The Baker Land and Title Company records are organized into the following series: Administrative Subject File, Correspondence, Financial Records, Land Records, and Personal Papers of Harry D. Baker. The records as a whole provide a detailed picture of an early St. Croix Valley land speculation office and its evolution into a general real estate agency. Although J. S. Baker came to St. Croix Falls as Cushing's land agent in 1874, the records begin in 1879 with the bulk of materials occurring within the period 1886 to 1924. Earlier information regarding Baker's work with the Cushing lands and his own land acquisition efforts are absent. Although some original volumes were retained, all letterbooks and some financial and land record volumes are available only on microfilm.
The ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILE (1888-1921) is the least complete and includes a few documents of historical import such as forms and stationery, company and land advertisements, and an architect's specifications booklet for alterations to the agency's St. Croix Falls building. Additional company advertisements include a souvenir booklet of Polk County printed by the firm and a broadside. An undated address book (with business-related notations), engraved portraits of Caleb Cushing, Polk and Burnett county maps detailing agency land holdings, and records relating to tree plantings of J. S. Baker's Deer Lake property complete the series.
CORRESPONDENCE (1886-1916) provides insights into the daily operations of the firm. Letterbooks (1886-1909) consist of outgoing mail sent to sellers, businesses, banks, and prospective clients. Indexes, organized alphabetically by last name of correspondent, are contained at the front of each letterbook. There were few extant client case files and most were heavily mildewed and unreadable. Those which remain contain both incoming and outgoing correspondence and provide a fuller picture of the firm and its dealings. Correspondence in both the letterbooks and case files consists of descriptions of available land, advertising and sales approaches, land financing details, client contacts, and business negotiations. Case files also document agency ties with other land firms.
FINANCIAL RECORDS (1887-1924) have been retained in their entirety due to both the extensive financial detail provided and the rarity of such records. The agency used several different bookkeeping approaches over the years and the collection has missing segments. It is likely that an earlier accounting system was in place between 1874 to 1888. No records survive from that period. A system which may have been in use from 1888 was superseded in 1917. The financial records have been organized by subseries. Due to missing components and changes in bookkeeping systems, the subseries are not organized from general to specific, but rather chronologically with the earliest coverage occurring first.
The bank books (1887-1919) are essentially bank registers which detail deposits and withdrawals from the many banks with which the company had accounts. Although summary financial information is carried from this subseries into other financial records, specific notes about check recipients and purposes are not. Each book is divided into individual bank accounts and the date span of each bank account varies, but each flows from one book to the next. There is a separate book for the Polk County Bank from 1917 to 1919.
The daybooks (1888-1917) provide a chronological listing of all receipts and expenditures as they occur. As with the other financial records, the daybooks are quite specific including individual names, legal land descriptions, and purpose of expenditure or receipt.
General ledgers (1888-1918) serve as the record of final entry for the company. Transactions are classified under the company accounts to which they apply and then appear chronologically within the account. The majority of account categories are names of individuals and firms which bought or sold land through the agency, although account categories for general company expenses are also included. Information is specific, consisting of legal land description and transaction purpose. Ledgers from 1888 to 1907 also contain personal account categories for J. S. Baker and his household. Each volume includes an alphabetical index to accounts.
In 1917, a new bookkeeping system was established which included general journals and cashbooks. From 1917 to 1919, the company maintained a general journal which organized financial transactions chronologically and included detailed journal entries with dollar amounts identified under specific categories and banks. Cashbooks from 1917 to 1919 served a similar function, acting as a special record of original entry for transactions that involved either cash received or cash disbursed. In May 1919, the general journals and cashbooks were combined and a complete set exists up to 1924. There is also a separate set of journals from 1920 to 1923. These journal entries are not duplicated in the cashbook and journal volumes.
Other financial records include general trial balance books (1893-1921) which provide monthly financial summaries of the balances in established account categories. A volume entitled, “Bills Receivable/Bills Payable” (Receivable, 1888-1909; Payable, 1890-1908) contains two separate chronological listings for monies owed the agency and monies which the agency owes. This volume may relate only to loans. Interest rates are often included. The book has exhibit value as an “upside down” book -- the bills payable is on one side, and when turned upside down and over, bills receivable is on the other.
