Hallett Swift Account Book

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Hallett Swift Account Book, Ms1988-106, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
0.2 Cubic Feet 1 box
Creator:
Swift, Hallett, 1802-1886
Abstract:
This collection consists of a single account book, apparently maintained by Hallett Swift, of Wareham, Massachusetts, detailing sales of produce (chiefly corn and potatoes) and other goods, with credits to customers for cash, goods, labor and services. Also used as recipe book, featuring both handwritten and clipped recipes.
Language:
The materials in the collection are English.
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Hallett Swift Account Book, Ms1988-106, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of a single account book, apparently maintained by Hallett Swift, of Wareham, Massachusetts. The ledger details sales of produce (consisting largely of corn and potatoes) and other goods. Included are the names of buyers, dates of purchases, goods purchased and prices paid. The entries also detail credits in the form of cash, goods, labor, and services. The ledger also contains an account of expenses incurred in traveling to Ohio, apparently to settle affairs of the estate of Swift's brother-in-law, Robinson E. Peckham (1807-1839). The latter part of the volume has been used as a recipe book, in which are glued more than 200 recipes, mostly for desserts, clipped from newspapers. Also included are several handwritten recipes.

Biographical / historical:

Hallett Swift, son of Ezra and Lucy Swift, was born in Wareham (Plymouth County), Massachusetts on September 14, 1802. Swift married Mary Elizabeth Peckham (born 1810) on February 6, 1832. The couple remained in the Wareham area and had seven children (Francis, Henry, Sarah, Lucy, Hallet, Harriet, and David). Various sources indicate that Swift was a ship captain. The 1850 census lists Hallet Swift as a 48-year-old sailor, living in Wareham with 40-year-old wife Mary and four Swift children, all born in Massachusetts. The 1860 census lists a 50-year-old Sarah A. B. Rothburn operating a boarding house in Wareham. Also within the household are Sarah Hattie, and Hallett Swift, presumably her children.

Swift died on June 19, 1886, and is buried in Centre Cemetery, Wareham.

Source: "Capt Hallett Swift," Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102790606/hallett-swift, accessed Dec. 14, 2022.

Acquisition information:
The Hallett Swift Account Book was purchased by Special Collections in 1988.
Processing information:

The processing and description of the Hallett Swift Account Book commenced and was completed in May 2011. The item had originally been accessioned and cataloged as "Massachusetts Day Book." It was also known as "New Bedford, Massachusetts Day Book."

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
History of Food and Drink
Account books