It’s the end of August and a beautiful summer day. The birds are chirping and the sun is shining, which means there’s only one thing to do: Browse through the archive of I.R.S Tax Assessment Lists.
This is from the 1879 list (click to enlarge), which shows information pertaining to Eberhard Faber. Apart from the striking orthography, there are some interesting tidbits:
- Average number of “children and youth” employed: 40
- Number of boilers (if steam power is used): 3
- Value of products on-hand: $172,427 ($2,651,003.76 today)
- Number of hours in an ordinary work day: 10
- Average day’s wages for an ordinary laborer: 50¢ to $1.00
It all seems so simple, including The Eberhard Faber Company’s description of being a manufacturer of “pencils”. Imagine the extraordinary care with which the preparer entered each item and looked after this single piece of paper, as being the only record of this information.
And not one but two sealing-wax companies. A great find, Sean. I hope there’s more along these lines to come.
LikeLike
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
LikeLike