Black Hawk, Colorado Grocery Ledger

Item — Box: 1

Identifier: MS-0601

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This 1897 Black Hawk Grocery Ledger tracks the balance of trade during the month of September, 1897. It has a hard cover canvas binding with leather corners, and both the cove and spine have “Sept 1897” written along with the names Robins and Schear in the front. The ledger contains 420 pages, but only pages 1 through 336 are filled. The rest of the pages have tears and water damage. The ledger covers the whole of the month of September 1897 with the exception of the Sunday dates, when the store was likely closed. The ledger also contains notes from Althea B. Seirer, a former book keeper from a company in Colorado, written on October 11, 1929. Seirer left notes before the first numbered page and pages 335-336 about how she obtained the ledger, and what she learned from it. In the notes from pages 335-336 Seirer compares the prices of items in 1897 to prices in 1929.

Dates

Creation: 1897

Historical Note

Black Hawk, Colorado was founded in 1859 after the discovery of gold in "Gregory's Gulch." During the early 20th century, the town went into decline. According to a note in the front of the ledger, Althea B. Seiver found this ledger, along with two others, in a deserted grocery store around 1923/1924 in Black Hawk. The ledger contains entries from September 1897. Each entry includes the customer's name, items purchased, and the amount owed. The front of the ledger reads "Robins + Sch???," which may have been the store's name. Sakisbury & Bertenshaw Groceries and Provisions and RH Price Groceries were other groceries in the town.