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Account Books Collection
Scope and Contents
The Account Book Collection is an artificial
collection resulting from efforts to compile and record
basic information about the numerous volumes of
financial records held at the Windsor Historical
Society. The bulk of the collection consists of day
books, ledgers, and personal accounts of individuals and
businesses in Windsor, Connecticut and the surrounding
area. The account books had not been previously
cataloged and were scattered throughout the Society’s
repository. More than 150 account books and similar
registers have been identified and inventoried. An
Excel database provides information about the collection
with descriptive fields including creator, date, type of
business, and a brief narrative summary.
The account books represent a wide variety
of merchants, artisans, agricultural enterprises, early
manufacturing, and community organizations. Individual
businesses include general stores and grocers, brick
makers, distilleries, tanners, doctors, and farmers.
Local manufacturing concerns represented in the
collection were producing guns, silk and other textiles,
men’s hats, canned food, and butter. In addition, a few
volumes record the management of probate or estate
accounts, the finances of local civic organizations,
minor town and church accounts, and the early 20th
century Windsor Fire District tax lists.
The record books vary considerably in size,
extent, legibility, and condition. The volumes
frequently contain extensive listings of local Windsor
names. In most cases an owner or creator has been
identified; some volumes contain records kept by more
than one person. It is not uncommon to find entries or
notations unrelated to the original purpose of the
account book such as family records, recipes, penmanship
practice, or newspaper clippings. |
