Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database
Contents
1. As an example an inventory entry reads 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper 18 This single inventory entry results in three database entries as follows l TYPE pot QUANTITY 3 AMOUNT 3 MATERIAL iron VALUE 0 18 0 EMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot 2 TYPE pot QUANTITY 4 AMOUNT 4 MATERIAL tin VALUE 0 18 0 EMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot 3 TYPE pot QUANTITY 2 AMOUNT 2 MATERIAL copper VALUE 0 18 0 EMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot The third entry for pot alerts the researcher that this entry is part of a string of items with a cumulative value and that the use of the word pot has been assumed because the other entries for the same line were all for pots PLUS SIGN In the Main Inventory Table a plus sign is added to designation of class indicating that the inventory is slightly better than one would expect for the class but not good enough for the next level In the case of an elite inventory it alerts the researcher that the inventory far exceeds other elite inventories ASTERISK An asterisk marks any unique spelling found in the inventory The sign may be added to the DESCRIPT or MEMO fields in the Detail Inventory Table to show the original spelling The modern equivalent word is used in the TYPE field with the assumption sign Example A line2. Integrated Report Combines information from the Main and Detail Inventory Tables for filtering and displays FILENAME NAME COUNTY STATE RXR CLASS RURAL and BOOKS Expanded Report Displays a combination of information from the Main and Detail Tables including FILENAME NAME COUNTY STATE CLASS RURAL CATEGORY SUB CATEGORY TYPE QUANTITY QUALIFIER AMOUNT DESCRIPT PAGE LOCATION MATERIAL COLOR VALUE and MEMO Chrono Detail Report Enables a search on any of the fields from both Main Inventory GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 17 Table and Detail Inventory Table but displays only the information from the Detail Table in chronological sequence Totaled Chrono Detail Report The same as the Chrono Detail Report but contains a total of the TYPE field determined by the entries in the AMOUNT field This form is only effective when a total for the same TYPE is required i e all chairs all easy chairs or all walnut arm chairs View Transcriptions All of the collected inventories have been transcribed in full and can be viewed and printed This option allows inventory selection based on any field in the Main Table and provides the ability to view and or print one inventory at a time Acrobat Reader which is included on the CD must be installed and the path for transcription files must be defined through the Setup for Transcripti
3. Gunston Hall Plantation Probate Inventory Database Richard L Farner Barbara A Farner Funding by Board of Regents of Gunston Hall Plantation of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America and The Chipstone Foundation Milwaukee Wisconsin Gunston Hall Regents Fund 2000 CD Contents Probate Inventory Transcriptions D TRANSCRIPTIONS PDF The Transcriptions are loaded by the Installation process and also available in Portable Document Format PDF directly from the CD Probate Inventory Database User Manual D Manual PDF Gunston Hall Plantation and Library Archives Overview About the Probate Inventory Database Installation and Setup Database Structure Main Table Data Detail Table Data Designators Reports Build Your Own Database Glossary Works Cited Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database List of Entries Used D LISTENTRIES PDF Nomenclature Color Material Names Index D NAMESINDEX PDF Maryland Virginia Adobe Acrobat Reader D ACROBAT SETUP EXE Furnishings Plan for Gunston Hall Plantation D FURNPLAN PDF Acknowledgments Methodology and Process Furnishings Plan Recommendations These items will be installed by the Installation procedure Assumes that your CD ROM drive is D if not change to your CD ROM drive letter Gunston Hall Plantation Built between 1755 and 1759 Gunston Hall was the plantation home of George Mason 1725 1792 a
4. Although we have attempted to make the transcriptions as complete and true as possible it is suggested that the original or microfilmed inventory be examined to preclude differences in interpretation All collected inventories were transcribed in their entirety Where words in the original ar illegibl they have been identified by or noted as illegible When questionable words have been assumed they have been entered with a question mark in the transcription i e stone Original spelling errors are evident but the use of sic has been restrained only appearing in truly questionable places as in a double entry by a court clerk Attempts have been made to preserve the original structure of sentences Therefore when a sentence or entry extends beyond modern margins it continues on the following line indented by three spaces Page or folio numbers and notes by the transcriber have been added in italics Travel Detail Inventory Table category including boat miscellaneous storage tack and vehicles Type The lowest of the three levels of the hierarchical fields in the Detail Inventory Table nomenclature that lists the actual item inventoried Urban A Main Inventory Table field that designates inventories without agricultural tools or with a separate agricultural operation or without minimal livestock An urban inventory is identified by a empty RURAL field Wash house A Main Inventory Table field iden
5. Library and Archives Through the efforts of the The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America Board of Regents of Gunston Hall a library containing over 7 000 volumes and a reference center have been established to enhance and develop the interpretation of Gunston Hall and George Mason through a collection of reference works rare books manuscripts and archives Among other resources there is a sizeable collection of microfilm and fiche of early Virginia and Maryland newspapers county records and other Virginia papers and materials You are invited to come to Gunston Hall to see and use these materials many of which do not xist elsewhere The Library and Archives are open Monday through Friday except holidays from 9 30 to 5 00 by appointment PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL CONTENTS About the Probate Inventory Database Installation and Setup Database Structure Main Table Detail Table Designators Reports Build Your Own Database Glossary Works Cited BO TD W FE 25 Bil GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 1 About the Probate Inventory Database To enhance the presentation of Gunston Hall as George Mason knew it intensive investigation has been undertaken into a wide range of documentary and object based materials from the second half of the eighteenth century Among the documents studied were probate inventories In many cases in th ighteenth
6. abov files have been copied start the probate mdb file that is located in the folder where you placed the copy Working Only With The CD Zs Be sure that you are working with a COPY of the database before you do the following To start with a empty database you may delete all records in the copy of the database by opening the copied file and going to the Main Table Form Once you have this form open select Edit then Select All Records then select Delete You will get a warning that you are deleting records and you will not be able to undo this action This action will delete all of the records from the Main Table You need to repeat the action from the Detail Table Form in order to delete the detail records Becaus ther ar over 65 000 records in the Detail Table this process will take several minutes Before you begin to add your own information you should carefully analyze your requirements and plan how you will use each data element in the database to store your data After planning enter a few records Then test the reports to verify your decisions before continuing It is much harder to make changes after a large volume of data has been entered GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 24 Starting With Access 2000 The second method of utilizing the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database for your own requirements is to purchase Access 2000 to modify the current application to satisfy your unique needs Beg
7. b TYPE pot QUANTITY 4 AMOUNT 4 MATERIAL tin VALUE 0 18 0 MEMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot C TYPES pot QUANTITY 2 AMOUNT 2 MATERIAL copper VALUE 0 18 0 MEMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot The third entry for pot alerts the researcher that NOTE T the item string This entry is part of a string of items with a cumulative value The use of the word pot has been assumed because the other entries for lin th he obviously missing word is entered into the DESCRIPT field sam were all for pots or made part of as above and entered into the MEMO field GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 16 Reports Report Description Seven standard reports are built into the Probate Inventory Database application A list of these reports is displayed by selecting the Reports option from the main menu REPORTS Detail Inventory Report Hit F1 for Report Integrated Report Descriptions Expanded Report Chrono Detail Report Totaled Chrono Detail Report View Transcriptions Return to Main Menu Reports Menu Main Inventory Report Lists all information about the inventory or the decedent from Main Inventory Table according to researcher selected filters Detail Inventory Report Lists all information about the items in the inventory from Detail Inventory Table according to researcher selected filters
