Overview
Account book of Jacob Adams, a shoemaker in Newbury, Massachusetts, and Suffield, Connecticut, 1673-1693.
Dates
- Creation: 1673-1693
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored offsite; access requires advance notice. Contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
1 linear feet (1 volumes)Collection consists of a homemade account book with entries dating from 1673 to 1693. The account book was covered in rawhide and hand sewn with linen thread. It describes business transactions in shoemaking and farming, as well as family and household accounts. The accounts originally show Adams as a custom shoemaker, but in later years there is evidence that he made shoes for another master shoemaker or for a wholesaler.
Supplemental materials concerning Jacob Adams and his account book are available for use in the Baker Library Historical Collections reading room. The materials include a typewritten transcription of the account book and a fourteen-page biographical essay provided by the donor.
Biographical Note:
Jacob Adams, son of Robert Adams and youngest of nine children, was born on April 13, 1654 in Newbury, Massachusetts. He attended the free school in Newbury. He later served as apprentice to the shoemaker, Robert Bartlett. After becoming a master shoemaker, Adams set himself up as a custom shoemaker in his own farm house in 1673 at the age of nineteen. He married Anna Allen of Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1677, and they subsequently had seven children. In 1682, at the death of his father, he inherited his father's house as well as the land adjoining. Jacob Adams moved to Suffield, Connecticut, in 1686 with other relatives and townspeople of Newbury. He continued his shoemaking business and by 1693 had became one of the most prominent and influential settlers of Suffield. In the years 1711, 1714 and 1717, Adams was sent to the General Court of the colony of Boston as Suffield's representative. He died suddenly in Boston in November 1717 at the age of sixty-three.
Physical Location
MANU
Provenance:
Gift of Mrs. Ralph D. Jones, great-granddaughter of Jacob Adams, ca.1947
Processing Information
Processed: April 2009
By: Tim Mahoney
- Title
- Adams, Jacob. Jacob Adams account book, 1673-1693: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Baker Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- bak00015
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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