Title: John Pritzlaff Hardware Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1839-1868, 1884-1949

Creator:

• John Pritzlaff Hardware Company (Milwaukee, Wis.)

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss CQ; Milwaukee Micro 9; Micro 427

Quantity: 1.5 c.f. (2 archives boxes and 7 separate volumes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Financial records (1850-1861), including day books, a cash book, accounts receivable, and annual statements; an inventory volume (1861-1865); miscellaneous material; and a microfilm of typewritten copies of six letters in German (1839-1847) from John Pritzlaff to his brother in Germany.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000cq

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The John Pritzlaff Hardware Company was founded in 1850 by John Pritzlaff (1820-1900), in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. John Pritzlaff was born in 1820 in Trutzlatz, a province of Pomerania, Prussia. He immigrated to America in 1839 and worked his way westward by working various jobs along the way, such as a laborer on the Genesee Canal in Pennsylvania. By 1841 he reached Milwaukee and became a teamster for nine dollars a month. In 1842 he was a cook on a lake steamer and the following year supported himself by cutting timber at the site of Schlitz Park. In 1843 he entered the hardware field where he was employed by Shepardson and Farwell as a porter, earning 200 dollars a year. The following year Shepardson sold out to Nazro and King and Mr. Pritzlaff continued in the latter's employment. He remained with Nazro and Company until 1850.

In the year 1850, John Pritzlaff, along with August F. Suelflohn and Henry J. Nazro, opened a small retail hardware store called John Pritzlaff and Company. Nazro was a silent partner, but carried the financial burden. In 1853 Suelflohn was bought out by Pritzlaff and in 1866 Nazro withdrew, leaving the entire business with John Pritzlaff as proprietor of a large and rapidly growing business. By 1884 Pritzlaff incorporated the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company. The company kept growing and moving until it became the largest hardware store in Milwaukee and the entire region. When John Pritzlaff died in 1900, his son, Frederick C. Pritzlaff, took over the company. The John Pritzlaff Hardware Company appears in the Milwaukee City Directory for the last time in 1958.

The records of the John Pritzlaff Hardware Company consist of twelve volumes (eleven financial record books and one inventory), one folder of miscellaneous material and one reel of microfilm. The inventory covers the years from 1861 through 1865 showing the stock that the company carried. The financial records consist of four volumes of accounts receivable of which three are indexed and cover the period 1850 to 1861; the fourth one covers the period from 1864 to 1867 and also contains suppliers' names and a list that seems to record deposits to the Second Ward Bank. Also present are three day books from 1859 through 1861 and one cash book for the period 1867 to 1868. There are two volumes of Annual Statement of Affairs which cover the years 1884 to 1943. There is also one Trial Balance volume for the period 1940 through 1949.

The reel of microfilm contains six typewritten copies of letters written by John Pritzlaff to his brother in Germany. The letters are written in German and date from 1839 to 1847. The folder of miscellaneous items contains a few notes written [by Pritzlaff?] about the first financial records of his hardware store, two bills of sale and a newspaper clipping on the Pritzlaff Hardware Company taken from the Milwaukee Journal, November 21, 1937.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Edward Pritzlaff, Hartland, Wisconsin, September 9, and October 23, 1958.

Processing Information

Processed by Cheri Brill, February 4, 1969.

Milwaukee Mss CQ Box   1 Folder   1	Miscellaneous material
Box   1 Volume   1	Inventory, 1861 March 1-1865 March 1
	Financial Records
	Accounts receivable, indexed
Box   1 Volume   2	1850 Jan.-1853 Feb.
Box   1 Volume   3	1852 Sept.-1855 Dec.
Box   2 Volume   4	1856 Oct.-1861 Oct.
Volume   5	Accounts receivable, suppliers, deposits, 1864 Oct.-1867 Feb.
	Day Books
Box   2 Volume   6	1859 May-Nov.
Volume   7	1860 Sept.-Dec.
Volume   8	1861 April-July
Volume   9	Cash book, 1867 April 19-1868 July 31
	Annual Statement of Affairs
Volume   10	1884 Dec. 31-1923 Dec. 31
Volume   11	1924 Dec. 31-1943 Dec. 31
Volume   12	Trial balance, 1940 Jan.-1949 Dec.
Milwaukee Micro 9/Micro 427 Reel   1	Six typewritten copies of letters in German written between the years , 1839-1847 by John Pritzlaff to his brother in Germany