, and the work he performed for the syndicate. An inlaid document outlines Taylor’s favorite sales techniques.
Document 232.
Daybooks. 1821–22, 1826–29.
2 vols.; 32 cm.
Joseph Taylor operated a general store in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He and his family probably lived either above or behind their shop. Taylor’s son, Bayard, was a noted traveler and writer who served as America’s minister to Germany until his death in 1878.
Manuscripts record the Taylors’ daily activities at their store. A portion of the second volume was later used by a young Bayard Taylor as a scrapbook. From the age of ten, Bayard pasted in clippings about foreign countries and poets whose work he admired.
Document 712.
Invoice book. 1818–39.
114 p.; 40 cm.
William Taylor Jr. was a Boston hardware dealer and importer of metal goods from Birmingham and Sheffield, England.
Consists of detailed invoices listing metalware sold for both household and professional use, including chisels, knives, hat hooks, buttons, rings, spikes, and portable desk hinges. Most of the invoices were issued by two Sheffield firms: Joseph Bailey & Sons and Lee & Francis. Expenses for such things as insurance, freight, and commissions are recorded as well.
Folio 200.
Papers. 1720–1950.
3 boxes.
This branch of the Taylor family descended from Peter Taylor, who emigrated from England in 1682 and settled in present-day Media, Pennsylvania. Ezra Taylor (1781–1825) and his wife, Sarah, generated most of these family papers.
Collection includes inventories, account books of Ezra’s butchering business, deeds, bills, receipts, and manuscript genealogies.
Finding aid available.
Collection 2.
Account book. Ca. 1730–60.
1 microfilm reel.
Koenrait Ten Eyck was a silversmith from Albany, New York.
Book documents the output of Ten Eyck’s shop, including the production of plates, buckles, teakettles, dinnerware, nails, and other domestic products. Evidence suggests that he may have had assistants and/or apprentices working with him.
Microfilm M184.
Papers. 1878–1916.
1 box.
James Terry was interested in a variety of scientific, anthropological, and historical topics. He published a pamphlet entitled Sculptured Anthropoid Ape Heads … (New York: J.J. Little, 1891) and worked with the American Museum of Natural History. Terry collected and sold antiques, primarily china made by Enoch Wood and Ridgway, out of his home in Hartford, Connecticut.
Collection consists of Terry’s correspondence with dealers and experts on English ceramic wares. Terry often corresponded with Edwin Atlee Barber, an expert and writer on china. Other letters document Terry’s interest in collecting bookplates, lists of antiques that Terry owned, and a copy of his phrenological profile.
Finding aid available.
Collection 366.
Der Frommen lotterie, oder geistliches schatzkästlein. 1744
318 cards + 1 box; 12 x 11 x 7 cm.
Tersteegen knitted silk ribbons for a living. In 1728 he left his profession to devote himself to religious reflection and the edification of his soul, and he composed songs and epigrams toward that end.
Consists of a leather case in which there are 318 numbered tickets from a set that originally contained 381. Each ticket features biblical text and verses written by Tersteegen. The cards were designed to offer the reader spiritual comfort. Printing was done by Christopher Saur of Germantown, Pennsylvania.
This particular set of cards once belonged to Pennsylvania governor Samuel W. Pennypacker.
Full description in Charles Evans’s American Bibliography, number 5501.
Document 504.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Includes 892 swatches of floral and patterned silks that were either woven, printed, or dyed. They are French in origin, though some fabrics resemble Scottish plaids.
Collection 50.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
The 502 fabric swatches in this album may have been samples of dress fabrics. A few samples with silk warps and cotton wefts might have been used for handkerchiefs. The fabrics are French in origin.
Collection 50.
1 vol.; 49 cm.
Album contains 406 samples of silk used for spring dresses. The fabrics are French in origin. A variety of floral, geometric, and striped designs are featured.
Cover title: Robes Printemps.
Collection 50.
1 vol.; 51 cm.
Album contains ninety-four samples of French velvet and silk fabrics to be used as flounces for dresses.
Cover title: Volants Velours Dispositions, 1856.
Collection 50.
1 vol.; 52 cm.
Consists of fourteen hundred samples of cotton printed textiles designed in Mulhouse, France. A variety of floral, geometric, and calico designs are featured. Many of the same patterns are offered in a variety of color combinations.
Collection 50.
84 leaves: ill.; 24 cm.
Contains ink-and-wash and pencil designs for embroidery. Drawings feature repeating geometric and floral patterns, such as thistles, shamrocks, and roses. The fourth leaf contains manuscript directions for knitting a baby’s sock.
Document 20.
33 items: col. ill.
The designs in this volume originated in western Massachusetts. Two of the items bear the signature of Richard Scholes, though it is not certain that he created all of the featured designs.
The thirty-three textile patterns are a combination of hand-drawn and painted images and wood-block impressions.
Collection 223.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 31 cm.
Consists of pencil, pen-and-ink, and color designs for textiles that appear to be from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. There are floral and geometric patterns and designs for trimming to be incorporated into shawls and other garments. Many patterns bear a number, and one is called “linen finish.”
Folio 251.
43 leaves; 16 cm.
Manuscript records the daily activities of an unnamed southeastern Massachusetts textile factory. There is information about the number of looms in operation, attendance of laborers, wage rates, the hiring of new employees, the amount of material produced, waste created during textilemaking, and the number of cuts of fabric.
Document 1029.
105 p.; 38 cm.
The names and places mentioned in this volume suggest that it originated in New England.
Contains a brief title page, on which “Colloring Book” is written, followed by pages containing about two hundred swatches of printed cotton textile fabrics. The swatches are pasted onto the left-hand pages, and the facing pages contain dates and color names.
Collection 50.
27 items.
Consists of numerous, small fabric swatches, including calico, cashmere, wool, and felt, pasted onto twenty-seven leaves. Most swatches are numbered. Text is in French.
Collection 50.
Waste book. 1824–30, bulk 1824–26.
313 p.; 21 cm.
Henry G. W. Thacher was a general merchant from Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
Contains the daily record of sales and credits of Thacher’s general store that were meant to be transferred into account books. The last few pages of the volume contain “Waste No. 1; H. G. W. Thacher’s Auction acct.” and the records of a rental library for 1825 and 1826.
Document 141.
Commonplace book. Ca. 1823.
1 microfilm reel.
William W. Thackara was an engraver from Philadelphia.
Volume served as a scrapbook of engravings executed by many different artists. It also contains passages on Native Americans and military exploits.
Original commonplace book in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M718.
Musical dominoes. 1893.
1 game: ill. + two instruction books.
The Theodore Press Co. was located in Philadelphia.
This game, invented by someone named C. W. Grimm, is similar to a conventional domino game, but musical notes (as opposed to dots) needed to be matched from one piece to another. Variations of the game are included in one of the instruction books.
Collection 220.
Account book. 1680–90, 1706–13, 1732–79, 1813–37.
59 p.; 36 cm.
Volume was used by four different people during each of the four spans of dates listed above. In chronological order: Nicholas Thomas, a general merchant and brewer; John Thomas, a farmer; Nicholas Thomas, a weaver; and Nicholas Kingsley, a farmer.
Each man who maintained the volume recorded information specific to his trade.
Folio 174.
Manuscripts and catalog. Ca. 1800–20.
1 microfilm reel.
Thomas Bradbury & Sons made a wide variety of silver and silver-plated wares in Sheffield, England, and maintained a warehouse in London.
Includes catalogues circulated by the firm with manuscript notations providing ordering information, quantities of products sold, and prices. Many catalogues are specific to particular forms of metalware.
Microfilm M2947.
Account books. 1845–48, 1851–53.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Thomas Brown was a tailor in Sag Harbor, New York.
Manuscripts record articles of clothing made by Brown for his customers. Brown recorded such information as the names of his clients, fabrics used in tailoring, amounts charged, and descriptions of his final products. He made overcoats, pants, shirts, and frocks.
Document 448.
Pattern book. Ca. 1857.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 26 cm.
Thomas Dimmock & Co. and, later, John Dimmock & Co. produced earthenware. In 1842 the firm maintained two factories in Hanley, England, and a gilding and enameling workshop in Shelton, England.
Volume includes 147 watercolor patterns for decorating plates and hollowwares. Many of the designs are in the Gaudy Dutch and Gaudy Welch styles. Others suggest an oriental influence or feature lustreware ornamentation. A few patterns include pencil notations about colors used in production. The volume bears a striking resemblance to the pattern books of John Ridgway, another Hanley potter, suggesting that the same artist may have worked for both firms.
Caption title: Pattern book for Dimmock, Hanley.
Document 540.
Records. 1795–1846, bulk 1820–38.
1 box.
Thomas and Horace Stearns operated Boston’s first hat manufactory.
Collection consists of four account books with detailed listings of a wide variety of caps made by the firm and payroll records for nineteen female employees. Other materials include a 1795 Grafton, Massachusetts, tax list; an 1820 Marlboro, Massachusetts, sawmill account book; an 1845 Freeport, Maine, timber account book; and an account book kept by Taylor & Souther Co. from 1833 to 1838.
Collection 12.
Account book. 1827–40.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Arthur Thompson was an itinerant schoolmaster. From 1827 to 1829, he taught in Westminster, Maryland. He then lived in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1829 to 1832. Thompson spent part of 1832 in Pownal, Maine, before heading south once again. From 1833 to 1840, he taught in the Robertville and Edgefield districts of South Carolina.
Book relates to Thompson’s work in Westminster and elsewhere. He recorded the names of parents or guardians of pupils and the courses of study they pursued as well as his personal expenses. Account book was probably marketed as a student’s copybook.
Document 833.
Diaries. 1857–77.
16 vols.; 19 cm. or smaller.
The Rev. Henry Post Thompson was the pastor of the Peapack Reformed Church of Gladstone, New Jersey, from 1857 to 1873. He resigned due to partial paralysis of the lower limbs and seems to have been sickly for most of his life. He was a native of Readington, New Jersey, the son of Judge Joseph and Ann Post Thompson. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1854 and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary three years later. He wrote a number of religious tracts.
Diaries reflect the activities of a rural town and the life of a minister during the mid nineteenth century. Entries provide brief descriptions of Thompson’s daily routine, visits with parishioners, and such church activities as prayer meetings, Sunday services, baptisms, funerals, and weddings.
Collection 140.
Copybook. Ca. 1830.
1 vol.; 19 cm.
Isaac F. Thompson lived in Princeton, New Jersey, at the time that he maintained this volume.
Consists of letters of the alphabet and other handwriting exercises. The front cover features an engraving of studious children, and the back cover has a multiplication table.
Document 812.
Memorandum book. 1805.
9 leaves; 18 cm.
James Thompson was a resident of Juniata, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript documents Thompson’s personal purchases during 1805. He bought silverware, china, food, cloth, knives, and apothecary items. Prices for individual goods are not noted; however, several total sums are given.
Document 1023.
Bills. 1810–23.
23 items.
William and Robert Thompson were merchants in Philadelphia.
Bills document what the Thompsons purchased from other local merchants, including a significant amount of pottery and china. They also bought shaving boxes, ivory combs, a coffee mill, and Jews harps.
Finding aid available.
Collection 275.
A journal of the proceedings of William Thorn in his occupation: together with the remarkable accidents happening within the limits of hearing of him; liquise the draughts of buildings which he hath been master of building… . 1762–66, 1796–1813, 1870–89.
148 p.: ill.; 20 cm.
William Thorn was a carpenter and operator of a saw mill. He lived in Dutchess County, New York, and may have been a Quaker.
Earliest entries document Thorn’s carpentry activities and feature pen-and-ink drawings of framing details for houses, mills, and barns that he may have built. There are drawings of carving patterns for millstones, water and cog wheels, and plans for races and dams. From 1796 to 1813, Thorn used this volume as a letter book and often wrote about his legal problems. The journal was later used for obituary notices, autographs, and newspaper clippings, perhaps by Cora May Hudson.
Document 601; Microfilm M1407.
Account book. 1846–49.
80 leaves; 21 cm.
Thomas W. Thorndike, a Quaker, was a door, sash, and blind manufacturer in Weare, New Hampshire.
Information recorded includes names of customers, dates on which sales were made, costs of items sold, and how payment was made. Customers usually paid in cash, though sometimes patrons paid with another product.
Document 29.
Collection. Ca. 1887–1920.
88 items: ill.
Roy Victory Thorpe was a photographer and newspaper publisher who issued trade editions of papers in upstate New York and New England. He began his career in photography in Burlington, Vermont, with Gokay Photographers and, around 1902, opened his own studio in Lowell, Massachusetts. Thorpe often collaborated with his father, Charles H. Thorpe, in publishing ventures.
Collection consists of forty-nine photographs and thirty-nine trade editions of newspapers. Photos include portraits taken in Thorpe’s studio, views of domestic architecture, and room settings. Newspapers were typically produced to commemorate town anniversaries or celebrations and feature articles on town history and illustrations of local buildings and shop interiors.
Finding aid available.
Collection 112.
Account book. 1820–32.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Sardius Thrall was a bill collector and process server in Granby, Connecticut.
Entries document payments that Thrall received for serving citations, writs, attachments, subpoenas, petitions, citations, and jury summonses. He also seems to have been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and lumbering.
Document 673.
Papers. 1865–89.
7 boxes.
Ebenezer M. Tibbetts was a furnituremaker and dealer in Dexter, Maine. He operated a business in partnership with John Pennington as Pennington & Tibbetts until about 1873, when he went into private practice. His billhead from 1874 announces him to be a “manufacturer and dealer in furniture, feathers, looking glasses, oil cloths, spring beds, mattresses, ready-made coffins, caskets, children’s carriages, etc.” Tibbetts also was an undertaker, an agent for the Eastern Express Company, and one of his town’s selectmen in 1885 and 1886.
Papers consist almost exclusively of receipts and bills for items purchased by Tibbetts, either while he was working alone or during his years in partnership. A wide selection of items came to Tibbetts from suppliers throughout New England and New York City.
Finding aid available.
Collection 42.
Dyeing book. 1754–68.
1 vol + 4 loose sheets; 17 x 22 cm.
Georg Friedrich Timmich was a dyer from an unnamed German-speaking region.
This volume and its accompanying loose sheets constitute Timmich’s recipes for dyeing yarn and other fabrics. Many of them are accompanied by a dyed swatch meant to demonstrate the resulting colors.
Written in old German script.
Collection 50.
Ledger, 1846–47, 1869–74.
293 p.; 36 cm.
William Tinkham was a woolworker in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Over the course of his career he was associated with the firms Tinkham & Farwell, William Tinkham & Company, Steene & Tinkham, Tinkham & Metcalf, and Tinkham & Farwell.
Ledger contains two groups of accounts: 148 pages of personal accounts kept from 1846 to 1847 and a more detailed set of accounts consisting of 145 pages kept from 1869 to 1874. The latter accounts include references to Goodrich Lockwood & Company, Carolina Mills, mason Hiram Taft, and “Harrisville Improvement.”
