Series II: Financial Papers, 1706-1919, inclusive
Scope and Contents note
This series consists primarily of Emma Thursby's financial records dating from 1875 to 1915. Bills, receipts, letters of credit, lists of accounts and expenses make up the bulk of the papers. Most of the letters of credit are from American Express to various foreign banks during Emma Thursby's travels in Europe. Checkbook stubs and small bound account books are included in Box 14. Some of her monetary expenses are also documented in her engagement books in Series 4, Diaries, Address Books, and Engagement Books.
A few financial papers of Emma Thursby's parents and sisters are also part of this series. A bill for the initial purchases of Jane and John Thursby for their home after their marriage is included. Bills for household goods and some small loan documentation are in the folder, "Financial Papers: Thursby, Jane B. and John B," as are ledgers detailing the daily pay of John B. Thursby's employees. These materials document the kinds of mercantile transactions common in Williamsburgh and Bushwick during the middle of the nineteenth century, as well as create an idea of the costs involved in running the class of household Jane Thursby attempted.
Financial papers of the Van Cott and Bennet families, Emma Thursby's maternal grandparents and relatives, are included in this series. These papers date from as early as 1706 and contain receipts and bills of sale, examples of quotidian life from Williamsburgh and Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. Two indentures and a pardon have been separated to the oversize folder.