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[Cotton][Manufacturing] Two Massive Bound Ledgers for Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory, Fall River, Massachusetts 1885-1887, 1893-1897, 16 x 11.5 inches, 360 & 552pp. Beautiful custom bound ledgers. Both in full leather; one with suede with beautiful stamping and gilt, second full leather with intricate gilt stamping. Light rubbing and edge wear. Tight binding and clean interior. Great exemplars of late 19th century business ledgers bound by N.R. Earl. Very Good to Near Fine Condition. I fully admit to having a soft spot for business ledgers and these two are some of the best we have handled. Not only are they beautiful but they also present a window into post-civil war northern manufacturing of an exclusive southern product--cotton. The Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory Company was founded in 1813 in what Fall River is now, Massachusetts. The town was known as Troy between 1804-1834 hence the name of the company. Located over the uppermost falls of the Quequechan River, Troy Cotton was the second textile mill on the Quequechan. Fall River's geography and location, with convenient access to waterpower and port facilities helped propel the city into one of the centers of American textile manufacturing. These ledgers provide a unique window into the triangular structure of the cotton industry--i.e. the sourcing of raw cotton from slave-free southern plantations by northern textile mills and the eventual sale of resulting cloth to world markets. Before the Civil War, cotton, sugar and tobacco, were the basis for a thriving American economy built on the backs of slave labor. By 1870, sharecroppers, small farmers, and plantation owners in the American South produced more cotton than the slave laborers had in 1860, a trend that lasted into the early 1900's. The earliest ledger, commencing June 1885, features a daily tally of all goods bought and sold by the Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory thru May 1887. Raw cotton is supplied by scores of suppliers and factors (brokers) working in major port cities Mobile and New Orleans plus many smaller cities as Dawson, GA, Corsican, TX, Charlotte NC, Louisville, KY, Hillsboro TX etc. Additional products purchased by Troy Cotton includes spinners, brooms, lumber, grain, cards, bagging, paid labor, new machinery, printing, supplies and much more. The second ledger commencing October 1892 provides a full accounting of Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory thru June 1897. Ledger notations include stock balances, real estate holdings, cash on hand, construction costs and additional P & L entries. Specific line-item expenditures include rent, repairs, interest, gas, oil, brokerage fees and labor costs. Customers buying finished products were located in Boston, Chicago, Staten Island, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Providence, New York City, Hartford, etc. The company operated until 1929 with their various buildings occupied by businesses, including those in the garment industry. Troy Cotton & Woolen Manufactory buildings were demolished in the 1960s as part of urban renewal and to make way for Interstate 195. A small grouping of laid in ephemera include 30 dividend receipts from 1874, three $500 stock shares (1924, 1925 and 1935), a 1924 receipt for stock shares plus a 20-page 1909 mortgage deed of trust. Extra shipping required. Very Good to Near Fine Condition.
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