The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Collecting area: Mercantile

Amherst (Mass.)?

Grocer's Daybook

1888-1890
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 137 bd

Unnamed grocer who was possibly from the town of Amherst in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire. Daybook includes customers’ names, their account numbers, and the items that they purchased whether food or supplies.

Subjects

Amherst (Mass.)--HistoryConsumers--New England--History--19th centuryGroceries--New England--History--19th centuryGrocers--New England--History--19th centuryGrocery trade--New England--History--19th century

Types of material

Daybooks
Barrett, G. A.

G. A. Barrett Ledgers

1871-1876
2 vols. 0.2 linear feet
Call no.: MS 489 bd

Lumbering was an important part of the economy in northern Franklin County, Massachusetts, during the late nineteenth century, particularly in the region abutting the border with New Hampshire.

These two volumes document a sawmill that appears to have operated in Franklin County, Mass., perhaps Northfield, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. One volume is a work record for employees at the mill (1871-1875), the second is a daybook with sales records (1874-1876) either from a company store or country store. Many of the transactions are with the mill’s employees. Most of the (relatively) high value exchanges recorded in the daybook are for lumber, shingles, or board, but there are numerous small cash records and the sale of miscellaneous goods such as tobacco (and tobacco boxes), bricks, hay, nails, rubber boots, meat and flour, corn, and even a watch. Although the precise location of the mill is uncertain, Northfield seems most likely. Several names recorded in the volume can be traced through the census to the vicinity of northern Franklin county, including Romanzo Hill, listed in the federal census for 1880 as living in Warwick, Mass., and “works in sawmill”; Jackson Doolittle of Hinsdale, N.H. (1870 and 1880); T. B. Stratton, who operated a country store in Millers Falls in 1872; and Roswell Stratton, a carpenter in Northfield (1880). We have been unable to identify G. A. Barrett beyond his name.

Subjects

General stores--Massachusetts--Franklin CountyNorthfield (Mass.)--History--19th centurySawmills--Massachusetts--Franklin County

Types of material

Daybooks
Baschard, David

David Baschard Account Book

1763-1774
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 142

David Baschard (sometimes spelled Bichaud) was an innkeeper and merchant in Nantucket during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. Althouth little is known about the specifics of his life, when he died at the age of 50 on Feb. 9, 1770, he left a substantial estate valued at £1000. He left a legacy to his sister Mary and the remainder, including a “negro slave girl” and a pew in the Congregational Meeting House, to his wife Elizabeth (Hussey).

A standard two-column account book, David Baschard’s ledger records the day to day transactions of a Nantucket merchant of the 1760s. Trading actively in a range of sundries and domestic goods such as cloth, apparel, sugar, tea, and tobacco, Baschard also sold liquors of various sorts, including punch, grog, wine, and rum. In addition to his local Nantucket clientele (members of the Starbuck, Coffin, Rotch, and Folger families among them), he traded in towns along the Cape Cod and elsewhere in southeastern Massachusetts, including Harwich, Rochester, Dartmouth, Falmouth, and Martha’s Vineyard. Accounts were settled both in cash and in kind.

Subjects

Hotelkeepers--Massachusetts--Nantucket IslandMerchants--Massachusetts--Nantucket IslandNantucket Island (Mass.)--Economic conditionsNantucket Island (Mass.)--History

Types of material

Account books
Belcher Family

Belcher Family Account Books

1847-1858
2 vols. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 208 bd

Owners of a butcher shop in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Includes customer names, prices of meat, form of payment (principally cash), and Belcher family information.

Subjects

Belcher familyButchers--Massachusetts--FoxboroughConsumers--Massachusetts--FoxboroughDiet--Massachusetts--FoxboroughFoxborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryMeat--Prices--Massachusetts--FoxboroughShopping--Massachusetts--Foxborough

Contributors

Belcher, Lewis T., b. 1798Belcher, Lewis W., b. 1826

Types of material

Account books
Bigelow, Lambert

Lambert Bigelow Daybook

1822 Sept.-1823 May
1 vol., 169 p. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 975 bd

Lambert Bigelow (1821-1869) was proprietor of one of the most profitable general stores in Marlborough, Mass. Entering into partnership with his brother Levi in 1822, Bigelow grew to significant wealth, eventually joining with a friend and neighbor to establish the long-lasting firm, Morse, Bigelow, and Co. He died in 1869, survived by his wife and seven of eight children.

An early daybook maintained by the Lambert Bigelow’s newly established firm, and perhaps the first, this volume covers just over half a year of transactions (169 pages) typical of a New England country store of the 1820s. Bigelow’s customers purchased small quantities of goods ranging from molasses and rice to cotton and muslin, flour, sugar, tobacco, rum, “Holland gin,” and (rarely) brandy. Occasionally, Lambert dealt in daintier products such as cinnamon, raisins, and “cake chocolate,” or in specialty items like pudding pans, pitchers, and a black bean pot.