Folio 10.
Textile design notebook. Ca. 1905–15.
2 vols.; 25 cm.
Joseph Titherington resided in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He attended the Philadelphia School of Textile Design and then joined his family’s business, Eli Titherington & Sons, manufacturers of terrycloth and upholstered goods.
Much of the first volume contains weaver’s drafts. Instructions for enlarging the designs are included. Volume two includes information on the amounts of yarn needed to produce various yardages. Some samples are laid in.
Document 496.
Daybook. 1830–76.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Albert H. Tobey was a furnituremaker from New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Tobey made many kinds of furniture, including tables, bedsteads, and clock cases. He also painted and stained furniture, framed doors, carved, repaired desks, finished drawers, and trimmed bureaus. The volume includes records of Tobey’s purchases of wood, supplies, and tools.
Folio 148.
Trade labels. Ca. 1798.
2 items; 15 cm. and smaller.
W. Todd was a printer, bookseller, bookbinder, and stationer in Sheffield, England.
Todd’s two trade labels are pasted onto the endpapers of a book. They show that, in addition to the expected items sold through his printing shop, Todd also sold “genuine medicines” and “patent medicines.”
Document 165.
Exercise book. Ca. 1790–1810.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Consists of arithmetic instructions, examples, and practice problems. Headings for the various sections are written in calligraphy with decorative scrolls.
Document 783.
Daybook. 1808–18.
41 p.; 37 cm.
Jacob Tomlinson was a sawyer from Howard’s Grove, Wisconsin. He may have worked with a partner, James Dickinson.
Manuscript includes specific records of the daily sales of lumber, recorded in board feet, by Tomlinson. Each page is laid out in a grid; headings include “posts,” “scantling,” “plank,” “board,” and “lath.”
Document 1082.
Papers. 1800–1834.
29 items; 26 cm.
The Tooker (or Tucker) family lived in New York City.
Collection contains bills, receipts, promissory notes, and legal documents of Daniel, Charles, Peter, and Martin Tooker. Bills and receipts are for food, clothing, and pew rent. Collection also contains rental agreements for New York properties, an arrest warrant for a couple who assaulted a woman, and a statement concerning a robbery.
Collection 420.
Account book. 1830–32, 1836–38.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Ebenezer W. Town was a resident of Greenfield, Massachusetts, until 1832, when he relocated to either Enfield, Massachusetts, or Connecticut. Evidence suggests that he worked in the textile industry.
Book makes many references to textiles, including workers’ records and accounts for weaving, dyeing, finishing, and selling products. Collection also includes a list of expenses for building a house in 1831–32 and expenses for finishing a shop.
Document 748.
Copybooks. 1837–41.
3 vols.; 19 cm.
Contains handwriting exercises done by Westfield, New Jersey, resident Emmaline Townsend. The covers of all three volumes feature small illustrations within decorative borders.
Document 824.
Ledger. 1804–11.
223 leaves; 40 cm.
Samuel Townsend operated a general store and forge at River Head, New York.
Manuscript records the transactions of the store and forge with particular references to the smith’s shop and products offered for sale in the store.
Name index at front of volume. Index also available in typescript.
Folio 211.
Ledgers and daybooks. 1734–1828, 1750–1828.
1 microfilm reel.
Members of the Townsend family were furnituremakers in Newport, Rhode Island.
Several Townsends kept accounts of their business making and repairing furniture over the course of nearly a century. There is also an account of a Job Townsend as guardian of the estate of Thomas Chadwick recorded in one of the daybooks.
Original manuscripts located at the Newport Historical Society.
Microfilm M26.
32 leaves: col. ill.; 22 x 29 cm.
This sample book or catalogue consists of numbered illustrations of toys, games, dolls, play sets, baskets, and glassware. The toys, on twenty-five full and partial leaves, are shown one-sixth of their actual size. The catalogue is German in origin.
Spine title: Musterbuch.
Document 171.
11 sheets: col. ill.
Includes eleven hand-colored sheets of backgrounds and characters for a toy theater. Sheets feature images of a room, church, canal, ship, and a “thron-hedge.” Images of chairs, spinning wheels, Indians, royalty, servants, and farmers are included as well. Captions are in German, though background sheets bear text in both English and French.
Collection 220.
1 sheet (uncut): ill.
Cutout of a storehouse or barn depicting a boy pushing a wheelbarrow, a cow ready for milking, and two rabbits. Instructions for coloring, cutting, and folding and assembling the scene are included.
Collection 220.
Account books. Ca. 1805–20.
1 microfilm reel.
Stephen Tracy was a furnituremaker who took over management of his uncle Ebenezer Tracy’s furniture business upon the latter’s death in 1803. He worked in Lisbon, Connecticut, and Plainfield, New Hampshire, at different points in his career.
Account books give a comprehensive overview of the furnituremaking business in both towns where Tracy worked.
Original manuscripts in private hands at time of filming. Microfilm copy located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2833.
12 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains thousands of trade cards and labels that advertise a variety of products and services relevant to domestic life. Most of the cards and labels are from businesses based in the eastern United States, and some are from European firms.
A listing of firms, their addresses, products advertised, dates, printers, and further descriptions available.
Collection 9.
Entry 2051. Trade cards were an easy and inexpensive way for businesses to advertise their products. This card is from Thomas Smallwood of Boston, a cabinetmaker and upholsterer working in the mid 1800s.
59 p.; 20 cm.
Catalogue contains fifty-nine prints illustrating seating furniture, such as upholstered sofas, oversized chairs, divans, lounges, and settees. All of the pieces appear to be set on casters and are upholstered with either fabric or leather. Two price lists for the items featured are also included.
Document 337.
13 items.
Consists of a wooden frame, a piece of glass, a pencil, and engravings to facilitate the tracing of engraved images into glass. Engravings feature farm animals, the American flag, ships, and an eagle.
Collection 220.
123 p.; 12 x 19 cm.
Diary records a trip that two men, John and Edward, took from Newbury, England, to Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. The writer commented on accommodations, museums, castles and other sights, and travel arrangements. There is a list of expenses associated with the trip.
Document 150.
Receipt book. 1758–67.
1 vol.; 20 x 14 cm.
Charles Treadwell worked as a merchant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Contains records of payments made to Treadwell. In most cases, the product sold is not mentioned. Some entries mention the sale of tea or rum. An entry notes that Treadwell paid $100.00 for a “house frame.”
Document 19.
1 vol.: ill.; 23 x 31 cm.
The unidentified author sought to simplify Brooke Taylor’s treatise on linear perspective. The book includes a preface, an introduction, a section on practical geometry, and illustrative plates that feature directions on how to accurately draw each illustration. Parallel and oblique perspectives are emphasized.
Document 652.
4 items: col. ill.
Consists of four hand-colored prints from Tregear’s black jokes series, entitled “The Advertisement,” “Breaking Up,” “The Concert,” and “Lubbers Quarrell.” Satirical captions are often written in dialect.
Collection 167.
Album. Ca. 1870–92.
34 p.: ill. (some col.); 39 cm.
Trefousse & Co. produced leather gloves in Chaumont, France, and conducted business in Paris, London, and New York City.
Album contains seventeen plates of albumen prints illustrating a glove manufactory and the various processes required to make leather gloves. The title printed on the album’s cover is “Leather Dressing, Dyeing and Manufacture of Gloves.”
Volume was later used as a scrapbook by someone who glued woodcuts and lithographs on the backs of pages bearing prints. Fashion plates, portraits of famous people, wallpaper samples, and an image of a couple under mistletoe are among the illustrations pasted in.
Folio 73.
Materials on Boston silver. 1976.
1 vol.; 29 cm.
Robert Trent was a student in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the time that he compiled these research notes.
Includes photocopies of articles and papers that refer to silversmiths from Boston, a guide to resources available in the Boston area, copies of articles about Robert Sanderson, a copy of John Hull’s diaries, Suffolk County probate records, and a paper written by Trent for one of his classes.
Document 446.
The oldest wood frame house still standing in North America: a seventeenth century colonial room modeled after the parlor of the Fairbanks House of Dedham, Massachusetts (ca. 1637). 1980.
8 sheets: ill.
Includes a description of the house based on an inventory of its contents taken at the time of Fairbanks’s death in 1668, three decorated walls of the parlor that can be set upright, and items to be cut out for use when playing with the house, such as a cupboard, chair, figures of the inhabitants, beds, a pillow, books, and a sea chest.
Collection 220.
Account and recipe book. 1859–80.
1 vol.; 16 x 21 cm.
Hannah Trimble and her family lived in Fairville, Pennsylvania.
Volume includes records of household expenses, an account of the cost of building the family home in Fairville, cooking recipes, medical treatments, cleaning hints, and dyeing instructions.
Document 385.
Cash book. 1849–54.
23 p.; 15 cm.
John T. Troth was the son of Samuel Troth, an apothecary from Philadelphia. As a young man, he worked in his father’s store.
Book consists of a record of what young John purchased using money he earned from working in the family store and his allowance from his father. Records indicate that he purchased books, watches, knives, and a mirror. He had his daguerreotype taken and traveled to nearby Camden and Burlington, New Jersey.
Document 210.
Papers. Ca. 1805–39.
6 items.
Philadelphia native Nathan Trotter was a metal importer. He completed his schooling at age sixteen and went to work for his brother, William, a merchant. Another brother, Joseph, was also in the business. In 1809 the three brothers formed William Trotter & Co. After Joseph’s departure from the firm in 1812 and William’s death in 1815, Nathan maintained the business by himself.
Collection includes four sheets of samples of textiles, leather, and silk; an account book; and a bill of lading. All pertain to Nathan Trotter’s mercantile ventures.
Papers of Nathan Trotter & Co. located at Baker Library, Harvard University.
Collection 325.
Daybook. 1854–68.
312 p.; 25 cm.
Newbold Hough Trotter was a Philadelphia-based artist known for his paintings of animals and landscapes. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy and the Boston Athenaeum.
Manuscript records Trotter’s income and expenses. Included are entries detailing the furnishing of his studio, payment for a life membership in the Academy of Fine Arts, bills for art supplies, and the sale of his works of art.
Folio 113.
Papers. 1741–1815.
1 box.
William Trotter was the first member of his family to settle in America. He arrived in Philadelphia sometime before 1692. Early Trotters worked as day laborers doing such things as sawing, plowing, and making cutlery. Succeeding generations counted among their ranks a chairmaker and joiner, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, and a furnituremaker. Most papers in this collection refer to Daniel and William Trotter and Ephraim Haines, three furnituremakers.
Papers include a receipt book kept by Daniel Trotter from 1794 to 1799; an account book used by him from 1788 to 1799 and later used by William Trotter and Ephraim Haines; bills; and records of Daniel Trotter’s estate.
Finding aid available.
Collection 325.
Pattern book and inventory. 1706–53.
62 p.: ill.; 16 cm.
William Trowbridge was a weaver from the Newton, Massachusetts, area.
Trowbridge used blank pages in the back of the 1706 edition of Clough’s almanac to record weaving patterns and instructions. Trowbridge also recorded genealogical information and some poetry as well. The volume includes lists of belongings of both Huldah Trowbridge and Mary Coolidge.
Document 1059.
Trevor residence file. 1909–10.
52 items: ill.
Samuel Breck Parkman Trowbridge, who served as chairman of the National Council of Fine Arts under President Theodore Roosevelt, and Goodhue Livingston were partners in a New York City–based architectural firm that bore their names.
Collection consists of letters, photographs, and estimates relating to the construction of a residence for John B. Trevor at 11 East Ninety-first Street, New York City. Photographs show ornate mantels offered for sale by Gerald A. Letts of London.
Collection 74.
Account book. 1809–67.
1 microfilm reel.
Joseph True worked as a carver in Salem, Massachusetts.
Accounts in this manuscript relate to True’s work as a carver. Some entries record the payment of rents.
Original manuscript located at the Essex Institute Library.
Microfilm M2027.1.
Papers.
9 items + 1 portfolio: ill.; 46 cm.
American painter John Trumbull was the son of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut. Against his father’s wishes, John aspired to be a painter. During the Revolutionary War, he drew maps for the American army. He later studied art in Boston and in London with Benjamin West. Trumbull is best known for his portraits of George Washington and for his murals that are displayed in the United States Capitol.
Collection includes miscellaneous letters and copies of house inventories. The bulk of the collection consists of manuscripts related to Trumbull’s portrait of Washington (Washington at Verplanck’s Point), which has been owned by Winterthur since 1964.
Name index available.
Collection 391.
Papers. 1736–1858.
2 microfilm reels.
Gideon Tucker was a merchant from Essex, Massachusetts.
Collection includes letters, photographs, and accounts as well as lists of priced merchandise, building specifications, and a broad range of house furnishings.
Original manuscripts located at the Essex Institute.
Microfilm M2027.4.
Thomas Tucker and Tucker family papers. 1823–77.
1 vol.; 14 x 22 cm. + 2 microfilm reels.
Members of the Tucker family—mainly Thomas, William Ellis, and Benjamin—were proprietors of a porcelain business in Philadelphia. Frame 85 of the second reel of these microfilm records contains a brief history of the firm and comments about the family and the wares that the business produced.
Consists of Thomas Tucker’s pattern books kept from 1832 to 1838; price books kept from 1826 to 1846; Benjamin Tucker’s letter books kept from 1823 to 1831; clippings about the Tuckers; and letters from descendants.
Original materials located at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Referred to in Microfilm Acquisition and Accession Record: A Checklist of the Microfilms in the Archives of American Art, P–16 and P–17, published in 1955 by the Archives of American Art.
Document 599; Microfilm M741–M742.
Papers. 1882–1915.
1 box.
The Tuckers resided in Odessa, Delaware.
Papers consist almost entirely of receipts for goods and services purchased in Odessa and at other locations in New Castle County, Delaware. The Tuckers purchased food, supplies, a stove, medical care, and insurance.
Content listing available.
Collection 36.
The Guercino etchings dispute scrapbook. 1882–83.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Andrew White Tuer was a prolific author who wrote on a wide range of topics, such as the life of Francesco Bartolozzi, the history of the horn book, Japanese stencil cutters, early nineteenth-century dress, London street cries, and children’s literature.
Scrapbook contains letters and a number of newspaper clippings referring to a dispute arising from a review of Tuer’s book Bartolozzi and His Works in an English publication called The Athenaeum. Tuer solicited support for his position from prominent etchers, engravers, and art critics. Also included is a catalogue of a loan exhibition of engravings and etchings by Francesco Bartolozzi.
Document 634.
Account book. 1828–42.
91 p.; 21 cm.
Bille Turner was a drayman and lumberman in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Book includes records of sales of wood and activities such as carting, drawing timber, and plowing. When he hauled wood to George Daye’s shop, Daye paid him with furniture.
