Melancton B. Callaghan Daybook
Melancton B. Callaghan operated a general store in rural Charlton, New York, in the decades straddling the Civil War.
This daybook of a general store in Charlton, New York, documents Callaghan’s purchases from various wholesale merchants, including Van Heusen and Charles (Albany), Asher Cook, H.C. Foster, Craig and Company (Schenectady), Schenectady and Mohawk Sheeting Company and various unnamed peddlars. The book also includes lists of purchases (1844-1857), some arranged by wholesaler, and an inventory of goods on hand between 1859 and 1860.
M.B. Callaghan operated a general store in Charlton, New
York in the decades before the Civil War. This daybook
chronicles Callaghan’s purchases from various wholesale
merchants in stocking his store, and documents the range of
merchandise available in towns like Charlton.
The daybook is divided into several sections. The first
fifty pages provide an itemized list of purchases between
1844 and 1846. The next ninety-two pages cover store
purchases from 1846-1854; they list only the merchant and the
dollar amount on one page followed by the notation paid or
the arrangement for paying on the opposite page. On several
pages, there are accumulations of notes due. The next
twenty-five pages document purchases in 1854-1855, arranged by
the wholesaler, rather than chronologically. Callaghan then
returned to the chronological accounting of purchases for
1856-1857. Finally, the book concludes with two thirty-page
inventories of the goods on hand on April 12, 1859 and April
14, 1860.
Among the wholesalers with whom Callaghan dealt were Van
Heusen and Charles (Albany), Asher Cook, H.C. Foster, Craig
and Co. (Schenectady), and the Schenectady & Mohawk
Sheeting Co. Callaghan also dealt with various unnamed
peddlers.
The collection is open for research.
Cite as: M.B. Callaghan Daybook (MS 284). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987.
Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf, 1989.
Foundation.