Ledgers of J. H. Adams & Sons
Ledgers of Adams
What the Archive is telling us....
The Ledgers
High up on the beautiful original bookshelves inside the shop sat over 15 original hardback ledger books, off-white colour, each with their own number handwritten on the spine. They belong to the Adams Heritage Centre Archive, a collection of original accounts, cash books, order books, letters, business stationery and original trade catalogues and literature that have survived over three generations and and 110 years and tell us how this extraordinary ordinary shop was at the heart of living and working in Littleport and the wider fenlands from 1910 - 2010.
Lying one on top of one another, with a fine layer of dust on their covers, who would think they hold a fascinating history capturing the daily life of J. H. Adams & Sons on Main Street which help us see a picture of how the community worked over 100 years. They are evidence that the shop was used by nearly every business and household in the village in its time and in the wider areas of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
Looking inside these is a treat – the crinkly paper, the copperplate handwriting, the different styles of each member of staff but the unmistakable long sweeping hand of John Henry Adams who first took over the shop from Cutlacks and Harlock we think around 1900.
The pages meticulously list each sale, whether a small handful of nails, a hook, a small ball of string or a larger household purchase – a mattress or new paraffin lamp, hand tools or larger farming equipment. We learn the needs of people and see lists of customer names, family names we know today as well as businesses and farms seeing how important this little shop was to keep rural lives going and trades to thrive. Customers travelled from Downham Market, Southery, Wisbech, Ramsey, Boston, Bourne and Thetford.
Ledgers No 10 and 11
Taking the first two ledgers that are the earliest ones left in this archive, numbers 10 and 11, we read the first entry Thursday June 9th 1910 : a bag of 5 ¼ inch nails!
William Gill bought 2 iron pails, Mr Fletcher from Brandon Bank an iron bedstead (8ft x 6ft), a woollen mattress and a straw pallaise, at huge expense of £1. 12 shillings and 6d (pence).
On Saturday 10th September, Wesley Church in Littleport paid for a clean and repair to all of the gas burners in the church, vestry and school and J. H. Adams & Son sold them new globes for their lights and 5 new radiators.
Victorian Shopping
The ledgers demonstrate a time when all records were handwritten and shopkeepers used a system of writing transactions in cash books, keeping alphabetical lists of customers and their monthly accounts and handwritten lists of suppliers from across the UK who sent their latest brand, tool, product and item to Littelport We have a small wooden cash box that was used to hold money and give a small receipt.
The shopping experience was face to face, whether buying small or large items, cash was passed between shopkeeper and customer. Customers at times, and if trusted and loyal, had their own accounts with the shop which would be settled weekly or monthly or longer!
Reading each transaction and its description builds a picture over time - shoppers coming into the shop, the ring of the doorbell, conversations being had between shop staff and customers, exchanging news, perhaps taking a seat for a few minutes. Seeing who these people were takes us from the shop to the farm, post office, fire station, school, dairy, business, cinema, home and we understand what that specific item, large or small was going to be used for there.
Littleport’s Repair Shop
The shop at that time ran a forge in a separate building at the back of the shop leading out to what is now Hempfield Drive – here repairs to all metal items were carried out. This was Littleport’s very own Repair Shop. In the early ledgers we see many repairs carried out for people - we see Miss Cultack , of Harlock and Cutlack Brewery needed repairs to a bell, Mr Daniels repaired his copper tea kettle for 8d and Mr Cutlack brought in the cook’s knife from The Grange for sharpening.
Looking through further that year, the Postmaster of Ely brought in bicycles to repair twice annually at J.H. Adams & Sons 4 or 5 bicycles at a time. The picture emerges of a shop bustling with people from all areas of life stopping for a time to catch up and hearing the sounds of metal being worked, perhaps the sound of horses and the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor and stairs we see today.
This unique archive has in it original letterheads from a wide range of companies across the UK who supplied Adams with its stock, trade catalogues and price lists for tools, cutlery, galvanised goods, garden furniture, even school desks, prams and wheelchairs, iron railings, flooring , heating lighting , plumbing and all kinds of farming equipment.
There is much to research through the cash books and accounts and one amazing find has been a unique ledger showing that during the period of 1920s, and 30s, J. H Adams & Sons was the only supplier of Norwegian Hagan Skates in the UK – this ledger details the sales of Hagan Skates to world championship fen skaters such as Cyril Horne. The shop played a significant role in the creation of a National Skating Association established in Cambridge and later moved to London, as its only supplier of Norwegian skates.
There are very few places in the UK now like J. H . Adams &Sons– this site has been recognised as a place of unique preservation with the interior and shop frontage in tact, with a collection of objects which would have been stock found still in it from a range of periods, the business archive and the original Grade II listed barn in situ at the rear of the shop. The ledgers are a significant part of the collection providing daily and weekly insights into how the shop building was used. More research is needed to fully draw out what they tell us.
What Happens Next……………..
At the moment we are working through the ledgers, the objects and archive to understand what is here in detail so we can provide a public catalogue and images for display for visitors to the shop and to present online on our website. We have many different people already involved in this mammoth task including Littleport Camera Club who meet regularly and have been painstakingly photographing every page of these ledgers and objects over the past couple of years. In the near future we hope to upload selections for you to see on our website.
We are listing and researching the trade literature to link with company archives and identify images and details for displays.
Inspiring The Community
The archives have already been inspiring people in the last year through creative activities at the Heritage Centre - artists have been commissioned to create their own responses to the shop and its collections and these will remain in the shop as a new Contemporary Art Collection.
Textile artist, Ricki Outis has been researching the ledgers and sourcing images of domestic items from the catalogues to use in creating her oversized unique printed apron that hangs in our window – her response to the items bought by women listed in the ledgers that were to be used in the home and forunpaid work.
This year we have been able to work with the Workers Education Association who are delivering creative wellbeing workshops for the community and we are so pleased that objects and designs from the collection have inspired participants in their own work led by artist and printmaker Pam Cole. Pupils from Highfields School, Littleport have also been making regular visits to investigate objects close up and learn more about the shopping experience from years ago.
We look forward in the coming weeks and months to show more stories from the archive here and updates on how people are helping preserve and use this unique collection here in Littleport.
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Littleport
CB6 1PH
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