Articles

Understanding and Using Early Nineteenth Century Account Books

---

Abstract

Because of the renewed interest in local and community studies, archivists and manuscript curators are reassessing the informational value of business and institutional records. Account books and other business records, originally preserved because of their association with an individual or the early years of a community, or as documentation of economic history, are often the most significant surviving records of the early years of a community. Frequently, they constitute the only non-governmental record of the lives of many ordinary people. In the early nineteenth century, account books were kept by farmers, artisans, and laborers, as well as by merchants and manufacturers. While not as readily intelligible as diaries, letters, newspapers, and other forms of prose documentation, account books kept by individuals and small businesses may be easily interpreted once their basic format is understood.

How to Cite:

Densmore, C., (1980) “Understanding and Using Early Nineteenth Century Account Books”, Archival Issues 5(1), 5–19. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/archivalissues.8049