Rockingham County Ledger

Access and use

Location of collection:
James Madison University
Second Floor Room 203, MSC 1704
Carrier Library
James Madison University
880 Madison Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tiffany Cole
Phone: (540) 568-3444
Phone: (540) 568-3612
Fax: (540) 568-3405
Restrictions:

Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #[ Rockingham County Ledger, 1878-1892, SC 0219, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Summary

Extent:
0.24 cubic feet 1 box
Creator:
Rocky's Gold Silver & Antiques
Abstract:
The Rockingham County Ledger contains business related accounts pertaining to the sale and purchase of goods and livestock, general farm accounts, employee payments, and debts owed/paid by individuals within Rockingham County.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], [box #, folder #[ Rockingham County Ledger, 1878-1892, SC 0219, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Background

Scope and content:

The Rockingham County Ledger is a business ledger from a prominent livestock company from ca. 1878-1892 in Rockingham County, Virginia. It contains the day-to-day transactions of multiple farms and individuals within Rockingham County. The most notable of these records are those from the farm of John R. Thomas, M. Thomas, and J.F.L. Henkel, which were kept continuously beginning in 1879 and ending in 1892. The recorder also kept transactional records in this ledger for Berry Good from December 1879 to May 1882. There are records for other individuals in the ledger as well; Nelson Nash, James Chapman, Dudley Proffitt, Jerry Nash, William Beasley, and Robert Scot, however none of these records were kept for longer than a few months. Each item that was sold or purchased was noted in this ledger.

The ledger measures 6 1/2" x 13".

Biographical / historical:

This ledger documents the business activities of an unnamed livestock company in Rockingham County during the late-nineteenth century.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Rocky's Gold, Silver, and Antiques in Weyers Cave, Virginia in July 2009.
Processing information:

The ledger is in poor condition, the binding is worn and fragile, the cover has water damage, is warped and falling apart, some of the pages show signs of water damage and inactive mold, there are several pages that have been torn out, and the ink on some pages has bled through to other pages making the writing illegible.

In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 5045.

Arrangement:

The ledger remains bound and is arranged according to its original order.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard