Manuscripts - Being Products of The Pen Intended for Personal Usage
Manuscripts are handwritten documents of any age. Personal correspondence, ledgers and diaries fall within this category. Usually not intended for public viewing, manuscripts are the most personal of all forms of ephemera. As such, we often find bits and pieces of information that would otherwise never have been published.
Correspondence: Commercial, Traveling Salesman MR. M. THORNBURN TO MR. Hy JESSOP OF NEW YORK CITY. Stampless letter, Providence, July 7, 1848. Composed in blue ink on pale blue paper. Before the advent of the postage stamp, the stampless letter was the only form available for sending correspondence through the mail service.
Henry Jessop was the son of William Jessop, founder of the Jessop Steel firm of Lancashire, England. In the 1830's William Jessop and Sons opened their own steel and iron foundry business. Thomas and Henry Jessop took responsibility for the commercial side of the enterprise while Montague and Sydney accepted responsibility for the foundry and production side. Jessop Steel did not open it's United States factory until the 1860's. Prior to this, traveling salesmen such as Mr. Thornburn represented the business' interests. Henry Jessop died in 1849.
This piece of correspondence between Henry Jessop and M. Thornburn is a wealth of detail, both explicit and implied. The competition for dominance in the iron and steel industry is evident. Mr. Thornburn has some success but at other times he is faced with the problems of inadequate goods or local competition. Unfriendly buyers leave him annoyed and frustrated. The Mexian-American War ended in February of 1848. Mr. Thornburn was attempting to expand his customer base at a time when funds where in short supply.
I'm still researching the various names and connections noted in this manuscript. As I turn up more information, it will be added to this page.
Correspondence: Commercial, Hardware Merchant to Manufacturer B. CALLENDAR to MILLERS FALLS Mfg. Co., June 26, 1883. A handwritten note from Benjamin Callender, the hardware dealer, to the Millers Falls Mfg. Co requesting one "Langdon Adj. Mitre Box Size A with Saw for Wood" to John A. Wells of Charlemont, Mass
Providence Tool Company - Corporate Papers Courtesy of Patrick Leach, founder of the Stanley Blood & Gore resource, The Superior Works website, one of the instigators of the Oldtools List and all around toolguy, comes a thread from the early days of the Oldtools eMail list. Late in 1996 through early 1997. Patrick shared some of the material from the Big Paper hoard, aka, the paperwork of the Providence Tool Co. Providence Tool made plane blades, arms, and other stuff during the middle of the 19th C. If you made tools, you talked to the Providence Tool Co.
This stuff is so fascinating that I delved through the Oldtools Archives . There may very well be more stuff hidden in the Archives on this topic. As I find it, I'll post it. If it is there.
Patrick has kindly given his approval to post this material from the Archive. He has yet mounds of stuff from the Providence Tool Co. I would love to pour through it, but I fear that my drool would harm the paper.
M
Being a Guide to the Reading of Ancient Manuscripts. Thoyts, E. Elliot Stock, London. 1893 
Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn. Society of American Archivists, Chicago. 1993
Sperry, Kip. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore. 1998
