MILL PARK WINE COMPANY LEDGER

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This is a report based on a forensic examination of a ledger kept by Mill Park Wine Company, dated 1884 to 1888.  The ledger is in the hands of a U.S. university, in their special collections section.

 

The examination consisted of viewing the ledger, taking some digital photographs and making some notes.  The examiner is a non-professional, but knowledgeable in photographic techniques and knowledgeable of the Heineken family history of this era.

 

WHY THE MILL PARK LEDGER?

 

Businesses typically kept copies of all their correspondence for future references.  With respect to the Mill Park Wine Company ledger, it will be assumed it contains copies of business correspondence for future reference.

 

At this time it is not known if other ledgers were kept. 

 

This Mill Park ledger appears to contain letters and records from 1884 to 1888.   The records were mostly kept by Franz Peters, that is, until late 1887, when Franz married Christian Heineken’s daughter, Ella.  At that point it seems Christian Heineken took over the business of letter writing to customers and other business associates.  It is also likely that Enoch, one of Christian’s sons also helped run the business at this time, even though he was only 10 at the time, but not too early for an apprentice in that era.  In fact Enoch’s name eventually appears on some of Mill Park’s pre-printed forms (undated ledger), when eventually Mill Park also made milled flower.

 

FORENSIC EXAMINATION

 

These are the observations of the examiner:

 

  1. The first section of the ledger is an alphabetical list of customers and how many bottles of wine they have ordered over time.  This part of the ledger appears to have been written in ink, using a fountain pen. It has tabs with letters to organize the names.
  2. The other section of the ledger contains 113 pages of correspondence, some pages having multiple letters (with a total of perhaps 200 letters in the entire ledger). Most letters are brief, about 2-4 sentences, and originally on paper in the order of 5 inches wide by 7 inches tall.  This section of the ledger appears to be a photographic record.  Most of the letters are in reference to orders placed with Mill Park Wine Co., but some have to do with vendors, such as when used to order supplies.

 

NOTE TO THE READER:

 

The reader is invited to skip the verbose explanation as to why the letters of correspondence are believed to be photographic copies and simply view the pictures from the ledger.  The captions for these pictures are in blue color to make them easier to find and serve to provide the highlights of the ledger.  In short, the most interesting reading from this point forward is in blue, some of this being embedded in the forensic explanations, but a quick scan for blue type will enable the reader to find these highlights easily.

 

Pictures in this document can be easily magnified by pressing CTRL and ‘+’ together (CTRL and ‘-’ to reduce size).  This can be done on the whole web page, or by right clicking on the image and selecting “view image” and then using CTRL and ‘+’ together.  Also, right clicking on the image allows the image to be copied to some other folder (directory) on a PC.

 

FIRST SECTION OF LEDGER

 

There are pages with tabs marked with letters of the alphabet for indexing.  Some pages contain two or more letters in succession of the alphabet on the tabs.  Below is an example.

 

 

Within each section are contained a page or two of names, and the quantities ordered.  Below is an example of such a page.

 

 

The format was usually the last name, first initials, then the word “for” and then a list of quantities ordered. For example, one line reads:

 

            Buelle, E. A. for 28.33.36

 

The above line shows that an E. A. Buelle ordered 28 bottles, then at some later date, 33, then later still, 36 bottles.  There are no dates recorded.  This is probably because this was unimportant to Mill Park operations.  It was likely they wanted to know who the best customers were, and/or possibly to know what their total sales added up to over time.

 

In some cases the name of a company was listed instead of a name, such as “Smith and Sons Co.”.  The large quantities seem to indicate sales to companies selling wine in a shop setting.  Also, some of correspondence in the next section of the ledger would seem to indicate the size of the bottles were gallon sized, plus a price list published elsewhere, outside of this collection held at the university, indicates Mill Park was selling wine by the gallon.

 

Now it should be noted that since C.A. Heineken and Franz Peters were both German born, comas (,) for a list of numbers were not used, but rather periods (.), since in German, this was how it is done with numbers.  (We write in English 1,256 and 1.45 but Germans write, respectively, 1.256 and 1,45).

 

Examination of all of the pages in this first section led this examiner to believe the entries are done in pen and ink only.

 

LAST SECTION OF THE LEDGER

 

The last section of the ledger contains copies of correspondence, probably kept for future reference. Most of it is not too interesting to read, since most of the letters are the same, simply stating an order was on its way, or that something that was needed was being ordered, or occasionally, some pricing discounts were discussed with a customer. There are perhaps upwards of 200 letters of correspondence in this section of the ledger.

 

At first glance, this examiner thought that the entries were simply pen and ink duplication of letters that were mailed to customers, vendors or other business associates.  However, after closer examination of the 113 pages, it appears that the letters are all actually photographic copies of the original letters.

