Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16846, Staunton Virginia Farm and Boarding House account book, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Lizzy Young Bookseller by the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 23 February 2024.

Content Description

This collection contains an account book written during the Civil War by an unidentified person or persons. It consists of the day-to-day transactions and the numerous individuals that either boarded on, used the owner's land, or purchased various products and services from the unnamed proprietor, including $600 for a land bond in 1862.

The account book is disorderly in many ways, as the dates vary and are not in order. The subject matter accounts for all aspects of living within a farmstead during the 1800's. The individual seems to have been a "middleman" in many transactions. Although no "proprietor/proprietress" is identified within the ledger, the general area in Virginia is determined by the names in the account book. These residents were farmers, distillers, millers, blacksmiths, laborers, and coopers. The proprietor boarded individual tenants and itinerant passengers from the "stage train." The proprietor also sold loads of wood, pastured cows, various merchandise (even a tombstone), loaned and borrowed a good deal of money (for the time), and hired out individuals, including enslaved African Americans.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Account books
• Enslaved laborers
• Staunton (Va.) -- History