Barcode number 1178337: Mercer Salt Works "Wood Account and Negro Clothing" Ledger, 1851-1856

Scope and content:

The "Wood Account and Negro Clothing" Ledger, 1851-1856, documents the accounts of enslaved individuals hired by the salt works. Black and multiracial enslaved laborers who performed work beyond their required tasks were often compensated in cash or in goods purchased from the company's store. Individual accounts record both the work performed by ensalved laborers and items purchased by the individual with their extra wages. Each account lists transactions in chronological order and includes the date, details of the work performed or items purchased, and monies debited and credited to the account. Accounts include the enslaved person's name along with their enslavers's name. One account for "Henry Alexander's woman Susan" includes the conditions of her hire at the rate of thirty dollars and she would be "furnished the usual winter clothing" and the salt works "has the privilege of returning her at any time." Many of the entries for work performed are listed only by the number of days of work, but some entries describe the work performed. Examples of work done by enslaved laborers include cutting timber, building stables, building chimneys, and working on the furnace, and purchased items such as tobacco, coffee, clothing, hats, and boots.

Located at the back of the volume is a record of the amounts of wood chopped by enslaved laborers for 1852 to 1856. The accounts list the namee of the enslaved individual, the name of the enslaver, the number of days worked, and the amount of wood cut. The accounts for clothing supplied to enslaved individuals were also recorded for the years 1852 to 1856, and include the enslaved person's name, the enslaver's name, and the numbers of pants, shirts, coats, shoes, boots, hats,and blankets provided for each enslaved laborer.

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