mums221 Country Store Daybook, 1825-1827 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Ken Fones-Wolf. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, MA

2002

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Eric Cartier. 2002-05-20 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mu153 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Country Store Daybook, 1825-1827 Finding Aid Manuscript Number 221 Compiled by Ken Fones-Wolf September 1988 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Country Store Daybook1825-1827 MS 221 1 volume (0.25 linear ft.) Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Country store in the village of Titicut in Middleborough, Massachusetts, owned by members of either the Clark or Pratt families of the village. Includes goods for sale (groceries, cloth, hardware, and liquor), the method and form of payment (cash, rags, straw, wood, brick, and produce), customers' names, and ways that families and women earned credit (producing braid or carting goods for the owners). English. Scope and Contents of the Collection

This daybook from the village of Titicut (Middleborough, Massachusetts) includes accounts of a country store from September 1825 to March 1827. Although there is no clear indication of who kept the daybook, it may have been the property of either Amos and Robert Clark, or Jared and Isaac Pratt, both of whom ran stores in the village. Members of both the Clark and the Pratt families appear in the accounts.

The business was very general, selling groceries, cloth, hardware, and liquor. The owners accepted rags, straw, wood, brick, and produce in payment, in addition to cash, and many of the customers earned credit with the store by producing braid, particularly (but not exclusively) the women. Jane Capen, for example, exchanged 150 yards of braid on October 25, 1825, for $1.75 in credit. Three days later, Clarinda, Sybil, and Benjamin Richmond exchanged braid worth $5.10, the largest amount credited to Benjamin's account.

The other principal method of earning credit at the store was by carting goods for the owners. The Alden family, Seth Easton, and Azel Perkins all provided this service for the store, including shipments from as far away as Boston.

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Country Store Daybook (MS 221). 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, September 1988.

Search Terms General stores--Massachusetts--Middleborough--History--19th century--Sources. Barter--Massachusetts--Middleborough--History--19th century--Sources. Braid--Massachusetts--History--Sources. Freight and freightage--Massachusetts--History--Sources. Titicut (Middleborough, Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th century--Sources. Titicut (Middleborough, Mass.)--History--19th century--Sources. Titicut (Middleborough, Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century--Sources. Middleborough (Mass.)--Commerce--History--19th century--Sources. Middleborough (Mass.)--History--19th century--Sources. Middleborough (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century--Sources. Account books.