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Eighteenth-century store ledgers detail tabular data: recording purchases, account holders, and payments. These transactions are very different from the typical prose of a letter or diary entry, however, they include as much, if not more, significant information to assist in the understanding of the past given they describe numerous people, places, objects, economies, politics, religion, etc., all from a single community. Ledgers especially reveal insights into the lives of less recognized members of a community, like women and the enslaved, through their accounts and purchases by and on behalf of them by others.
To date, most research using ledgers (whether it be for a store, tradesperson, or individual) selects the most significant people or specific elements without attempting to understand the community in its entirety. Using store ledgers, History Revealed through its Shopping Stories project hopes to develop a prosopography to uncover consumer interests, lives, and the larger community of people in the 18th century with its present focus on Virginia stores, specifically in Colchester and Alexandria. This phase of the project expands the time period under consideration to better understand the Alexandria community and its consumer habits right before the Revolution and beyond by focusing on store ledgers from 1770-1802.
Works
Account Book of James & Harris Hooe, 1793-1796
James & Harris Hooe ran a store independently in Alexandria, Virginia. The relationship between Robert T Hooe and James & Harris Hooe has yet to be determined (RTH does appear briefly in this ledger). This ledger includes the years 1793-1796 and was preceded by Ledger A (making this volume...
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of Jenifer & Hooe, 1775-1777 (folios 1-100)
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of Jenifer & Hooe, 1775-1777 (folios 101-200)
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of Jenifer & Hooe, 1775-1777 (folios 201-278)
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of John Mills, 1775-1785 (Folios 1-126)
John Mills was a merchant residing in Alexandria, Virginia. This ledger comprises transactions that occurred between 1775 and Mills's death in 1784; at least 2 different authors created the ledger based on the handwriting found within it. Accounts include both men and women and connections...
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of John Mills, 1775-1785 (Folios 127-201)
John Mills was a merchant residing in Alexandria, Virginia. This ledger comprises transactions that occurred between 1775 and Mills's death in 1784; at least 2 different authors created the ledger based on the handwriting found within it. Accounts include both men and women and connections...
Collaboration is restricted.
Account Book of John Mills, 1775-1785 (Folios 202-273+)
John Mills was a merchant residing in Alexandria, Virginia. This ledger comprises transactions that occurred between 1775 and Mills's death in 1784; at least 2 different authors created the ledger based on the handwriting found within it. Accounts include both men and women and connections...
Collaboration is restricted.
Day Book of Harrison & Hooe, 1779-1783 (1779)
Robert Townsend Hooe partnered with Richard Harrison (of Alexandria, Virginia and later, Cadiz, Spain) to run a store in Alexandria, Virginia, from 1778 through at least 1790. Accounts in this waste book (the precursor to the day book) include house (overhead) accounts, fellow merchants and...
Collaboration is restricted.
Day Book of Harrison & Hooe, 1779-1783 (1780-1781)
Robert Townsend Hooe partnered with Richard Harrison (of Alexandria, Virginia and later, Cadiz, Spain) to run a store in Alexandria, Virginia, from 1778 through at least 1790. Accounts in this waste book (the precursor to the day book) include house (overhead) accounts, fellow merchants and...
Collaboration is restricted.
Day Book of Harrison & Hooe, 1779-1783 (1782-1783)
Robert Townsend Hooe partnered with Richard Harrison (of Alexandria, Virginia and later, Cadiz, Spain) to run a store in Alexandria, Virginia, from 1778 through at least 1790. Accounts in this waste book (the precursor to the day book) include house (overhead) accounts, fellow merchants and...
Collaboration is restricted.