Delaware College Agricultural Experiment Station account books

These account books kept by scientist Charles L. Penny record expenses incurred by Delaware College’s Agricultural Experiment Station between 1892 and 1916. The volumes also include information on experiments conducted at the station. In 1921, Delaware College was renamed the University of Delaware.

Volume I of these account books was kept between July 23, 1892 and August 10, 1907. A large portion of this volume records the Experiment Station’s debts to Charles L. Penny, including his payment for chemicals, agricultural equipment, and travel expenses to Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware City, and other locations. It is likely that Penny paid these expenses upfront and later received reimbursement from Delaware College. The volume also includes the Experiment Station’s debts to E.W. Dawson, mostly for samples of butter tested in the station’s laboratory. Penny also kept accounts of the alcohol and gasoline used by various scientists and laboratory workers, recorded hours worked by assistants testing soil moisture, and created an estimate of future work at the station, which included the costs of soil analysis, surveying the state’s dairy herds, and performing general laboratory work. Penny made several notes on the “gas machine” at the station, including the results of periodically testing on the machine’s safety cuf-off. Memoranda near the end of the volume include an order list and an inventory of materials belonging to the Chemical Department in 1900.

Volume II was kept between September 23, 1907 and December 9, 1916. This volume also includes expenses incurred by the Experiment Station, but most of the entries in this book are summaries of experiments conducted at the station. Penny wrote detailed accounts of work on nitrogenous fertilizers, water distillation, and oil refining. He noted that the laboratories were testing milk, clover, soap solutions, and petroleum oils and jellies. Typed reports on the testing of specific gravity are pasted onto pages towards the end of the volume.

Volume I of the account books is bound in brown cloth over boards. The front cover is inscribed “A/ Accounts/ Delaware College Experiment Station/ July 23, 1892” in black ink. A large “A” is inscribed in black ink on the back cover. This volume contains 190 pages of lined wove paper with handwritten notations in ink and pencil.

Volume II of the account books is bound in brown leather over boards. An inscription in black ink on the front cover reads “D.B. 33/ Delaware College/ Agricultural Experiment Station/ September 23, 1907.” This volume contains 96 pages of lined wove paper with handwritten notations in ink and pencil.