A small collection of bills and a few other papers addressed principally to William Graves. The bills include charges for wallpaper and painting; house remodeling and repairs; some textile fabrics and articles of clothing; flowers (probably bulbs, although not so specified); gardening work; and some furniture, including a chestnut chamber set, a cottage chamber set, fancy chairs, a whatnot, a sofa, a center table, and other items. As well, there are bills for school books and the game Authors; repairs on a gun; a ramrod, powder, and shot; work on a cemetery plot; a coffin for Susannah Graves; photographs, and some household goods such as tumblers, spoons, and tea pots. Some bills are from the Netherlands and England. As well, the collection includes a few letters, mostly pertaining to business, although one discusses the arrangements for a fair at which were to be displayed fruits, vegetables, and ladies handiwork. Several letters addressed to Graves pertained to business of the city of Newburyport, such as the need for a new fire station, the shipping of edge stones to the city, and lists of trees planted throughout Newburyport (elms, maples, chestnuts, oaks, etc.). Some bills relate to a brush factory, of which Graves seems to have been owner or part owner. He may also have had an interest in the Improved Power Association; detailed bills for machinery, parts, and labor are addressed to this business. A few items were not addressed to Graves, and his relationship (if any) with the persons to whom the bills were addressed is not known. As well, the collection includes a detailed list of the cost of building a brick house in High Street. Presumably, this was William Graves residence at 56 High Street; he is first listed at this address in the 1853 city directory. Very few of the billheads are illustrated. The earliest bills, those from the 1820s, were addressed to the senior Captain William Graves, who died around 1851.
