Business and Other Financial Records, 1740-1950 and undated

Correspondence relating to business matters, bills of sale, receipts, annual reports, trade catalogs, advertisements, account ledgers, inventories of goods, bonds, payrolls, promissory notes, contracts, and stock certificates documenting business and other financial transactions. Topics covered in the records include: orders for and shipping of goods; location and operation of rail lines; turnpikes; canals; the Bank of Maryland and bank failures; payment of debts; insurance claims; sales of enslaved people; stock prices; construction of buildings; inspection of goods; collection of taxes and levies; harbors and port operations; business histories and anniversary celebrations; stockholders' meetings; farm operations; medical procedures; and the destruction of household goods and clothing following smallpox epidemics.

Businesses both large and small are represented, including various country and general stores, individual entrepreneurs, Ellicott Mills, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Among the prominent individuals mentioned in the records are Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Roger Brooke Taney, Charles Benedict Calvert, John Ross Key, John G. Chapman, Benjamin H. Ellicott, Randall H. Moale, and Joshua Gist.