Overview
Business records of the Charlemont, Massachusetts general store A.L. Avery & Son, owned and operated by five generations of the Avery family.
Dates
- Creation: 1864-1940
Creator
- A.L. Avery & Son (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Some of the material in the collection is closed pending processing. Collection is open for research. Materials stored offsite; access requires advance notice. Contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
48 linear feet (126 volumes, 7 cartons)The A.L. Avery & Son business records contain correspondence, scrapbooks, invoices, receipts and bound financial volumes detailing the day to day business operations of the country store in Charlemont, Massachusetts run by five generations of the Avery family. The material is divided into eight series, by type of record. The loose material includes folded invoices, incoming correspondence and receipts from suppliers and patrons relating to goods and materials at the store. The financial material includes daybooks, journals, ledgers, cash books, order books, and invoice scrapbooks.
Historical Note:
Amos Lawrence Avery and his brother William H. Avery founded W.H. & A.L. Avery, a general store in Charlemont, Massachusetts in 1861. Amos purchased control of the store from his brother in 1867, becoming the sole proprietor and renamed the store, A.L. Avery. He ran the business by himself until 1890, when he formed a partnership with his son Oscar and renamed the store, A.L. Avery & Son. As of 2013, the store continues to be operated by the Avery family, making it one of the oldest run family businesses in the United States.
Series Outline
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Series I. Daybooks, 1880-1900
- Series II. Journals, 1878-1916
- Series III. Ledgers, 1876-1903
- Series IV. Cash books, 1879-1928
- Series V. Order books, 1891-1940
- Series VI. Letter books, 1880-1903
- Series VII. Invoice scrapbooks, 1891-1938
- Series VIII. Letters and receipts, 1864-1923
Physical Location
MANU
Provenance:
Gift of Historic Deerfield, Inc., 2007
Processing Information
Processed: January 2012
By: Benjamin Johnson
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
Creator
- A.L. Avery & Son (Organization)
Subject
- Avery, Amos Lawrence (1831-1917) (Person)
- Avery, Oscar Carter (1860-1945) (Person)
- Avery, Henry Lawrence (1888-1979) (Person)
- A.L. Avery (Organization)
- W.B. & A.L. Avery (Organization)
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- bak00195
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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