 

Ordinarily, making photographic copies of correspondence would be surprising, since most businesses in the 1880s would be compelled to manually make copies of correspondence by using pen and ink.  However, since C.A. Heineken had a fully equipped dark room, chemicals and cameras at Mill Park, it falls within the realms of possibilities to make photographic copies.  What follows is forensic evidence that the “copies” are photographic.

 

THE FORENSIC EVIDENCE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC COPIES OF THE CORRESPONDENCE (LAST) SECTION OF THE LEDGER

 

The followings are the findings of this examiner:

 

  1. The ledger in the first section (alphabetical section) shows that the ink is still essentially black after 120 years, with little or no change in color, while in the section with correspondence, the lettering is essentially a golden brown tone throughout.  It does not make sense that the lettering in the correspondence part would turn golden brown, due to some sort of fading for example, while the lettering in first part remained essentially black, without significant fading, over a 120-year period.

 

Now the ink in the correspondence part might have been golden brown to begin with, but that just seems irregular to have two colors of ink, especially since black ink would be much more readable, especially over time, so it seems that something else might be going one here.

 

  1. In the vast majority of cases of the 113 pages of correspondence, the “copies” are turned sideways.  If one simply wished to make a “copy” of a letter of correspondence by writing the same exact letter into a ledger, why would the writing be written into a ledger sideways? That would make re-reading such letters more difficult and since the natural handwriting style of the day would be to write into the ledger in a normal upright (not rotated) manner, why sideways?   The answer may be that the ledger pages were inserted, one by one, into a camera sideways, from the top of the camera, to allow a photographic image to be placed on each ledger sheet.  This way gravity would hold such pages in place during the taking of the picture, without extraordinary effort.  (But how were the pictures made on such paper?  More on this later.)   Furthermore, letters are placed side-by-side in most cases, to save space, also more likely a photographic process than a manual writing process.

 

  1. If duplication of correspondence was performed by means of pen and ink, why did they go to so much trouble to use script throughout and also to include so much information in the copy?  For example, the signatures are in script, but to save time and energy, they could have been penned in block letters, and this was true of some other information in these “copies” that could be simplified.  Also found were a couple of cases where “Mill Park Wine Co” was the signature, which also could have been abbreviated M. P. W C, for example.  Since copying by hand was hard enough, all this extra work seems pointless and a waste of time and energy, so brevity would be in order.  Then there is the case of a rubber stamp with the words “MILL PARK WINE CO.” on one of the copies.  This might make sense for the original, but not for a hand-written copy, since it serves no purpose and was signed by hand anyway.  However, if these “copies” are photographic copies, then all the above issues would be absolved.

 

 

  1. As mentioned, the ink color for all the correspondence is in a golden brown color.  Well it turns out that this is the same color for direct photography onto plain paper that has been “salted” with some kind of salt solution (possibly silver chloride).  Thus the golden brown color strongly hints that this is the case.  Another hint that this is true is that the color is on both side of the page.  Yes, ink could leech through over time.  However, when salted paper is used, the image is in the paper, rather than on it.  Indeed, the back side of all the sheets show it has the same image (albeit, reverse) indicating the image is in the paper, consistent with salted paper photography.  The following picture show this clearly on a proceeding page (top of image). 

 

(As an aside, it also shows a signature, probably “Mr H(eineken)” for the first letter and then “C.A. H(eineken)” for the second letter.)

 

 

  1. Had the “copies” been done in pen and ink, the many wrinkles on the pages would have made writing difficult and in fact would have resulted in countless “skips”, resulting in ink runs, patches, blobs, etc.  This kind of phenomenon is not seen anywhere.  Of course the wrinkling could have occurred later, but closer examination of the paper, where the wrinkles were opened up to see “inside” revealed no traces of ink anywhere, except where clearly such wrinkles were in an open state at the time of copying.  Thus, the paper appears to have already been in a wrinkled stated at the time of making the “copies”.

 

In fact, the wrinkling of the pages is not so much indicative of the age of the paper, but of a photographic process know as using salted paper, where soaking in such a salted solution can cause the paper to wrinkle a bit during drying.

 

  1. In many of the copies, whole “patchy” areas seemed to be lacking any ink (making them hard to read).  This is not the kind of thing that happens in “patches” but typically randoml, should ink had run out on a pen, not to mention by the 1880’s they were using fountain pens, not quills.  So the more likely explanation for the patches lacking good lettering quality is that the salting of the paper was uneven and so some places the images are more incomplete as a result.  (More on this later.)

 

  1. Some of the earliest pages in the correspondence section of the ledger show very poor quality, while the latter pages in this section seemed to improve, plus there were some separate sheets of paper, not bound in this ledger, that were part of the collection (held in this library) which were extremely unclear as well.  This would all be typical of experimentation and process improvement with respect to photography (such as focus, exposure time, solution strength, application of solution, etc), rather than due to ink fading or running or skipping, any such thing, especially since the early pages (1-13) are where the blurriness exists the most.  These first sheets of paper are virtually the same age as the rest of the ledger pages, in relative terms (over 120 years old), and yet show relatively little such fading, except in a few cases, where possibly the process faltered due to process controls being rather crude at the time.  Hence, process improvement is the more likely explanation and thus points to photographic methods.

