Personal and Business Archive of Philadelphia-based Spice Merchant
Philadelphia, PA / Wilmington, DE: 1830. Very Good. Item #46662
Chiefly Philadelphia, PA, and Wilmington, DE: ca. 1830s-1880s. Archive is comprised of sixty-six (66) pieces, including receipts, correspondence, check stubs, and miscellaneous ephemera. General wear including old folds with some occasional splitting, else Very Good overall.
Archive relating to the business of the longstanding spice merchant Franklin Fell (1814-1875), who inherited the business from his father Jonathan and older brother Courtland upon Courtland's death in 1836. A keen businessman, Fell expanded the mill to process not just spices and mustard seed but also distribute cocoa and chocolate, coffee, ginger, rice flour, and hominy, eventually also dabbling in coal.
A substantial portion of this archive relates to other local businesses with whom the Fells dealt, including J.W. Scott, a Philadelphia dealer in "pure milk"; M.S. Kemmerer & Co. of Sandy Run, PA, Miners and Shippers of coal; the Oriental Spice and Coffee Works from whom Fell ordered four barrels of coffee. Also included here are receipts from Warner’s Philadelphia & Wilmington Propeller Line, who transported a box of spices for the company; as well as the Wilmington Steamship Company of Delaware, for transporting cases of ginger and mustard seed.
Franklin Fell was also notable for his philanthropical work and two of the pieces of correspondence here are fundraising requests, one from William Staveley seeking to cover the cost of roof repair at Trinity Church in Bucks County; and the Oregon and Washington Mission, to establish a new school. Franklin Fell passed away in 1875, leaving the business, which had suffered two fires in quick succession, to his son Jonathan Jr.
An excellent snapshot of the Philadelphia wholesale community before, during, and after the Civil War.
Reference: Carroll W. Pursell, Jr. "Two Mills on Red Clay Creek in the 19th Century" (1964).
Price: $950.00