8. century as part of the process of settling an stat after th death of an individual a probate inventory was taken The inventory listed the personal and chattel property in the possession of the deceased at the time of death The primary reason for the probate inventory was to insure that the deceased s possessions would be available to settle outstanding debts as well as to guarantee the proper distribution of the estate according to the deceased s will and local law Once the inventory was made at the residence of the deceased by the court appointed appraisers it was presented at court and entered into the county s legal records For a thorough discussion of the probate process in several colonies see Alice Hanson Jones American Colonial Wealth Documents and Methods New York Arno Press 1977 No probate inventory appears in Virginia or Maryland court records for George Mason of Gunston Hall nor has an unofficial inventory surfaced that might have been taken as part of the settlement of his estate by his heirs His will written in 1773 provided for the distribution of his estate among his children The lack of probate documentation of George Mason s possessions has proven a challenge to modern understanding of Gunston Hall To create a furnishings plan for Gunston Hall ongoing research fueled in part by this specific lack of personal documentation has led to the examination of a variety of sources both documentary and ob
9. select all records with a CLASS of E E and E When the asterisk is used as described above the system automatically converts it to a wild card search by changing it to Like E Since the database also includes special characters such as to indicate an assumption and indicating that the item is part of a list of items when looking for chair in the TYPE field use chair to ensure that no chairs are missed because of special characters The string of characters entered as the criteria are not cas sensitive therefor chair Chair or CHAIR yields the same results When searching for a word or string of characters anywhere within a field use the wild card character before and after the search string When looking for all records containing the word old in the MEMO field enter old in the criteria row under MEMO The system converts this to Like old This selects all records that contain the string old anywhere within the MEMO field It should be noted that the system is not selective regarding this search and the results will include records with the words sold olden gold etc as well as old GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 20 The criteria shown in the following illustration selects all inventories belonging to women in Maryland with a CLASS of Elite listing livestock ss wst 4 Criteria or Show all records Record 4
10. 14 4 I 7 gt ri r of 65966 Detail Table Form GUNSTON HALL 7 FILENAM CATEGORY SUB_CATEG TYPE PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL LL Detail Table Data Elements FILENAME is an eight character field used to invisibly link the Main Inventory Table with the Detail Inventory Table and the transcription files All records in the Main table must have a unique FILENAME This is a shorthand designation for an individual inventory developed by using a blend of the decedent s name and the year in which the inventory was taken ordered or recorded in that order The taken date is the date of choice however when that is not available th arliest date on the inventory is the one used To view the transcription for the series of dates go to the Reports Menu and select View Transcriptions Names consisting of more than six characters have been abbreviated Examples of filenames are MASON63 Ann Mason 1763 or HRRSN91 Benjamin Harrison 1791 The highest order in which an item has been classified in the three part nomenclature Category Sub Category and Type Examples of CATEGORY are Personal Food Prep Furniture See Nomenclature under List of Entries Used for complete list of CATEGORY SUB CATEGORY The second level in the hierarchical categorization of an item in the nomenclature Examples of SUB CATEGORY are Personal Writing Fo
11. Ctrl F or by selecting Edit then Find from the menu on the top of the form This will open a window which allows the entry of the string of characters to be found The option of searching for an exact match any part of the field or the start of the field first letter allows the user to search for a string of characters without knowing the exact form of the entry in the database Clicking the Go To Main Record for Items Shown button will bring up the Main Table Form displaying only the record for the inventory shown The Remove Filter to Show All Records is used to remove any filter or selection criteria which limits the records being displayed and allows all records in the Detail Table of the database to be shown The FILENAME is the link to the Detail Table records from the Main Table entry therefore the FILENAME in the Detail Table must match the FILENAME in the Main Table enearo RE DETAIL TABLE FORM gt FILENAME ENOLLES EE CATEGORY HH STORES SUB CATEG BEVERAGE TYPE JALE QUANTITY 1 QUALIFIER ETL AMOUNT 1 DESCRIPT orange flower water PAGE PAGE 380 LOCATION MATERIAL COLOR VALUE 10 1 0 MEMO listed as 1 ditto bottle orange flower water Go To Main Record Remove Filter to i Press F1 for Field Hel for Items Shown Show All Records Sata Man ME H iii ii Search for records by placing the cursor in a field and while holding the Ctrl key hit the F key Record
12. II it gt t gt of 4 Filtered Run Report Filter Form for elite inventories belonging to a woman in Maryland listing livestock Complex Searches To make more complex selections the use of and or logic is possible In the above example to include Aspiring households along with Elite you would enter E or A into the Criteria row under CLASS The system will convert this to Like E or Like A indicating that either Elite or Aspiring will be selected The simple way to understand the and or logic is to think of the first row labeled Criteria as an and condition and the next row label or as a separate condition to be handled as another selection In other words any record that is not selected by the logic in the Criteria row is again evaluated by the logic in the or row uw The following criteria generates a report of all mahogany chairs and also all mahogany or all walnut or black walnut tables ns a SS a rss Field CATEGORY SUB_CATEG TYPE MATERIAL m l c uM Criteria Like Fumit Like Chair Like Mah or TABLE Like wal Or Like MAH Filter to find all mahogany chairs and all mahogany or walnut or black walnut tables GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 21 Filtering by Date When using the DATE_TAKEN field for filtering it is important to notice that this field is stored in a special date format In order to ente
13. ORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 29 Rural A Main Inventory Table field identifying the presence of agricultural tools and livestock Slaves A Main Inventory Table field designating that slaves are listed usually by name in the probate inventory While not included in the database names and ages of slaves when recorded are part of the complete inventory transcription State The two character term for the colony or state of Maryland MD or Virginia VA noted on the Main Inventory Table Sub Category SUB_CATEG The second level of hierarchical categorization of an item in the Detail Inventory Table nomenclature Sundry A Detail Inventory Table field that includes a variety of assorted items This is also the place where unclassifiable items ar ntered Textiles The Detail Inventory Table category that includes bed linens bed over meaning bed coverings bed upholstery bedding all of the items under the sheets fibers floor hygiene miscellaneous production stores table upholstery and window Tools A Main Inventory Table category to note the presence of agricultural or craft tools in the inventory Only textile production and garden tools have been included in the Detail Inventory Transcriptions The typescripts of the microfilmed court recorded probate inventories Only microfilm copies have been examined All transcriptions in the collection list complete citations for the source of the original record
14. Sort Criteria and or With the cursor scroll in the box labeled qryExpanded to the field CLASS With the field CLASS highlighted double click with the left mouse button The system will place CLASS in the first column in the row labeled Field of the lower pane GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 22 Move the cursor down to the cell below this in the row labeled Criteria and type E The system will place Like E in the Criteria cell This will select all elite inventories For the next Selection scroll down in the qry box to DATE_TAKEN as the field and enter gt 12 31 1799 as the Criteria This will eliminate all inventories taken on or before Dec 31 ETIO Move to the next column and select CATEGORY and enter FURN as the Criteria The system will place Like FURN in the cell Move the cursor to the next column and repeat the above steps to place SUB_CATEG in the Field row and Seat in the Criteria row Repeat the above to select Chair in the TYPE field In the next column select DESCRIPT as the Field and enter Windsor as the Criteria The use of the wild card character before and after the word Windsor will locate the word anywhere in the field DESCRIPT The use of the single asterisk following the other Criteria row entries will only locate the word if it is in the beginning of the field Click the Apply Filter button You will then get a form showing the records which passed through
