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Stock's Cash Store Records, 1880-1897

By Finding aid prepared by Trevor Sandgathe

Collection Overview

Title: Stock's Cash Store Records, 1880-1897

ID: MSS Stock

Primary Creator: Stock's Cash Store

Extent: 0.9 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Stock's Cash Store Records are comprised of three ledger books documenting sales and purchases made by Stock's Cash Store, a general store located in Corvallis, Oregon, between 1880 and 1897. The ledgers contain itemized records of daily transactions and the balances of individual customer and vendor accounts.

Scope and Content Notes

Ledgers 1 (July 1880-March 1889) and 3 (November 1895-April 1897) are comprised of several thousand transactions, including purchases, sales, and payments of business expenses in chronological order. Each entry includes an account name and number, an itemized listing of goods sold (price and quantity), and records of payments made to vendors and other entities. Ledger 2 (January 1891-January 1895) is comprised of records for all active customer and vendor accounts and is arranged by account name. It does not include records of individual items purchased or sold, but does reflect all credits and debits to each account during the active period. Also included is an 1881 letter from Ira A. Miller to Ben Janis requesting payment to M. Stock & Co. and a 1893 receipt for sale of goods to James Martin.

The ledgers document the sale of goods in Corvallis including food items (meat, coffee, tobacco, sugar, eggs), household goods (oil, candles, cleaning products), dry goods (calico, muslin, lace, ribbon), clothing, building materials, hardware, and more. The Stock's Cash Store Records represent transactions conducted by hundreds of Corvallis-area residents and businesses including the Oregon Agricultural College and College presidents John McKnight Bloss and B. L. Arnold. Vendors include Hirsch, Elson & Co., Meier & Frank Co., the Sach Brothers & Co., and the New York & San Francisco Collar Co.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Morris Stock was born in Morsbach, Germany circa 1827. He immigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s and, by 1860, was a merchant in Corvallis, Oregon. In the late 1860s Stock and his wife, Sofia, briefly relocated to New York City where he operated a shoe store. Ultimately, Stock returned to Oregon where he opened Stock's Cash Store on Corvallis' Main Street (now the intersection of Second Street and Madison) and established himself as a prominent member of the local Jewish community. Clara Stock (born 1862), one of Morris' nine children, took over operation of the store in the mid-1880s. Morris Stock died in 1898 in Portland, Oregon and is interred at the Congregation Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland.

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 2 boxes, including 1 oversize box

Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The Stock's Cash Store ledgers were donated to the OSU Archives in two accession in the 1960s. The collection now resides in the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center.

Related Materials: Materials relating to other Oregon businesses include the R. H. Huston Hardware Store Journals (MSS Huston), the Brooks and Melba Labbe Caldwell Collection (MSS Caldwell), and the Banks Dairy Products Company Records (MSS BanksDairy). The OSU Memorabilia Collections (MSS MC) includes a file on the Oregon Retail Merchants Association.

Preferred Citation: Stock's Cash Store Records (MSS Stock), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: This collection was originally titled the "Corvallis General Store Records." Upon preparation of the finding aid, the collection was renamed to more accurately reflect its contents.

Creators

Stock's Cash Store
M. Stock & Co.
Stock, Clara (1862-)
Stock, Morris (approximately 1827-1898)

People, Places, and Topics

Business records--Oregon--Corvallis.
General stores--Oregon--Corvallis.
Local History
M. Stock & Co.
Retail trade--Accounting.
Stock's Cash Store

Forms of Material

Account books.
Ledgers (account books).
Receipts (financial records).


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.