Document 669.
Account book. 1806–23.
1 microfilm reel.
Evidence suggests that Fleming Turner was a general merchant. Turner was married to Jane M. Clark of Orange County, Virginia.
Manuscript records loans and sales of various goods, including food, furniture, wood, textiles, paper, silver, and tools. The first few pages of the account book note family genealogy.
Original manuscript located at Alderman Library, the University of Virginia.
Microfilm M896.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Manuscript records accounts and supplies purchased in association with the construction of a turnpike near Antrim, New Hampshire. Items and services for which money was exchanged were kitchen utensils and food, chains, oxen and yokes, hand tools, and doctor’s visits.
Document 396.
Mathematical playing cards. 1701.
48 items: ill.; 90 mm.
Englishman Thomas Tuttell was a maker of mathematical instruments. He was a member of the Clockmakers Company, served as the official instrument maker to the King of England, and taught students the use of instruments. Tuttell was known for crafting quality products out of silver, brass, ivory, and wood. He was reported to have drowned in 1702 while surveying off the coast of England.
Set of engraved playing cards (four of which are missing) depicts various mathematical instruments and their application to various occupations. Shown are compasses, scales, bows, surveying wheels and chains, and protractors. Occupations featured include millwrighting, bricklaying, and architecture.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1771–73.
10 items.
Daniel Tyson was a merchant working at 182 Water Street, Philadelphia.
Collection documents goods acquired by Tyson from suppliers in England that he subsequently resold to merchants in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Items mentioned include linen, pewter plates and spoons, snuffboxes, hats, wine, and Jew’s harps.
Collection 506.
Papers. 1675–1936, bulk 1820–70.
3 boxes.
C. W. Unger was a rare-book and printed ephemera dealer from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He became a member of the Pennsylvania German Society in 1935 and researched eastern Pennsylvania German families.
Collection consists of manuscript and printed items documenting several interrelated Pennsylvania German families named Martin, Marberger, Albright, Albrecht, Kiefer, Faust, and Kimmel. Included are letters, essays, bills, promissory notes, birth and marriage certificates, indentures, bonds, estate records, and legal documents.
See also entry 2080.
Collection 497.
Watermark collection. 1632–1929.
26 boxes.
C. W. Unger was a dealer of rare books and printed ephemera and a collector of watermarks.
Collection consists of watermarked papers. Some samples are blank pages and others bear writing. Watermarks reveal that the papers were made in England, the Netherlands, France, and the United States.
Alphabetically arranged card files recording names associated with collection materials, watermarks, dates, and locations available.
See also entry 2079.
Collection 69.
Registers of enlistments in the United States Army. 1798–1815.
13 microfilm reels.
Records include soldiers’ names, vital statistics, descriptions of their appearances, places of residence, places of birth, and occupations.
Original records located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M825–M837.
Records of the collector of customs at Baltimore, entrances and clearances. 1782–1824.
2 microfilm reels.
Records include information on trade with countries in Europe, Canada, and the West Indies. Many records refer to household furnishings that were shipped to Baltimore.
Original documents located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M761–M762.
Nonpopulation census schedules for New Jersey. 1870.
1 microfilm reel.
Consists of two ledgers recording “Products of Industry for the State of New Jersey.” Information contained in the volumes includes the names of businesses, items produced, kinds of power sources and machinery used, numbers of employees, and quantities of goods produced.
Ledgers arranged alphabetically.
Microfilm M2798.
Nonpopulation census schedules for Ohio. 1850, 1870, 1880.
4 microfilm reels.
Collection contains a small portion of a 104-reel series recording business activity in Ohio. Entries generally list company names, products, capital invested, raw materials used, kind of machinery or power used, number of employees, wages, and output.
Finding aid listing counties represented in series available.
Original materials located at the Ohio Historical Society.
Microfilm M1620–M1622, M2451.
Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States. 1860.
6 microfilm reels.
Collection includes a portion of the census records for the state of Missouri.
Original records located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M1611–1616.
Population schedules of the fifth census of the United States. 1830.
1 microfilm reel.
Collection contains population schedules for the city of Boston.
Original materials located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M1911.
Population schedules of the second census of the United States. 1800.
14 microfilm reels.
Collection consists of population schedules for Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania taken from the national census record.
Original materials located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M897–M904, M917–M922.
Population schedules of the seventh census of the United States. 1850.
5 microfilm reels.
Collection includes a portion of the census for seventeen counties in the state of Missouri.
Original materials located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M908–M912.
Records of the 1820 census of manufacturers. 1820.
27 microfilm reels.
Census includes information on articles manufactured, market value, kinds and quantities of raw materials used, the number of people employed, the quantity of machinery used, and expenditures. In addition to twenty-one states of the Union (only Massachusetts is lacking), areas included are Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. A few states are represented by just the published digest.
Original materials located at the National Archives.
Microfilm M1584–M1610.
The Revolutionary War prize cases: records of the Court of Appeals in cases of capture. 1776–87.
15 microfilm reels.
Records of appeals filed in colonial and state courts by committees of the Continental Congress to settle prize cases dating from 1776 to 1780 and by the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture dating from 1780 to 1786. The prizes were goods seized from British ships by colonial sailing vessels.
Each reel begins with a table of contents and index to all cases.
Original materials located at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Microfilm M810–M824.
Correspondence of the Secretary of the Treasury with collectors of customs. 1791–1834.
2 microfilm reels.
Correspondence of several Treasury Department secretaries, from Alexander Hamilton through Samuel D. Ingham, referring to customs and maritime matters.
Name index available.
Microfilm M905–M906.
Tax records for Connecticut. 1798.
2 microfilm reels.
Includes tax records for Preston, Mansfield, and Ashford, Connecticut. Records are divided into two sections: a general list of lands and a general list of dwellings.
Original materials located at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Microfilm M2985–M2986.
4 microfilm reels.
Selected invoices and other shipping documents that list commodities shipped through the port of Philadelphia. Documents are grouped by product: ceramics and glassware; clothing and personal goods; metalwork; textiles; other crafts; foods; and miscellaneous merchandise.
Index and object and occupation lists available.
Original documents located at the University of Delaware.
Microfilm M2808–M2811.
Student drawings. 1824–27.
109 p.: ill.; 52 cm.
The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, prepared men for careers as officers in the army.
Collection consists of drawings executed by West Point cadets and approved by Professor D. B. Douglass. While some of the drawings are simple exercises in shades, shadows, and perspective, the larger portion shows such architectural and engineering particulars as roofing, flooring, decorative moldings, bridges, culverts, tunnels, forts, etc.
Index of student names available.
Folio 160.
Fauntleroy playing cards, no. 29. Ca. 1910.
1 game: col. ill.; 6 x 4 cm.
The United States Playing Card Co. was located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A traditional deck of fifty-two playing cards contained in a box on which a portrait of Little Lord Fauntleroy is printed.
Collection 220.
Architectural drawings. 1983–90.
63 items.
The College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware oversees the activities of the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering, which documents historic buildings and administers the program in historic preservation. Students enrolled in this program are required to master the standards for measured architectural drawings required by the Historic American Buildings Survey.
Collection consists of drawings of historic homes, buildings, and Quaker meetinghouses located in southeastern Pennsylvania and in Delaware.
Collection 332.
Diary. 1892–93.
2 vols.; 13 cm. or smaller.
Georgiana L. Vail lived in Somers Center, New York.
Diary records Vail’s daily activities. She made items to decorate her house; visited neighbors; vacationed in Ocean Grove, New Jersey; composed letters; and taught Sunday School. She wrote about her young daughter, Martha. She may have been related to Benjamin H. Merritt.
See entry numbers 1366 and 2098.
Document 750.
Diary. 1899.
1 vol. 10 cm.
Martha Vail was raised in Somers Center, New York. She attended school in nearby Katonah.
Martha recorded her test scores, wrote about passing around her autograph album, and spoke of her love for biking, shopping, ice-skating, and going to the local strawberry festival. Martha shared her negative feelings about her hot summer vacation in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Her mother was Georgiana Vail.
See entry number 2097.
Document 751.
Daybook. 1827–33.
144 p.; 32 cm.
Nicholas Van Artsdalen was a Quaker and a blacksmith in Byberry Township, Pennsylvania.
This account, kept over a six-year period, records Van Artsdalen’s production of metalwork, including hoops, stove pipe, spikes, chains, and latches.
Document 422.
Daybook. 1877–78.
305 p.; 38 cm.
M. and G. M. Van Deusen owned a household supply store in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records the daily transactions of the Van Deusen store. The firm’s stamp advertised that it sold stoves, tinware, crockery, and glassware. Other items mentioned include hardware, floor registers, spittoons, saucepans, milk pitchers, and dustpans. The Van Deusens also did minor repairs to stovepipes, gutters, roofs, and water pipes.
Folio 296.
Daybook. 1767–83.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Evidence suggests that Christopher Van Lear operated a tavern in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The majority of the entries in this volume refer to alcoholic beverages, including punch, whiskey, rum, cider, and toddies. Most were sold by the gill, pint, and half-pint.
Folio 228.
Papers. 1848–1990, bulk 1983–90.
30 boxes.
Charles van Ravenswaay was a native of Boonville, Missouri, and a graduate of Washington University of St. Louis. Over the course of his career, Van Ravenswaay served as the director of the Missouri Historical Society, president of Old Sturbridge Village, and director of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. He was a prolific author who wrote about a vast array of topics. He was instrumental in developing the W.P.A. guide to Missouri. At the time of his death, he was writing a book on the social significance of the American apple.
Collection pertains almost exclusively to apples and includes notes, catalogues, articles, illustrative material, and several versions of Van Ravenswaay’s book about the American apple.
Finding aid available.
Collection 132.
Daybook no. 10. 1833–34.
424 p.; 40 cm.
Isaac S. Van Scoy was a merchant from East Hampton, New York.
Manuscript records the daily sales of general merchandise in Van Scoy’s store. In addition to selling merchandise to local residents, Van Scoy helped to outfit whalemen.
Additional Van Scoy materials located at the New York Historical Society.
Folio 234.
Diary. 1836–39.
26 leaves; 19 cm.
Jacob S. Van Tyne was an itinerant sign painter and housepainter. He made his home in Stiles, New York, at least until 1836.
Diary records Van Tyne’s travels and experiences through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. Manuscript also includes accounts for work that he performed while on his journey and lists of painting supplies that he purchased and recipes for paint mixes.
Document 988.
Diary. 1863–64.
180 p.; 15 cm.
Harrison Vandegrift was from Port Penn/Odessa, Delaware. He served in the United States Army during the Civil War.
Diary (in fact a copy of the original diary that Vandegrift copied upon its return) records Vandegrift’s war experiences as part of Company C, 1st regiment, Delaware Volunteer Cavalry and, later, in the Army of the Potomac. Early entries describe routine drills and inspections, dress parades, and leisure time in Wilmington, Delaware. In June 1863, Vandegrift and a few members of his company attacked J. E. B. Stuart’s forces as they advanced toward Gettysburg. Vandegrift lost his diary on the battlefield. It was returned to him years later after a chance encounter between a Vandegrift family member and a descendant of the owner of the field.
Document 822.
Papers. 1797–1802.
2 vols.
John Vaughan was a physician. His early education took place in Chester, Pennsylvania. He later attended lectures in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He practiced medicine in Delaware, first at Christiana Bridge and then in Wilmington. Vaughan was a member of several professional organizations, including the Philadelphia Academy of Medicine, the Medical Society of Philadelphia, the American Medical Association, and the Delaware Medical and Philosophical Societies.
Includes a diary entitled “Medical Diary no. 3” and a ledger with newspaper clippings laid in. The ledger records Vaughan’s medical work, including bandaging wounds, inoculating patients, and prescribing medicines. He used his diary to record climatic observations because he believed that weather impacted public health. He also wrote about the yellow fever epidemic that Wilmington suffered in 1802.
Additional materials related to John Vaughan located at the Delaware Historical Society.
Collection 319.
Bills. 1850–96.
1 envelope.
The Vennards lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Andrew B. Vennard was the treasurer of the Portsmouth & Concord Railroad and an inspector for the local customs house.
Most of the bills were made out to Andrew B. Vennard and his wife, charging them for many kinds of house furnishings, dry goods, groceries, hardware, household repairs and upkeep, medical services, and personal items.
Collection 85.
Records. 1738–1829.
240 items.
William, Samuel, and Thomas Vernon were influential maritime merchants from Newport, Rhode Island. William and Samuel formed a partnership and participated in the triangle trade. They also engaged in privateering and smuggled goods during King George’s War. During the American Revolution, William and Samuel supported the colonists, whereas Thomas supported the British.
Collection records imports, exports, and orders of goods issued or received by the Vernons. Many kinds of products were traded, including rum, sugar, wine, cheese, nails, bottles and flasks, wigs, cotton, and kitchenware. Import fees and monies received by commission merchants are often noted. Some items document the costs of operating ships. A few of the bills record personal purchases made by the Vernons.
Organized into five series: Letters; Bills and Receipts; Accounts; Bills of Lading; and Miscellaneous.
Finding aid available.
Additional Vernon family papers located at the Newport, Rhode Island, Historical Society.
Collection 165.
Papers. 1756–76.
10 items; 33 cm.
William Verstille was a miniaturist and portrait painter working in Philadelphia, New York City, and Connecticut.
Collection consists of bills for textiles, travel, horse keeping, and making frames; a letter from William’s mother, Naomi, to her husband, Peter, describing her arrival in Boston in 1776; a letter to Peter from Benjamin Carnes in 1756 asking him to check market prices for specific items on his trip to Saco, Maine; and a letter to Philadelphia painter William Westerly describing damage to one of Verstille’s paintings.
Collection 412.
Daybook. 1808–13.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Four generations of the Vickers family of Chester County, Pennsylvania, were potters. Thomas Vickers Jr. operated a pottery at Caln by 1796. His sons worked with him and maintained the business after his death. The business eventually folded in the 1820s.
Daybook contains a record of receipts and expenses relating to potterymaking. Items sold included large pots, milk pots, dishes, gallon and half-gallon jugs, cups, bowls, pitchers, coffee pots, and teapots. Entries are recorded in both British pounds and American dollars.
Document 109.
Account book. 1866–93.
240 p.; 33 cm.
Thomas F. Vickery was a carpenter and furnituremaker from Fall River, Massachusetts. From 1866 to 1871, he worked in partnership with Charles A. Francis.
Book records work that Vickery performed and purchases he made.
Document 625.
Ham House inventories. 1654, 1677, 1679, 1728, 1844, 1884.
8 microfiche.
Sir Thomas Vavasour, Knight Marshall to James I, built Ham House in 1610. Later owners Elizabeth Murray Tollemache and Sir Lionel Tollemache redesigned the house and brought it to its present configuration. It remained in the Tollemache family for nearly three hundred years.