15. a Carson in Ambitious Appetites Washington DC American Institute of Architects 1990 Classifications used in the Gunston Hall P Probate Inventory Database are E elite A aspiring D decent and OF old fashioned Valid entries are E Elite The economic designation for inventories of the wealthiest decedents which exceed in quantity and quality all the criteria of the Aspiring classification These inventories contain sufficient knives forks spoons and other accouterments to serve twenty guests at a seated dinner A Aspiring Economic designation for inventories deemed to have extensive households that include spoons knives and forks as well as enough quipage to entertain and give dinner parties for ten or more people GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 9 CLOSETS ELLAR BOOKS L IVESTOCK OUT_BLDGS TOOLS QUARTERS SLAVES K ERCHANT ITCHEN DAIRY WASH_HOUSE POTOMAC OPTION1 OPTION2 M EMO D Decent The economic designation for inventories that include spoons knives and forks but without enough equipage to seat a dinner party for ten persons It is more likely that these people would have ntertained at tea OF Old Fashioned The economic designation for inventories that lack forks some of which might otherwise be considered aspiring or elite won Designators or may be added if the inventory appear
16. atabase see MATERIALS under List of Entries Used A field which lists the color of an item as defined by the appraiser COLOR is followed by the assumption designator when the color is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on the type of item description or when spelling is changed For the complete list of colors used in the database see COLOR under List of GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL L3 Entries Used Value of the item as determined by the appraiser lt D Et G ira MEMO A longer field which contains as space permits more complete descriptors for listed as entries or specific Notes for the researcher GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 14 Designators Designators are specific characters used to alert the researcher to unique situations in data entry for an item as follows MINUS SIGN In the Main Inventory Table the minus sign is used to qualify a question of class indicating that the inventory is not quite up to a full designation but too good for a lower designation It would appear in the class field as np n iT A minus sign noted in the Detail Inventory Table follows an entry in the TYPE field to signify that the item is part of a successive list of different items with a single cumulative valuation Minus sign immediately follows the entry before the placement of any other designator
17. ce George s Heritage Sidelights on the Early History of Prince George s County Maryland 1696 1800 Baltimore Maryland Historical Society 1972 Jones Alice Hanson American Colonial Wealth Documents and Methods 3 vol New York Arno Press 1977 Kulikoff Allan Tobacco and Slaves The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake 1680 1800 Williamsburg VA The Institute of Early American History and Culture Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press 1986 Lee Jean B The Price of Nationhood The American Revolution in Charles County New York W W Norton amp Company 1994 Rivoire J Richard Homeplaces Traditional Domestic Architecture of Charles County Maryland LaPlata MD Southern Maryland Studies Center Charles County Community College 1990 Waterman Thomas Tileston The Mansions of Virginia 1706 1776 Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 1946
18. d the counties of James City Elizabeth City Lancaster King George Surrey Richmond Frederick Charles City Spotsylvania Middlesex Westmoreland and York aryland Anne Arundel County including the city of Annapolis All the collected probat inventories wer transcribed from microfilmed court documents The photocopies of the documents are on file at Gunston Hall Transcriptions of all inventories used in the database are available on this CD It must be remembered that the collected inventories represent less than five percent of all inventories recorded in those counties which were thoroughly examined Fairfax Prince William Stafford Charles GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 2 and Prince George s In the transcriptions when words in the original are illegible they have been identified by or noted as illegible Questionable words assumed by the transcriber based upon content and placement are entered with a question mark in the transcription i e stone Original spelling errors are evident but the use of sic has been restrained only appearing in truly questionable places as in a double entry by a court clerk Attempts have been made to preserve the original structure of sentences Therefore when a sentence or entry extends beyond modern margins it continues on the following line indented by three spaces Values have been standardized to 0 0 0 or 0 0 Household fu
19. e Detail Inventory Table and the transcription files All records in the Main table must have a unique FILENAME Names consisting of more than six characters have been abbreviated Examples of filenames are MASON63 or HRRSNQ1 The name of th deceased taken from the inventory formatted as Last Name First Name Middle Name or Initial An honorific such as Genl is included as space is available Date inventory was taken ordered or recorded formatted as MMM DD YYYY Example Dec 23 1776 Y is entered if inventory belonged to a woman For the inventory of a male this field is blank y if inventory contains sufficient agricultural items to indicate that the decedent lived in a rural area Y if it is assumed for other reasons that the household was in a rural area The field is left empty if it is an urban area County in which the inventory was recorded wo character abbreviation for the colony or state where inventory was recorded Type of currency used as defined by the appraiser in the inventory Examples are current Maryland current MD or Spanish dollars at 7 pence six shillings Sp 7 6 Room by Room Y if the inventory has at least one household space listed by name The arbitrary social economic designation given an inventory dependent upon the presence and amount of food service items This designation is based on the work of Barbar
20. e Go To Details for Inventory Shown button will bring up the Detail Table Form displaying only the detail records for the inventory shown The Remove Filter to Show All Records is used to remove any filter or selection criteria which limits the records being displayed and allows all records in the Main Table of the database to be shown 5 MAIN TABLE FORM KEN Oct 20 1806 Fv our_supes 7 roots f i J linen lists time left before slaves freedom Craftsmen s tools Cultery for elite other designators for class questionable Main Table Form GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 8 Main Table Data Elements Note Specific fields are marked Y for yes or left empty for no with the exception of T for titles of books in BOOKS field See field descriptions below FILENAME NAME DATE_TAKEN RURAL COUNTY STATI Gl CURRENCY RXR CLASS This is a shorthand designation for an individual inventory developed by using a combination of the decedent s name and the year in which the inventory was taken ordered or recorded in that order The taken date is the date of choice however when that is not available th arliest date on the inventory is the one used To view the transcription for the series of dates go to the Reports Menu and select View Transcriptions FILENAME is an eight character field used to invisibly link the Main Inventory Table with th
21. e Main Inventory Table with the Detail Inventory Table and the transcriptions All records in the Main table must have a unique FILENAME Names consisting of more than six characters have been abbreviated Examples MASON63 Ann Mason 1763 or HRRSN91 Benjamin Harrison 1791 Filters Patterns or masks through which only selected information is passed Filters are used to select data for inclusion in reports It is imperative that reports are filtered Without clicking the Apply Filter button ALL records in the database will be generated Food Preparation Detail Inventory Table category including cooking measure miscellaneous GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 2 processing storage and utensils Food Service Detail Inventory Table category including breakfast condiments cutlery dessert dishes miscellaneous serving and storage Furniture Detail Inventory Table category including desk hygiene keyboard looking glass miscellaneous recreation seating sleeping storage table and time keeping Heating Detail Inventory Table category including andirons fenders furniture grate miscellaneous stove and tools Household Decor HH DECOR Detail Inventory Table category including miscellaneous ornament paint plants wall cover and window Household Stores HH STORES Detail Inventory Table category including beverage food hardware hygiene laundry lighting miscellaneous te
