Larry Kreiser
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY

and Philip N. Dare
LEXINGTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

SHAKER ACCOUNTING RECORDS AT PLEASANT HILL 1830-1850

Abstract: Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky was the third largest of nineteen Shaker communities which existed in eight states during the nineteenth century. Many of the accounting records used by the Pleasant Hill Shakers are still in existence. An analysis of these records indicates that the same care and attention to detail which came to be associated with the Pleasant Hill Shakers in agricul¬ture, mechanics, and architecture is also evident in their accounting records.

THE VILLAGE OF PLEASANT HILL

“Let a stranger visit your country, and enquire … for your best specimens of agriculture, mechanics and archi-tecture, and sir, he is directed to visit the Society of Shakers at Pleasant Hill.”

—Robert Wickliffe, Senate of Kentucky, January 1831

Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky was the third largest of nineteen Shaker communities which existed in eight states during the nineteenth century. Other Shaker communities were founded in the New England states, New York, and Ohio. The Shakers were a religious group and were called Shakers because of the trembling which occurred during their religious dancing. The Shakers were also industrious and inventive people. Some of the many inventions attributed to the Shakers are the flat broom, wooden clothes pins, circular saws, and washing machines.

Shakertown at Pleasant Hill was established in 1805. By 1830, the community had grown to approximately 300 inhabitants. During the years 1820-1860, the Pleasant Hill Shakers were very prosperous in business. They were successful in the production and sale of farm animals, flat brooms, preserves, garden seeds, and herbs. They were also innovators in scientific farming, the propagation of farm animals, and development of agricultural implements. Pleasant Hill continued to prosper until the Civil War in the 1860s. After the Civil War, problems caused by the war and other changes taking place in America resulted in the weakening of the Pleasant Hill community to the point where it was eventually dissolved in 1910. Pleasant Hill has been restored to its early nineteenth century appearance by Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, Inc., a nonprofit, edu¬cational corporation. Shakertown at Pleasant Hill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been declared a National Landmark by the Department of the Interior of the Federal Government.

Many of the accounting records used by the Pleasant Hill Shakers are still in existence. An analysis of these records indicates that the same care and attention to detail which came to be associated with the Pleasant Hill Shakers in agriculture, mechanics, and archi-tecture is also evident in their accounting records.

Eight Pleasant Hill accounting journals and ledgers are included in The Filson Club Library Collection. The Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky, is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Kentucky history. These records cover various periods from 1826-1910. Permission to photograph and quote from the Pleasant Hill accounting records has been received from The Filson Club. One additional Pleasant Hill account book is included in the University of Kentucky Library collection. Due to the volumi¬nous nature of these records, this article is limited to an analysis of the available records for the period 1830-1850. This period covers the more prosperous years of Pleasant Hill Shakerism.
Use of Day Book (Journal)

Since many early American farmers and merchants bought and sold goods on credit, it was important that they maintain account¬ing records. Many of these records consisted mainly of personal accounts of debtors and creditors grouped together in a ledger book. When a business transaction involving credit took place, an entry was recorded directly to the related debtor or creditor’s ac¬count. Some early American merchants, with large numbers of busi¬ness transactions, would first record a business transaction in a day book (journal) before recording it in a ledger book. The use of a day book provided an accounting record where business transac¬tions were recorded in chronological order of occurrence. The Pleasant Hill Shakers did use a day book for most of the period 1830-1850. An example of the Pleasant Hill day book for the period October 11-13, 1847 is shown in Figure 1.

A review of the entries in the Pleasant Hill day book indicates the Shakers used standard bookkeeping practices of the period. Refer-ences are made in the day book to debits (Dr.) and credits (Cr.). All debit entries in the day book are prefaced by the word “to” which indicates why the account was charged. All credit entries are prefaced by the word “by” which indicates how the account was settled.

The numbers to the immediate right of the dates in Figure 1 in¬dicate that the Pleasant Hill Shakers used a numerical indexing system in their accounting ledger book. A review of the indexing system indicates that accounts of debtors and creditors were entered into the ledger book and numbered in chronological order of the first transaction. No attempt was made to alphabetize the listing of accounts. Also, accounts of debtors (accounts receivable) and creditors (accounts payable) were not categorized into two separate groups since, as with many early American merchants, continual exchange of goods between various parties could have resulted in a debtor one day becoming a creditor the next day and vice versa.

The last entry recorded in Figure 1, a note for $5.50 assigned by M. Crow on M. Willam and given to the Shakers by Richard Evans, is an example of how notes payable were used by early American merchants to expand the limits of trade. A creditor might receive a note receivable in settlement of an account receivable. The creditor would then give the note to someone else in exchange for goods. It was common in the 1800’s for a note to circulate between many parties and take on the characteristics of paper money. The value of a note and its negotiability depended on the credit worthiness of its maker.

Annual Accounting

Many early American accounting records were not closed and balanced on a regular yearly basis. Accounting records did not have to be kept for income tax purposes; therefore, yearly balancing was not a crucial element in an accounting system. Also, many businesses were owned and operated by one person and did not have to prepare periodic reports for outsiders. For an organization like Pleasant Hill, however, where the village trustees had a fiduci¬ary responsibility to village members, annual closing and balancing of accounting records assumed a more important position. Pleasant Hill accounting records still in existence for the period 1830-1850 were closed and balanced on an annual basis with a March 31 year-ending date. As shown in Figure 2, the Pleasant Hill Shakers sold $17,966.76% of goods and services for the year ending March 31, 1841 and bought $14,968.32 of goods and services for a net increase in assets during the year of $2,998.44%. A review of Figure 2 indi¬cates that the Shakers not only kept track of cash receipts and cash disbursements for the year but also adjusted for changes in ac¬counts receivable and accounts payable balances at the end of the year in order to get a more accurate picture of the net change in their assets for the year.

