Business

Beale Family Papers

The Beale family was among the earliest settlers in Calloway County and successive generations made their living as small business owners and tobacco farmers. MS92-04 consists of their correspondence, business records, and legal documents from 1835 to 1901. The bulk of the collection is made up of receipts and invoices issued or received from the 1850s to the 1880s. Also included are documents associated with the tobacco industry and the trading of enslaved persons.

A receipt for a tobacco sale made by brokers for Gilbert Beale on July 14, 1884. The Beale family grew both tobacco and also owned a general goods store.

Rothrock, Murdock, and Roark Family Papers

The Rothrock family of Muhlenberg County and its branches were engaged in a variety of skilled trade businesses, such as carpentry, masonry, and casket-making, in the late 19th and early 20th century. MS20-05 consists of papers relating to the family's various enterprises along with ephemera, including vintage advertisements, holiday cards, librettos, event programs, newspaper clippings, and menus from various places in the eastern United States.

A "paper doll" of girl holding a doll, late 19th/early 20th century. On the back is the name of a merchant with all of his business ventures.

Card for "Parker's Ginger Tonic" and other products, a typical advertising media in the late 19th/early 20th century.

A card depicting a northern Portuguese couple in traditional dress with a description of the country on the back from 1892. Elaborate story-telling was common in advertising of the era and the actual product being marketed, a Singer sewing machine, was relegated to a background prop.

Two advertisements, one for Cream of Wheat, another for a cleaning agent, Pearline, date unknown.