Series V. John Hancock papers, 1793-1854 (bulk 1795-1814)

This series contains correspondence, orders, bills, invoices, receipts, promissory notes, prices current, and legal papers of John Hancock (1774-1859) related to his individual business activities, dated 1793-1854. Hancock had correspondence and accounts with American and foreign merchants, among them John Gardiner, Jr., of Philadelphia, Samuel Williams of Baltimore, and Brandrams, Templeman & Co. in London. He traded commodities including cotton, flour, tobacco, sugar, potash, saltpeter, gunpowder, shot, and molasses.

Hancock began selling gunpowder on consignment from E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company of Wilmington, Delaware, and in 1807, the company proposed to supply Massachusetts with gunpowder using Hancock as an agent. There also are bills and receipts for shipping and storage of gunpowder in the Public Magazine in Roxbury, Massachusetts, by Hancock, from 1803 to 1814.

In addition to the logistics of shipping and trade, letters reference the impact of on commerce of privateering, the Napoleonic and French Revolutionary Wars, Embargo Act of 1807, and War of 1812. There are also legal records like deeds, depositions, and estate documents, and bills for freighting goods, for taxes, and for personal expenses like food, travel, medical attendance, and instruction of his children.