This account book contains Peter Van Schaack's financial records from his bookstore and printing business in Kinderhook, New York, which he recorded between 1832 and 1835. Also included are records of his payments and receipts on behalf of "V.S. & P." between 1834 and 1845. The volume is made up of 58 numbered pages, beginning with page 79. The first 78 pages are not present.
Pages 79-127 and 139 contain Peter Van Schaack's accounts with individuals and organizations between 1832 and 1835. Buyers purchased published books, printing jobs, blank books, copies of the Columbia Sentinel, quills, ink, and other items related to the printing and publishing industries. Each page contains double-entry bookkeeping figures; most paid for Van Schaack's services with cash or checks. Pages 130-137 regard money Van Schaack paid and collected for the "V.S. & P." company between 1834 and 1845. Three loose pages of accounts are laid into the volume.
An unidentified author used part of the first 4 pages and the final page to work out algebraic solutions for arithmetic sequence problems. The endpapers of the volume are blue-gray, with printed images reflecting its manufacture and sale by Knowlton & Rice of Watertown, New York.
Peter Van Schaack, Jr., was born in Kinderhook, New York, in 1795, the son of Peter Van Schaack (1747-1832), a lawyer known for his Loyalist views and temporary exile during and just after the American Revolution. He had at least one brother, Henry Cruger Van Schaack (1802-1867). In 1825, he began publishing the Kinderhook Herald, which became the Columbia Sentinel after Van Schaack sold it to Elias Pitts in 1834. Van Schaack purchased the paper in 1836, and continued its publication until finally selling it in 1854. He also operated a store that sold books and writing supplies. He and his wife, Dorcas Manton, had at least three children: Mary, Julia, and Manton. Peter Van Schaack, Jr., died in 1864.
