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SERIES Identifier: Mss:77 1754-1890 B126

Series II. Financial records, 1749-1894

Scope and Contents

This series contains papers related to the businesses run by the Woodbridge and Backus families, dated 1749 to 1894. Includes accounts, bills, receipts, orders, promissory notes, and notes payable and receivable of Elijah Backus, James Backus, the company of Rufus & James Backus, Dudley and Samuel Woodbridge, and William Woodbridge Backus. The records of both families reflect expenses related to shipping commodities from the West Indies and Europe and transactions with merchants in ports like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Providence, Rhode Island, where they traded goods on consignment such as pig iron, pot and pearl ashes, liquor, molasses, sugar, salt, staves, tobacco, cotton, and fabrics. There are also orders for merchandise sold by the families at retail, bills for day labor, and accounts with shipmasters and naval agents for import duties and related expenses. The accounts, bills, orders, and other financial papers of Elijah Backus concern manufacture and sale of goods from his iron works including anchors, cannons, screws, and other tools, as well as food, liquor, and household commodities sold in his store. Some of his iron work may have been in the service of the Continental Army or Connecticut privateers. The records of R. & J. Backus include orders of Russian iron that was transported to Jabez Bowen (1739-1815), a proprietor of the Hope Furnace in Providence; the iron was then manufactured into nail rods. There are additionally transactions between R. & J. Backus, and later James Backus, and merchants John Broome (1738-1810), Gilbert Saltonstall and Gelston & Saltonstall, Rogers & Aspinwall, White & Wardell, and Gardiner & Rodman of New York; William Little of Boston; Andrew Adgate and Webster, Adgate & White of Philadelphia; Edward Hallam & Co. of New London; and Norwich shipowners Howland & Coit. James Backus also sold beef and pork produced from his meatpacking plant. Records of Dudley Woodbridge show frequent orders of dry goods from Boston merchant and Harvard College Treasurer Ebenezer Storer (1730-1807; Harvard AB 1747) and Boston merchant and politician Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814; Harvard AB 1759), as well as trade of commodities he imported from the West Indies. There are additionally accounts and records related to the schooner Elizabeth, co-owned by Woodbridge, and the schooner Farmer, which voyaged to the West Indies in 1788. The financial papers of William Woodbridge Backus relate to his investments in securities and sales of beef and produce from his farm.

There are also sixteen account books of the Backus family, primarily of James Backus' general store and the farm run by William Woodbridge Backus, as well as portions of five ledgers and daybooks. These volumes show transactions with other merchants and retail trade with a number of African-American customers, who bartered day labor for fabrics, foodstuffs, housewares, and liquor.

Dates

  • Creation: 1749-1894

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information regarding access procedures.

Extent

6 linear feet (21 boxes, 6 volumes)

Physical Location

MANU

Repository Details

Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository

Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.

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