University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections. J. J. McAlester Collection

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1 University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections J. J. McAlester Collection McAlester, James Jackson ( ). Papers, feet. Businessman. Correspondence ( ); store ledgers ( ); daybooks ( ); inventory books (n.d.); cash books ( ); and supporting records from the J. J. McAlester Mercantile Company in McAlester, Indian Territory. Records of J. J. McAlester Registration of Record Group #23 Provenance of Records: James Jackson McAlester, for many years a leader in business and political circles in southeastern Oklahoma and the man for whom the city of McAlester was named, was born in Arkansas in He moved to the Choctaw Nation at the age of twenty-four, after securing a map showing coal outcrops in this area. He obtained a position with a firm of Indian traders--reynolds & Hannaford; later he bought Reynolds out, after establishing a store at Bucklucksy, which is now known as North McAlester. Near the store he discovered coal outcrops and secured the mining rights by marriage to Rebecca Burney in August, For four years, from 1893 to 1897, he served by appointment as United States Marshal for the United States Court having jurisdiction over matters within the Choctaw Tribe. Politically, he was a member of the Democratic party and on that ticket he was elected to the Corporation Commission in 1907 and to the office of Lieutenant-Governor for the term beginning January 9, He died at McAlester, Oklahoma, on September 22, This collection consists mainly of correspondence, day books, ledgers, journals, and cash books of Colonel McAlester's mercantile stores from 1870 to The discovery of the papers was made by Konrad K. Koch, fellowship grantee, who arranged for their transfer to the University. The materials were received as an outright gift. Description of Records Transferred: The collection consists of: two volumes of letter-press books containing copies of out-going correspondence, ; two volumes of incoming correspondence, receipts, and invoices, ; twenty-one ledgers which give itemized account of general merchandise purchased by each customer, ; ninety-six day books giving a daily diary of merchandise sold with prices; ; seventeen inventory books listing merchandise in stock; eleven cash books giving day-to-day transactions of cash taken in and paid out, ; and forty-six miscellaneous delivery books, want books, labor account books, etc. Inclusive dates; Quantity: 55 cubic feet. These records were received from Mr. Harold Hopkins, Mrs. Sudie Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Olinger and Mrs. W.B. McAlester. The donors have placed no restrictions upon the use of these records.

2 Description of Records Not Transferred: Additional business records, covering the period beginning about the time of statehood, were retained in the store vaults. These materials have been promised for transfer at a later date. I. Business Records Location: Contained within this series are records relating to J. J. McAlester's business interests. In particular these concern his mercantile stores, but there is also some information on his mining operations and rental properties. These records span the years 1871 to 1952 with the majority being from the years 1885 to The major body is composed of invoices, receipts, ledgers, cashbooks, daybooks, and inventory books. There is also some information regarding taxes, wages, accounts, and statements. Material in this series is found in boxes 1-15, 19-38, and in the oversized books. Box 1 Folder 1 Invoices: January - March (1890) 2 " September (1890) 3 " October (1890) 4 " April - June (part 1) (1891) 5 " April - June (part 2) (1891) 6 " July - Sept. (part 1) (1891) 7 " July - Sept. (part 2) (1891) 8 " Oct. - Dec. (part 1) (1891) Box 2 Folder 1 Invoices: Oct. - Dec. (part 2) (1891) 2 " January (1892) 3 " February (1892) 4 " March (1892) 5 " April - May (1892) 6 " June (1892) 7 " July (1892) Box 3 Folder 1 Invoices: August (1892) 2 September (1892) 3 Oct. - Nov. (1892) 4 December (1892) 5 January (1893) 6 Feb. - March (1893) 7 April (1893) 8 May - June (1893) Box 4 Folder 1 Invoices: August (1893) 2 September (1893) 3 October (1893) 4 Jan. - March (part 1) (1894) 5 Invoices: Jan. - March (part 2) (1894) 6 April - June (part 1) (1894)

3 7 April - June (part 2) (1894) Box 5 Folder 1 Invoices: January - December (1899) 2 January - March (1900) 3 April - June (1900) 4 July - September (1900) 5 October - December (1900) 6 January - June (1901) 7 July - December (1901) 8 January - March (1902) 9 April - June (1902) 10 July - September (1902) 11 October (1902) 12 November (1902) 13 December (1902) Box 6 Folder 1 Invoices: January - March (1919) 2 April - June (1919) 3 November - December (1919) 4 November - December (1920) 5 January - March (part 1) (1921) 6 January - March (part 2) (1921) 7 January - March (part 3) (1921) 8 April - May (part 1) (1921) Box 7 Folder 1 Invoices: April - May (part 2) (1921) 2 January - March (1924) 3 April - June (1924) 4 July - September (1924) 5 October - December (1924) 6 July - December (1951) 7 January (1952) 8 February (1952) 9 March (1952) 10 April (1952) Box 8 Folder 1 Invoices: May (1952) 2 Receipts (part 1) (1886) 3 Receipts (part 2) (1886) 4 Receipts (1891) 5 Receipts (1892) 6 Cancelled checks: North End Mercantile Co.(part 1) ( ) 7 North End Mercantile Co.(part 2) ( ) 8 "Itemized Cash Account" (190?) 9 Lists of Accounts (1908, 1909, 1913) 10 Payroll lists of N. End Mercantile Co. (1922) 11 Lists of numbers (unidentified)