Subjects

General stores--Massachusetts--MarlboroughMarlborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

L. and L. Bigelow

Types of material

Daybooks
Bridgewater (Mass.)

Bridgewater (Mass.) Merchant's Daybook

1837
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 222 bd

Perched at the western boundary of Plymouth County, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, grew rapidly during the antebellum period, spurred by the growth of its industry. During the mid-nineteenth century, the town’s most valuable products revolved around the local iron industry, with large manufacturers like Lazell, Perkins, and Co. producing iron and heavy machinery as early as 1810.

The daybook of this unidentified trader and merchant in Bridgewater, Mass., reveals the quickening pace of economic activity connected to the burgeoning Plymouth County iron industry. While many of the transactions at the store are small purchases of consumable goods such as flour, fabric, sugar, tobacco, meats, and molasses, more substantial purchases ae interspersed throughout for bar iron, nails, metal plates, and other manufactured metal items.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Bridgewater (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryMerchants--Massachusetts--Bridgewater

Types of material

Daybooks
Buffington, Zephaniah, 1771-

Zephaniah Buffington Account Book

1803-1808
1 envelope 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 226

Quaker merchant and farmer from Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Includes two major notations about a large cheese purchase and the sale of hoes in Washington County, New York. Also contains inventories of goods, notations for notes payable and notes receivable, and accounts of his farm (including amounts of cheese made, accounts of farm tools, and the keeping of cows and sheep).

Subjects

Bristol County (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryCheeseCheesemakers--Massachusetts--DartmouthDairying--Economic aspects--MassachusettsDartmouth (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--DartmouthHoesMerchants--Massachusetts--DartmouthQuakers--Massachusetts--Bristol CountyQuakers--New York (State)--Washington CountyWashington County (N.Y.)--Economic conditions--19th century

Contributors

Buffington, Zephaniah, 1771-

Types of material

Account books
Burnett, Bela, 1778-

Bela Burnett Account Book

1801-1842
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 385 bd

A storeowner, farmer, and citizen of Granby, Mass., Bela Burnett was born October 4, 1778, the second of seven children of Jonathan and Mehitabel (Dickinson) Burnett. Having relocated from Southampton, New York, to Battleboro, Vermont, in 1770, Jonathan and Mehitable settled in Granby in 1774, purchasing the farm of Aaron Nash where in 2010, Burnett descendants still live. Burnett had at least five children by two marriages, first to Clarissa Warner (1801) and second to Sally Allen (1808). Burnett died in Granby on April 16, 1846.

The Burnett account book includes careful records of goods sold, customers’ accounts, and the form and method of payment (cash, credit, or barter), as well as some information on family members and boarders, along with a handful of miscellaneous items laid in, such as calculations, notes, and a remedy for yellow jaundice.

Subjects

Agricultural laborers--Massachusetts--GranbyBarter--Massachusetts--GranbyBoardinghouses--Massachusetts--Granby--19th centuryFarmers--Massachusetts--GranbyFood prices--Massachusetts--GranbyGeneral stores--Massachusetts--GranbyGranby (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryJaundiceMarsh, Tim A. PMedicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptionsProduce trade--Massachusetts--Granby--19th centuryRobbins, AsaShopping--Massachusetts--GranbySmith, David

Contributors

Burnett, Bela, 1778-

Types of material

Account books
Callaghan, Melancton B.

Melancton B. Callaghan Daybook

1844-1860
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 284 bd

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.

Acquired from Charles Apfelbaum, 1987

Subjects

Charlton (N.Y.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryCook, AsherCraig & CoFoster, H. CGeneral stores--New York--CharltonGeneral stores--New York--Charlton--InventoriesInventories, Retail--New York (State)--New YorkPurchasing--New York--CharltonSchenectady & Mohawk Sheeting CoVan Heusen and Charles

Types of material

Daybooks
Carroll, Lucius W.

Lucius W. Carroll Ledger

1841-1862
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 245 bd

Businessman in several partnerships in south-central Worcestor county who owned a general store in Webster, Massachusetts. Includes lists of partners (such as John P. Stockwell of Stockwell and Carroll), yearly salaries and profits, accounts of what he sold and how he was paid, lists of individual customers and manufacturing companies, and labor accounts of workers. Also contains an alphabetical index to the ledger and several pages of notes receivable and notes payable.

Subjects

Barter--Massachusetts--History--19th centuryDudley (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryDudley Woolen Manufacturing Company (Dudley, Mass.)General stores--MassachusettsMerchants--Massachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryShopping--Massachusetts--History--19th centurySlater, GeorgeStockwell & CarrollUnion Mills (Webster, Mass.)Uxbridge (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryWebster (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th centuryWebster Woolen Mills (Webster, Mass.)

Contributors

Carroll & CrosbyCarroll, Lucius W

Types of material

Account books