22. egories accessories body feet hand and head Color A Detail Inventory Table field that lists the color of an item as defined by the appraiser Dairy The Main Inventory Table field that identifies a dairy or milk house listed by name by the appraiser Database A set of related files that is created and managed by a database management system The Probate Inventory Database is comprised of two inventory tables Main and Detail the combination of which provides a complete searchable register of the inventory contents Pointers to the Main Inventory Table are available on the Gunston Hall website Decent The economic designation for inventories that include spoons knives and forks but without enough equipage to seat a dinner party for ten persons These persons might have ntertained at tea Description A short field DESCRIPT in the Detail Inventory Table where descriptors are placed i e short square large old round oval etc Detail Inventory Table Contains over 65 000 records one for each item listed in a probate inventory relating to household or personal usage Each item is described by CATEGORY SUB CATEGORY TYPE QUANTITY LOCATION AMOUNT MATERIAL and COLOR The fields DESCRIPT for short entries and MEMO for longer entries provide space for all the information about each item that has been listed by the appraiser of the estate All inventory items pertaining to household usage textile production wearing a
23. es inventories listing books libraries or catalogs of books but not specific titles Books titled Main Inventory Table field BOOKS that identifies by the character T for title inventories which list at least one book by title Book titles have not been included in the database but are available on the inventory transcription Category In the Detail Inventory Table nomenclature CATEGORY is the highest of the three orders in which an item listed in an inventory has been classified Cellar A Main Inventory Table field that identifies inventories listing contents of a named cellar Class The arbitrary social economic designation given an inventory dependent upon the presence and amount of food service items particularly forks This designation is based on work of Barbara Carson Ambitious Appetites Dining Behavior and Patterns of Consumption in Federal Washington Washington DC American Institute of Architects 1990 Classifications used in the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database are elite aspiring decent and old fashioned GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 26 Closets Main Inventory Table field pointing to inventories listing contents of at least one named closet Clothing The category denotes clothing listed in the inventory and is further refined by the addition of M for men W for women S for slave C for children or G for general gender not known It contains the sub cat
24. field down to the Field row in the bottom pane of the form 3 Or you may click with the left mouse button in the first empty cell in the Field row of the bottom pane This will open a drop down box listing all of the available data fields Scroll to the desired field and click with the left mouse bottom to select the field 4 Another method that is very easy to use after you become familiar with the database structure and the data field names is to place the cursor in an empty cell GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL T9 in the Field row and start typing the name of the field The system will select the field as soon as you begin typing when the correct field is shown hit the enter key Note With any of the above methods only those fields available for the selected report can be used In other words you will not be permitted to search on Detail Table fields for a Main Inventory Report or Main Table fields for a Detail Inventory Report In all other reports you will be permitted to search on any field from either table To filter on a field scroll to the desired field in the qry box displayed in the top pane of the filter form and double click with the left mouse button This places the field in the first empty cell in the Field row of the lower pane You then enter the string of characters that you are looking for under the field name in the row labeled Criteria The system puts the string that you enter in quotati
25. hat was occupied by the deleted records and make the application perform faster Access 2000 comes with several sample databases that are very useful in developing applications The Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database contains several features that are not included in the Microsoft samples such as the method of filtering records to be included in the reports and the display of Portable Document Format PDF files directly from a form GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 25 Glossary Access 2000 A software product developed and distributed by Microsoft used to produce the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database The royalty free runtime purchased by Gunston Hall is included in the CD This enables users to employ the full capability of the filters and reports in the database Adobe Acrobat Reader The royalty free program from Adobe Systems Inc which allows viewing searching and printing of files in Portable Document Format PDF This program contains a detailed Help system providing information describing its features Amount A numerical field in the Detail Inventory Table which can be totaled Appraiser The court appointed individual who examined recorded and in most cases valued the estate of the deceased The value of an item was based on its condition and projected market value Generally three appraisers assessed th state and signed the document In Virginia in most instances four appraisers we
26. ime that you have run this report you may get a message similar to This document was previously formatted for the printer but that printer is not available Do you want to use the default printer This message means that the printer that was used for development was not found on your system Simply answer Yes to this question and the system will use your default printer from now on Scroll through the report by using the arrow buttons on the bottom of the screen to view the report as it will appear when printed To send the previewed report to the printer click File and select Print on the top of the screen If you do not want a printed copy of the report select Close Do not select Exit as this will terminate the entire database program If the Print option does not appear under the File drop down list move the cursor to the double downward arrow Filter Example The following steps show a typical use of the Probate Inventory Database to find Windsor chairs in elite households in inventories taken after the year 1799 From the Main Menu that appears when the Probate Inventory Database is started select Reports From the Reports Menu select Expanded Report Then click the Build Filter button This will display a Filter form similar to the one shown in the Filtering Data for Reports section This form will contain a section of cells arranged in rows and columns with the rows labeled as Field
27. in the inventory reads 6 chares Sane The 6 chares 3 is entered as YPE Chair QUANTITY 6 VALUE 3 0 0 MEMO listed as 6 chares EQUAL An equal sign is used when an assumption has been made in data entry For example l lt Example Two lines in the inventory read n 6 chares Semer 5 do 2650 GUNSTON HALL PROBATE TYP M ry MO NOTE century term is included either in DESCRIPT or MEMO and designated with an TYPE M EMO NOTE chare which precedes it INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL ES When an eighteenth century term has been replaced by equivalent modern spelling 6 chares 3 becomes Chair QUANTITY 6 AMOUNT 6 VALUE 3 0 0 listed as 6 chares chare is entered into the TYPE field as chair Th ighteenth The 5 do 2 will be entered as Chair QUANTITY 5 AMOUNT 5 VALUE 2 0 0 listed as 5 do chare In this case it has been assumed that the do signifies the word 2 When a textually obvious word has been left out of the inventory As an example an inventory entry reads 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper 18 This single inventory entry results in three database entries as follows a gt TYPE pots QUANTITY 3 AMOUNT 3 MATERIAL iron VALUE 0 18 0 MEMO listed as 3 iron pots 4 tin pots 2 copper pot