4 12 Property Assessment Lists (1913, ) Box 9 Folder 1 Sales tax reports of N. End Mercantile ( ) 2 Tax Receipts ( ) 3 Employee income tax withholdings: N. End Mercantile Co. ( ) 4 Copy of "New Intangibles Tax Law" (1939) 5 Letter from the IRS to N. End Mercantile re: additional taxes due (1939) 6 Bank account balance sheets of J.A. Barnett ( ) 7 S.H. Barnes and Co. re: delinquent accts. (1908) 8 Licenses, certificates, tax stamps ( ) 9 Statements for stores 1, 2, and 3 (1889) 10 Letter from Yukon Mills re: indebtedness of (1952) N. End Mercantile 11 Information on Daniel Danahy for (1892) establishing credit 12 Price lists from Star Mill and Elevator Co. (1938) 13 Notice from the OK Employ. Security Comm. (1948) re: Employer's Benefit Wage Ratio 14 Estimate for the construction of a R.R. 15 Receipts for rent (1906) Rents collected, September (? ) 16 Receipts for the purchase of a mining lease (1907) 1 Vol.- hard bound letter books containing receipts, invoices, and correspondence. ( ) Box 10 2 Vol.- hard bound letter books containing receipts, ( ) invoices, etc. ( ) Box 11 1 Vol.-hard bound letter book containing receipts, ( ) invoices, etc. Box 12 2 Vol.- hard bound letter books containing receipts, ( ) invoices, etc. (1889) Box 13 Check stubs: , , , , Box 14 Folder 1 Purchases on Account tickets: last name beginning with A - B ( ) 2 C - E ( ) 3 F - M ( ) 4 N - R ( ) 5 S - Z ( ) I. Subseries: Office of Price Administration This material concerns rationing and price control of goods during WWII.

5 Box 15 Folder 1 Memorandum, correspondence, notices ( ) 2 Two copies of "OPA Food Guide" (Jan. 1944) 3 Copies of Retailer's Bulletin, No. 48 (Dec. 1943) No. 51 (Feb. 1944) 4 Price Lists and Pricing Charts ( ) II. Legal Papers This series contains various legal papers such as contracts, deeds, leases, notices, etc. Folder 5 Papers of S.H. Barnes (1907) 6 Papers of J.A. Barnett ( ) 7 Papers of the Confederate Memorial Assoc. (1904) 8 Papers of J.B. McAlester ( ) 9 Papers of J.J. McAlester ( ) 10 Papers of W.B. McAlester ( ) III. Printed Materials This material is composed of various printed matter such as newspaper clippings, articles, notices, etc. 11 "Notice to Holders of Town Lots", re: sale of lots (1906) 12 "An Act to Create a Board of Examiners and Regulate the Business of Plumbing in Certain Cities" 13 Report re: Description, powers, and duties of the Interstate Commerce Commission 14 "Provision of the Treaty of 1898 Exempting Choctaw Lands from Taxation" 15 Speech: J.J. McAlester to the North Western Oklahoma Irrigation Congress 16 Newspaper clippings and advertisements 17 Page from "Affairs in the Indian Territory" 18 Blank letterhead from N. End Mercantile 19 Copy of the Muskogee Daily Phoenix, No. 33. re: the sinking of the Tuscania. February 7, Schedule of monthly meetings 21 "Geology of the Eastern Choctaw Coal Field", J. Taff (1900) 22 Printed obituary of Mrs. Rebecca McAlester, IV. Correspondence Contained within this series are both loose and hard bound copies of letters to and from J.J. McAlester, J.J.'s attorneys, and some of Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Barnes. Box 16 Folder Correspondence from J.J. to persons with last name beginning with: 1 A-B ( ) 2 C-D 3 E-G 4 H-K 5 L-N

