Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78022939
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The records of the Scottish mercantile firm of John Glassford and Company were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1899.
The records of John Glassford and Company were processed in 1983. The collection description was revised in 2000.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of John Glassford and Company is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The records of John Glassford and Company are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of these papers is available on seventy-one reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: John Glassford and Company Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The records of John Glassford and Company span the years 1743-1846, but bulk largest in the period 1760-1820. They include ledgers, journals, daybooks, inventories, cashbooks, and letterbooks for the various mercantile firms which represented or succeeded John Glassford and Company in Maryland and Virginia. The records are organized geographically into two series: Maryland and Virginia.
John Glassford (1715-1783) was one of the most prominent and prosperous of the Scottish “tobacco lords.” Glassford, an original member of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Manufactures, was a leading force in the establishment of Glasgow, Scotland, as an international trading center. By the latter part of the eighteenth century, he controlled a major portion of the Chesapeake tobacco trade, despite having never travelled to America. Represented by agents or factors, Glassford established a system of branch stores along the Potomac River for the purpose of purchasing tobacco directly from planters. By this method of direct purchase, Glassford and his associates were able to pay higher prices for tobacco than English consignment merchants. While higher prices brought the Scottish firm new customers, its ability to extend credit and provide planters with consumer goods helped to insure its domination of the Chesapeake tobacco trade. The sale of goods such as hardware, rum, wine, sugar, salt, and slaves became a major source of revenue for the branch stores.
This collection reflects the daily transactions normally carried on in the branch
stores. The transactions were often recorded in rough form on throw sheets and then
carefully recorded in the store's journal (or daybook) and ledger (or account book).
Accounts were maintained for each individual or firm trading with the store and for
various types of produce or goods collected for export or resale. Numerous names of
slaves appear in both the daybooks and account books. A major portion of the collection
deals with the Revolutionary War era. The letterbooks of Alexander Hamilton, factor for
Piscataway, Maryland, and Robert Fergusson, factor for Georgetown, Maryland, reveal the
difficulty Glassford and Company and subsequent firms encountered when collecting
pre-war debts. Inventories for the schooners
Under the firm name of Glassford and Company, Glassford operated stores in Maryland at Baltimore, Benedict, Bladensburg, Chaptico, Georgetown (later part of Washington, D.C.), Leonardtown, Llewellin's Warehouse, Lower Marlboro, Newport, Nottingham, Piscataway, Port Tobacco, and Upper Marlboro. John Glassford and Archibald Henderson under the firm of Glassford, Henderson & Company operated stores in Virginia at Alexandria, Colchester, and other sites; and with associates James Gordon and Walter Monteath, Glassford operated Glassford, Gordon, Monteath & Company at Quantico, Dumfries, and Norfolk.
With the death of John Glassford in 1783, the surviving members of Glassford and Company, Henry Glassford, James Gordon, Henry Riddell, John Campbell, and Archibald Henderson, presented the power of attorney for the company to Robert Fergusson, factor for Georgetown. It is unclear when the company passed out of the hands of the Scottish merchants and into the control of local owners. From 1800 to 1816 the firm of Vincent & Fergusson carried on the bulk of the business. From 1816 to 1834 the firm was called Thompson, Edelen & Company. In Glassford and Company's most successful years, those prior to the American Revolution, the company owned a fleet of twenty-five ships and imported ten percent of all tobacco received by Great Britain. The value of Glassford's yearly imports over this period has been estimated to be in excess of £500,000.
The collection includes records of the following firms: Glassford and Company; Glassford, Henderson & Company; Glassford, Gordon, Monteath & Company; Henderson, Fergusson & Gibson; Findlay, Hopkins & Company; James Brown & Company; Boyle, Scott & Company; Jamieson, Johnstone & Company; Shortridge, Gordon & Company; James Gordon & Company; Vincent & Fergusson; and Thompson, Edelen & Company. Prominent names found in the collection include William Bayles, William Byrd (1728-1777), Landon Carter, George William Fairfax, William Fitzhugh, Neil Jamieson, Henry Lee, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, George Plater, Hector Ross, George Washington, and Lawrence Washington.
The collection is arranged in two series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78022939
Microfilm edition available. Shelf no. 18,978
Cashbooks, daybooks, inventories, invoice books, journals, ledgers, letterbooks, lists of debts, lists of shipped tobacco, salesbooks, ship charges, and ship invoices for the various firms which represented or succeeded John Glassford and Company in Maryland.
Arranged alphabetically by name of town and grouped chronologically therein.
Cashbooks, cash receipts, firm accounts, journals, ledgers, and lists of debts for the various firms which represented or succeeded John Glassford and Company in Virginia.
Arranged alphabetically by name of town and grouped chronologically therein.
Microfilm reels are normally frame numbered starting with 0 for each reel. The frame numbers for volumes 163-226 diverge from this pattern and are herewith listed to avoid confusion.
In the course of preparing this material for a microfilm edition, various volumes were assigned new container numbers. This appendix supplies the correlation of the numbers.
Old volumes 184 and 216 were combined to form new volume 182; 216 occurs first.