Scope and Content Note
This series consists of annual reports of Samuel Cooper, Inspector of Pot and Pearl Ashes in New York City for 1828 and 1829. Both reports consist of a chronological table of ashes inspected during the year, giving for each shipment of ashes the head mark (firm name or initials), number of barrels of potash scrapings, and fee charged; a "recapitulation" is at the end.
Accompanying both reports are letters of transmittal to the Comptroller and affidavits by Cooper that the figures were correct. The letter accompanying the 1828 report discusses problems in the inspection of pot and pearl ashes at New York City and compares the New York and Montreal markets for the product; it encloses a copy of a "voluntary report" which Cooper submitted to the legislature in 1816, giving table of shipments of potash from New York City 1815-1816. Other documents include three letters of R.R. Henry, Inspector of Pot and Pearl Ashes, New York City, to the governor and the comptroller, 1827-1829, describing fraud and neglect in inspection of ashes and calling for appointment of himself as Inspector-General; accounts of sales of unclaimed ashes, 1828, 1829, 1831; and affidavits of storage of pot and pearl ashes, 1830, 1831, 1836, 1838, and 1839.
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