Collection Description

This collection consists of the papers of merchant and mill owner George Howe of Boston, Mass., 1819-1899, pertaining to his business, George Howe and Co.; his role in the direction of New England textile mills, including Pemberton Manufacturing Company, Cocheco Manufacturing Company, Hooksett Mills, Massachusetts Mills, Blackton Mills, Stark Mills, and Cordis Mills; interaction with other Boston merchants such as grocer S. S. Pierce Co.; real estate ventures in Boston and Roxbury, Mass.; cotton trade with cotton brokerage firms in the South; financial donations to Wesleyan University and Amherst College; and the settlement of his estate by B. M. Stillman. Business records include correspondence and letters, account books, 1828-1856, sales ledgers, 1828-1861, real estate notes, deeds, fabric samples, invoices, receipts, and memoranda books. Also includes ship agreements, 1819-1822, pertaining to trading voyages on the ship Mentor to China, the Pacific, and the western coast of the United States, listing name and rank of crew, duties and restrictions, and wages.