Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series IV: Receipts

This series consists primarily of receipted invoices, 1900-1926, for personal and office expenses incurred by Henry Clay Frick, his family, and staff. The receipts encompass a range of goods and services, including groceries, clothing, transportation, medical expenses, club dues and charges, books and subscriptions, utilities, and payroll. These items document expenses at the Frick family's homes in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Prides Crossing, Mass., their residences at 640 Fifth Avenue and 1 East 70th Street in New York, N.Y., and some of the family's travels. Alterations and upkeep of these residences, as well as maintenance and improvement to their grounds are recorded. Expenses incurred after Frick's death in December 1919 were paid by his estate.

Goods and services documented here were procured through both businesses and individuals , and a brief description of the charge incurred is included with each entry in the finding aid below. Receipts are occasionally accompanied by correspondence, passbooks, or printed material, such as notices, brochures, and pamphlets. Folder contents may range from a single item to several folders of documents. Examples of some of the more voluminous files in this series are grocers (Acker, Merrall and Condit Co.; Childs, Sleeper and Co.; Clark Bros. and Co.; Edw. Treser Co.; Geo. M. Hofmann; John A. Renshaw and Co.; North Shore Fish Co.; and Rowley's Provision Co.), ice (Consolidated Ice Co.), shipping (Adams Express Co., American Express Co.), utilities (Allegheny Light Co. and People's Natural Gas Co.), telephone and telegraph services (New England Telephone and Telegraph Co., New York Telephone Co., Western Union Telegraph Co., Central District and Printing Telegraph Co., and Postal Telegraph-Cable Co.), stationers ( J.R. Weldin and Co. and Stevenson and Foster Co.), and payroll. While most receipts are filed under the service provider, certain employees in the Frick household kept their own accounts and submitted monthly expense summaries, filed here under the employee's surname. These include chauffeur George Despres, coachman James Elmore, gardeners David Fraser and George Wyness, butler Joseph Holroyd, engineer John Holroyd, and private rail car steward L. Perkins.

This series is not a complete record of all invoices paid by Henry Clay Frick's office and household. In fact, receipts in this series tend to be for smaller expenses, and appear to have been paid through the secretary's account in Frick's Pittsburgh office. Larger expenses were paid through the accounts payable voucher system (see: Henry Clay Frick Papers, Series III: Voucher Files, where additional receipts and invoices can be found).