28. inning with a working application will save time over starting from scratch As with th abov xample it is essential that you make a copy of the probate mdb and prob_inv hlp files to work with before you make any changes By opening the copy of the probate mdb file in Access 2000 you can modify the tables forms and reports to meet your unique requirements while continuing to keep the basic logic and structure Zs Be sure that you are working with a COPY of the database before you do the following As mentioned above if your requirement is to start with a empty database you can delete all records from the current database by opening the copied file and by going to the Main Table Form Once you have the Main Table Form open select Edit then Select All Records then select Delete You will get a warning that you are deleting records and you cannot undo this action This action will delete all of the records from the Main Table You will need to repeat the action from the Detail Table Form to delete the detail records Because there are over 65 000 records in the Detail Table this process will take several minutes Once the deletion process has been completed it is recommended that you run a database compacting process This is done within Access 2000 With the copied probate mdb file open select Database Utilities gt Tools gt Compact and Repair Database This will reduce the size of the database by eliminating the space t
29. ject based for Mason s time period Integral to this process staff at Gunston Hall Plantation collected probate inventories according to predetermined criteria recorded in Virginia and Maryland between 1740 and 1810 Several inventories first collected from probate records by Carlyle House Historic Park Alexandria Virginia and the Architectural Research Department at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation formed the core of the study These inventories were primarily recorded in a room by room manner Next microfilms of court records from Fairfax Prince William and Stafford counties in Virginia and Charles and Prince George s counties in Maryland were carefully analyzed and all probate inventories were included which met the designated markers primarily the presence and amount of food service items specially forks For further details on the criteria for inclusion see Barbara Carson Ambitious Appetites Dining Behavior and Patterns of Consumption in Federal Washington Washington DC The American Institute of Architects Press 1990 specifically pages 30 52 These five counties are considered of particular importance because they reflect jurisdictions in which George Mason owned land and or was known to have transacted business In addition to the five Virginia and Maryland counties the database contains many room by room probate inventories from following jurisdictions Virginia the cities of Norfolk and Fredericksburg an
30. next level In the case of an elite inventory it alerts the researcher that the inventory far exceeds other elite inventories Portable Document Format PDF PDF enables the reading or printing of the transcriptions from Gunston Hall Plantation s website and the CD Potomac Inventories recorded in a county which borders the Potomac River Probate Inventory A court ordered record of a deceased s personal property and chattels performed by court appointed appraisers The majority of the inventories included in the database were recorded between 1750 and 1810 in Maryland or Virginia although there are a few recorded between 1741 and 1749 Quantity The number of a particular item listed by the appraiser Quarters A specific location defined as quarter or plantation listed in the probate inventory This is a Main Inventory Table field Recreation Detail Inventory Table category including games miscellaneous and musical instruments Room by Room RxR A Main Inventory Table field which denotes that the inventory was recorded by the appraisers with at least one household space listed by name Run Time Permits the researcher to use the Probate Inventory application add or modify data but not change the structure or reports Gunston Hall Plantation has purchased from Microsoft Corporation the rights to distribute the Run Time Application with the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENT
31. nventory The room space or location where items are listed in a probate inventory by the appraiser LOCATION is followed by the assumption designator when the room or space is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on description surrounding items or other factors The assumption designator is used primarily when a room which contains sleeping equipage has not been termed a chamber by the appraiser All rooms with sleeping equipage and not named a chamber have been given th qual sign assumption designator Example The Red Room contains bedding bedstead etc The database location is given as CHAMB RED The use of the assumption designator facilitates th asy retrieval of all rooms containing bedding by standardizing the entry to CHAMB or CHAMBER as space permits The transcription must be consulted to find the exact room identification by the appraiser When searching for chambers use chamb as the filter The use of the wild card will insure that all chambers including those based on an assumption are located The appraiser s description of what item is made of wood china etc MATERIAL is followed by the assumption designator when the material is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on the type of item description surrounding items or when spelling is modernized For the complete list of materials used in the d
32. od Prep Cooking Furniture Storage See Nomenclature under List of Entries Used for complete list of SUB CATEGORY The third level in the hierarchical nomenclature listing the item inventoried YPE is followed by the assumption designator as necessary when the item is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on description other surrounding items or because of a spelling change Examples of TYPE are Personal Writing Inkstand Food Prep Cooking Gridiron GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 12 QUANTITY QUALIFIER AMOUNT is ESCRIPT PAGE LOCATION MATERIAL COLOR Furniture Storage Trunk See Nomenclature under List of Entries Used for complete list of TYPE The number of items listed for each entry by the appraiser etc when The unit of measure listed for each item i e PR pair DOZ dozen is the QUALIFIER The entry is followed by the assumption designator the unit of measure is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on the type of item or the description A numerical field based on the QUANTITY and QUALIFIER which can be totaled i e 2 DOZ is entered as 24 in the AMOUNT field DESCRIPTION A short field where descriptors are placed i e short square large old round arm etc The page or folio number where the item is found in the original probate i
33. og box If your CD ROM drive is some other drive letter use that letter instead of D 3 Click OK and follow the directions on the screen Runtime Limitations gt The royalty free Access 2000 runtime purchased by Gunston Hall is included in the CD This enables users to employ the full capability of the filters and reports in the database gt The user can add or modify data but will not be permitted to change the structure or the reports of the application GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 5 Starting The Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database To start the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database click the Start button on the Windows task bar select programs and then Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database from the task list The Main Menu screen will appear Gunston Hall Plantation Probate Inventory Database Main Menu inpertetesrtoreensrsnerreressnesneennt Main Table Form Detail Table Form Reports Setup for Transcription Files Press F1 for Application Hel Quit Main Menu This menu provides the following options Main Table Form Use this to view or modify the data about the inventory or the decedent Detail Table Form For viewing or modifying the information about the items in the inventory Reports For searching the database and printing the results of the searches Setup For Transcription Files This provides the ability to modify the pointer to the transcri
34. on Files option from the Main Menu for this option to function See Installation and Setup for more information regarding this The Acrobat Reader program also allows searching for words or strings of characters within the transcription being viewed View Help from the reader program for more information on using these features Note It is imperative that filters be built and applied prior to running of these reports If no filter is applied the entire database will be included in the report in some cases this will generate several thousand pages Filtering Data for Reports When a report is selected from the Reports Menu a filter form is displayed This form can be used to scroll through the records that are available for the report Do not make any changes or additions to the data in these forms Always use the Main or Detail Table forms from the Main Menu to modify the information in the database In most cases only some of the records are desired for a report To create a filter for the records to be included in the report click the Build Filter button A new window opens overlaying part of the filter from This will appear similar to the following gt Filter Filter Form with Overlaying Window GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 18 This new window consists of two panes The top pane contains a Field List box with the inventory data fields that are available for use in filtering This box is titled q
