Guide to Business Records Collection 1865-1925
Cage 15

Summary Information

Repository
Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Title
Business Records Collection
ID
Cage 15
Date [inclusive]
1865-1925
Extent
5 linear feet of shelf space., 34 volumes.
Language
Collection materials are in English.
Abstract
Journals, ledgers, cash books, inventories and other account books of general merchants, farmers, saloonkeepers, as well as a hardware merchant, a hotel operator, a farm machinery dealer and a laundry operator, primarily in the State of Washington. Some partially identified, including Knapp, Burrell Co., and Lippitt Brothers.

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 15, Business Records. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Scope and Content

The Business Record Collection consists of unidentified or partially identified journals, cash books, ledgers, inventories and other account books kept by general merchants, farmers, grain buyers, saloonkeepers, a hardware merchant, a hotel operator, a farm machinery dealer, and a laundry operator. These businesses were at various locations within the state of Washington, although some appear to be from locales outside this region.

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Arrangement

These materials are loosely organized according to what type of business they derive from.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries: Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) © 1975

http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Acquisition Information

The miscellaneous account books which comprise this collection of business records were acquired by the Washington State University Library from various sources over a forty year period. Most items can be identified by type of business, place, or date, but the names of the small firms and proprietorships whose operations are recorded are not fully clear. Accordingly, the records cannot be treated in the same manner as most manuscript materials which are identified by creator, but require description according to content.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Lawrence Stark in February and March 1975.

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Names and Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

Subject(s) :
  • Knapp, Burrell Company
  • Lippitt Brothers

Subject(s)

  • Business records--Washington (State)
  • Business, Industry, and Labor
  • Washington (State)

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Other Descriptive Data

To some degree, these items are more properly regarded an three-dimensional museum objects than as manuscripts. That is to say, their form is of more interest than their contents. Nevertheless the records are not simply surviving specimens of l9th century bookkeeping, but also contain documentation of historic matters. This documentation is not simply of the small businesses which created the records, but, in some cases, of the communities in which they were located. For instance, the records of an unidentified general merchant in Vancouver, Washington contains many accounts with military personnel and may give some idea of the way of life among the professional military in the 1870s. In another case, the records of a grain dealer on the Snake River in Southeastern Washington contain actual documentation of events in the wheat trade which are otherwise little documented, despite the easy availability of gross statistical data about this trade.

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Detailed Description of Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

General Merchants  

volume

Ledger. Place unknown, but suggestive of frontier south or west. 1865-1867  1 item.

1

Journals and  ledgers. Vancouver, Washington. 1868-1880  11 items.

2-11

Sales Journal. Lippitt Brothers, Colfax. 1896-1898  1 item.

11

Inventory. Colfax. 1891  1 item.

12

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Farmers  

volume

Personal accounts. Pullman (includes records kept while working as teacher and laborer in Wisconsin, 1873-1879). 1877-1896  1 item.

13

Journal and ledger/payroll. Colfax. 1879; 1891-1895  2 items.

14-15

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Chain Buyer  

volume

Sales and consignment record. Albion. 1912-1913  1 item.

16

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Grain Buyer / Farm Machinery Buyer  

volume

Journals. Colfax, Moscow, and points on the Snake River (probably local manager for Knapp, Burrell & Co., Walla Walla). 1881-1885  3 items.

17-19

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Hardware Merchant  

volume

Journal. Dayton. 1914-1915  1 item.

20

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Saloonkeepers  

volume

Ledgers (4),  Journal (1), and Bar Tabs (3). Spokane. 1900-1905  9 items.

21-28

Ledger. Vancouver, Washington (card parlor and billiard hall). 1884-1891  1 item.

29

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Hotel Operator  

volume

Journals. Vancouver, Washington. 1891-1694  4 items.

30-33

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Laundry  

volume

Journal. Dayton. 1924-1915  1 item.

34

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