Guide to the Samuel Melcher Account Books, 1803-1880, undated
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Samuel Melcher Account Books, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine.
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Samuel Melcher was born in New Meadows (near Brunswick), Maine, on May 8, 1775. Melcher married Lois Dunning (1778-1867), and they had several children.
Melcher and his brother, Aaron (b. 1773), were housewrights in Brunswick and Topsham. While he was not formally trained in architecture, Melcher observed new architectural ideas in Boston and Salem, which he brought back to Maine to incorporate into his own building designs. The Melcher brothers were hired by the Bowdoin building committee to design and build the college's first structure, Massachusetts Hall (1799-1802). This was followed by the original President's house (1803), which burned down a few years later; Maine Hall (1808; rebuilt 1837); Winthrop Hall (1823); Little-Mitchell House (1827); and Appleton Hall (1843). Melcher and his sons were later responsible for executing the interior woodwork in the Bowdoin College Chapel (1844-1855). In addition to his work on the college buildings, Melcher was also privately employed by Dunlap as housewright and shipbuilder. In 1872, Melcher's son, Richard T. D. Melcher, was hired by Peleg W. Chandler (Bowdoin 1834), the son-in-law of Professor Parker Cleaveland, to remodel the upper floors of Massachusetts Hall into a natural history museum known as the Cleaveland Cabinet for the display of the late professor's extensive collection of minerals and natural science specimens. Architectural drawings detailing the remodeling are located in the College Buildings collection. Samuel Melcher died on March 3, 1862.
This collection contains ledgers and account books of Samuel Melcher (1801-1856); R.T.D. Melcher's account book (1872-1880); and a journal by either R.T.D. Melcher or Charles C. Melcher (January 1, 1879 - January 15, 1880). There are also miscellaneous receipts, bills, accounts, and records of workmen's hours (1803-1856); and a daybook concerning the construction of the Bowdoin College Chapel.
Organized in a single series; arranged chronologically.
Samuel Melcher III Ledger, 1803- (Vol. I)
Items removed from Ledger of 1803 (Container list within)
Daybook no. 1, May 30, 1803 - December 31, 1805
Items removed from Daybook, May 30, 1803 - December 31, 1805
Daybook no. 2 (Vol. III), September 18, 1811 - November 21, 1818
Ledger and Journal, 1820-1821
Journal, 1822
Ledger, April 1 - October 24, 1822
Journal, 1823-1825
Account Book, 1823
Samuel Melcher III Account Book, 1824-1828 [on permanent loan from the Maine Historical Society; see letter Oct. 30, 1962]1824-1828
Journal, 1825-1827
Journal, 1831-1833
Journal, December 2, 1833-May 9, 1836
Journal, 1835-1856
Items removed from Journal of 1836-1839(Container list within)
Journal, 1836-1839
Items removed from from Journal of 1836-1839 (container list within)
R.T.D. Melcher Account with R.T. Dunlop in Post Office, 1842-1843
Samuel Melcher III Account Book, 1843
Journal of Appleton Hall, 1843
Material pulled from Journal of Appleton Hall, 1843 (container list within)
Journal, 1847-18561847-1856
Account Book, 1848-1856
Construction of the Chapel, 1851-1856
R.T.D. Melcher Journal, 1872-1880
Journal, 1879 (Possibly written by Charles C. Melcher)