Ledger page from Franklin's GPO account book
Object Details
- Description
- The folio shown here is from Benjamin Franklin's General Post Office account book. It is written entirely by his hand, including eight signatures of his name, and it spanned 1770-1772. The ledger records, among other things, the annual salaries of three hundred pounds to Benjamin Franklin (residing in London during this time) and John Foxcroft, joint postmasters general of the colonies. The ledger also documents the successful lobbying of Secretary of Comptroller John Parker for an increase in his annual allowance.
- When the methodically-minded Benjamin Franklin became joint deputy postmaster general in North America, he promptly instituted a new system of accounts, including one that enabled the General Post Office to standardize local postmasters' accounting methods. The new manner of bookkeeping did not abolish the opportunity for the dishonest to profit but it did prove beneficial since the comptroller could now check a new postmaster's accounts against the old for losses.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- April 5, 1770-April 5, 1772
- Object number
- 1982.0786.1
- Writer
- Benjamin Franklin, American, 1706 - 1790
- Associated Person
- John Foxcroft
- John Parker
- Type
- Archival Material
- Medium
- paper; ink / handwritten
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 8 x 13 in. (20.32 x 33.02 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- Colonial Era (1607-1776)
- Postal Administration
- Record ID
- npm_1982.0786.1
