Harriet B. Miles account book

Harriet B. Miles of Newark, Delaware, used this account book to record her household expenses from 1866 to 1878. She also recorded interest payments on bonds she held and entries regarding the administration of her mother’s estate.

Much of this volume is structured as a single-entry account of Miles’s household expenses and income. Miles purchased a large quantity of foodstuffs, including meat, butter, and flour, as well as coal. She also paid individuals for a variety of services, such as digging her garden and wallpapering one of the rooms in her house. Miles also often borrowed and loaned money. In January 1871, she loaned her meat supplier five dollars to pay his insurance. Miles also frequently transacted with her brother, David W. Black, who lived wither her. An entry towards the ends of the volume reads “D.W. Black in account with H.B. Miles to board, washing and mending pr week $6.00.”

Following several observations about the weather towards the back of the volume, Miles recorded information about bonds she held and the administration of her mother’s estate. She noted that she held several large bonds from G.Z. Tybout, who made regular interest payments to her. After her mother’s death in 1866, Miles administered her estate, paying for the funeral and expenses incurred during her final illness. Miles also paid out legacies from her mother’s estate to her sister, sister-in-law, nieces, and nephews.

Several items have been laid into this account book, including a paper doll with the name “Lena Evans” inscribed on the back, envelopes addressed to Miles and Theo F. Armstrong of Newark, Delaware, a doctor’s prescription for cod liver oil from 1869, and loose receipts.

The volume is bound with multi-colored paper over boards. The volume contains 136 pages of laid paper with vertical columns to keep accounts. There are handwritten notations in black ink and pencil on 37 pages in the volume.