Inventories list the contents of Ham House, including a wide variety of furnishings. Selected bills from furnituremakers Peter Hasert and George Nix are included as well.
Microfilm M2702.
Bills. 1815–35.
22 items.
Vincent & Nelson owned a general store in Fair Haven, Massachusetts. Abner Vincent bought the business from Amos Braley in 1815 and shortly thereafter became co-owner with a man named Nelson. Vincent’s son, Abner Jr., later joined the firm, at which point its name was changed to Vincent & Son.
Collection documents items sold over a twenty-year period. Evidence suggests that many goods had to be transported by ship to Fair Haven. Items sold include ceramic tableware, hardware, food, tobacco, and personal products. The bills make some mention of repairs made to the store.
Collection 433.
Daybooks. 1750–52, 1764–66.
1 microfilm reel.
Daybooks record business transactions of the printing office founded in Williamsburg, Virginia, by William Parks in 1730. It was later operated by William Hunter from 1750 to 1761, and then taken over by Joseph Royle in 1761.
Manuscript contains records of advertising printed in the Virginia Gazette, purchases of books and other reading material made by customers, and the operation of a post office on the premises of the newspaper.
Name index available. Additional information available in a Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Virginia Gazette Daybooks … , edited by Paul P. Hoffman and published by the University of Virginia Library in 1967.
Original materials located at the University of Virginia.
Microfilm M926.
10 p.: col. ill.; 14 x 11 cm.
These papers, manufactured in Germany, feature circus scenes. They seem to have been designed for use in children’s playtime activities. Illustrations feature images of a tightrope performer, horses and dogs, clowns, and the audience.
Collection 220.
Ledger. 1863–76
66 leaves; 32 cm.
Jesse T. Vogdes, a carpenter, lived at Thirty-fourth and Market Streets in Philadelphia.
Volume records Vodges’s carpentry work, including making door and window frames, blinds, shutters, stables, tree boxes, iceboxes, gates and fences, grapevine arbors, stairs, letterboxes, and doghouses. Vogdes also performed structural work on houses and subcontracted paper hanging, plumbing, and masonry work. He sometimes employed other workers.
Document 1034.
Drawings for ceramics. 1888–94.
11 items: ill.
Charles Volkmar was a painter, etcher, and potter. He studied in France for fifteen years with Antoine Louis Bazre and Henri Harpignes and then worked in the New York City area. He began his career as a painter of landscapes and animals, but later became a potter.
Collection consists of designs for plates that appeared in Art Amateur. Six of the designs feature fish. Others depict ducks, floral motifs, and a decorative head of a woman.
Collection 151.
Account book. 1818–28.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
Abraham Vreeland was a sashmaker, glazier, and toolmaker in New York and Savannah, Georgia. In 1823 John Vreeland, probably a relative, assumed control of the business and began using the book himself. From 1826 to 1828, Andrew Jackson, a carpenter, used the volume.
Volume includes a record of Abraham Vreeland’s work, John Vreeland’s reflections on his life in Savannah, and notes on supplies that Jackson purchased for his carpentry business.
Name index available.
Document 683.
Letter book. 1852–60.
110 leaves; 34 cm.
This Templeton, Massachusetts, chairmaking company was founded by Walter Greenwood and Charles Jennison. It was known as Parker, Jennison & Co. from 1852 to 1854, as Greenwood Jennison & Co. from 1854 to 1858, and then as W. Greenwood & Co. beginning in September 1858.
Manuscript includes descriptions of kinds of chairs made, contracts with workmen who supplied chair parts, chair prices, and other details of the business. The firm was able to accommodate large orders.
Document 107.
Game of Dr. Busby: improved and illustrated. 1843.
1 game: col. ill.
The firm of W. and S. B. Ives was located in Salem, Massachusetts.
Consists of twenty hand-colored cards and instructions for playing Dr. Busby. Cards feature illustrations and names of characters important to the game.
Collection 220.
Account book. 1813–18.
136 p.; 20 cm.
William Wagner and his partner, Jacob Frank Jr., were housebuilders from Philadelphia.
Wagner writes at the beginning of the book: “All money which I expended are placed in this book except which is paid to the journeyman … half of which expenditure Jacob Frank, Jr. is to bear.” He noted the prices of such supplies as nails, lumber, bricks, shingles, and lime and recorded such work as carpentry, painting, carting, and digging.
Name index available.
Document 660.
Bills. 1824–29.
26 items.
Aaron Wait moved to the Salem, Massachusetts, area in 1827.
Bills document Wait’s purchases of household goods and payments for services. Repairs included painting the house’s interior and exterior, wallpapering, and chimney and stove repair. Among the items Wait purchased were hardware, hand tools, household furnishings, a mahogany coffin, blankets, a carpet, and pharmaceutical and beauty supplies.
Collection 440.
Account book. 1767–83.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
Eliphalet Wakeman was a farmer from the Fairfield, Connecticut, area.
Three people maintained this manuscript at different times. Wakeman used it first to record his sales of produce and farming work. The second hand, probably that of Stephen Morgan, noted tailoring activities. The third owner, a contemporary of Morgan and perhaps a co-worker, also wrote about tailoring.
Folio 254.
Pattern book. 1815.
1 vol.: ill.; 20 cm.
Friedrich Walbert was a linen weaver from Württemberg, Germany.
Volume, which Walbert said was inspired by God, contains designs “as well the old as the new” and was written in a manner “which will easily be understood by the craftsman.” The designs are organized according to the number of harnesses needed for production. The front of the volume contains a lengthy essay defending the linen-weaving trade as an honorable profession.
Document 1074.
Collection of children’s books and paper toys. Ca. 1600–1977, bulk ca. 1890–1930.
108 lin. ft.: ill. (some col.)
Maxine Maxson Waldron studied art at Teachers College, Columbia University. After graduating, she worked in the Department of Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She later taught art classes in several private schools and worked at the Greenwich House Pottery Shop. After marrying William R. Waldron, she ended her teaching career but pursued her interests in art, fashion, and interior decoration through collecting.
Collection consists of a wide variety of paper items, including paper dolls and their costumes, miniature soldiers, valentine and Christmas cards, moveable and pop-up books, peep shows, panoramas, toy theaters, magic lanterns and their slides, board and card games, pattern books for weaving and other activities, and note cards and postcards illustrating dolls and toys.
Finding aid available.
Books are located in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library.
Collection further described in Margaret N. Coughlan, “The Maxine Waldron Collection of Children’s Books and Paper Toys,” in Research About Nineteenth-Century Children and Books: Portrait Studies (Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science, 1980).
Collection 121.
Papers. 1815–16, 1845, 1874–1922.
18 boxes.
Edward Howe Wales was the son of Salem Howe Wales and Frances Elizabeth Johnson. A native of New York City, he attended a private day school and then Columbia University. Wales was expert in patent law and became assistant examiner in the United States Patent Office. Around 1880 he became a stockbroker. During World War I, Wales served as a lieutenant commander in United States Naval intelligence. His daughter, Ruth, married Henry Francis du Pont, founder of Winterthur Museum.
Papers include correspondence, a letter book, diaries, genealogical materials, and photographs that relate to family relationships, financial concerns, and travel. Also included are artistic and engineering drawings by Wales and an original drawing by noted artist Frederic Remington.
Finding aid available.
Archives 9.
Papers. 1837–1908.
7 boxes + 2 vols.
Salem Howe Wales was a journalist, politician, and philanthropist. He was born in Wales, Massachusetts, and attended the Academy of Attica in New York. He began his professional career as a clerk in a New York City importing business. From 1848 to 1871, Wales served as managing editor of Scientific American. He then served as a commissioner to the Paris exposition of 1855 and during the Civil War was on the executive committee of the Christian Commission. In 1873 Wales became president of the New York City Department of Parks, and one year later he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York on the Republican ticket. Wales was New York’s president of Department of Docks from 1874 to 1876, and he served as a park commissioner from 1880 to 1885. He was a founder and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wales’s granddaughter, Ruth, married Henry Francis du Pont, founder of Winterthur Museum.
Papers include correspondence, a scrapbook, a guest book, travel diaries, and photographs that document Wales’s career in journalism and his interests in business, politics, civic and social affairs, urban reform, park development, and philanthropy. Collection also contains a cartoon by Thomas Nast and letters from many nineteenth-century historical figures.
Archives 4.
Account book. 1845–52, 1892.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
William Walker resided in Columbus, Pennsylvania.
The first part of this manuscript chronicles purchases of lumber and other expenses associated with the construction of a bridge for the Buffalo & Cohocton Valley Railroad. The second part of the book contains recipes for food and medicine, instructions for dyeing cloth and yarn, and a list of articles sold from a household in 1892.
Document 399.
Roll of merit cards. 1873–74.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 14 cm.
Mary E. Walkley was a resident of Brooklyn, New York, and attended Lockwood’s New Academy, also in Brooklyn.
Volume contains thirty-two color lithographed merit cards and eighteen card-mounted photo prints that young Mary received at school. Illustrations feature such things as flowers, Niagara Falls, Queen Victoria, and Notre Dame Cathedral.
List of image titles available.
Document 61.
Account book. 1895–1900.
150 p.; 28 cm.
J. R. Wallace was a painter who lived and worked in the suburbs of Boston.
This book reveals that early in his career, Wallace painted signs, wagons, carriages, and sleighs. He later turned his attention to painting interiors and exteriors of homes, hotels, schools, and churches. He also performed such tasks as whitewashing ceilings, hanging wallpaper, upholstering, varnishing, and graining. He did much of his work for residents of Winchester, Cambridge, Winthrop, Arlington, and East Lexington, Massachusetts.
Document 971.
Account books. 1761–1801, 1824–25, 1853–58, 1869–70.
12 vols.
Robert Wallace settled in the Blue Ball section of Earl Township, Pennsylvania, in 1766. Soon afterward, he established a general store and opened a tavern, which he called the Blue Ball. In 1778 he sold the tavern but retained the store, which remained in family hands until at least 1870.
Collection includes account books, daybooks, and ledgers that document the business activities of the Blue Ball, the Wallace family general store, and an earlier tavern that Robert Wallace operated in or near Earl Township, Pennsylvania.
Indexes to ledgers available.
Collection 233.
A new map of Europe. Ca. 1800.
1 puzzle: col. ill.
John Wallis operated a map warehouse in London.
Puzzle of forty-two pieces that, when put together, form a map of Europe. Puzzle is contained in a wooden box with a label on top.
Collection 220.
7 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection consists of fragments of wallpaper, most of which are associated with specific houses in New England.
Finding aid available.
Collection 321.
Daybook. 1816–21.
270 p.; 32 cm.
Robert Waln was a merchant from Philadelphia who had an interest in literature and wrote some satirical works.
Volume records daily financial transactions of Waln’s mercantile operation and his household accounts. Mention of shipping is made, and there are many accounts with banker Stephen Girard. Waln often recorded the occupations of the people with whom he did business.
Document 574.
Records. 1909–92, bulk 1909–60.
24 cu. ft.
The Walpole Society was established in 1910 as an organization of gentlemen devoted to the study of American artifacts and history. Members are often scholars, antiquarians, writers, collectors, or museum and library professionals. The society generally meets several times per year to socialize and oversee its impressive number of publications, including its own annual, Note Book.
Records include correspondence relating to meeting sites, photographs taken during meetings, nominations for membership, some financial data, and materials relating to society publications. In addition, there are several books and other publications from the society and a complete run of Note Book.
On permanent deposit at Winterthur.
Finding aid available.
Collection 386.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1857–63.
15 items: ill.
Thomas Ustick Walter was a native of Philadelphia. He worked with his father as a bricklayer and stonemason as he trained in architecture with William Strickland and attended the School of Mechanic Arts at Franklin Institute. After designing buildings in Philadelphia for a number of years, Walter moved to Washington, D.C., in 1851 to direct work on the extension of the United States Capitol. He remained until 1865. Walter was instrumental in organizing the American Institute of Architects.
Drawings document alterations to the dome of the Capitol, featuring depictions of stairways, flooring, details of doors, and the pedestal of a statue. Also included is a drawing labeled “Central Park Bridge” and a photograph of the Janes and Kirtland Iron Foundry.
Collection 116.
28 items: col. ill.
These posters, issued by the Government Printing Office, were designed to promote the sale of bonds and stamps during World War II.
Finding aid available.
Collection 186.
Account book. 1857–65.
130 p.; 15 cm.
Volume records the personal and household expenses of Asa A. Ward, a resident of North Adams, Massachusetts. He paid for such things as rent, board, clothing, food, pew rent, textiles, a shawl, yard goods, and travel.
Document 903.
Daybook. 1827–28.
1 vol.; 40 cm.
J. Ward operated a general store in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
Daybook entries document the wide variety of products sold in Ward’s store, including fabrics, spices, rum, leather, lamp oil, molasses, cigars, indigo, poultry, and white lead.
Folio 113.
Account book. 1694–ca. 1900, bulk 1694–97.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Robert Ward worked as a weaver, probably in or near Dedham, Massachusetts.
Book notes Ward’s weaving and spinning activities as well as what he received in payment for the yards of cloth that he produced. Ward also used the volume to keep track of expenses incurred when building houses for his sons. In later years, members of the Gay family used this volume to record agricultural activities and their family genealogy.
Document 642.
Notes of European travel taken by William E. Ward. 1867.
248 p.; 21 cm.
William E. Ward worked in the iron industry and may have been a resident of New York City.
Ward traveled in Europe from April 20 to August 19, 1867. He traveled through France, Italy, and Switzerland. Upon his return to Paris, he spent time at the Universal Exposition of 1867, where he was most interested in displays of metalware. Ward then traveled through Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.
Name index available.
Document 366.
Sketchbook. 1910.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 23 x 28 cm.
Ethel Mae Ware attended Mechanics Institute, Rochester, New York, in 1910.
Includes six watercolor and sixteen pencil drawings of flowers, baseball players, Native Americans in traditional costumes, and several fashionable women. A few drawings are labeled “Illustration Class.”
Document 875.
Account book. 1826–48.
1 vol.; 31 cm.
Samuel Fithian Ware was a cabinetmaker, carpenter, and undertaker in Cape May, New Jersey. His uncle was Maskell Ware, a chairmaker from southern New Jersey.
Manuscript notes the kinds of items Ware produced and repaired as a woodworker, including doors, floors, window shutters and windows, plows, shelves, rakes, chairs, coffins, and billiard balls. He also recorded funerals that he attended.
Document 564.
Account books. 1813–24.
2 vols.; 20 cm.
Azariah and Otis Ware were dyers and weavers who lived in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts. Their relationship to each other is unknown.
Otis Ware maintained volume one of this two-volume set from 1817 to 1822. Azariah maintained volume two from 1813 to 1824. Both men dyed wool, cotton, and leather and finished garments. In addition to selling dyed material, they spun, carded, and wove cloth. References are made to flannel, lambskins, tallow cloth, and frocking. Both Wares traveled widely. Azariah was the proprietor of a mill as well.
