On the flyleaf of this volume an inscription provides the title, "Ledger of the Oregon City Drug Store, October 16th 1854." Covering the store's accounts from 1854-1863, the handwritten ledger provides lists of customer names, their purchases on credit, and their account balances. Purchases noted within the volume include such items as olive oil, lamp wicks, ink, pain killer, hops, lime juice, tincture of camphor, soap, eggs, kerosene, cough syrup and candy. Many of the individuals listed are doctors, though other individuals (including a few women) and businesses are also present.
A microfilm version of this ledger was produced from this, which is the original, in 1964 by the Oregon Historical Society, and can be found in several other libraries.
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Oregon City Drug Store Ledger, Pacific University Archives, Forest Grove, Oregon.
The Oregon City Drug Store sold pharmacy items alongside groceries and other sundries in the 1850s. In business between at least 1854-1863, it allowed individual people as well as businesses to open tabs and purchase items on credit. Some of its notable business customers included G. Abernethy & Co. (the business of the former governor of Oregon, George Abernethy), the Oregon Argus (a newspaper), and the Steamers "Onward", "Elk", "James Clinton", and "Relief". Many of the individuals who had credit accounts at the store were doctors. They included: Dr. Forbes Barclay (doctor at Fort Vancouver), Dr. Alden Hatch Steele (doctor and mayor of Oregon City) and Dr. William C. McKay (half Clatsop Indian and early settler). The name of the proprietor of the drug store is unknown.