The bulk of the collection documents the Pollard family business, a general store. This store went through a number of configurations, first as J. B. Pollard in the 1860s. In 1863, Don Pollard moved his store from Plymouth Notch to Cavendish, Vermont, in order to be nearer to the railroad; once there, he and Fletcher Sherwin opened under the Pollard and Sherwin store name. Don Pollard's son, Fred, took over operation of the store in 1880; and it became Moore and Pollard in 1883 when Fred Pollard formed a mercantile partnership with Frank C. Moore and bought the business of E. L. Roberts in the building owned by his father, Don Pollard. Moore retired in 1886 and, in 1889, Fred Pollard brought in his brother Park Hiram to form the Pollard Brothers firm. The Pollard family business, under all its various names, was a general store, which sold a wide variety of products, including window shades, glazed windows, tobacco, sugar, medicines, footwear, shawls, rope, carpets, petroleum products, and food. The collection contains financial records and business correspondence, including many receipts for these products. Fred Pollard's other business ventures are also documented in the collection. In addition to his involvement with the store, he spent time working the stock market, both in New York and Boston. The collection also contains evidence to suggest that Fred Pollard had an interest in postage stamps, either as a collector or an investor. Judging from his estate inventory from 1921, Don Pollard (Fred Pollard's father), had also invested in the stock market quite successfully. Fred Pollard's financial correspondence showing investments in banks, government and municipal bonds, mining stock, railroads, and many other enterprises is in the collection. Additionally, the collection contains a number of family letters from 1877-1917, which document the lives of several Pollard family members separate from their business ventures.