Collection 335.
Papers. 1822–66, bulk 1822–28.
1 volume + 19 items.
Members of the Warfel family were among the earliest settlers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many were farmers. John B. Warfel served as a state senator and recorder of deeds for Lancaster County. Jacob E. Warfel was an artist and a friend of American portrait painter Thomas Sully.
Collection includes an account book, kept from 1822 to 1828, that records purchases of household goods and payments for work performed by John Warfel, such loose items as receipts and other financial documents, sketches probably done by Jacob E. Warfel, a painted sign for a display of Jacob’s work, and a price list of artist supplies.
Name index available.
Collection 131.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1935–42.
1 vol.: ill.; 40 cm.
Janet Waring was an expert in early American stencils. She was born in Yonkers, New York, and attended Miss Crockett’s School in that city as well as schools in Fontainbleau, France, and Utica, New York. Her book, Early American Stencils on Walls and Furniture, was published in 1937 by W. R. Scott of New York City.
Scrapbook contains notes, photos, letters, and clippings regarding stencils on walls, floors, and furniture. Of special note are photographs and correspondence of Arthur C. Haskell, an architectural photographer, describing stencils and the houses in which they were found. There is also a section on Charles F. Feuer and his work as a japanner. Much of the material in this scrapbook relates to Waring’s book, which, evidence suggests, was compiled after her death.
Folio 212.
Papers. 1810–83.
1 microfilm reel.
Andrew E. Warner was a silversmith in Baltimore.
Includes Warner’s account book, letters, bills, and miscellaneous manuscripts. The account books record production and repair of silver articles.
Brief name list available.
Microfilm M1402.
Papers. 1875–1938.
1 microfilm reel.
Andrew E. Warner Jr. was a silversmith in Baltimore.
Collection includes accounts for making and repairing silver articles and jewelry, a sales book describing the dissolution of Warner’s business, and a photograph of part of the exterior of Warner’s house.
Microfilm M1838.
Daybook. 1862–66.
177 p.; 33 cm.
Evidence suggests that Charles Warner, a spoonmaker from Gananoque, Canada, kept this daybook.
The volume records the steps involved in spoonmaking, from acquiring scrap metal through finishing the product. Internal evidence suggests that these Canadian-made spoons were exported to the United States and sold in such places as New York and Connecticut.
Document 266.
Diary. 1852–62.
1 microfilm reel.
Harriet Warner lived in Otsego County, New York. She was the daughter of Hezekiah and Laura Warner and became the wife of Erastus W. Moffatt in 1862. Two of her children died shortly after birth.
Harriet describes her life in pre–Civil War New York in very brief entries.
Original diary located at the New York State Historical Association.
Microfilm M1914.
Copybook. 1828.
16 leaves; 25 cm.
Susanna Warner was a student at the Fireville Academy in Pennsylvania when she kept this copybook.
Manuscript contains attributed and unattributed poetry copied by young Susanna. Poems refer to such topics as female worth, happiness, beauty, virtue, contentment, the home, mourning, friendship, and disappointment.
Document 1072.
The Story of my birthplace. Ca. 1870–83.
91 leaves; 32 cm.
A. G. Warren, a Baptist pastor, was born in Auburn, Massachusetts. He attended college in Michigan and then returned to Massachusetts to study at the Newton Theological Seminary. Warren was a preacher in Chicopee, Massachusetts, from 1838 to 1849 and may have later held a pastorate in Troy, New York. In 1897 he published The Ever Magnetic Eastern Question … Jerusalem, the Centre of Land; of Religion; of Civilization.
Manuscript is an eleven-chapter autobiography of Warren’s life in rural New England. Warren discusses his boyhood home, local topography, social functions, architectural features of the buildings in his area, agricultural duties, and the family tannery.
Document 990.
Papers. 1731–1874.
3 microfilm reels.
Collection of papers relates to Sir Peter Warren, English admiral, member of Parliament, and governor of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. Included are letters, account books, credit records, real estate records, and administrative papers that concern Warren’s American investments and reveal details about the economic and political situation of the day.
There is an introduction at the beginning of the film that summarizes the contents of the papers. Collection further described in John W. Raimo’s Guide to the Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, published in 1979.
Original manuscripts located at the Sussex, England, Archaeological Society.
Microfilm M1574–M1576.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1830–60.
1 vol.: ill. (some col.); 30 cm.
A note states that Sarah Elizabeth Warren kept this scrapbook in the years before she was married. Samuel D. Warren’s name appears on the front cover.
Volume includes nearly three hundred engravings and lithographs depicting buildings and churches in London, prominent Americans, literary folk, biblical scenes, Native Americans, and famous paintings.
Finding aid available.
Document 639.
Letters and photographs. 1868–86.
13 items: ill.
Warren Ward & Co. manufactured chamber, parlor, and library furniture in New York City. They sold on both the wholesale and retail markets.
Collection consists of photographs of various kinds of furniture, including bedroom sets, sofas, chairs, settees, tables, and bureaus that were made by the company.
Document 752.
Account book. 1795–1803.
1 vol.; 42 cm.
Luke Washburn was a saddle- and harnessmaker, probably from Connecticut.
Account book records Washburn’s work at making and mending leather goods. There are references to painted furniture, which may have been recorded by Washburn’s son.
See entry number 2157.
Folio 213.
Furniture stencils. Ca. 1820–50.
Approx. 300 items.
Luke Washburn Jr. was a chairmaker from Unadilla, New York.
Collection consists of more than three hundred stencils for painting furniture. Paint residue suggests that they were actually used. The stencils were found in the account book of Luke Washburn, a saddler from Connecticut.
See entry number 2156.
Collection 316.
Papers and printed ephemera. 1780–1985.
1 box.
George Washington was a plantation owner, surveyor, politician, soldier, and America’s first president.
This miscellaneous assemblage contains three items in Washington’s own hand, one forgery, and various types of printed ephemera, including a decorative badge, some bank checks, a sheet-music cover, invitations, and programs.
Finding aid available.
Collection 384.
Bills. 1795–1807.
13 items.
William A. Washington was a colonel and judge who lived in the Washington, D.C., area.
Collection documents Washington’s purchases of household furnishings and personal items, including earthenware, dresses, pillows, knives and forks, a mahogany table, high posted and low posted beds, and chairs. He made most of his purchases in the Washington, D.C., area.
Collection 418.
118 p.; 39 cm.
Volume contains pages headed “Franklin Furnace” with lists of debits to be charged against specific accounts. It is unclear whether these headings indicate a town (Franklin Furnace, New Jersey) or the name of a furnace from which the town got its name. Most of the goods specified are foodstuffs. There are also occasional entries for such items as blankets, powder, shoes, paper, iron bars, and travel. Includes a two-page typed history of Franklin Furnace.
Folio 30.
65 items.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains printed watch papers—small paper inserts that were placed in pocket watches to protect the inner works from damage. They included the name and address of a watchmaker or repairer, and a date was often written in. Some bear illustrations, often allegorical figures or pictures of watches. Most of the watch papers in this collection come from the early nineteenth century and were manufactured in either Massachusetts or Connecticut.
Finding aid available.
Collection 243.
Waterproof playing cards. Ca. 1860.
1 game: ill.
The Waterproof Playing Card Co. was located at 50 Bromfield Street, Boston.
Deck of round playing cards with one joker and one card advertising the maker. The illustrations of the king, queen, and jack cards are fairly standard.
Collection 220.
Papers. 1814–45.
3 boxes + 1 microfilm reel.
The bulk of this collection pertains to the family of John Fanning Watson, a banker, publisher, and historian of Philadelphia and New York City, and his immediate family. Watson grew up in Philadelphia, trained in a counting house, joined the Bank of Germantown, and was an amateur historian who helped found the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Papers divided into five series: diaries, family history, correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous. Diaries include twelve volumes of travel accounts kept by John Fanning Watson; a travel narrative written by a relative, Mrs. James Bogert, about her 1839 trip through New York State; and records of other journeys by the Watsons. Lucy Fanning Watson compiled much of the family’s genealogy. Letters refer to business, religious, personal, and family matters.
Finding aid available.
Additional Watson family materials located at the Library Company of Pennsylvania and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 189; Microfilm M2671.
Account books. 1802–15.
7 vols.
Charles Watts was a native of Scotland. He immigrated to New York City in 1789 and established himself as a maker of musical instruments. He moved to Charleston, South Carolina, soon thereafter and became a cabinet- and pianomaker. He worked with at least two partners in Charleston and then moved back to New York, where he became a successful merchant and real-estate developer.
Includes six account books and one cash book that record Watts’s professional activities. Many of his customers were New York furnituremakers, including Duncan Phyfe, Michael and Peter Allison, and Jacob Brower. Personal accounts are interspersed with business records. Two volumes include records relating to Watts’s estate.
Additional Watts papers located at the New-York Historical Society.
Collection 282.
Elegies. 1824.
20 leaves: col. ill; 25 cm.
Anna Mary Way, who first owned this album of elegies, lived in Pennsbury, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript is a collection of twenty-four elegies written and/or copied by Anna Mary Way in honor of Mary F. Walter upon the latter’s death in 1824. Each poem includes a title, the author’s or copyist’s name, and their place of residence. A flower is the only illustration.
Document 485.
Account book. 1832–45.
118 p.; 32 cm.
Samuel Way was a carpenter from West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Account book records the varied activities of a busy carpenter who also performed other tasks. Included are references to painting, glazing, “dressing wash boards,” making mantels and fireplace frames, repairing furniture, roofing, and cutting floor boards. Way mentioned that he worked with African Americans.
Document 467.
Papers. 1834–91.
Approx. 250 items: ill.
William Wayne Evans was a doctor in Paoli, Pennsylvania. His relationship to other individuals mentioned in this collection of papers (namely, Isaac and William Wayne and David Zook) is unclear.
Collection contains bills and receipts for personal and household goods and services paid for by members of the Wayne family. Items bought include carpets, fabric, books, seeds, stovepipes, furniture, and jewelry. Some of the printed billheads feature illustrative vignettes. In addition, there are a few letters and two silhouettes of unidentified people.
Collection 454.
Account book. 1807–23.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Joseph Weaver, a resident of Columbia, Pennsylvania, was probably a miller.
Manuscript records the buying and selling of wheat, flour, other foodstuffs, and hemp. References are also made to hauling goods to nearby Lancaster. Pasted in are a few recipes clipped from newspapers. Handwriting is in German, suggesting a connection to the Pennsylvania German community.
Name index at front of volume.
Document 664.
100 p.: ill.; 48 cm.
Written in French, this manuscript gives detailed instructions for weaving a variety of textiles. It includes diagrams for setting up loom patterns and more than one hundred swatches of cloth woven according to the instructions. Volume may have originated in Lyons, France.
Folio 7.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Volume was kept by an unidentified weaver from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Organized in a tabular format, it contains accounts of amounts of weaving done and by whom. Occasional text entries note the number of bales of linen taken to Boston by someone named William Miles.
Document 893.
98 p.: ill.; 41 cm.
Consists of diagrams and written instructions for setting up looms to weave a wide variety of patterns. Sample swatches of the finished product accompany many sets of directions.
Text is in French.
Collection 50.
32 items.
Consists of thirty-two weaver’s patterns for homespun coverlets and tablecloths from Wythe County, Virginia. Several names appear next to the patterns, including Elizabeth Brown; Sarah, Elizabeth, and Jonas Huddle; Elizabeth Dutton; and Benjamin King. Named patterns include Washington Beauty Table Cloth, Rising Sun, Snowball, and Dollar and Cents. Most of the patterns have pinholes, suggesting that they were once used.
Document 293.
10 items: ill.
Patterns, probably from Botetourt County, Virginia, are hand drawn and signed by either Mary Jane Since, Mary Jane Fisher, or Susan Simmons. Identified patterns include Wheel and Beauty, Pine Blossom, Double Peach Seed, Double Bow Knot, and Cartwheel. All patterns have pinholes, suggesting that they were executed.
Document 331.
Bills. 1875–94.
Approx. 100 items.
Thomas Webb lived in Freeport, Illinois, with his family.
Includes receipts for a variety of domestic and personal products, generally from local merchants. Collection reveals that Webb also paid for having walls of his house painted, some wallpaper hung, a chair repaired, and another chair upholstered.
Collection 248.
An American dictionary of the English language. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
1 vol.: ill.; 30 cm.
Lexicographer Noah Webster was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale and became a schoolteacher and lawyer. Webster was a founder of Amherst College. In addition to writing spelling and history books, Webster compiled a number of dictionaries that brought him lasting fame. He and his wife, Rebecca Greenleaf, had eight children.
This copy of volume one of An American Dictionary contains several manuscripts: a short biography of Webster, a letter from one of his daughters, an engraving of a portrait of Webster, a sheet of handwritten corrections laid in between pages with entries from BOA to BOI, and a letter written in Webster’s hand discussing the unauthorized sale of one of his books and the violation of its copyright.
Folio 301.
Account book. 1786–1825.
68 leaves: ill.; 34 cm.
Thomas Webster was a furnituremaker and carpenter, possibly working in Massachusetts.
Webster recorded his business transactions on the blank pages of John Norman’s The Town and Country Builder’s Assistant. He framed windows and made sashes, beds, chairs, coffins, tables, and chests. Webster built looms for himself and others and supplemented his income by weaving.
Partial name index in front of volume.
Document 1055.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1890–1910.
37 items: ill.
Franklin I. Welch was an architect in his native Malden, Massachusetts, and in Boston. A Christian Scientist, he drew plans for a Christian Science church in Boston and another in Manchester, New Hampshire. Welch was active in his profession until his death in 1930.
Collection consists of pen-and-ink drawings, seven for a library and thirty for a school. Various floor plans, drawings of exteriors, and sectional views for buildings are shown.
Finding aid available.
Collection 217.
Expense book. 1865–70.
40 p.; 16 cm.
H. R. Weldin lived in New Castle County, Delaware, probably in Claymont.
Book includes a six-year record of H. R. Weldin’s expenses, including notes of a wide variety of purchases of goods used in the domestic setting, including fabrics, food, a pocketbook, and Christmas candles.
Document 211.
Papers. 1803–13.
7 items.
Charles Wellbeloved was a Unitarian minister and archaeologist. He was born and educated in Britain at Homerton Academy and New College. He served his first clerical position at St. Saviourgate Chapel, York, England, and then served as director of Manchester College. Wellbeloved was a founder of the York Subscription Library, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, and the York Institute.
Collection includes materials relating to Manchester College, including an estimate of repairs to buildings, calculations for needed joinery repairs, financial information, and a letter regarding work to be done on a house.
Collection 193.
Account book. 1819–27.
1 vol.; 25 cm.