6 6 O-R 7 S-T 8 U-Z 9 A-H ( ) 10 I-R ( ) 11 S-Z ( ) 12 Correspondence concerning Penny vs. McAlester (1908, 1911) 13 Correspondence from the Lieutenant Gov. Office ( ) 14 Correspondence c/o Corporation Commission ( ) 15 Correspondence between J.J. and his attorneys ( ) 16 Correspondence between J.J's attorneys and a third party ( ) 17 Correspondence from F.M. Davis regarding the store (1908) 18 Correspondence of J.A. Barnett ( ) 19 Correspondence of Mr. Hopkins (1948) 20 Correspondence of Mr. Barnes ( ) Box 17 1 vol.- Bound copies of correspondence from J.J. ( ) 1 vol.- Letter copy book of correspondence from J.J. concerning business ( ) 1 vol.- Letter copy book from Osage Coal & Mining Co. ( ) Box 18 ** 1 vol.- Letter copy book of correspondence from J.J. to the National Bank of Denison ( ) ** 1 vol.- Letter copy book of deeds, cases, and suits of J.J. ( ) ** 1 vol.- Letter copy book from the Osage Trading Co.? ** 1 vol.- record of minutes of meetings for the formation and activities of the N. End Improvement Co. ( ) CASH BOOKS- daily transactions of cash, running totals of cash and scrip on hand. Box 19 Seven volumes: 9/10/91 to 3/5//92, 3/7//92 to 9/30/92, 10/3/92 to 8/31/93, 9/1/93 to 4/25/94, 4/26/94 to 10/17/94, 10/19/94 to 4/30/95, 5/1/95 to 8/7/95 Box 20 Eight volumes: 8/8/95 to 11/11/95, 11/12/95 to 2/17/96, 2/18/96 to 5/25/96, 5/26/96 to 10/12/96, 10/13/96 to 3/2/97, 3/3/97 to 7/16/97, 7/17/97 to 12/2/97, 12/13/97 to 4/21/98 Box 21 Daily Journals of cash and scrip sales by patron: Four volumes

7 1/12/1894 to 10/20/94, 10/22/94 to 12/4/94, 12/5/95 to 10/10/96, 8/12/97 to 10/17/98 Box 22 Cash Books: Six volumes: 1/1886 to 8/1886, 9//86 to 8/88, 4/88 to 11/89, 5/89 to 8/90, 8/90 to 5/91, 1/1904 to 8/1910 Box 23 Cash Books: Four volumes: 5/08 to 1/10, 8/09 to 10/13, 11/10 to 12/17, 7/12 to 11/13 Box 24 Cash books: Four volumes: 12/21 to 12/23, 2/22 to 12/29, 8/46 to 1/51, 1896 Box 25 Bound check stubs dated from: , , , **available on microfilm Box 26 Bound check stubs dated from: , Box 27 Bound check stubs dated from: , vol.- check book dated 1901 Box 28 Accounts Journals: Daily and monthly status of accounts and purchases made on account. Five volumes: , , , , vol.- "Farm accounts" book Box 29 ** Daybooks: Daily diary of merchandise sold including the prices. 8 volumes: , 2/6/98 to 1/21/99, 3/18/99 to 5/9/99, 9/17/1901 to 11/28/01, 11/27/01 to 11/28/02, 4/9/02 to 7/31/02, 9/30/03 to 12/3/03, 2/14/10 to 3/18/10. Box 30 Invoice/Inventory books, 10 volumes dated: 1885, 1888 (2vol.), 1889, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1896 (2vol.) Box 31 Invoice/Inventory books, 11 volumes dated: 1897, 1898, 1899 (4vol.), 1901, 1903 (2 vol.), 1905, Box 32 Invoice/Inventory books, 8 volumes dated: 1907, 1916, 1933, , 1948, 1949, 2 volumes undated. Order books- orders placed by individuals, 1 vol. dated

8 Box 33 Order books- orders placed by individuals, 5 volumes dated: , 1898 (2 vol.), volumes- delivery books Box 34 Delivery books- 13 volumes from vol.- "Want book", vol.- "Lumber book", vol.- "Diggers Yardage", vol. Various personal account books 2 vol. Unidentified books ** Book on microfilm Box 35 1 vol.- General ledger concerning mining operations, vol.- "Purchases book", vol.- book marked "Penny Matter" 4 vol.- unidentified paper bound books Box 36 1 vol.- "Dry goods charge book", 2/24/1900 to 6/22/ vol.- "Laborer Accounts", 6/1884 to 1/ vol.- "Accounts of Laborers", vol.- "Laborer Accounts book", vol.- "Merchandise Account Book", vol.- "Dry Goods Charges", 10/1899 to 2/ vol.- "Livery Stable Accounts", vol.- "Pelly Ledger", 1886 Box 37 1 vol.- check book, vol.- check book, vol.- "Income Tax book", vol.- Account book, vol.- "Uncollected balances", vol.- "Balance Sheets" for the Osage Trading Co. and for J.J. McAlester Mercantile Co., vol.- "Collection book" for the Osage Trading Co., vol.- "Registration of Fire and Tornado Insurance" with a layout of the store and the surrounding buildings, vol.- Journal of total sales by month, vol.- "Sales of Corn and Potatoes", 1895 Box 38 Miscellaneous Artifacts: 75 stereoviewer pictures 1 metal sign "S.H. Barnes & Co."

