On behalf of Chris Fennell, who has had trouble posting this message on
Va-Hist, I send it along for the benefit of the members.
 
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]
 
Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us 
 
 
***************
Dear Listmembers, 

I have added a transcription of merchant records from 1750-1865 to my
web site presentation, to provide data that some of you may find useful
for comparative analysis purposes. 

As part of my dissertation study, entitled "Consuming Mosaics: Mass-
Produced Goods and Contours of Choice in the Upper Potomac Region," I
examined local store records for purchases of housewares, including
imported and domestically-produced ceramics. A lengthy collection of
transcriptions provides a sample of merchant's accounts, as recorded in
daybooks, ledgers, and account books for stores located in the Upper
Potomac and northern Shenandoah region in the period of 1750-1865. For
the purpose of this study, I defined this region as the area currently
encompassed by: Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson and Morgan
counties in West Virginia; Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince
William, Shenandoah, and Warren counties in Virginia; and Allegany and
Washington counties in western Maryland. 

Relevant sales transactions from these records involving housewares are
itemized in this transcription, and are set forth in a manner that
closely approximates the way the store clerks wrote them down. These
relevant housewares include ceramic food wares (e.g., crocks, cups,
mugs, saucers, plates, and dishes), glass wares (e.g., tumblers,
bottles, and wine glasses), tea sets and kettles, coffee sets and pots,
sets of table utensils (knives, forks and spoons), and ceramic
housewares (e.g., chamber pots). Each customer listed likely purchased
other items, such as groceries, fabrics or hardware, along with these
housewares, but those other goods are not itemized in my transcription. 

I examined a total of approximately 5,592 pages of daybooks, ledgers and
account books for 20 stores that were located in the region of my survey
at some point during the period of 1750-1865. These accounting records
contained an approximate total of 2,182 sales transactions specifically
involving housewares (as defined above), out of approximately 124,791
total sales transactions of all types. I define a "sales transaction"
for this purpose as each one-line entry in a daybook or ledger that
reflected the purchase of one or more products by a customer. 

A link to these transciptions (which are in Adobe Acrobat format) is
available under the heading of "Consuming Mosaics: Transcriptions of
Store Records" at: 

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/fennell/highland/harper/loudoun.html


The Acrobat reader includes a search function as well. So, if you're
interested in this subject, happy browsing and searching. 

Best wishes,

Chris Fennell 

University of Virginia

 

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html