Samuel H. Rundlett Daybooks

Scope of collection

Rundlett's three daybooks document his work as teamster for various local businesses between 1873 and 1879, and the prices paid for freight handling. His most frequent customers included the Bartlett Steam Mills and the Peabody Mills -- textile companies for which he hauled bales of raw cotton and finished cloth -- and a large number of schooners docking at Newburyport's wharves. Rundlett also delivered coal for the Charles W. Hale Co., produce and fertilizer for local farmers, and a variety of goods for local merchants and grocers. Many of the businesses listed in the County Atlas for 1872 appear in Rundlett's accounts.

Although most of the transactions were on a strictly cash basis, Rundlett did accept other types of payment, including credit at a store or produce from a local farmer. Among the more interesting items are his accounts with the Newburyport branch of the Sovereigns of Industry, a workingmen's cooperative association. Rundlett delivered flour, beans, oil, sugar, and molasses for the Sovereigns' cooperative store in Newburyport.

The volume of work completed in the daybooks are indicative of the scale of Rundlett's operations: he had several teams and wagons and employed a number of workers, and occasionally, he rented out horses or entire teams for the day. The accounts suggest that Rundlett prospered in the bustle of Newburyport economic activity. On the first page of the volume beginning in 1876 is a list of his four insurance policies, totaling $3,000 on his house and personal estate, noting that these did not include his horses.