Houff & Holler Business Records, 1904-1908

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Houff & Holler Business Records, 1904-1908. Local government records collection, Augusta County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Creator:
Augusta County (Va.) Circuit Court
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Houff & Holler Business Records, 1904-1908. Local government records collection, Augusta County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Houff & Holler Business Records, 1904-1908, consists of a ledger, inventory and stock book, account book, correspondence, and receipts that record the general store's business dealings in Augusta County, Va.

Ledger, 1904-1907, records the accounts of individual customers. Each account lists transactions in chronological order. Entries include date, type of transactions, and monies debited and credited. Since most of their sales were nearly all for cash, Houff & Holler did not keep records of daily sales. The mercantile sold a variety of goods including clothing, shoes, cloth, soap, candy, eggs, sugar, coffee, beef, cigarettes, peanuts, liniment, morphine, and hardware items.

Inventory and Stock Book, 1907, records the amount of goods in stock. The book includes a single entry dated 7 January 1907, which records the inventories of items such as shoes, hats, gloves, dry goods and notions, groceries, tobacco, produce, and eggs.

Account Book, 1907, is a record of Houff & Holler's account with Planters Bank located in Bridgewater, Virginia. The book only documents deposits into the company's bank account.

Correspondence, 1907-1908, documents Houff & Holler's business dealings with other companies. The correspondence consists primarily of solicitations from other businesses such as Sumter Telephones and Peerless Buggy Company. The businesses offer free or discounted merchandise in exchange for promotion of their items in the general store. Included in this correspondence is information from Sumter Telephones on purchasing, installing, and using their telephones. In order to promote the organization of new lines, Sumter Telephones offered their No. 356-B Mammoth 5-Bar phone complete with installation equipment for $11.25.

Receipts, 1907, record the general store's accounts with other companies in Virginia. Items purchased included paint, dry goods, glassware, lamps, shoes, hardware items, and produce.

Biographical / historical:

Houff & Holler, conducted a general mercantile business in Roman, Augusta County, Virginia. The managing partners of the business were J. W. Houff and Michael Holler. The business operated for only a few years until their entire stock was consumed by fire on 6 November 1908.

Acquisition information:
These items came to the Library of Virginia in transfers of court papers from Augusta County under the accession number 43658.
Physical location:
State Records Center - Archives Annex, Library of Virginia
Physical description:
.45 cu. ft.