Barcode number 1178188: Mercer Salt Works Ledger E, 1852-1856

Scope and content:

Ledger E, 1852-1856, records the purchases made at the salt works' store by customers and employees. Information found in each account includes the date of transactions, merchandise purchased, and the monies debited and credited to the account. Items purchased at the store include bacon, flour, coffee, cloth, tobacco, hardware, and shoes. Customer accounts often document the salt purchases transferred to the customer's salt account which can be located in the corresponding Salt A Ledger and daybook. The Mercer Salt Works store accepted cash and bartered items (produce, livestock, eggs, etc) as payments from its customers. Several customer accounts also contain information concerning enslaved Black and multiracial laborers hired by the salt works. For example, Thomas J. Michie's account includes a notation where he paid the medical bills for Boston, a Black men enslaved by Michie, and Archibald Turk's account includes a credited amount for the hire of a "girl." Ledger E also records the purchases made by the company's employees. These employee entries are identical to the customer accounts with the exception that labor was the most prominent payment toward account balances. Employees performed such duties as working at the furnace, working at the store, driving cattle, cutting wood, etc. The employee accounts included in the ledger appear to only belong to white laborers employed at the salt works.

Access and use