W.A. Currier Daybooks
Located at 14 and 16 Main Street in Haverhill, Mass., W.A. Currier dealt in kitchen goods, home furnishings, and stoves around the time of the Civil War. His trade seems to have been diverse and dynamic: in the Haverhill city directory for 1865, he is recorded variously as a furniture seller, junk dealer, and carriage maker, while two years later, he is listed at the same address under stoves and tinware.
Covering the immediate post-Civil War years, Currier’s daybooks document customers, items purchased, prices paid, and transactions relating to the trade in home goods, stoves, and rags.
Background on W. A. Currier
Located at 14 and 16 Main Street in Haverhill, Mass., W.A. Currier operated a concern selling kitchen and home furnishings and stoves around the time of the Civil War. Although stoves and tinware were at the center of his activity, his trade seems to have been diverse and dynamic: in the Haverhill city directory for 1865, he is listed variously as a furniture seller and as a junk dealer and carriage maker, while two years later, he is listed under stoves and tinware, while listed at the same address.
Contents of Collection
William A. Currier’s daybooks document the activities of a mid-19th-century merchant in Haverhill, Mass. At least some of the trade recorded in this volume appears to have consisted of high volume transactions with contractors, based on the volume and frequency of purchases. On September 16, 1865, for instance, Peter Gildea purchased $152 worth of brushes, brooms, lamps, trowels, baskets, and door stoppers, while three days later he charged another $178 worth of paint, trays, brushes, and other goods. Other regular customers included George Adams, Samuel Griffin, W.P. Stacy, and J.W. O’Brine (of Newburyport), all making large purchases. There is also a steady stream of customers making more limited purchases.
One of Currier’s specialties was stoves, which he sold and repaired regularly. He routinely purchased old stoves to repair and resell, and he did a fairly substantial trade in old rags. On July 9, 1866, for example, he purchased 1,400 pounds of rags from J.W. O’Brine, just a month after purchasing 2,800 pounds from another customer. Currier also made much smaller purchases of rags from local customers. The rags, in turn, he sold to O. Kimball and W.F. Daniels in large shipments, although it is not known for what purpose.
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Language:
Bibliography
See: W. A. Currier, Catalog of W. A. Currier’s Kitchen, House Furnishing, and Stove Warehouse. Haverhill, Mass. : Eben H. Safford, ca.1861.
Related Material
Another account book of Currier’s (1865-19866) is located in the Winterthur Library (Folio 111).
Provenance
Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987.
Processing Information
Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf, Sept. 1988, and I. Eliot Wentworth, July 2017.
Acknowledgments
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Copyright and Use (More information
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Cite as: William A. Currier Daybooks (MS 213). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.