This is a collection of mercantile records, business accounts, and other miscellaneous papers of John P. Lewis of Lancaster, Wisconsin.
In view of these records, it is unlikely that the earliest volume in the collection, the store record for 1844-1845, was kept by Lewis. It may be an account book used in a store that was later purchased by Lewis. The volume is useful for the names of persons having accounts at the store, and thereby becomes more or less a record of residents of Lancaster for those years. Among the names are several that were prominent in Wisconsin history, including Joseph T. Mills, Nelson Dewey, and George R. Stunts.
The later record books are not complete or continuous enough to be of much value. The three volumes of inventories list the stock of the store, with prices, for about ten years.
The small group of unbound papers are very miscellaneous. There is a letter from J.M. Showalter who was teaching school in Union Town, Alabama in 1838, to his father, John Showalter of Smithfield, Pennsylvania. The remainder of the papers are mostly deeds and promissory notes. They are all found in a pocket in one of the volumes.