John Wells appears to have been a farmer in northwestern Massachusetts.
Book consists of general accounts for the exchange of goods and services, most related to farming. Accounts mention cows, veal, hay and haying, bushels of produce, and day laborers. Also included are references to shoe repair, weaving, and purchases of quires of paper, nails, locks, and wire. What appears to be a diagram for fencing is laid in.
Document 897.
Account book. 1748–50.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Wendell was a merchant from Boston.
Volume includes accounts of the Committee for Rebuilding the Boston Court House. Items mentioned include metals, building materials, and medicines.
Brief name index and occupation list available.
Original manuscript located at Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Microfilm M1961.
Daybook. 1866–69, 1904–6.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
Abram E. Wenger lived in Paradise, Pennsylvania, at the time of his death. It is possible that he was the carriagemaker who maintained this volume.
Records income and expenses for an unnamed carriagemaker from 1866 to 1869, an account of money paid to Abram E. Wenger in 1869, and accounts associated with Wenger’s estate, kept from 1904 to 1906.
Document 633.
Account book. 1796–1811.
1 microfilm reel.
Jacob Werst made rugs and lived in the vicinity of Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Entries document Werst’s rugmaking activities. Some entries mention details noting the size, color, and fringe of his rugs.
Original manuscript located at the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm M2988.
Papers. 1762–1829.
1 box + 1 microfilm reel: ill.
Benjamin West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania. After receiving early encouragement in the study of art, he traveled to Italy to learn painting. He later resided in London, where he established himself as a preeminent painter of portraits and historical, religious, genre, and landscape scenes. West served as president of the Royal Academy and as the historical painter to King George III. His students included Gilbert Stuart, members of the Peale family, S. F. B. Morse, and Washington Allston.
Papers include a catalogue in West’s hand of paintings in his private collection; a catalogue of his works that were sold at auction in 1829; a published description and assessment of his painting Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple; and microfilm copies of two sketchbooks. The sketchbooks, dated 1779 and 1790, include drawings of people of all ages, some shown in landscapes with animals.
Finding aid available.
Original sketchbooks located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Collection 394; Microfilm M1573.
Ledger. 1850–54.
1 vol.; 34 cm.
G. H. West, a watch repairer, lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Volume pertains to West’s work repairing watches. The owner of the watch that West worked on, a number, a brief description of the repair, and the charge West levied are recorded.
Document 345.
Avilude: or, game of birds. 1873.
1 game: ill.; 10 cm.
The West & Lee Game Co. was located in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Game of sixty-four cards intended to teach players about identifying various species of birds.
Collection 220.
123 microfilm reels.
Located at the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland, Ohio, this collection contains a variety of manuscripts relating to the Shaker religious sect, chiefly from the villages at Mount Lebanon and Watervliet, New York; Harvard, Massachusetts; Union Village, Ohio; and Canterbury, New Hampshire. Items include covenants, correspondence, legal records, addresses, school books, diaries, biographical works, and music.
Collection arranged by village.
Finding aid available, compiled by Kermit Pike, entitled A Guide to Shaker Manuscripts in the Library of the Western Reserve Historical Society, published by the society in 1974.
ASC M41–M163.
Account book. 1774–93.
1 vol.; 22 cm.
Joseph Weston was a furnituremaker from Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Manuscript records Weston’s activities, making and mending a variety of furniture and other products made of wood, including beds, tables, spinning wheels, cart wheels, and coffins. There are references to work on houses and agricultural endeavors as well.
Document 925.
Papers. 1751–92.
16 items.
Thomas Weston worked as a house carpenter in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He fathered ten children over the course of two marriages. He owned a considerable amount of land at the time of his death.
Collection contains receipts, promissory notes, bills, land deeds, a genealogy, and a copy of Thomas Weston’s will, which included a list of his personal property.
Collection 455.
Account Book. 1890–1900.
187 p.; 21 cm.
Augusta L. Westwood lived in Fredonia, then in Buffalo, New York, and later moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1900.
Manuscript includes a record of expenses for household goods purchased over the course of a decade. Items purchased include food, clothing, shoes, school supplies, cloth, and cups and saucers. Westwood notes her two days at the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Document 217.
Papers. 1683–1904, bulk 1700–1830.
Approx. 250 items.
The Wetherill, Jones, Roberts, and interconnected families resided primarily in Burlington, New Jersey, and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Mary Wetherill married Philadelphian Isaac Jones, a merchant who was also treasurer of the Wiccacoa Meadow Company. The relationship of the Wetherill and Jones families to the Roberts family is unclear.
Collection contains records of early Quaker organizations, including meeting minutes from Friends groups in Haverford, Radnor, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, New Jersey. Also included is a letter from William Penn dated 1708, in which he mentions meeting the Queen of England and speaks of Governor Gookin’s departure for America. Several manuscripts record the development of the Philadelphia Marsh by the managers of the Wiccacoa Meadow Company. There are letters from Charles Willson Peale and Rubens Peale, personal and business papers, and travel diaries.
Collection 469.
Practical geometry, the foundation of science: part the 1st; contents foliages, ornament, roofs, elevations, &c. Ca. 1840–60.
1 vol.: col. ill.; 39 x 25 cm.
Evidence suggests that J. Wheeler was a draftsman from Chelsea, England.
Volume is an instruction manual for drawing, “arranged in easy lessons to facilitate the student and artist in the Dept. of Science.” It includes three sets of lessons in geometric figures, perspective drawings, and elevations.
Folio 208.
Bills. 1822–28.
102 items.
Russell Wheeler lived in Connecticut. His occupation is not known.
These bills document purchases made by Wheeler, including dry goods, clothing, shoes, tobacco, writing paper, lumber, and pots and kettles.
Collection 523.
Exercise book. 1856.
1 vol.: ill.; 21 cm.
Henry Whitaker resided at Port Royal Academy, Frankford, Pennsylvania.
Volume contains verses and short compositions by Whitaker on such topics as truth, honesty, slavery, education, and inattention. On the front cover is an engraving of a rose and a poem.
Document 919.
Collection. Ca. 1880s.
3 vols.: ill. (some col.); 23 cm. or smaller.
Anne Louise Hadley maintained these volumes in the years before her marriage to Gen. Grant White.
Collection includes a scrapbook, cookbook, and a “Forget-Me-Not Album” that collectively contain advertising trade cards, recipes, and signatures of Anne’s friends.
Collection 134.
Diary and account book. 1821–51.
150 p.; 19 cm.
Enos White was a furnituremaker, shoemaker, and farmer. He spent most of his life in Weymouth, Massachusetts, though he lived in Cincinnati from 1830 to 1831.
White kept records of his life intermittently over the course of two decades. He wrote about professional concerns, his financial condition, and later in life his health.
Name index available.
Document 746.
Papers. 1841–78, bulk 1850–59.
83 items.
Holder White lived in Westport, Massachusetts, and made wagons.
Contains bills, accounts, receipts, and invoices for goods and services purchased by White and his son, Holder White Jr. Most purchases were for wagon parts or for work done on wagons. Some bills were for foodstuffs, paint, and labor.
Name index available.
Collection 31.
Account book. 1808–45.
1 vol.; 37 cm.
Josiah L. White was a partner in the firm of Scolley & White, which did carpentry and cabinet work in Newton and Ashburnham, Massachusetts.
Book records woodworking activities performed by Scolley & White, including setting posts in yards, shingling barns, fixing furniture, making trapdoors, constructing a loom, and making coffins. There are also records of employees’ names, hours worked, and amounts they were paid.
Folio 246.
Scrapbook. Ca. 1915–20.
30 p.: ill.; 26 cm.
Katherine Hadley White, a native of San Antonio, Texas, and daughter of Anne Louise Hadley and Gen. Grant White, received this scrapbook as a gift.
Includes children’s stories with accompanying illustrations. Mice, historic figures, paper dolls, and women wearing hats are depicted.
Document 487.
Recipe book. 1742.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Samuel White may have been a doctor.
Volume records recipes for cures for such ailments as vertigo, sciatica, diarrhea, an ulcer in the mouth, vomiting, and a stone in the bladder. White mentioned addresses of his patients as well as diagnoses and prognoses of their diseases.
Index in front of volume.
Document 803.
1 vol.: ill.; 39 cm.
The first half of this volume contains two thousand numbered swatches of patterned white goods. Manuscript notes give the names and prices of the items as well as instructions; for example, “15.9.55, White Book No. 8803, In giving orders please give Book as well as pattern Nos.” Loose manuscripts in the volume suggest that Samuel R. Shipley may have kept the book while he worked for Charles W. Churchman, the proprietor of a dry-goods business in Philadelphia.
The second half of the volume is a scrapbook for illustrations and descriptions of buildings in and around London and Philadelphia.
Collection 50.
Papers. 1841–92.
228 items: ill.
Edwin Whitefield, a landscape and flower painter, was a native of England who immigrated to the United States around 1840. He painted Hudson River views, taught drawing classes, and published books of his landscapes. At the time of his death, his only assets were unsold volumes of his book, Homes of Our Forefathers. Whitefield’s son, Wilfred, was also an artist.
Collection includes assorted sketchbooks kept by Whitefield, some containing Hudson River scenes, others containing views of midwestern towns and landscapes; watercolors of landscapes; lithographs; pencil and pen-and-ink sketches; newspaper clippings; and travel narratives supplemented by drawings of local scenes.
Also included in the collection is a microfilm reel of the Whitefield papers held by the Minnesota Historical Society documenting both Edwin’s and Wilfred’s activities in Minnesota.
Finding aid available.
Papers used for two publications by John Zukowsky: Hudson River Houses (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.: North River Press, 1981) and Hudson River Villas, co-edited by Robbe Pierce Stimson ( New York: Rizzoli, 1985).
Collection 102; Microfilm M2948.
Papers. Ca. 1763–80, ca. 1950–92.
3 boxes: ill. (some col.)
Whitehall Plantation was built in the 1760s for Horatio Sharpe, the royal governor of Maryland. It is thought that Joseph Horatio Anderson designed the dwelling and that William Buckland contributed interior detail. Located on the Chesapeake six miles from Annapolis, Maryland, Whitehall measures two hundred feet in length and is one or two rooms deep. It is said that the first water closet in America was located there. The building’s central block is considered the first example of the classical revival style in America. Additions to Whitehall were constructed over the years; its late twentieth-century owner restored the house to what he thought was its earliest appearance.
Collection includes eighteenth-century architectural drawings, manuscripts and drawings used during its twentieth-century restoration, photographs dating from the late nineteenth century, plantation records from the 1770s, a study of historical interior paint colors from 1961, and other documentation.
Papers used for Charles Scarlett Jr., “Governor Horatio Sharpe’s White Hall,” Maryland Historical Magazine (March 1951): 8–26.
Finding aid available.
Collection 205.
Letter books. 1892–95.
5 vols.
Oscar Rogers Whitford was a mineralogist. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1890, earned an advanced degree from the school, and later joined its faculty. Before he began teaching, Whitford studied at the Royal Saxon School of Mines in Frieberg, Germany. Whitford maintained an interest in the King Gold Mining & Development Co. and published reports on mining.
Volumes contain about fourteen hundred pages of letters that Whitford wrote to his family while he studied in Germany. They describe his stay in the country and travels to neighboring nations; provide accounts of other Americans in Europe; and detail European society at the end of the nineteenth century.
Typescripts of letters available.
Collection 369.
Account book. 1899–1903.
57 leaves; 35 cm.
L. C. Whittemore lived in Jay Bridge, Maine. Evidence suggests that he was married and had several children.
Volume records Whittemore’s personal expenses and income. Most of his expenses were for household and personal needs, while his income was derived from wages and rent paid by boarders. Each January he compiled an inventory of his assets to calculate his net worth.
Document 987.
Papers. 1812–60.
3 cu. ft.: ill. (some col.)
Amos Whittemore (1759–1828), an inventor and manufacturer, lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He attended public schools there and apprenticed with a gunsmith. Whittemore married Helen Watson in 1781 and they had twelve children. Among his inventions was a device for cutting nails, a loom for weaving duck, and machines that made cotton and wool cards. Amos’s son, Henry C. Whittemore, also resided in Cambridge. He apparently worked for the firm of Felton & Parker and owned a number of rental properties.
Collection includes Amos Whittemore’s personal account book, kept from 1812 to 1813, and an 1815 daybook, recording his work repairing, painting, and making wagons, chaises, sleighs, and harnesses. Pages at the end of the volume contain lettering, presumably intended for sign painting. In addition, the collection features a detailed inventory and description of Henry Whittemore’s real-estate holdings and accounts relating to repairs and alterations to his property. The collection includes Henry’s school copybook, which contains extracts of literature, rules of geometry, and the orders of architecture.
Collection 429.
Scrapbook albums. 1898–1945.
2 vols.
Albert R. Whittier collected books and antique furniture and worked as a real-estate broker with C. W. Whittier & Bro.
The first volume contains bills and receipts from used book and antique furniture dealers. The second volume contains mounted photographs of some of the furniture recorded in volume one.
Collection 24.
Diary. 1732–39.
2 vols.; 23 cm.
Christopher Wigner was an early Moravian settler in Pennsylvania. He was born into a Schwenkfelder family in Ober-Harpersdorf, Silesia, near Breslau, Poland. In his youth, he was imprisoned for his religious beliefs. By 1733 he had moved to Ebersdorf, where Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf granted asylum to Moravians on his estate, Herrnhut. One year later, Wigner arrived in Philadelphia. He then traveled to the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, area, where he lived for the rest of his short life.
The diary, written in German, documents Wigner’s spiritual development from age six. In addition, Wigner wrote of his journey from Herrnhut to Pennsylvania and described many of the religious beliefs and customs of German settlers. The diary contains copies of some of Wigner’s letters to Zinzendorf.
English translation available.
Document 1013.
Ledger. 1845–60.
202 p.; 20 cm.
Homer Wilcox made brooms and brushes in Johnstown, New York. He later moved to Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Ledger records Wilcox’s broommaking activities. He made brooms and brushes from corn that he grew himself and purchased twine, handles, and other supplies locally. In addition, Wilcox worked in local fields and sold farm produce. Wilcox’s estate inventory is included in the manuscript. Another person, presumably a family member, used this manuscript after Wilcox died.
Name indexes available.
Document 1000.
Bills and receipts. 1833–93.
Approx. 50 items.
The Wilcox family lived in Wayne, Ohio, and Connecticut. One member, Norman Wilcox Jr., probably worked as a tanner.
Collection contains both manuscript and printed bills and receipts. They describe goods and services paid for by the Wilcox family. There is a recipe for blacking and a description of the method used to tan hides.
Collection 442.
Wage book and order book. 1880–87, 1891–1907.
2 vols.: ill.; 32 cm.
David H. Wilday was a carpenter in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1880 his business was called Wilday & Eorlases, and in 1884 it was called Wilday & Colburn. By 1891 he was working independently.
