Social Archive - An Affluent Manhattan Family in Manhattan's Gilded Age; Household Receipts
New York, NY: 1874. An archive of approximately 400 billheads relating to the running of the M. Hopper Mott (1815-1864) manse for predominantly for 1874 with various others. Mott married Ruth A. Schuyler who remained in residence until she remarried in the 1890s. The archive has been organized into eight different categories
Lady Mott’s clothing, jewels and accessories – approximately 80 billheads from fashionable establishments including Tiffany & Co, Madame Ferrero, Madame Fogarty, Madame H. Buhlmeyer, various milliners and dress makers, hat makers, Lord and Taylor, fur storage companies, yardage, wigs and curls, jewelers and more. Among the most notable was a bill from Madame Fogarty of Gramercy Park for a purple velvet costume and a mantle for $465.00
Household – approximately 80 billheads associated with running of the household including dinnerware, baskets, cook stoves, carpeting, candlesticks, trunks, glassware and cutlery, landscape gardener, masons’ building materials and much more. The only travel of note was a single trip to New Orleans.
Horse and carriage – approximately 30 billheads relating to horses and carriage including fine riding saddles, harnesses and horse care, coach and light wagon manufacturers, feed, carriage repair and more. A new Elegant Pony Phaeton (carriage) with top was purchased for $360.00--$135 less than that costume and mantle…
Ice – seven receipts. Ice was delivered in quantities of approximately 400 pounds per month in cooler months and 800-900 pounds in the warmer months.
Retail – approximately 130 billheads, most from Alex T. Stewart & Co., Broadway, Ninth and tenth Streets. This was the largest retail store in the world at the time. The bills were for hoses to satin ribbon, to clothing, everything purchased from predominantly one retail outlet.
Books and paper – 20 billheads for stationery and books, subscriptions and periodicals.
Food – approximately 40 billheads from a variety of food purveyors including the beef butcher; dealers in butter, lard, cheese, pork and smoked provisions, pastries from Delmonicos, fish, oysters and clams, foreign and domestic lager bier.
Hopper S. Mott had the good fortune to inherit the family farm, which in his case extended from near Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River and across the river to the Jersey shore.
Price: $1,450.00
Item #24025132