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Account book for a Wilmington, Delaware, dry goods store
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
This account book was produced by an unknown creator for a dry goods store located in Wilmington, Delaware. The book includes names of customers who may have lived in the area with lists of items they purchased. Customers listed in book include: Mrs. Mary Walker, Mrs. John Truitt, Mrs. Frank Rowand, Jacob English, William Robinson, Francis Anderson, Rachel Stevenson, and Miss Rachel Waggoner.
Historical information derived from the collection.
This account book is for a dry goods located in Wilmington, Delaware, with a list of daily transactions mostly in chronological order. The store focused on clothing-related materials, like fabric, but dry goods were also sold.
The store primarily sold items used to create clothing such as fabric, spools of yarn, buttons, and pins. Fabrics frequently appearing in the book are silk, muslin, cotton, linen, flannel, cashmere, and gingham. Finished clothing accessories including shoes, hats, boots, and stockings were also offered. More general dry goods, such as soap, medicine, tobacco, stationary, crackers, and raisins were also sold.
The account book's format is that of a single entry listing of daily transactions with additional notes for payments added later. Most transactions are crossed out after accounts are settled and there are notations to distinguish repeat customer accounts. This looks more like a day book than a ledger because of the blot marks and format of accounting.
The book begins September 30, 1859, and the last possible date of transaction is February 10, 1865.
- Item 0001: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0096
Gift of Harold W.T. Purnell, 1963.
Processed and encoded by Marrette Pearsall, September 2012.
Subject
Place
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2012 September 26
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/
Collection Inventory
1 volume