 

In summary then, it is the opinion of the examiner, that some kind of photographic process was used to make copies of the correspondence to place them in this ledger.  This is very unique for the time, since so few businesses would have had access to some sort of photographic copying method in the 1880s.

 

HOW DOES SALTED PAPER PHOTOGRAPHY WORK?

 

From what this examiner has read from various sources, salted paper photography worked like this in the 1800’s:

 

  1. a plain piece of relatively porous paper is placed in a salt solution until sufficient solution has soaked in or the solution was brushed on to the surface with a brush
  2. the paper is then allowed to dry somewhat while in a dark room to prevent light from darkening the solution (and the solution in the jars was also kept in the dark as well)
  3. after drying somewhat, the paper is inserted into a camera (in the dark)
  4. the camera lense (cover) is removed for a significant amount of time until a positive image is formed directly onto the paper (30 minutes or so)
  5. The paper is then removed from the camera (in the dark) and a fixing agent used to essentially remove the salt solution from the paper, so as to prevent further imaging on the paper
  6. the paper then is allowed to dry.

 

While the image from salted paper photography is typically golden brown toned, rather than grey toned, and while not best thing for black and white photography, it would more than suffice for making copies of correspondence.  Also, since the image is of a still object, namely a correspondence letter, blurring would be minimal, as the subject could be held absolutely still for the amount of time needed to affix the image, typically 30 minutes or so.

 

HOW THIS ALL FITS WITH THE OBSERVATIONS THIS EXAMINER FOUND

 

Since Heineken was familiar with photographic methods, being an avid photographer himself, and had all the supplies needed on hand, it would have been relatively easy for this process to take place at Mill Park.

 

Since accuracy in correspondence was important, especially where quantities and dollar amounts were specified in much of the correspondence, hand copying would be subject to human error, but not a photographic copy, so it would be an obvious advantage.

 

Though the pages were pre-bound in the ledger, it would not be that hard to soak pages, one-by-one, in a salted solution, or even brush it on, and then a short time later take a photograph of the letters of correspondence.  A slit in the top of the camera allowed a single page to be dropped into the camera and gravity to hold it in place.  A flat surface attached to the top of the camera would be sufficient for the rest of the book to rest on.  After the picture was taken, a fixing solution could be easy applied, relatively speaking.  Such a process could explain why most of the images were turned 90 degrees, that is, the page was turned 90 degrees while the subject letters were placed in a holder of some kind in a normal reading (upright) position.  However, in a few cases where the correspondence is in the ledger in the normal reading orientation, the letters were also turned 90 degrees during photographing.  Why this done is not known.

 

Of course this process had to be repeated over time, during the years this ledger was kept  (1884-1888).

 

Well this begs the question, why did Heineken not turn all the subject letters sideways then, to correspond to the ledger pages being turned sideways also during photographing, so that the final result would be for the letters to be in their normal reading orientation when the ledger was held in its normal reading position as well?   Further examination seems to show that more letters per ledger sheet could be “copied” if they were placed side by side and turned 90 degrees.  In short, it was more efficient to do this to save space, time and money.

 

As further evidence of the salted paper process, soaked pages have a tendency to wrinkle somewhat, and indeed, forensic examination reveals this.

 

True, the above is the opinion of the examiner, but it is consistent with the evidence and salted paper photography.

 

Here is an example of side-by-side letters, copied onto ledger pages, and turned 90 degrees.

 

 

It can also been seen in the above copy, under magnification, that some of the lettering was penciled in, soon after by Mr Heineken or Mr Peters, or possibly at a much later time.  However, this examiner’s opinion is that it was done at the time of the “copying,” since the original was still in hand and could be used to “get it right”.   This also shows how some of the photographic process was not perfect all the time, since some of the copying was incomplete, probably due to not soaking the paper thoroughly, or using a brush to apply the salted solution less than evenly, resulting in an uneven application, and hence, uneven and incomplete photographic copies.

 

OTHER PICTURES FOR VIEWING

 

Sorry, but some pictures, due to limitations in the library where these were taken, resulted in less than ideal quality pictures.

 

Below is The Mill Park Wine Co. ledger cover (turned 90 degrees), where these  pages were bound.

 

 

Below shows a letter signed “Mill Park Wine Co.” instead of with a person’s name.

 

 

Below shows a letter signed “Heineken & Peters”.

 

 

Below shows part of a letter sent to New York.  It also shows a discussion about “new German bottles”.  It also shows that the year was 1886, and at that time the style was to only write the last number of the year after the month and day.

 

 

Below shows a close up of Franz Peters’ initials (“respectfully, Mr F.P.”).