9 1 calendar from Geological map of the Eastern Choctaw Coal Fields OVERSIZED BOOKS DAYBOOK # DATES 1 11/25/1889-1/23/90 2 1/24/90-3/7/90 3 4/8/90-6/11/90 4 6/10/90-8/16/90 5 6/13/90-8/29/90 6 8/30/90-11/24/ /5/90-2/23/91 8 1/19/91-3/28/91 9 2/24//91-4/14/ /15/91-6/1/ /1/91-7/17/ /17/91-10/7/ /24/91-9/23/ /8/91-2/22/ /1/91-2/20/ /6/92-7/8/ /22/92-8/2/ /25/92-7/5/ /7/92-12/13/ /13/92-11/30/ /16/92-9/30/ /21/92-9/25/ /20/93-3/24/ /4/93-4/4/ /27/94-9/29/ /6/94-10/25/ /1/94-2/9/ /27/94-2/25/ /12/95-4/13/ /25/95-12/3/ /27/95-8/31/ /7/95-8/07/ /16/95-10/11/ /03/95-10/17/ /08/95-1/11/ /14/95-3/18/ //05/95-10/20/ /17/96-9/2/ /20/96-7/18/ /29/96-2/03/98

10 41 9/04/96-10/16/ /23/97-12/01/ /11/97-8/20/ /06/97-10/16/ /21/96-2/02/ /21/96-10/9/ /02/97-5/08/ /15/97-7/02/ /07/97-10/7/ /01/97-4/30/ /11/97-1/07/ /12/97-3/10/ /16/97-3/07/ /17/98-7/07/ /09/98-9/10/ /11/98-10/21/ /30/98-11/2/ /08/98-10/25/ /13/98-2/28/ /20/98-1/26/ /22/98-9/25/ /4/98-11/17/ //28/99-5/08/ /02/99-1/27/ /09/99-8/28/ /29/99-12/21/ /26/99-7/6/ /20/99-6/25/ /22/99-4/12/ /27/00-8/21/ /13/00-8/06/ /7/00-10/6/ /10/00-12/30/ /7/00-11/26/ /23/00-1/27/ /8/00-12/18/ /19/00-2/8/ /30/00-2/9/ /18/00-2/13/ /08/01-3/01/ /29/01-2/09/ /11/01-4/26/ /27/01-7/09/ /01/01-3/12/ /01/01-5/10/ /01/02-7/09/ /14/02-10/31/ /24/02-5/28/ /12/02-12/15/02

11 90 5/14/02-6/19/ /9/02-2/20/ /28/02-11/29/ /1/02-8/05/ /29/02-3/9/ /17/02-7/28/ /16/03-2/9/ /23/03-1/11/ /3/03-6/06/ /20/03-6/13/ /10/03-6/5/ /02/03-10/5/ /22/03-12/31/ /27/03-5/01/ /27/03-6/09/ /05/03-8/11/03 (butcher) 106 7/24/03-12/3/ /05/03-3/23/ /01/03-4/23/ /12/04-5/18/ /11/04-5/19/ /23/04-7/27/ /03/05-5/08/ /11/05-3/18/ /11/05-9/30/ /19/07-7/31/07, Invoice for Dec. 31, /1/07-5/12/ /1/07-12/30/07, Invoice for Dec. 31, /02/08-12/31/11, Invoice for Dec. 31, /13/09-4/21/ /22/10-8/07/ /18/10-8/09/ /01/11-4/14/ /10/12-10/30/ /15/30-1/29/ /18/15-9/09/ /11/16-12/07/ /31/16-7/30/ /8/17-5/15/ /17/19-9/30/ /31/20-5/31/ /1/20-2/28/ /01/22-6/20/ /02/23-12/31/ /01/25-5/25/ /30/91-5/30/ /01/91-7/31/ /24/91-11/30/ /16/94-9/01/94

12 139 3/19/09-6/17/ /10/01-9/14/ /16/01-10/31/ /29/02-8/26/ , , , , Ledgers- Itemized accounts of general merchandise purchased by each customer , with directory Ledger marked "Old Dry Ledger",

13 184 Ledger, with day book, "Journal" of itemized debits, Book marked "Register", Cash book dated 10/96-8/ Cash book dated 4/97-9/ Cash book dated 3/1898-7/ Cash book dated 4/1901-1/ Cash book dated 10/1912-5/ Cash book dated 6/1916-7/ Cash book dated 8/1919-9/ Cash book dated 10/ / Book marked "Monthly Account Book" 196 "Insurance Policy Register"