The A. & H. Jenkins collection is made up of 10 incoming letters (1847-1851) to this Baltimore, Maryland, furniture making/undertaking firm (headed by Anthony H. and Henry W. Jenkins). The correspondence contains requests for contracts and details about prices, bills, and accounts for various types of furniture. The collection offers some insight into the business' clientele, such as their particular furniture needs and specifications about materials and design, their geographical locations (from as far away as Charlestown, Virginia), and various circumstances respecting bills and overdue payments.
Short excerpts from two letters illustrate content. One regards delayed payment from a Charlestown, Virginia, Episcopal Church for a desk and pulpit: "The loss of our beautiful church with all its furniture has been a distressing dispensation to us & compelled us to delay, longer than we desired … " (May 7, 1849). Another, from Revered E. C. McGuire at Fredericksburg, Virginia, provides specifications for the construction of a table ($25.00) and chairs ($24.00 each) made with "crimson plush" rather than "crimson damask" (January 29, 1849).
Michael Jenkins and Thomas Combs started a cabinet-making and undertaking firm in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1799 (located on Light Street as early as 1802). The shop was taken over by his son, Anthony H. Jenkins, after his death in 1832. Baltimore City Directories from the 1830s to the 1850s alternately refer to the business as "Anthony H. Jenkins," "A. & A. H. Jenkins," "A. H. Jenkins," and "A. & H. Jenkins," reflecting a joint ownership with his brother, Henry Worthington Jenkins, beginning in 1837. Although listed as "cabinet makers," A. & H. Jenkins manufactured chairs, tables, bookshelves, altars, piano benches, and operated jointly as an undertaking firm. A. & H. Jenkins were recognized for their fine funeral services and assisted with the burial of many prominent persons. The elaborate and ornate coffin they constructed for the interment of John Quincy Adams was especially impressive.
In 1857, Anthony dropped out of the partnership while his brother continued the business. Henry W. Jenkins brought his son, Thomas Warner Jenkins, into the family business in 1864. After Henry's death in 1878, Thomas partnered with his brother, William F. Jenkins. Thomas' sons entered the firm in 1898, and in 1904, they closed the furniture-making department to focus on the funeral business. Though eventually sold out of the family, the Henry W. Jenkins & Sons funeral home continued to operate until January 2009, when it became part of the Evans Funeral Chapel and Cremation Services, established in 1865.