The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
CredoResearch digital collections in Credo

Collecting area: Mercantile

Howe Family

Howe Family Papers

1730-1955
7 boxes 4.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 019

Personal, business, and legal papers of the Howe family of Enfield and Dana, Massachusetts, including correspondence between family members, genealogies, account books and printed materials. Account books record transactions of various family members whose occupations included general storekeeper, minister, printer, postmaster, telephone exchange and gas-station owner, and document the transactions of community businesses and individuals, some of whom were women involved in the beginnings of the local palm leaf hat and mat industry.

Subjects

Bookkeeping--History--SourcesEnfield (Mass.)--BiographyEnfield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryEnfield (Mass.)--HistoryEnfield (Mass.)--Social life and customsHowe family--GenealogyMoneylenders--Massachusetts--Enfield--HistoryQuabbin Reservoir Region (Mass.)--HistorySwift River Valley (Mass.)--HistorySwift River Valley (Mass.)--Social life and customs

Contributors

Howe, Donald W. (Donald Wiliam), 1982-1977Howe, Edwin H., 1859-1943Howe, Henry Clay Milton, b. 1823Howe, John M.Howe, John, 1783-1845Howe, Theodocia Johnson, 1824-1898

Types of material

Account booksBusiness recordsDeedsGenealogiesScrapbooksWills
Hunt, W. W.

W. W. Hunt Account Book

1886-1888.
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 621 bd

The proprietor of a general store and postmaster in Wendell Depot, Mass., W. W. Hunt carried on a thriving business for a small Franklin County town during the 1880s and 1890s. Selling a range of dry goods, foodstuffs, and other goods, Hunt catered to residents in Wendell and neighboring communities up and down the Miller River.

An extensive ledger, marked No. 5, the W.W. Hunt account book contains records of sales of a surprising range of dry goods and foodstuffs, snaths and scythes, stamps and envelopes, and other goods useful to a rural community. Although most of Hunt’s customers were individuals seemingly purchasing for personal consumption, he also sold goods to the Farley and Goddard Wood Paper Companies, the Ladies Aid Society, and the town of Wendell, with some accounts marked “Town Farm.”

Subjects

Merchants--Massachusetts--Wendell DepotWendell Depot (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Hunt, W. W.

Types of material

Account books
Karl Finison Connecticut River Valley History Collection

Karl Finison Connecticut River Valley History Collection

1803-1912
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1226

Karl S. Finison was an undergraduate (class of 1975) and then graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studying Anthropology and local agricultural history. His 1979 master’s thesis “Energy Flow on a Nineteenth Century Farm,” was a part of a Anthropology Department research series on the ecological anthropology of the Middle Connecticut River Valley, studying demographic and other trends from 1650 to 1900 in the area. Part of this work was supported in 1970s by the Connecticut Valley Population Ecology Project. While doing this work, Finison also began to collect agricultural journals, books, and original manuscripts about the ecological history of Upper and Middle Connecticut River Valley.

This collection consists of five original accounting logs and ledgers from western Massachusetts and southern Vermont, offering insight into the commerce and community in these areas in the 19th-century and early 20th-century:

  • An 1803-1826 account book covers agricultural and business transactions in the Middle Connecticut River Valley, including in such Massachusetts towns as Chester, Granby, Northampton, Northfield, and Shelburne.
  • A ledger of the accounts of E. F. Reed and Co. (Dummerston, VT) from 1883-1894, is the only volume with a known authorial origin.
  • A mixed-use logbook includes 1845-1846 worker logs (lumber industry) in Ashfield, MA; 1849 diary and expense entries from Shelburne Falls, MA; diary entries from 1851, ca. 1855, and 1878; and undated “little sermons.”
  • An account book of unknown origin, 1881-1905, mainly transactions regarding  shoes, boots, and harnesses.
  • A “Time Book,” tracking the labor of agricultural workers at an unknown location in summer 1912.
Gift of Karl Finison, 2024.

Subjects

Agricultural laborers--Connecticut River ValleyAgriculture--Economic aspects--Connecticut River ValleyConnecticut River Valley--Economic conditions--19th centuryIndustries--Connecticut River ValleyMassachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryVermont--Economic conditions--19th century

Types of material

Account books
Kellogg, Rufus

Rufus Kellogg Ledger

1840-1850
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 041 bd

A notable figure in Amherst, Mass., prior to the founding of Amherst College, Rufus Kellogg was born on July 16, 1794, the child of Jerusha and Joseph Kellogg. Married to Nancy Stetson in June 1820, Kellogg made a successful, if highly varied living, serving as town postmaster (1809-1824), keeping an inn and tavern at the “City” beginning in 1818, and farming, and he became a stalwart of the local Masonic lodge. His son Rufus Bela Kellogg rose even higher on the social ladder, graduating from Amherst College in 1858 and became a prominent banker.

A diverse and fairly complicated book of records, the Kellogg ledger is part waste book, day book, memorandum book, and account book, marking records of lending a horse and sleigh are interspersed with accounts for the sale of grain and hay, boarding locals, repairing pumps, and other miscellaneous transactions. Although it is unclear precisely which member or members of the Kellogg family kept any individual record, it appears that Rufus must have initiated the book, although later entries were clearly made by one or more of his children.

Acquired from Dan Casavant, Mar. 2006

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--AmherstHotelkeepers--Massachusetts--AmherstMerchants--Massachusetts--Amherst

Types of material

Account books
Ketcham, Robert, b. 1796?