Manuscripts record the carpentry work Wilday performed, including flooring, roofing, and erecting fences; personnel records for Wilday’s employees; and orders placed by Wilday’s customers along with his cost estimates. Some of these orders are accompanied by drawings illustrating the work.
Document 388.
Account book. 1825–78.
102 leaves; 33 cm.
John Wiley was a landlord, millwright, and carpenter, probably from Chester County, Pennsylvania (possibly East Nottingham or Sadsbury). He also procured hides for Williamson & Kent and George W. Miller.
Manuscript contains accounts of work Wiley did as a carpenter, millwright, and day laborer.
Index of names bound in at front of volume.
Document 97.
Ledger and family Bible. 1762–1800, bulk 1762–75.
2 vols.
Henry Will was a pewterer in Albany and New York City. After 1793 he was primarily a dry-goods merchant. Will was born in Germany and, with his family, immigrated to New York. He married Magdalena Haan. Will was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1789 to 1797.
Ledger documents Will’s work making and repairing pewter objects. The account book records the various products that Will made and repaired, including bowls, spoons, tankards, colanders, and teapots.
Ledger includes name index.
Photographs of pewter made by Henry Will located in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection, Winterthur Library.
Original manuscript located at Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
Folio 267; Microfiche M2531.
1 microfilm reel.
Original records located at the Spotsylvania County Courthouse.
Microfilm M225.
Drawings and exercise books. Ca. 1761.
3 vols.: col. ill.
William Gomm & Son & Co. was a cabinetmaking and upholstering firm in London. Its founder, William Gomm, was born around 1698 and apprenticed to Hugh Maskell in 1713. By 1725 Gomm had established his own business. His eldest son, Richard, joined him sometime before 1756. Richard’s son, William, may have worked for the firm as well; the latter eventually became a priest for the Church of England. In 1776 the firm went bankrupt, though Francis Peter Mallet, a partner, continued the enterprise.
Includes a book of designs for furniture, rooms, and ornamental details, some signed by William Gomm and dated 1761; a book devoted to exercises in the five orders of architecture; and a book with exercises in geography, vulgar fractions, decimals, and algebra. It is likely that the founder’s grandson, William Gomm (who would have been fifteen in 1761), kept the volumes. Furniture forms illustrated include looking glasses, a table frame, an elbow chair, a commode, and bookcases.
Collection 266; Microfilm M937.
Architectural drawings. Ca. 1850.
7 items: ill.
Henry V. Williams was an architect. It is not known where he worked, though it may have been in the New York City area.
Drawings of a brownstone at 738 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, New York, feature floor plans, the front elevation, and framing.
Folio 66.
Drawings and scrapbook. 1863–95.
50 items: ill.
Isaac L. Williams was a portrait, landscape, and figure painter. He was a native of Philadelphia and studied under John R. Smith and John Neagle. He displayed his work in galleries all over the East Coast and for a time maintained a studio in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Williams was a member of the Artists’ Fund Society and served as its president.
Collection contains a portfolio of drawings by Williams or attributed to him and a scrapbook of clippings regarding his career. Most drawings feature landscapes in New Jersey and Delaware. The scrapbook includes reviews of art exhibitions, snippets from the “Varieties” column from a Philadelphia newspaper, and engravings from Frank Leslie’s publications.
Scrapbook includes index of names and topics.
Document 350.
Exercise book. 1771.
1 microfilm reel.
Sarah Williams lived in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript contains various mathematical problems, poetry, prose and calligraphy.
Original manuscript in private hands at time of filming.
Microfilm M2814.
Indentures. 1806–29.
8 items.
Thomas R. Williams was a Philadelphia cabinetmaker.
Consists of indentures relating to a piece of property in Philadelphia located on the north side of Walnut Street, between Eighth and Ninth Streets.
Document 316.
Account book. 1791–1812.
1 vol.; 41 cm.
Abraham Williamson lived in Montclair, New Jersey.
Accounts include references to foodstuffs, meat and fish, flax and flaxseed, hay, wool, clothing, shoes, building supplies, and candles. Craftsmen in the building, costume, furniture, metalworking, textile, and woodworking trades are mentioned. A number of entries note rent received for grist and saw mills.
Folio 38.
Recipe book. 1847.
1 vol.; 15 x 22 cm.
M. E. Williamson, whose maiden name was Smith, married Maj. J. D. Williamson. They resided in New Market, Virginia.
Book includes twelve handwritten recipes for foods and medicines and several printed recipes from newspapers of the day. Food recipes are for blackberry syrup, tomato sauce, “yellow pickle,” cakes, waffles, muffins, and puddings. Also included are directions for making cologne water, bitters, etc.
Document 927.
Papers. 1800–1813.
5 vols. + 2 microfilm reels.
After serving his apprenticeship with silverworker Joseph Lownes, Samuel Williamson worked as a silversmith in Philadelphia from 1794 to 1813. In 1813 or 1814, he moved to Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm.
Papers contain business records that document Williamson’s business as a silversmith, his speculative ventures, and his training of other craftsmen. Collection also contains ledgers, daybooks, a memorandum book, and loose documents.
Name and occupation indexes available.
Papers used for Ellen Beasley, “Samuel Williamson, Philadelphia Silversmith, 1794–1813” (Master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1964).
Collection 17; Microfilm M434, M2949.
Bills and receipts. 1726–1850.
Approx. 200 items.
The Willing family lived in Philadelphia. Most papers refer to George Willing, a merchant.
Collection records personal and household goods and services paid for by the Willings. Included are bills for such things as food, clothing, wallpaper, hardware, dry goods, brickwork repairs, fire insurance, doctor’s fees, taxes, and magazine subscriptions. Most of the bills and receipts are manuscript. A few bills feature illustrated headings.
Collection 453.
Journal. 1836–37.
1 vol.; 20 cm.
Beriah Willis operated a tool or machine shop in Manayunk, Pennsylvania.
Entries in this journal consist of a sentence or two summarizing Willis’s work for his customers, including making castings, turning wheels, polishing, cutting rugs, and working with cylinder rollers. He kept records of how he spent his time, whether he was actively pursuing a task, out of work because of sickness, or collecting his due.
Document 350.
18 boxes.
This artificial (and still open) collection contains manuscript copies of wills, estate inventories, and administration papers from many locations along the East Coast, chiefly the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Inventories customarily mention a vast array of house furnishings, farm animals, and agricultural equipment. Most are organized room by room. Included also are vendue lists, featuring descriptions of the items sold, prices paid, and buyers’ names.
List of names, locations, dates, items, and further descriptions available.
Collection 61.
39 microfilm reels.
Consists of wills and estate inventories.
Filmed by the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Location of original documents unknown.
Microfilm M44–M82.
74 microfilm reels.
Consists of wills and estate inventories.
Indexes placed sporadically throughout reels, and separately on two reels.
Original documents located at the Suffolk County Probate Court.
Microfilm M109–M180, M2470–M2471.
5 microfilm reels.
Consists of wills and estate inventories.
Original documents located in City Hall of Newport, Rhode Island, at the time of filming.
Microfilm M83–M87.
6 microfilm reels.
Wilmarth Lewis was a devotée of Horace Walpole, an eighteenth-century English politician, man of letters, and collector.
Collection includes eighteenth-century English prints, most political satire, and some original drawings. Some of the prints bear British Museum numbers from Catalogue of Prints, Political Satire Section. The artist William Hogarth is well represented.
Microfilm M199–M204.
Log. 1832–48.
1 vol.; 47 cm.
The Wilmington Fire Insurance Co. began operating in Delaware in 1832, incorporated itself in 1833, and folded around 1850.
Volume records 2,031 policies issued by the company. It insured various properties, including private homes, whaling ships, and even saltpeter owned by E. I du Pont de Nemours & Co. Properties owned by African Americans and mulattos were so noted. Descriptions of properties, names associated with policies, premiums, and amounts of insurance are recorded.
Folio 229.
Collection. 1823–96, bulk 1853–96.
21 items.
The Marble and Granite Works was founded in 1848 in Wilmington, Delaware, by Charles H. Smith. The Delaware Steam Marble and Granite Works began operation in Wilmington in 1861; L. W. Megowen managed one of its three sites. It is likely that the two firms merged by 1854 to form the Wilmington Marble and Granite Works.
Collection includes records of the marble and granite works and the Megowen family. An account book records the activities and products of the works between 1854 and 1896. Among the Megowen manuscripts are family letters and an account book that appears to have been for a dry-goods or general store.
Account book for granite works contains original name index.
Document 294.
Account book. 1874–80.
185 p.; 25 cm.
George Wilson was a painter in Gloversville, New York.
Entries in the book document Wilson’s work as a painter, including the names of customers, dates, charges, and tasks performed.
Name index available.
Document 626.
Embroidered handkerchief. Ca. 1815.
6 items.
W. Wilson was a judge who lived in Clermont, New York. He was the one-time owner of this handkerchief.
Consists of a white-worked handkerchief along with the pattern used to transfer the embroidered design around the edge of the item. In addition, there are four other embroidery patterns bearing tiny holes pricked by a pin, suggesting that they were also used to transfer a design.
Document 697.
Account book. 1837–38.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
William Wilson was a painter and glazier in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The majority of entries in this manuscript document painting various objects, including boxes, wagons, chests, and signs. In addition Wilson set panes of glass in windows, hung wallpaper, and varnished paintings. Wilson recorded his expenses for supplies and what he charged for his labor.
Document 420.
Letters and order books. 1757–60.
1 microfilm reel.
William Wilson was a general merchant based in Philadelphia.
Manuscripts contain records of orders to firms in London for a multitude of household goods, food, and clothing.
Original materials located at the New York Public Library.
Microfilm M847.
Daybook. 1853–56.
Matthew Wilson and John H. Daniels were copper-plate printers and engravers from Boston.
Manuscript records the daily activities of the partnership over the course of its existence. Although Wilson & Daniels sold engraving plates, cleaned plates, mounted daguerreotypes, printed certificates, and prepared proofs, they specialized in printing engravings. Among their clients were well-known Boston engravers, including Joseph Andrews.
Document 745.
4 boxes.
These families were important and influential in Odessa (formerly Cantwell’s Bridge), Delaware, for much of the town’s history. The Philadelphia connections and economic positions of the three families as well as the Quaker background of the Corbits are documented in the papers.
Collection includes legal documents and letters to and from members of the Wilson, Warner, and Corbit families. Papers record information about their education, family life, and relationships. The homes that these families lived in are now owned by Winterthur and administered as Historic Houses of Odessa.
Folder title listing available.
Collection 35.
Bills. 1830–31.
26 items.
Abraham R. Wing lived near Boston.
Bills document Wing’s purchases of dry goods, fancy goods, clothing, shoes, and hardware. Specific items mentioned include hats, boots, slippers, snuffboxes, scissors, chains, and thimbles.
Collection 441.
Account book. 1711–28.
1 vol.; 17 cm.
Cpt. Nathaniel Winslow lived in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He seems to have worked at a lumber mill. His first wife was Lydia Snow, and his second wife was Deborah Barstow.
Book records Winslow’s activities as a lumberman. It also contains genealogical information on the Winslow family.
Document 835.
Waste book. 1773–79.
96 p.; 42 cm.
By the time this waste book was created, the Winslow family had been established in New England for decades. Brothers Isaac and Joshua were prominent Boston merchants and shipowners during the Revolutionary War.
Manuscript contains records of family transactions in both Boston and Marshfield, Massachusetts, maintained by several members of the Winslow family, particularly Joshua. Items purchased include dry goods, tools, clothing, gunpowder, flour, tobacco, lumber, molasses, and furs. At the end of the manuscript is a detailed estate inventory of Mary Gooch.
Folio 16.
Letters. 1786–88.
1 microfilm reel.
Olney Winsor was a Providence, Rhode Island, merchant who temporarily lived in Virginia to operate a store.
Winsor wrote letters to his wife in which he described his location, work, and various trips that he took, among them a visit to Mount Vernon at George Washington’s request and a trip to Williamsburg featuring a description of the town.
Original manuscripts located at the Virginia State Library.
Microfilm M1954.
Sample book. Ca. 1900–49.
1 vol.; 23 x 8 cm.
The Winstead Silk Co. was located at West Winstead, Connecticut.
Volume consists of samples of thread that were called potter’s silk and a list of other threads available through the company.
Document 513.
Records. 1884–1970.
588 boxes + 34 objects.
Winterthur Farms, located in northern New Castle County, Delaware, was part of the Winterthur estate of Henry Francis du Pont. His father, Henry Algernon du Pont, had enlarged the early farm operation by acquiring much of the land surrounding the family’s real-estate holdings. In 1914 Henry Francis took over management of the farm operation and began breeding a world-renowned Holstein herd. Du Pont’s private golf course and the Winterthur gardens were administratively part of the farm operation. The farm operation ceased when Henry Francis du Pont died in 1969.
Collection consists of administrative records and correspondence documenting the operation of Winterthur Farms. Records document the various aspects of the dairy operation, the raising of crops and livestock, and maintenance of the property.
Finding aid available.
Archives 13.
Account books. 1787–1814.
1 microfilm reel.
Christian Wirt was a saddler and operated a general store in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Includes an account book kept from 1787 to 1792 and a ledger used from 1790 to 1810 relating to Wirt’s saddlemaking business; five daybooks documenting sales in a general store from 1805 to 1814; and a daybook used by Wirt to record his personal expenses from 1800 to 1814.
Original manuscripts located at the public library in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Microfilm 2987.
Christmas cards. 1929–30, 1938.
Approx. 325 items.
Greeting cards, sent to the Wisbeys at their home in Providence, Rhode Island, contain multicolored illustrations and printed and manuscript messages. Illustrations depict religious scenes associated with the Christmas season and holiday decorations.
Finding aid available.
Collection 267.
Papers. 1739–ca. 1854.
7 cu. ft. + 1 microfilm reel.
Members of this family descended from Caspar Wister, the owner of a glasshouse in New Jersey. Caspar’s brother, John, was a merchant and real estate investor in Philadelphia. John’s son, William, became one of the most eminent and wealthy merchants of that city. William’s nephew, Charles Jones Wister, also a merchant, demonstrated an interest in such scientific pursuits as botany and mineralogy. The family name is sometimes spelled Wistar.
Collection contains eighteenth- and nineteenth-century bills, receipts, deeds, and account books of merchants William Wister, John Wister; Charles J. Wister (Sr. and Jr.), Wister and Ashton; Miles and Wister; and Wister, Price, and Wister. There are record books of Adam Konigmacher and Co., William Rotch, and J. H. Stevenson and Co.; a group of deeds to property in New York City and in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Germantown, and Bristol Township); and family manuscript volumes (receipt books, account books, bank books, memorandum books, ships records, and diaries).
Microfilm of the business and personal papers of Richard Wister, a Philadelphia merchant.