35. on marks Continue across the columns and repeat this process for other fields to complete the selection criteria for the desired report There is no limit to the number of fields used for filtering Use of Null or Not in Filters To eliminate records containing certain information the word NOT may be inserted before the string entered into the Criteria row This selects records not matching the string i e to skip all inventories with a CLASS of OF enter NOT OF into the criteria block under CLASS The system converts this to NOT OF The word Null may be used to select records where a data field is empty i e to locate records where the MATERIAL field contains information you could filter on the MATERIAL field with the Criteria of Not Null Apply Filter Button At any time you can see the results of your filter by clicking the Apply Filter button This will show the number of records selected by your criteria and allow you to scroll though the records to determine if the filter performed as desired If further filtering is required simply click the Build Filter button again and continue to build the filter criteria Special Characters Due to the use of special characters in the database it is recommended that the wild card character ASTERISK be used to ensure that no records are missed As an example when selecting CLASS of Elite use E instead of E This will
36. opyright trade name brand name or registered trademark of their distinctive owners and have been capitalized Gunston Hall Plantation is not associated with Microsoft Adobe or any other vendor mentioned in this document System Requirements Personal Computer with Pentium 75 MHZ or higher processor Microsoft Windows 95 or later operating system or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation operating system version 4 0 Service Pack 3 or later At least 24 MB of RAM for Windows 32 MB recommended At least 40 MB for Windows NT CD ROM drive 250 MB of available hard disk space is required for the database Microsoft Access Runtime and the inventory transcriptions Installation 1 Close all open programs Ze Insert Probate Inventory Database CD into your CD ROM drive 3 Click Start then Run Type D Setup in the command line of the Run dialog box If your CD ROM drive is some other drive letter use that letter instead of D This installs the Probate Inventory Database application If Microsoft Access 2000 does not exist on your computer the Access Runtime routines are also installed 4 Click OK then follow the directions on the screen It is highly recommended that you accept all of the defaults during installation This places the database and the inventory transcription files in the folder C Program Files probate If the transcription files are loaded to any other location the pointer will have to be modified to
37. portunities for searches within the specific records of this table The researcher is able to search for a particular item such as barometers or to refine the search of a large group of items such as chairs to only those chairs described as walnut arm chairs Pots gallipot ink mustard coffee cream Gunston Hall The nomenclature permits the researcher to find ceramic coffee pots as opposed to cream pots or ink pots or gallipots or mustard pots GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL i Main Table Main Table Form The Main Table form is used to view enter and modify information in the Main Inventory Table All of the data elements listed for the Main Table are available from this form Placing the cursor in the field and hitting the Fl key displays the description of the field Buttons on the bottom of the form allow scrolling through the database The form can be used to find records based on the contents of any field by placing the cursor in the field to be searched and hitting the F key while holding the Ctrl key Ctrl F or by selecting Edit then Find from the menu on the top of the form This opens a window which allows the entry of the string of characters to be found The option of searching for an exact match any part of the field or the start of the field first letter allows the user to search for a string of characters without knowing the exact form of the entry in the database Clicking th
38. pparel personal items weapons and vehicular transportation are included in the Detail Inventory Table Book titles names of slaves agricultural tools and livestock are not listed in the Detail Inventory Table but may be viewed in the inventory transcription The ability to view selected transcriptions can be found under the Reports Menu Elite Economic designation for inventories of the wealthiest decedents that exceed in quantity and quality all the criteria of the Aspiring classification with sufficient dining equipage to enable serving a seated dinner to twenty people Equal Sign Used to designate that an assumption has been made by the transcriber on meaning or spelling of a word due to appraiser s use of ditto do or erratic spelling When original spelling has been changed to a modern standard word the change is noted by the addition of an equal sign Original spelling is noted in the description or memo field with an ile chare becomes chair Female Y if inventory belonged to a woman For the inventory of a male this field is left empty Filename A shorthand designation for an individual inventory developed by using a combination of the decedent s name and the year in which the inventory was taken ordered or recorded To view the transcription for the series of dates go to the Reports Menu and select View Transcriptions The eight character field is used to invisibly link th
39. ption files This is only required when the files are not installed in the recommended default location On Line Help Detailed on line Help can be displayed by pressing the F1 key Quit This button will end the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database application GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 6 Database Structure Main Inventory Table and Detail Inventory Table Database Overview The database consists of two tables linked together via a common element the FILENAME The FILENAME is an eight character combination of family name and date the inventory was taken ordered or recorded i e MASON63 Ann Mason 1763 or HRRSN91 Benjamin Harrison 1791 The Main Inventory Table contains general information about each inventory and the individual whose property was recorded This information is taken from the inventory When known the name of the decedent s home is added to this table Citations for additional information on the decedent are added as space permits when applicable The Detail Inventory Table lists the contents of each inventory as recorded by the appraisers Additionally the items have been categorized by a hierarchical nomenclature This nomenclature provides the ability to search for individual items such as furniture clothing household items etc Descriptives such as material or color and space for characterizations such as size or shape provide additional op
40. r Y indicates an assumption that the decedent was a shopkeeper but it is not stated in the inventory The deceased s household items have been entered into the Detail Inventory Table shop contents have not Shop contents appear in the complete inventory transcription Y if a kitchen has been defined by name or Y where the kitchen is assumed by placement of kitchen tools distinct from other household items Yy if a dairy or milk house is named y if a wash house or laundry is named Y if county borders the Potomac River A three position field adaptable for individual use which will accept any characters An additional three position field adaptable for individual use A free form field of 180 characters for any other information regarding the inventory Where known the name of the decedents house is included in upper case GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 10 Detail Table Detail Table Form The Detail Table form is used to view enter and modify information in the Detail Inventory Table All of the data elements listed for the Detail Table are available from this form Placing the cursor in the field and hitting the Fl key displays the description of the field Buttons on the bottom of the form allow scrolling through the database The form can be used to find records based on the contents of any field by placing the cursor in the field to be searched and hitting
41. r criteria it must be a valid date entered in a proper date format of MM DD YYYY i e 12 31 1799 or MMM DD YYYY i e Dec 31 1799 When looking for inventories between two dates the criteria entry could be gt 12 31 1749 and lt 01 01 1791 or you could use the Between function In this case the entry would be Between 12 31 1749 and 01 01 1791 This will select all inventories with a DATE_TAKEN later than Dec 31 1749 and earlier that Jan 1 1791 or in other words from 1750 to 1790 The system will enclose the dates with pound signs appearing as gt 12 31 1749 And lt 1 1 1791 Be sure to use four digits for the year otherwise the system will assume the 20 or 218 century Note Feb 29 1804 is a valid date but Feb 29 1803 is not because 1803 was not a leap year Click the Apply Filter button and review the selected records When the record selection is completed simply click the Run Report button Prior to running the report you are prompted for a Report Header The information that you enter here is included as a page header on the report allowing you to describe the filters applied or other report identification to be included on the printed report Once the Report Header is entered click OK If no header is desired simply leave the entry blank and click OK This runs the report in a Preview mode A new window opens with a copy of the report shown as it will appear when printed Note If this is the first t
