Devonshire Farm (Sutton, Mass.) business records

The collection consists of seven day books and ledgers from 1896-1919 of a Sutton, Massachusetts, dairy farm owned by Harry S. Stockwell at the turn of the twentieth century. Records of household expenses from 1896 to 1913 present a detailed account of the domestic economy of a prosperous farming family. The ledgers also record cash payments over these years made to Stockwell's sister, Miss M. L. (Maria Louisa) Stockwell, as well as small loans she made to the farm. The daybooks show receipts for sale of dairy products such as milk, butter, cream; also included are sales of fruits and vegetables. The ledgers contain appraisals of farm and farm property, peddling receipts, household and farm expenses.

Additional material in collection includes house expenses, 1918-1919, and loose pieces of paper taken from above volumes dated 1904-1913. These are notices of the Sutton bi-centennial celebration, 1904; memoranda; a receipt from Wallace F. King Groceries and Grain; a statement from W. H. Blodget Co.; and accounts for R. H. Richardson and others. Peddlers hired by the farm to sell farm products in nearby towns purchased eggs, berries, and other produce for resale from farm wives along their routes. Their accounts, farm accounts, and the accounts of several individual women document women's "egg money," which was often a valuable cash supplement to subsistence farming. The egg account of Mrs. T. E. Gifford is especially complete since it includes her expenses as well as her sales, recording the purchase of grit, oyster shells, and grain for her hens.