The LAND RECORDS (1879-1921) are not complete, but still provide an in-depth view of agency land speculation, property acquisitions, income property, and land sales for the periods covered by the surviving records.
The Tax Certificate Ledgers (tax years, 1878-1905 on certificates purchased, 1880-1899) contain descriptions of lands which the agency attempted to acquire through payment of unpaid taxes. The volumes are roughly organized by account category or second party for which the firm was serving as agent, date of county certificate bulk sale, and tax certificate number. Entries include legal land description, tax years and related tax certificate numbers, date the certificates were redeemed (paid) by the land owner or date the agency acquired deed (ownership) to the property, and remarks. A map index indicating physical location of the properties for which the agency had purchased tax certificates is available for the first volume.
Real Estate Ledgers (1880-ca.1901) contain information concerning those properties to which the agency either acquired full title for itself or for a second party through the tax certificate sale process. Entries include legal land description, page number reference to the relevant entry in the Tax Certificate Ledgers, type of title held, date of title, county public record where title was recorded, year and amount of taxes paid, total cost, type of selling instrument, date of sale, amount received on the principal and interest, and remarks. A map index covering both ledgers and indicating physical location of the real estate is available.
Tax List Registers (1887-1903) and tax receipts (1906-1911) identify lands on which the agency paid taxes. The registers also contain notations regarding disposition of the land including who bought it, amount, and date of sale.
Record of Conveyances (1890-1909) documents legal actions taken involving lands either owned by the agency or by a second party for whom the agency acted as agent. The volume is organized numerically by assigned instrument number which most likely related to files containing full documentation on the action. Information includes the seller's and buyer's names, the type of land deed or contract written, dates, monies specified, legal land description, and comments. In addition to land sales, the volume also includes actions taken related to use of the land as income property such as timber sales.
Land Contract Ledgers (1880-1921) are a record of who purchased either agency or second party land by land contract. They include type of land contract, buyer's and seller's names, legal land description, contract date, payment price, rate of payment, notes, actual payment amounts, and payment dates. Indexes to land purchasers are in the front of both volumes.
The Loans and Mortgage Book (ca. 1886-1903) and the Mortgage Register (1895-1905) are a payment record of lands which were purchased from the agency or a second party through mortgage loans. The volumes include purchaser indexes and are organized numerically by loan number.
The Default Property Journal (1887-1888) contains financial information regarding land buyers who did not complete payments on land purchased through the agency. Annotations in red ink
refer to correspondence in the agency's letterbooks and daybooks. The Soo Land and Improvement Company (possibly the Sault St. Marie Land and Improvement Company), which appears to have been involved in this defaulted property is repeatedly mentioned. An alphabetical index by purchaser's name is at the front of the volume.
Other land records include a few pages from what appears to have been a land sales log book (1884-1889) and some abstracts of title (1879-1904) detailing the history of property ownership on some lands which the agency owned.
PERSONAL PAPERS OF HARRY D. BAKER (1880-1953) document Baker's involvement with the community and region. They include materials relating to the construction and administration of the First Presbyterian Church in St. Croix Falls, his service on the Polk County Council of Defense during World War I, and his work with the Red Cross and county in offering disaster relief to farmers following a tornado which went through the area in 1922. A letterbook (1901-1911) contains correspondence relating to Baker's civic involvement including his work in the establishment of Wisconsin's first state park, Interstate Park in the Dalles of the St. Croix River.
An assortment of other materials includes photocopies of transcribed letters (1952-1953) written by Baker to his long-deceased brother, Clarence, which consist of Baker's reminiscences of his childhood and family, area history, the land agency, Presbyterian church, and thoughts of his brother. Also included is a transcribed interview conducted with Baker in 1950 by W. H. Glover in which he discusses the land agency, Interstate Park, his father, and interesting area personalities. One such personality was Swedish immigrant, Olaf Strandberg, and the collection includes a selection of his stories, in Swedish-English dialect, as remembered and written down by Baker.