42. re appointed by the court and three of these men would appraise and sign the document The inventory was then entered into the county court record and used as part of th state settlement process For a thorough discussion of the probate document process see Alice Hanson Jones American Colonial Wealth Documents and Methods New York Arno Press 1977 3 24 Art The Detail Inventory Table category which includes drawings engravings frames maps miscellaneous paintings pictures portraits prints and sculptural elements Aspiring Economic designation for inventories deemed to hav xtensive households that include spoons knives and forks as well as enough equipage to entertain and give dinner parties for ten or more people Asterisk 1 Used to designate original spelling in the Detail Inventory Table Original spelling has been changed to a modern standard word This change is indicated by the addition of an for assumption to the word i e chare becomes chair 2 The asterisk also is used as a wild card character when selecting records to be displayed in reports See the Section on Filtering Data for Reports for more information regarding the use of wild card characters Beverage Detail Inventory Table category including alcohol chocolate coffee general miscellaneous serving storage and tea Books noted Main Inventory Table field BOOKS that identifies by the character Y for y
43. reflect the change S the section Set Pointer to Transcription Files 5 In order to view the Inventory Transcriptions the Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed This program which is used for viewing many World Wide Web documents has been installed on some computers If it has not been installed on your computer see Adobe Acrobat Reader Program section of this document 6 The Inventory Transcription files stored in Portable Document Format PDF are copied to your hard disk in the folder C Program Files probate unless you changed the folder during the installation process Expected Installation Process The installation process uses Visual Basic components to run setup If these GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 4 component files are not on your computer they will automatically be copied by the setup routine The computer will then be restarted After this restart the user must re run the Probate Inventory Database setup The setup routine then determines whether Access 2000 is on the system If it is not found the user is prompted to install Access Runtime before continuing This is automatically installed from the CD The user is then prompted to select either a Typical or Custom setup We recommend that you select a Typical setup You are prompted for the installation folder We recommend that you accept the default location After the Access Runtime has been installed the computer restart
44. rnishings listed in these inventories are the basis for the extensive database used to identify and evaluate the commonality of items found in eighteenth century Chesapeake homes Items included are furniture textiles food preparation and service articles personal items textile production and garden tools heating and lighting devices housewares transportation conveyances and clothing Because this study was used to determine how to furnish a house and to help with the interpretation of Gunston Hall the contents of most of the outbuildings such as barns or smoke houses have not be included Only rarely when the contents of these outbuildings reflect a storage area for household furnishings have they been included in the database Page or folio numbers and notes by the transcriber are in italics All transcriptions in the collection list complete citations for the source of the original record Microfilm records are found in either the Virginia State Library in Richmond or aryland State Archives in Annapolis Probate Inventory originals are at the named county court Although every attempt has been made to render the transcriptions as complete and true as possible it is suggested that when questions of interpretation arise the original or microfilmed inventory be examined GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 3 Installation and Setup Trademarks All brand names and product names used in this document are the c
45. rs Nomenclature The three part hierarchy of terms which are used to place inventory items in a record The terminology defines category sub category and type of article i e Food Prep Cooking Gridiron Old Fashioned The economic designation for inventories that lack forks some of which might otherwise be considered aspiring or elite Option Two Main Inventory Table fields which the researcher may adapt for further individualization of the database These three position fields with no restrictions can be used for selection or deselection of inventories at the user s discretion For example if the researcher wants to mark all inventories that contain boats a B could be placed in one of the OPTION fields in the Main Table Should he choose to the researcher would then be able to include that filter in any further searches Out Buildings Main Inventory Table field designating buildings other than a kitchen dairy or wash house listed by name in the probate inventory Page The location of an item in the probate inventory Page numbers have been included in italics in the transcriptions Personal Detail Inventory Table category including aids hair hygiene jewelry medicine miscellaneous money recreation religious time keeping tobacco and writing Plus sign When a is added to designation of class the inventory is slightly better than one would expect for a class but not good enough for the
46. ryXXXXX where XXXXX is the name of the report selected i e gqryMain or qryIntegrated Throughout this manual this box is referred to as the qry box Below this is a series of rows and columns In this pane you will build the selection criteria for the information to be displayed in the report If the window covers too much of the filter form hiding the bottom row of buttons as shown below simply left click the Restore Window button in the top right corner of the screen This button looks like two overlapping boxes Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database frmMainFilterFilter Filter Restore Window Button Many books describing Access are available and will provide additional information regarding the use of filters There are several ways to select the data field to be used for the filter as described below 1 The data field to be used in a filter may be selected directly from the field list qry box in the top pane of the filter form by scrolling to the desired field and double clicking with the left mouse bottom This automatically places the field name in the next empty cell in the Field row of the lower pane and is the method used in this User Manual and the exercises in the Booklet packaged with the CD 2 The data field can also be selected from the same field list qry box by placing the cursor on the desired data field and while pressing and holding the left mouse button dragging the
47. s and should continue with the setup If setup does not continue automatically simply restart the Probate Inventory Database setup as before Set Pointer to Transcription Files In order for the system to find the Probate Inventory Transcription Files a pointer to their location is required This pointer is initially set to C Program Files probate which is the default location used during installation If the default folder was modified during the installation process then follow the instructions below To set this pointer start the application from the Main Menu select Setup for Transcription Files This opens a form which shows the Path for Transcription Files Modify the path to point to the location of the files If the files have been copied to any folder other than the default C Program Files probate then make the entry the same as the drive letter and folder where the files were copied IS Note The entry on this form must begin with the character and end with a slash i e C DataFiles transcr Adobe Acrobat Reader Program In order to view and print the Probate Inventory Transcriptions the Acrobat Reader must be installed on your computer This program which is distributed free can be found on the Probate Inventory Database CD To install 1 Insert Probate Inventory Database CD into your CD ROM drive 2 Click Start then Run Type D Acrobat Setup in the command line of the Run dial
