Finding Aid to the Sweat-Comings Co. Papers, ca.1883-1922, ca.1960

The earliest papers in this collection are from C. A. Powell & Co. of Richford, Vermont, a general store that sold all types of merchandise including furniture, farm equipment, seeds, fertilizers, household goods, window treatments, tableware, cookware, paint, and wallpaper. By 1887, the store was operating under the name Powell & Comings. In addition to the goods listed above, it also sold hardware, carpets, undertaker's supplies, glass, and artist's materials. C. A. Powell and H. C. Comings were partners in this business.

Around 1890, Mr. Comings also went into partnership with S. P. Carpenter, I. J. Sweat, and E. H. Powell, in the firm of Sweat, Comings, & Co., manufacturers of furniture and building materials. The company made beds, chiffoniers, dressers, washstands, mirrors, commodes, window sashes, doors and door jambs, blinds, and moldings. They sold to furniture dealers, undertakers, and hotels, as well as directly to individuals, mostly in the Northeast. At least until 1922, the company also ran a gristmill as part of its operations and dealt in flour, feed, and grain. The company apparently established the Richford Electric Light Company around 1890, which provided electricity for other customers, too, not just for Sweat-Comings. Around 1902 the ampersand was dropped from the company name, and it became the Sweat-Comings Co. The company continued making furniture until about 1980.

Most of the papers document the various components of the Sweat-Comings Company. There are accounts payable invoices, vendor orders, correspondence, credit reports, daybooks, time books, cash books, furniture order books, records of lumber purchases, and account books from the gristmill operations. One volume of accounts is from the Lavene & Mills Gristmill, which later became part of the Sweat-Comings Co. Many of the volumes record the transactions of more than one operation; for example, daybooks record the sales of both furniture and building materials.

From the C. A. Powell Co., there are accounts payable invoices. From Powell & Comings Co., there are vendor orders and correspondence. Accounts payable invoices indicate that around 1890 the company started the Richford Electric Light Company.

This archive consists of thirteen boxes and 33 volumes. Box 1 through Box 6, folder 2 contain accounts payable invoices, both for C. A. Powell & Co. (1884-1885) and for Sweat-Comings Co. (1890-1904). The accounts payable invoices from 1896 to 1899 also include bills for the Richford Electric Light Company which were sent to Sweat-Comings Co. (Prior to that time, the Richford Electric Light Co. was billed separately and those bills are therefore filled separately, in Box 12.)

Box 6, folder 3 through Box 12, folder 2 contain vendor orders, incoming correspondence, and credit reports from the Lyon Mercantile Agency. These materials are found both for Powell and Comings (1887-1888) and for Sweat-Comings (1894-1904). Vendor orders and correspondence written on postcards are housed in Box 13. These date 1895-1899 and 1903-1904.

Also in Box 12 are railroad freight bills (1904); accounts payable invoices of the Richford Electric Light Company (1890-1895); accounts payable (1895-1896) and correspondence (1904) for the gristmill operations; and a brochure for the “Gable House” line of furniture being manufactured by Sweat-Comings around 1960.

The volumes record cash transactions, sales, inventories, and other accounts. Volumes 1-18 and volume 22 relate to the various aspects of the business: furniture making, building materials, and gristmill and feed operations.

Volumes 1-8 are daybooks. They record sales of furniture and building supplies such as doorjambs, windows, and veranda posts. The furniture sales do not always specify what was bought, but instead lists such items as “no. 3 suit.”

Volumes 9-11 are cash books. They record the receipt and the disbursement of money. Included are the names of workers and the number of days worked or the quantity of furniture made.

Volumes 12-13 are time books. They list the workers, the number of hours worked, and the amount of their wages.

Volumes 14-18 contain “names of accounts.” Mostly these are records of customers, but the volumes also list the value of the company's machinery, the stock on hand, and the physical plant of the company.

Volumes 19-21 record furniture orders. These list the name of the customer, the city in which the customer lived, what was ordered, and the charges. Sometimes the list of what was ordered just gives the stock number of the item, e.g. no. 790, rather than specifying what the article was.

Volume 22 contains an inventory of furniture and building materials for the years 1899 through 1905. Also included is a list of accounts still outstanding. Following the inventory and the list of outstanding accounts, there is a summary of assets and liabilities and a note about revenue for the year, including revenue from the electric plant. The inventory for 1905 includes not only furniture and wood in the finishing room and machine shop, but also the stock in the sawmill and the gristmill, and an inventory of the office furniture.

Volumes 23-25 record the sales of building supplies.

Volumes 26-28 record the purchase of logs and wood for the company. They give the names of the people from whom wood was purchased and the kind of wood bought. The company bought spruce, hemlock, birch, maple, and other kinds of wood.

Volumes 29-33 are account books from the gristmill operation. Volume 29 is from the Lavene & Mills Gristmill, which was later acquired by Sweat-Comings. The company sold different kinds of flour and feed.

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