Income and Expense Accounting

Revenue and expense accounts are not commonly found in early American accounting records. Lack of a need to keep accounting records for income tax purposes and no need to prepare periodic reports for parties outside the business are cited again as the main reasons for the lack of income and expense accounting among early American businessmen.

The Pleasant Hill Shakers did not keep separate revenue and expense accounts in their accounting ledgers. They did, however, make yearly analyses which attempted in a rough way to correlate yearly expenses with revenues for the ventures they entered into each year. Figure 3 shows selected income and expense analyses for the year ended March 31, 1841. During the year, the Shakers made $124.26% on leather transactions, $1,074.07% from the sale of linseed oil, $2,177.18 from the sale of hogs, $1,570.50 from the sale of cattle, $379.00 on horse transactions, and $2,468.55 from the sale of garden seeds. Revenues from the sale of leather, cattle, horses, and garden seeds were consistently good throughout the period 1830-1850. Revenues from the manufacture and sale of linseed oil were extremely good during the late 1830’s when linseed oil sold for $1.00 to $1.25 a gallon. During the 1840’s linseed oil sales steadily declined until in 1850 the linseed oil mill was closed [Ham, 1955, pp. 197-198]. Income from the sale of hogs was consistently good during the period until 1848 when a prohibition against the use of hog meat was made mandatory in all Shaker communities. This prohibition eliminated one of the best sources of revenues for the Pleasant Hill Shakers [Ham, p. 189].

Figure 4 shows some additional income and expense analyses for the year ended March 31, 1842. Among the analyses shown, the Shakers made a net income of $115.10/4 on grass seed transactions, made $26.78 on salt transactions, and paid out $2,162.50 for 7205/6 roods of stone fencing at $3.00 per rood. A rood is a unit of length varying locally from five and one-half to eight yards. Over twenty miles of stone fencing was constructed around Pleasant Hill over a twenty-five year period from 1826 to 1852 [Ham, p. 136]. Figure 5 shows some of the stone fencing which still surrounds Shakertown at Pleasant Hill.

Physical Inventories

During the period 1830-1850, the Pleasant Hill Shakers were inno-vators in the use of scientific farming and in the propagation of sheep, cattle, and hogs. They introduced purebred shorthorn cattle into Central Kentucky and were frequently asked to judge at fine cattle shows. At various times they took physical inventories of their livestock and recorded the physical counts in their accounting records. As shown in Figure 6, over 4,000 animals and poultry were included in the physical inventory at June 1, 1841.

Fixed Asset Accounting

Most early American accounting records consisted mainly of ac-counts receivable and accounts payable. Accounting records de¬tailing the cost of other assets such as inventory and fixed assets were not common. The Pleasant Hill Shaker accounting records for the period 1830-1850 did not have continuing accounts related to inventory and fixed assets. The accounting records did, however, accumulate costs relating to these areas when the expenditures were made. Figure 7 is an example of how the Shakers accumu¬lated the costs of a new office building which was started in 1839 and completed in 1841. Expenditures on the office building during the year ended March 31, 1840 amounted to $1,551.44%. An addi¬tional $2,086.1314 was spent in the year ending March 31, 1841 to complete the building. A picture of the office building as it exists today is shown in Figure 8. The office building is similar in con-struction to the other Pleasant Hill buildings.

Management Accounting Notes

The Pleasant Hill Shakers acquired a good reputation for the pro-duction of quality products and for attention to detail. These attri¬butes carried over to the Pleasant Hill accounting records during the period 1830-1850. On a number of occasions, analyses are in¬cluded in the accounting records which are concerned with improv¬ing the efficiency of business operations. Some of these manage¬ment accounting notes are included in Figure 9. In the first note, an analysis is made to determine the capacity of the trough in the cen¬ter stable in terms of animal feed and the milk production coming from the cows feeding at the trough. In note two, the measurements of the Pleasant Hill garden are given. In note three, an analysis is made of business transactions in salt for a two-year period ending December 5, 1843.

Analysis of lanyard Profits

Figure 10 includes an analysis of tanyard profits for the period 1845-1847. The analysis explains why profits in 1847 were so much higher than in 1846. The reasons given for the higher profits in 1847 were that the expenses in 1847 were less than in 1846 and that some of the 1846 expenses benefited 1847.

Garden Seed Consignment Records

The Pleasant Hill Shakers conducted a thriving trade in garden seeds during the 1830-1850 period. Sales were made in Kentucky, surrounding states, and in the South. A paper (pack) of seeds gen¬erally sold for three to five cents. Seed papers were left on consign¬ment at various business locations to be sold by the local merchant. The Shakers would come back at a later date and collect receipts for the seeds sold and pick up the unsold papers. The Pleasant Hill Shakers kept track of garden seed papers out on consignment in their accounting records. Periodically, the garden seed consign¬ment records would be adjusted for sales, returns, and new deliv¬eries. Figure 11 shows an adjustment of the consignment records for garden seed papers sold during 1848.

Concluding Comments

An analysis of the Shakertown at Pleasant Hill accounting records for the period 1830-1850 indicates the records were very useful to the Shakers in managing the business affairs of the Com¬munity. The accounting records during this period were prepared with care and attention to detail which characterized the Pleasant Hill Shakers in their other pursuits.

This brief review of the Pleasant Hill accounting records was in-tended to provide some insight into the business customs and practices of the Pleasant Hill Shakers during the period 1830-1850 as reflected in their accounting records. The Shakers were very successful in business during this period. Their accounting records reflect this success.

REFERENCE

Ham, Gerald F., Pleasant Hill—A Century of Kentucky Shakerism, 1805-1910, Thesis, University of Kentucky, 1955.