[Papers]. 1831-1840.

ArchivalResource

Wait, William. [Papers].

[Papers]. 1831-1840.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52085755

Includes correspondence to Wait from customers in Mass., Conn. and N.Y., and from family members in Dudley, Mass., Lonsdale, R.I., and other places. Many family members were involved in the textile industry as weavers or in carding rooms, and their letters mention their work and the economic conditions of the time. Specific letters include one, 1837, from Wait's sister, Catherine Ingraham, Lonsdale, R.I., mentioning a textile workers' strike due to a 25% wage cut; a letter, 1838, from John Pratt, Dudley, Mass., discussing the hard economic times and the movement of many people to the West; and a letter, 1838, from Hermon Ingraham, Lonsdale, R.I., concerning his recent move there and including a description of the town and its three cotton factories; he also asks for work at Wait's mill because the carding room is making him sick. Also contains letters, 1840, from James Ormsbee, New Boston, Conn., on the state of the wool business in the area, with descriptions of poor business and idle factories. Specific business documents include an agreement, 1831, that Wait will work in the carding room of Tufts Manufacturing, Dudley, Mass., for one year, signed Aaron Tufts, agent; a letter, 1833, to Pratt and Wait at Dudley, Mass., ordering cassimere; bills and receipts, 1836-1840, from Wait & Green, with an inventory of Wait's worth; testimonials, 1836, from Freeport and New Lebanon on the spiral flue brick oven, with a patent document, 1837, on Josiah Carlisle's spiral flue brick oven, giving Wait exclusive rights of sale in Saratoga and Montgomery Counties, N.Y.; and a contract, 1837, between Wait and Wilder F. Shepard, Jamaica, Vt., for the right to use an improved patent and the machinery for dressing and cleansing of feathers in 38 towns in Worcester County, Mass. Also contains letters and documents, 1838, about a lawsuit with Seth Williams, Cummington, Mass., including several letters from Sarah Jewett, Williams's niece, a letter from Williams with proposals to settle the suit, a N.H. deed turning land owned by Wait over to Williams in return for the release of his claims against Wait and Pratt of Dudley, Mass., and a letter, 1839, from Williams offering his satinet mill for sale or lease.

ca. 75 items.

American Textile History Museum Library