Folder title list and name index available for original manuscripts.
Collection 94; Microfilm M220.
Record books. 1799–1812.
2 vols.; 38 cm. or smaller.
Peleg Wiswall worked in the Court of Common Pleas in Digby, Nova Scotia.
One volume, a register, provides brief synopses of cases and lists monies owed for legal services and damages. In the back of the volume is a list of Wiswall’s transactions with clients. The other volume, an account book, includes costs associated with such legal documents as bonds, mortgages, and writs; lawsuits; and legal activities.
Register has a title index of cases. The account book has a name index.
Folio 223.
Album. 1864.
160 leaves: ill. (some col.); 22 cm.
M. I. Woart lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and prepared this book for Mrs. P. H. Ricketson, “her early and true friend.”
Album includes prose and poetry extracts, most of a religious nature. Volume is illustrated with six lithographs; eighteen original watercolors of flowers, foliage, birds, insects, and shells; and two photographs of church buildings in Newburyport.
Document 28.
Journal and stock record. 1833–50, bulk 1833–35.
580 p.; 39 cm.
The Wolcottville Manufacturing Co., located in the Connecticut town of the same name, was a woolen mill. The mill operated a general store.
The journal records monthly settling of accounts, the greatest part of which regard debts owed to the firm’s store. The stock records show transfers of shares in the company.
Folio 40.
Papers. 1779–1927, bulk 1830–75.
Approx. 1,000 items.
The Wonderly-Stewart-Ritter-Brown families were interrelated, though their connections are not always clear. Most family members lived in Philadelphia.
Collection includes papers assembled by members of these four related families. They include such things as indentures, deeds, mortgage papers, estate papers, stock certificates, various and sundry bills, financial records, bills, letters, Masonic papers, calling cards, invitations, and several diaries kept by Thomas Stewart Brown.
Collection 471.
Account book. 1861–91, bulk 1878–91.
104 p.; 34 cm.
Hiram Wood was a painter from Princeton, Massachusetts, who may have assembled a portion of this manuscript.
The first forty-two pages record the work of a painter and include entries such as the following: “To painting Buggie,” “To painting & lettering sign,” “To varnishing Express wagon,” and “To 4 lb. yellow ochre.” The remaining pages are written in a different, unidentified hand and record monthly domestic accounts from 1878 to 1891.
Document 14.
Papers. 1974–75.
61 items: ill. (some col.)
Margaretta D. Wood was co-chair of a loan exhibit of southern New Jersey turned chairs dating from 1775 to 1925 held at the Museum of Glass, Wheaton Village in Millville, New Jersey. It was sponsored by the Cumberland County Historical Society.
Collection includes correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings relating to the exhibit as well as information on the Ware family of chairmakers and Solomon Fussell, another chairmaker.
Collection 174.
Account book. 1738–47.
186 leaves; 33 cm.
William Wood was a storekeeper and handyman from Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Accounts relate to Wood’s activities in his store and other work. He sold such items as fabric, molasses, rum, garlic, nails, paper, and candlesticks. Payment was customarily made in cash, though at times he was given such things as foodstuffs, maple boards, and shingles. He was also paid through his customer’s labor, including sawing and spinning.
Document 114.
Music book. Ca. 1764.
76 p.; 16 cm.
Henry Woodcock may have been a music student in England during the mid eighteenth century.
Manuscript contains about twenty-five songs, pieces for a solo instrument, possibly for the flute or violin, and keyboard solos. Many of them bear titles. Some of the keyboard pieces were lessons, and several vocal compositions were performed at Vaux-Hall and Public Gardens.
Index of song titles inside front cover.
Document 261.
4 items: col. ill.
Each of these four wooden soldiers—hand carved and painted sometime during the eighteenth century—stands on a circular base and has a faded red coat and large hat.
Collection 220.
Ledger. 1775–85.
1 vol.; 33 cm.
In this manuscript, William Woodland, a resident of Port Penn, Delaware, recorded debits and credits for such products as alcoholic beverages, lumber, meat, flour, bricks, house rent, and shoes and shoemaking.
Document 736.
Account books. 1848–51, 1876–88.
4 vols.; 33 cm.
H. C. Woodworth operated a store in Lyons, New York.
Volumes record what Woodworth bought and sold in his store. In earlier years he concentrated on selling dry goods; in later years, he expanded and sold many leather products, including boots, harness, and saddles. Mention is made of shipping costs.
Collection 244.
Letter. 1817.
1 microfilm reel.
Wordsworth & Wood worked in partnership as furnituremakers in Waterford, probably located in Pennsylvania.
Letter, dated June 12, 1817, and addressed to Col. Thomas Foster, a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, pertains to Foster’s order of a sofa, two card tables, and one chair.
Name and object index available.
Original letter in the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
Microfilm M301.3.
10 boxes.
The World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Jackson Park (eight miles from Chicago) to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus’s landing in the North America. The fair grounds, occupying 630 acres, housed the largest exposition held in America up to that time. The grounds were open to the public from May 1 to October 30, 1893.
The bulk of the collection consists of printed ephemera—brochures, flyers, trade cards, and advertising literature—produced by exhibitors at the fair to market their products. Such miscellaneous items as postcards, souvenir ribbons, photographs, and a leather case document the event.
Finding aid available.
Trade catalogues associated with the exposition located in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection, Winterthur Library.
Collection 46.
Mass for three voices. Ca. 1825.
2 vols.; 35 cm.
J. J. Worrell was a music copyist in Philadelphia during the 1820s.
These two masses, written in Latin for three voices and organ accompaniment, are probably English in origin. Volume one bears the title “Mass for 3 voices composed for the solemnization of the Benedictine College of St. Gregory at Downside near Bath, July 10th 1823 and inscribed to the Revd. L. Barber by J. Blazzinghi.” Volume 2 is called “Mass a tre voce et organo.”
Folio 291.
Registers of Freedom Admissions and Apprentice Bindings. 1641–1861.
4 microfilm reels.
The Worshipful Company of Joiners was a craft association whose members practiced joinery. Its antecedents were based in thirteenth-century London. Its by-laws were first framed in 1570 and later confirmed and altered.
Records list apprentices and their employers as well as when workers were admitted to freedom.
Original manuscripts located at the Guildhall Library, London.
Microfilm M928–M931.
Records. 1623–1922.
4 microfilm reels.
The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers was chartered in 1581. As a trade association, it had its roots in thirteenth-century English craft orders. Its records begin in 1623.
Collection of eleven volumes of company records, including court minute books, kept from 1623 to 1922, a register of apprentice bindings, and a register of admissions to freedom.
Original manuscripts located at the Guildhall Library, London.
Microfilm M1957–M1960.
Papers. Ca. 1915–17.
9 items.
Thomas Worth was a native of New York City and was known as a comic and genre artist. In 1855 he sold his first sketch to Currier & Ives. Worth lived most of his life in Islip, New York, and later moved to Staten Island.
Collection contains letters written by Worth to Harry T. Peters, offering to sell his pictures and admitting to financial difficulties. In addition, Worth wrote about his relationship with Currier & Ives and wrote about a trip he took to Long Island by horse and wagon.
Collection 449.
Letters and receipts. 1907–8.
17 items; 26 cm.
Frank Lloyd Wright was an internationally acclaimed American architect whose career spanned seventy years.
Collection of ten letters and seven receipts from Wright to Frederic Nicholas, describing payments and problems concerning the construction of Nicholas’s house in Flossmore, Illinois. Difficulties concerned basement flooding, leaking windows, and a shallow sewer, which were improperly managed by the contractor. One itemized statement of accounts lists the work performed by each of the subcontractors.
Collection 431.
Diaries. 1851–66.
6 vols.; 33 cm. or smaller.
James Edward Wright was born in Montpelier, Vermont. After attending local schools, he then went to Boston Latin school. Wright graduated from Harvard in 1861 and then entered the theological seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. He served as a soldier in the Civil War and spent his professional life as a minister, chiefly at the Montpelier Unitarian Church. He published several tracts during his lifetime.
Wright kept his diaries from ages ten until twenty-seven. Wright described his school years, walking trips, social activities, city life, and holiday celebrations.
Collection 272.
Daybook. 1887–89.
176 p.; 40 cm.
The Wright Furniture Shop was located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It advertised that it sold furniture, stoves, and carpets.
Manuscript records daily sales over a two-year period and mentions such items as plush chairs, chamber suites, tables, carpets, pots and pans, and curtains.
Folio 103.
Design book. Ca. 1817–22.
1 vol.: ill.; 24 x 19 cm.
English design book includes forty leaves and twenty-seven loose pages of decorative designs for embroidery, needlework, and japanning. Many appear to have been adapted from early nineteenth-century design books and/or objects. Designs were to be used for handscreens, pole screens, work boxes, snuffboxes, and wallets or pouches. Some include instructions for coloring and shading. Paper, watermarked between 1817 and 1822, was manufactured by J. Green.
Document 528.
Paper dolls. Ca. 1890s.
75 items: col. ill.
The items in this collection first belonged to Wilmington, Delaware, resident Mary Kent Wyatt and were later passed down through successive generations of her family.
Consists of one paper doll produced by E. H. Heath & Co. and forty-five handmade costumes and hats; a baby doll with three dresses and miscellaneous toilet articles; and three paper dolls with twenty-one costumes that originated as part of a Sunday Herald magazine supplement.
Collection 220.
Daybook. 1846–54.
37 p.; 33 cm.
The Wylie Furniture Co. was located in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Entries document items sold and work performed by the company. Among the items represented in this manuscript are tables, showcases, quilting frames, washboards, cupboards, and coffins.
Document 786.
Account book. 1837–62.
1 vol.; 21 cm.
William Wyman was a furnituremaker and carpenter from Maine.
Wyman performed many tasks, including house painting, wagon repair, sawing, making window frames, crafting doors, shingling, constructing farm buildings, and making bread boards and other items for the household. At the back of the volume are accounts related to the construction of stores, meetinghouses, and residences.
Document 521.
Drawings. Ca. 1880–1900.
1 vol.: ill.; 33 cm.
S. Yard was a cabinetmaker and upholsterer in Crewkerne, Somerset, England. He seems to have worked with W. and W. J. Ward, probably relatives.
Consists of twenty-seven mounted sketches of furniture in pen and/or pencil. Dimensions and prices were recorded. Furniture pieces featured include desks, tables, a hat-and-coat stand, a corner cabinet, several mantels, and a clock case.
Document 637.
7 vols.; 17 cm. or smaller.
Four of these volumes, manufactured in Boston or Waltham, Massachusetts, feature printed covers that indicate they were originally savings-account passbooks.
Volumes, consisting of from eight to twelve leaves each, contain recipes for dyeing yarn. Some of the recipes are accompanied by samples of the finished product. Writing seems to have been done by at least two people. The names H. Coan, Wm. Adams, and J. Lehany and the initials “W. B.” and “L. C.” appear at the ends of some recipes.
Collection 50.
Papers. 1844–54.
20 items: ill.
Thomas Yates was a carriagemaker, blacksmith, justice of the peace, and postmaster from Tioga County, New York. For a time, he ran his business in partnership with Charles H. Payson.
Collection relates to the blacksmithing and carriagemaking business that Yates operated. Apparently, Yates was denied patents, but he made goods following Solomon Goddard’s patent for carriages and Parker’s patent for airtight cases. An illustrated patent of Joseph Enders’s carriage springs is included.
Collection 535.
Scrapbook. 1890–1913.
1 vol.: ill.
Edgar S. Yergason was an interior designer with offices in Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City. In 1890 and 1891, he worked with Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison, to redecorate the White House. Yergason accepted private commissions and decorated public buildings.
Scrapbook consists of clippings, swatches, and illustrations of rooms for Yergason’s work at the White House, though other commissions are represented as well. In addition to decorating the interior of the White House, Yergason used two tons of red, white, and blue bunting to decorate the exterior for a special meeting of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Folio 187; Microfilm M2965.
Papers. 1875–1902.
36 items: ill (some col.)
Charles Yockel’s primary trade was the manufacture and sale of molds for jars, bottles, and other glass items. He also worked at engraving, die sinking, and lettering. His address was 235 Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Collection consists of bills and letters documenting the mold manufactory that Yockel operated. Most items are letters placing orders for his products. Other manuscripts document the payment of accounts.
Collection 481.
Account book. 1824–39.
1 vol.; 32 cm.
Henry Yost was a hatmaker from Dover County, Pennsylvania.
Book records names of customers, their occupations, various products ordered, and methods of payment. Every so often, Yost listed supplies he bought for making hats.
Name index in front of volume.
Document 469.
Financial accounts. 1834–65.
3 vols.; 42 cm.
Henry Youngs was a prosperous dry-goods merchant in New York City. He seems to have been a member of Trinity Church.
Two volumes record money received by and cash owed to Youngs’s business and to him personally. The third volume is a daybook that covers the activity of Youngs’s store from 1844 to 1847.
Folio 57.
Account books. 1823–57.
2 vols.; 33 cm. or smaller.
David Zeller was a carpenter and house builder in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Volume notes Zeller’s work, including general carpentry, wood chopping, building a lime house, constructing stairs, and making sleds. He crafted cradles, boxes, blinds, shutters, and window frames as well. Agricultural activities and products are mentioned.
First volume includes name index.
Document 679.
Papers. 1893–95.
4 boxes.
Eugene Zieber worked in the department of heraldry at Bailey, Banks & Biddle, a Philadelphia jewelry firm.
Papers—actually four disbound scrapbooks—consist of material gathered by Zieber while doing research for his book, Heraldry in America, published in Philadelphia in 1894. They include descriptions and illustrations of heraldic symbols shown in letters, seals, photographs, drawings, newspaper clippings, and pamphlets.
Collection 18.
Records. 1825–1902, bulk 1825–52.
91 vols.
Auguste Zindel was a nineteenth-century chemist in Mulhouse, Alsace, France, who developed dyes for the weaving industry. He also served on the local government council and sold pharmaceutical and chemical products in Mulhouse until about 1860. He may have been involved in the dyeing industry in Russia as well as in his native Alsace.
Records consist of ninety volumes of notebooks and one published history of nineteenth-century industry in Mulhouse. The notebooks contain dye recipes, results of analyses of dyes and other experiments, textile samples, “notes and observations,” a price index, and extracts from professional journals. There are roughly thirty-eight thousand swatches of cotton, silk, and wool fabrics.
Most of the text is in French.
A detailed finding aid is available.
Collection 54.
Papers. 1975–86, bulk 1982–86.
2 boxes.
John Zukowsky was a visiting fellow at the Winterthur Museum in 1977 and 1978 who studied Hudson River dwellings. He later worked at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Collection includes correspondence related to Zukowsky’s research and the writing of Hudson River Houses (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.: North River Press, 1981) and Hudson River Villas ( New York: Rizzoli, 1985).
Folder title listing available.
Collection 25.