Robert and Henry Ketcham Account Book

1829-1875
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 176 bd

Owners of a farm business/general store in Charlton, Saratoga County, New York. Includes lists of items sold, services performed (such as plowing, harvesting, and planting corn), transactions with fellow townsmen, and debts owed. Also includes newspaper clippings of poetry, samples of dried pressed foliage, written document of Ketcham family births, deaths, and marriages, and the document of a house sale agreement.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Agricultural laborers--New York--Charlton (Town)--History--19th centuryCharlton (N.Y. : Town)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFarmers--New York--Charlton (Town)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFood prices--New York (State)--New York--Charlton (Town)--History--19th centuryGeneral stores--New York--CharltonKetcham family--Genealogy

Contributors

Ketcham, HenryKetcham, Robert, b. 1796?

Types of material

Account books
Kress, Claude Washington

Kress Political Economy Collection

1673-1925 Bulk: 1750-1850
2,934 items 46.5 linear feet
Call no.: D8 .A2

The heart of the Kress Collection lies in the lively pamphlet literature regarding Anglo-American political economics in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although somewhat miscellaneous, the collection contains thousands of titles touching on many of the major issues in trade, finance, political reform, and public policy in Britain and to a lesser degree America. Topics range from tariffs and free trade to public debt and taxation, imports and exports, banking, unionism, and socialism. Nearly three quarters of the collection dates from before 1848.

Subjects

Economics--History--18th centuryEconomics--History--19th centuryGreat Britain--Politics and Government--18th centuryGreat Britain--Politics and Government--19th century
Leland, James

James Leland Daybook

1854-1855
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 094

Owner of a general store in Enfield, Massachusetts. Includes notations for the sale of a wide variety of goods (notably Know Nothing hats), names of customers (both individuals, particularly Irish, and businesses), and types of payment (cash, barter, and services).

Subjects

Barter--Massachusetts--Enfield--History--19th centuryConsumers--Massachusetts--Enfield--History--19th centuryEnfield (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryEnfield (Mass.)--Ethnic relations--19th centuryGeneral stores--Massachusetts--EnfieldIrish American Catholics--Massachusetts--Enfield--History--19th centuryJ.M. Crosby (Firm)Leonard Woods (Firm)Minot Manufacturing CompanyNativism--History--19th centuryShopping--Massachusetts--Enfield--History--19th centurySwift River Company

Contributors

Leland and Smith Co.Leland, James

Types of material

Daybooks
Lincoln, Abisha, 1800-1863

Abisha Lincoln Daybooks

1861-1867
3 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 233

Born in February 1800, Abisha Lincoln kept a general store in Raynham, Mass., selling groceries, hardware, dry goods, shoes, and many other items to residents of the north end of town. Successful in business, Lincoln won election to local and state office and was followed into business by each of his three sons.

These daybooks from Abisha Lincoln record customer names, goods sold (such as groceries, hardware, dry goods, and shoes) and the form of payment: principally cash, with some local trade of agricultural commodities.

Subjects

Barter--Massachusetts--Raynham--History--19th centuryConsumer goods--Prices--Massachusetts--Raynham--History--19th centuryConsumers--Massachusetts--Raynham--History--19th centuryGeneral stores--Massachusetts--RaynhamRaynham (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryRaynham (Mass.)--History--19th century--BiographyShopping--Massachusetts--Raynham--History--19th century

Contributors

Lincoln, Abisha, 1800-1863

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks
Lloyd, Richard E., b. 1834

Richard E. Lloyd Daybook

1859-1862
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 229 bd

Born in Wales in 1833, Richard E. Lloyd found great financial success after migrating to Vermont in the 1850s. Beginning as the proprietor of a dry goods business in Fair Haven, Vermont, he diversified and expanded his holdings, eventually becoming a senior partner in the slate manufacturing firm Lloyd, Owens, and Co.

The daybooks from Richard Lloyd’s dry goods firm include numbered accounts of customers (many with Welsh surnames), lists of items purchased, price per measure, forms of payment (cash, goods, services, credit, making clothes), and the goods sold. Lloyd dealt in a typical range of goods found in a rural general store, including fabrics, ready-made clothes, eggs and dairy products, fruits and nuts, garden seeds, cutlery and tinware, and jewelry.

Subjects

Consumer goods--Vermont--Fair Haven--Prices--19th centuryFair Haven (Vt.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFair Haven (Vt.)--History--19th centuryGeneral stores--Vermont--Fair HavenWelsh Americans--Vermont--Fair Haven--19th century

Contributors

Lloyd, Richard E.

Types of material

Daybooks
McKie, Neil

Neil McKie Daybook

1844
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 240 bd

Merchant who owned a dry goods and general merchandise shop in Easton, New York. Daybook representing purchases by hundreds of customers (some of whom were from among the region’s Quaker community) primarily from Easton, South Easton, and Cambridge, listed by surname, as well as lists of a wide variety of dry goods including some textiles identified by town of origin.

Subjects

Akin, E. NBeadle, D. SCambridge (N.Y.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryDingman, HenryDry-goods--Prices--New York--Easton--19th centuryEaston (N.Y.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFoster, RhodonGeneral stores--New York--EastonHoag, IsaacHunt, DanielMcKie, GeorgeQuakers--New York (State)--CambridgeQuakers--New York (State)--EastonStarbuck, HiramThomas, D. CWhiteside, Abbey

Contributors

McKie, Neil

Types of material

Account booksDaybooks