Penny record book : simplified bookkeeping

Object/Artifact

St. Mary's County Historical Society, Leonardtown, MD

Name/Title

Entry/Object ID

2022.004.0001

Description

10 7/8"h x 8 3/8"w x 1/4" thick paperbound ledger. The title surrounds a coppery image of a penny that is 3 1/2" long. The background of the cover is dark cream with lines of 1/2" circles all over the front. An 11/16" orange line, banded in brown, is about two inches up from the bottom of the cover with text, "Penny Publishing Co. * Oklahoma City, Okla." On the back is a list of record books offered by the company. On cover p. 2 are descriptions of other products on offer. Cover p. 3 advertises a payroll accounting system. The first page of the ledger shows a pair of pages correctly filled in. The first pair of pages is for the unnamed store for January 1-5, 1952. On the left is a large space for Weekly Merchandise Purchased with columns for Name, one column each for Monday to Saturday, with the final column for Total. In the Name column there were lines for Market, Dairy, Groceries, and Other. At the bottom of this space is a line for totaling by day and then a combined total. At the bottom of the page were lines and columns to keep track of Charges Sales Cancelled, Sales Tax Collected, Sales Averages, Loss from Perishables or Bad Debts, Merchandise Returned, and Bank Account activity. On the right page was a narrow column for Weekly Expenses divided into Supplies, Overhead, and Labor. Overhead had several subcategories, like rent and telephone and taxes. Below that space was a small box for recording Unpaid Charge Sales. In a fair sized box to the right were Weekly sales with lines for each day and columns for department or clerk, received on account, cash sales, charge sales, and total sales. Over the column for Cash Sales, the storekeeper wrote, "Bar," and over the Charge Sales column he wrote, "Store." Under this box was a box for Daily cash summary with columns for each of six days and lines for Received on Account, Deduct for Food Stamps or Coupons, etc. This storekeeper did not use all the columns, lines, and categories available; he selected what made sense for him. At the very back of the book were two pages with columns and lines for Summary of Weekly Business for the Year. The storekeeper filled out the Weekly Mdse. Purchases and the Weekly Sales columns only and just through May. Comparing the two columns indicates there was not much profit in the business.

Collection

Miscellaneous Documents Collection

Made/Created

Date made

1952

Location

Container

Miscellaneous Documents Box 2

Shelf

Rack 17, Shelf 3

Rack

Rack 17

Wall

North wall

Room

Archives 2

Building

Tudor Hall