Series II. John Hancock papers, 1749-1814, 1760-1795 (bulk)

This series contains correspondence, bills, accounts, invoices, promissory notes, legal and real estate records of John Hancock (1737-1793), dated 1749-1814, related to trade and shipping, supplying British troops in Nova Scotia, and events leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Hancock corresponded with merchants, tradesmen, mariners, and others, including London merchants George Hayley, Hayley & Hopkins, and Harrison & Ansley, bookseller Thomas Longman (1731-1797), merchant and commissary Benjamin Gerrish (1717-1772) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, his subsidiary agent William Bant, and ship master James Scott, regarding exports and imports of whale oil, fish, potash, hemp, and Russian duck, building ships and voyages of vessels he owned, such as the Boston Packet, Lydia, and Hayley, his store on Hancock's wharf, insurance, and protests related to lost cargo. Other topics include supplying provisions to the British forces in Halifax, Annapolis Royal, and Fort Cumberland in Chignecto, Nova Scotia, the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, the colonists' ban on British imports, and the American Revolution. There are also letters to Hancock during his Massachusetts governorship from citizens seeking assistance on various matters.

Invoices, bills, receipts, and volumes including a waste book, receipt book, and account book, show transactions with merchants, mariners, and retail customers such as John Adams (1735-1826; Harvard AB 1755), ship masters Isaac Cazneau and John Matchett, and ship builder Benjamin Hallowell. Accounts show retail sales of fabrics, clothing, accessories, paper, and books, and wholesale trade of rum, tobacco, tar, fish, gunpowder, hemp, tea, and pepper. Hancock's business and personal expenses included food, clothing, crew wages, work on his ship and wharf, surveying cargo, construction and repairs at his homes, and wages for household servants.

Included are some papers related Hancock's position as Harvard College treasurer, and documents related to his tenure as president of the Second Continental Congress, such as invoices, reports, and an obligation for his salary. There are also mortgages, estate papers, and land deeds.

Two volumes previously attributed to John Hancock, JH-1, Waste book (accounts), 1755-1757, and JH-2, Journal (accounts), 1755-1757, contain records of Thomas Hancock and were moved from Series II to Series I.