Scope and Contents
Ledger of Boston lumber dealer Hopestill Foster (1701-1772), recording charges for lumber and woodworking, as well as rent of his properties, dated from 1759 to 1773. An incomplete index in the front of the volume and the subsequent ledger entries include several Black men, including Scipio Gunney (Sequence 6), Abraham (Sequence 12) and (Sequence70), Morocol (Sequence 11) and (Sequence 70), and Ratli[?] (Sequence 43). The index and entries also include Boston merchants, manufacturers, tradespeople, and civil servants, among them Robert Love, Stephen Minot, Stephen Greenleaf, carpenter Samuel Fenno, Zachariah Johonnot, Jane Williams, Joseph How, Samuel Ruggles, Ebenezer Storer, and John Rowe. There are also entries for extended and immediate family such as his brother James Foster, children Hopestill Foster, Jr., and Sarah Hanners, and orphans Anne and Zabiah Foster. Pages for a number of the individuals referenced in the index have been cut out.
The ledger entries are organized loosely alphabetically by client, then by date within. Foster records a mix of sale of wood products, including planks, boards, timber, shingles, clapboard, nails, doors, and hoops and the quarterly and yearly payment of rent. Foster also records the settlement of these accounts on the opposing page, although it is not always clear which customer he is referencing. Foster was paid in a variety of ways including by cash and by bartering or trading of goods and services. Included is an account against the boat Four Friends for outfitting the ship and labor (Sequence 20) which was balanced in part by shoes for Cato, who was likely enslaved by Foster (Sequence 21). Cato is mentioned two more times in the ledger (Sequence 31) and (Sequence 37). In at least one case, Foster accepted as payment the hire of a person enslaved (Sequence 98) and (Sequence 99) by Zachariah Johonnot, a merchant and distiller from a prominent Boston family.
Some pages of the ledger are noted as “memorandum” which appear to be shorter entries sometimes associated with an individual and sometimes not.
Dates
- Creation: 1759-1773
Creator
- Foster, Hopestill (1701-1772) (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. For more information on access procedures and reproduction services, please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 volume)Biographical / Historical
Hopestill Foster (circa 1701-1772) was a lumber dealer and landlord in Boston. He sold processed lumber in the form of planks, boards, and shingles, and unprocessed lumber, and provided his services as a carpenter. Foster, who had inherited land through his father, also owned a number of properties he rented as residential housing.
Physical Location
MANU
Digitization Funding
Collections and items have been digitized with the generous support of The Polonsky Foundation.
Processing Information
Processed: February 2019 By: Brooke McManus
Remediation note
As of March 2024, staff have reviewed, remediated and enhanced the full description of this collection (including but not limited to the author/creator, title, biographical/history note, scope and content note, arrangement, folder titles, and subject headings) where necessary according to Baker Library’s Guiding Principles for Conscious and Inclusive Description. Superseded versions of the finding aid and catalog record are available in Archive-It, a web archiving tool provided by the Internet Archive. Preserving legacy finding aids and catalog records to provide transparency to researchers about how the description has evolved. Please contact Baker Library staff at specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu with any feedback.
Harmful content note
Users should be aware that this collection may contain offensive, misrepresentative, or euphemistic content, including description of individuals or communities using derogatory or racist language. Staff have not censored terms used by the creator or removed or censored materials from the collection.
Creator
- Foster, Hopestill (1701-1772) (Person)
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- bak00840
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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