48. s to be borderline for the class or exceeds the class This designation will alert the researcher that the inventory deserves special consideration For xample Georg Washington has an E classification because his inventory exceeds by far the requirements for an elite inventory yY if at least one closet is named y if contents of a cellar are listed Yy Inventories which list books or a library but no titles Inventories listing at least one book by title are marked with a T in the BOOKS field Book titles have not been included in the database but are part of the complete inventory transcription y if there are cattle sheep hogs horses or other animals in the inventory Y designating buildings other than a kitchen dairy or wash house that are listed by name in the probate inventory Y to indicate the presence of agricultural or craft tools in the inventory Only textile production and garden tools have been included in the database y if a specific location defined as quarter or plantation is listed in the probate inventory y designates that slaves are listed usually by name in the probate inventory While not included in the database names and ages of slaves when recorded are part of the complete inventory transcription Yy indicates the inventory of a shop owner with mercantile stock designated by the inventory appraise
49. the filter that you have built The bottom of this form will show that you are displaying record 1 of n where n is the total number of records selected If the filter was successful and you have the records that you want then click the Run Report button You will then be given the opportunity to label your report Click OK and the report will be run in a preview mode To print the report simply click File gt Print from the top menu When the printing has completed close the print preview window by clicking File gt Close from the top menu For this example we will assume that you did not find as many Windsor chairs as you had expected You could expand the search to include aspiring households as well as elite Do this by clicking the Build Filter button to modify your selection criteria Go to the Criteria cell under CLASS and replace the entry with E or A The system will place Like E or Like A in the cell Click the Apply Filter button again This filter will now include both elite and aspiring inventories GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 23 Build Your Own Database The Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database structure and application can be used for storage of a variety of items and is especially valuable to museum personal and scholars for inventory or research purposes The uses are limitless This section lists some ideas and examples By using the application and modifying the nomenclat
50. tifying a wash house or laundry listed by name in the inventory Ware A Detail Inventory Table category including those items listed in inventories as ware including ceramics glass metal pewter silver and wooden Weapons The Detail Inventory Table category that includes edge fire and miscellaneous Wild Card The wild card character asterisk is used to ensure that no records are missed during searches 1 Example To find chairs use chair in the filtered search of the TYPE field With the wild card the search for chair will produce all the entries for the TYPE Chair in the database GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 30 2 Example To find any use of the word neat in the DESCRIPT or MEMO field enter the word with an asterisk before and after i e neat GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 31 Works Cited Benes Peter d Early American Probate Inventories Boston Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings XII Boston University 1989 Carson Barbara C Ambitious Appetites Dining Behavior and Patterns of Consumption in Federal Washington Washington DC The American Institute of Architects Press 1990 Harrower John The Journal of John Harrower An Indentured Servant in the Colony of Virginia 1773 1776 ed Edward Miles Riley Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg 1963 Hienton Louise Joyner Prin
51. ty to Potomac River quarters room by room assessment slaves tools or presence of a wash house laundry Two additional fields are provided as options for further individualization of the inventory at the user s discretion Material The appraiser s description of what an item is made of wood china etc MATERIAL is followed by the assumption designator when the material is not explicitly named and an assumption is made based on the type of item description surrounding items or when spelling is modernized Matrix The format providing access to the available inventories on the Gunston Hall Website Memo A longer field in either the Main or Detail Inventory Table which contains more complete descriptors for listed as entries containing original spelling or strings of items with a cumulative value It is a place for specific Notes for the researcher as space permits Merchant A Main Inventory Table field marking the inventory of a shop owner with mercantile stock designated by the inventory appraiser While the deceased s household items GUNSTON HALL PROBATE INVENTORY DATABASE USER MANUAL 28 have been entered into the Detail Inventory Table shop contents have not Shop contents are found in the inventory transcription Minus Sign 1 Used in the Main Inventory Table to designate a question of class 2 Used in the Detail Inventory Table to link an item with other items recorded as a unit by the appraise
52. ure a museum can easily maintain an inventory of their collections or a researcher can organize data into the three tier nomenclature hierarchy The entire application was developed with Access 2000 which is readily available from any computer software store There are many books and classes available describing the use of this software package There primarily are two ways in which the Probate Inventory Database can be used for other purposes The first and easiest is to add your own data into the system using the existing forms and reports There are very few restrictions on the data entered into the system so you can easily modify the nomenclature to suit your needs or you can develop a new nomenclature The fields LOCATION COLOR MATERIAL etc can also be modified by adding your own information Before attempting any modification of the system it is important to make a copy of the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database to use for your unique application Simply copy the file probate mdb to a different folder If you took the default options during the installation process this file will be in the probate folder under Program Files on your C drive i e C Program Files probate probate mdb Copy the system help file named prob_inv hlp to the same folder to which you copied the probate mdb file Do not change the name of the prob_inv hlp file in that the application will not be able to locate it when needed Once the
53. uthor of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a framer of the United States Constitution The life and times of this great American patriot are vividly evoked by his commodious house and gardens The house with its elaborately carved woodwork contains a collection of eighteenth century furnishings Visitors can walk through formal gardens as Mason often did during the Revolution while pondering the affairs of the rebellious colonies The central all e lined with great boxwoods planted in George Mason s day leads to an outlook with a view across the deer park and woods to the Potomac River Reconstructed outbuildings help to illustrate the lives and work of domestic servants and slaves Gunston Hall is open daily except Thanksgiving Christmas and New Years Day from 9 30 a m to 5 p m It is located 20 miles south of Washington DC Follow signs from Interstate 95 or US Route 1 For more information visit Gunston Hall s website at Http qunstonhall org As part of its goal to promote research in the field of eighteenth century studies the staff of Gunston Hall Plantation have made the information contained in the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database accessible to the public A generous grant from The Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee Wisconsin permits Gunston Hall to make the contents of the Main Inventory Table of the database available for use on its website as well as to publish the entire database onto Compact Disk CD
54. xtiles and writing Household Utensils HH UTENSILS Detail Inventory Table category including cleaning dairy fire fighting garden hardware hygiene laundry miscellaneous and storage Instruments Detail Inventory Table category including measure miscellaneous optical scientific survey and time keeping Inventory The probate document from the public records upon which the database is built All inventories have been photocopied from the microfilms of county court documents at the Library of Virginia or the Maryland State Archives Kitchen A Main Inventory Table field denoting that a kitchen has been defined by name or assumed by placement of kitchen tools distinct from other household items When the kitchen is assumed the entry in the kitchen field is Y Lighting A Detail Inventory Table category including candle lamp lantern miscellaneous sconces and snuffers Livestock A Main Inventory Table field that signals the presence of cattle sheep hogs horses or other animals in an inventory Location The space or room where an item is listed in a probate inventory by the appraiser Main Inventory Table A comprehensiv overview of ach inventory containing name of deceased filename date taken ordered or recorded county state and class Specific fields which may be used to further examine the inventory are rural books cellar closet dairy female kitchen livestock merchant out building proximi
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