1868 Missouri Ledger Turned Folk Art Scrapbook Political Ephemera Rock Port RARE 1868 Missouri Ledger Turned Folk Art Scrapbook Political Ephemera Rock Port RARE
1868 Rock Port, Missouri Merchant’s Ledger — Later Transformed into a Political & Folk ScrapbookA stunning survivor of 19th-century American life — this large leather-bound merchant’s ledger from Rock Port, Missouri, dated 1868, was originally used to record day-to-day business accounts for Masse & Howard, a local general store. The book runs hundreds of pages of neat, legible handwritten entries detailing goods sold — calico, coal oil, buttons, hats, flour, coffee, and sundries — a vivid record of small-town commerce just three years after the Civil War.Sometime in the decades that followed, this ledger found a fascinating second life: its later owner began repurposing it as a scrapbook, filling the margins and blank sections with clipped newspaper material — mostly political cartoons, portraits, and articles from the 1890s, including the 1896 McKinley vs. Bryan presidential campaign, GOP satire, and patriotic illustrations of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and American progress.The compiler even began creating a handwritten index at the back with headings such as:
- Poultry (page 304)
- Kitchen Recipes (page 284) – “Potato Biscuits” and “Corn Bread”
- Health and Beauty (page 302) – dozens of home cures and tonics (“For Sunburn,” “A Good Hair Tonic,” “Camphor Liniment”)
- The Veterinarian or Cow, Horse, and Hog Doctor (page 307) – practical farm remedies from “Bloody Milk” to “Mange (Dog)” and “Fistula”
The book itself is an object of beauty — full calf binding with gilt and blind-tooled panels, raised bands, and black leather spine labels (“Journal” and “V. M. & Co.”). The marbled endpapers remain vivid, and the interior transitions organically between 1860s commerce and 1890s political Americana, creating a one-of-a-kind palimpsest of rural and national history. Highlights include:
- Ledger entries dated April–November 1868 from Rock Port, MO
- Newspaper clippings referencing Columbia, Missouri and the 1896 presidential election
- Hand-drawn index and lists for household, medical, and animal recipes
- Numerous period political cartoons, including McKinley, Bryan, and GOP elephant motifs
- Patriotic portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a mourning border and verse
Condition: binding sound but rubbed and worn; some surface loss and toning consistent with age. Contents full of life, with a fantastic mix of handwriting and 19th-century printed ephemera.A superb and singular piece of Missouri history — part business record, part vernacular scrapbook, part homemade encyclopedia of late 19th-century life.
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