The Charleston Cotton Exchange was founded in 1872 in the port of Charleston, South Carolina; one of its main functions was to provide commodity trading statistics to the mercantile community. Collection includes minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors in 1884; financial statements, 1896-1898, 1929-1930; letters of invitation to prospective members, 1910; and groups of reports on the cotton market at Charleston, 1936-1944, 1948-1950. The volumes contain detailed statistics on the shipping of cotton and other goods at Charleston, 1880-1905; cotton receipts at ports in the United States, 1899-1906; price quotations from several markets in naval stores, 1881-1886; and the finances of the Exchange, 1888-1938.

These papers came to the library with those of the Cheshire, Sullivan and Canaday, cotton merchants of Charleston. Theophilus P. Cheshire and Solomon M. Canaday were presidents of the Exchange at various times during the 1930s to 1950s. The folder of cancelled checks, 1939-1952, contains checks bearing names of presidents during this period.

The chronological file of papers includes minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors in 1884, financial statements of 1896-1898 and 1929-1930, and a letter of invitation in 1910 to prospective members. A letter from President Cheshire in 1932 is a report on the finances of the exchange and the state of the cotton trade at Charleston. During 1948-1950, there are numerous reports of daily sales and inventories of cotton and frequent price quotations. A number of monthly reports record statistics on receipts and shipments of cotton.

Statistics on domestic and international shipments, inventories, and other data are in the Exchange's "Report on Cotton Movement" at Charleston, 1936-1944 that are filed in separate folders. The function of the Charleston Cotton Exchange as a provider of trading statistics to the mercantile community is represented by seven volumes. Marine News Clearances No. 2 (1880, July-1886, Aug.), and No. 5 (1899, Sept.-1905 Feb.) record shipping information: date of clearance, nationality, rig, name of vessel, master, destination, cargo (types of goods and their quantity), by whom cleared, and date of departure. Clearances No. 2, includes a "List of Steamships Loaded at Charleston for Foreign Ports" (1879, Sept.-1885, Sept.) that records the number of bales of Sea Island and upland cotton shipped, its destination, and other information. Marine Arrivals No. 3 (1886, Aug.-1892, Aug.), No. 4 (1892, Sept.-1899, Aug.), and No. 5 (1899, Sept.-1905, Feb.) list date of arrival, nationality, rig, name of vessel, master, place from which the ship had come, cargo (quantities not given), and consignee.

The "Weekly Cotton Receipts at All U.S. Ports" (1899, March-Sept., 1906) includes statistics for Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Norfolk, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other ports. These statistics include cumulative totals and comparative figures for the preceding year. Naval Stores No. 2 (1881, Sept.-July, 1886) contains price quotations (several times daily) for rosin and turpentine on the markets at Wilmington, New York, London, and Liverpool. Figures are more numerous for Wilmington and New York. In 1883 price quotations were begun for the market at Savannah, and those for Liverpool were discontinued. On the inside front cover is the "Annual Statement of Stocks, Receipts and Exports for the Year Ended March 31st, 1882," Wilmington, N.C. (cotton, turpentine, rosin, tar, and crude). Four volumes record finances of the Exchange: Cashbook, June 1888-Dec, 1898; Cashbook, Jan., 1916-Aug., 1931; Cashbook, Sept., 1931-Aug., 1938; and the Assessments of Members, 1891-1916.

Included in this collection are records, 1779-1809, of a mercantile business run by Stephen Fowler, Fairfield, Connecticut, and after 1805 of Trenton, Jones Co., North Carolina, which engaged in trade between New York and North Carolina. Stephen's son Joseph about 1820 engaged in the export of lumber, naval stores, tobacco, grain, and blackeyed peas from North Carolina to Bermuda; and later in coastal trade from New Bern to New York. There is also correspondence relating to his duties as U.S. deputy marshal, Pamlico District, N.C., 1831-1860. Family correspondence predominates between 1840 and 1860. For the Civil War years there are many letters from Joseph S. Fowler, Jr., written largely from the Confederate Commissary Office, Kinston, N.C. The collection also includes two Yale university diplomas; a ledger of Joseph S. Fowler, (1817-1834), 1836, 1866, 1 vol.; financial and legal papers, 1800-1860; the logbook of Absalom Fulford kept on the Neuse River lightship, 1845-1849, recording weather and the passage of ships; and business letters to DeWitt C. Fowler and Brother, Bay River (N.C.) general store and liquor merchants.

The Fowler family papers collection Includes records, 1779-1809, of a mercantile business run by Stephen Fowler, Fairfield, Connecticut, and after 1805 of Trenton, Jones County, North Carolina, which engaged in trade between New York and North Carolina. Stephen's son Joseph, about 1820, engaged in export of lumber, naval stores, tobacco, grain, and blackeyed peas from North Carolina to Bermuda; and later in coastal trade from New Bern to New York. There is also correspondence relating to his duties as U.S. deputy marshal, Pamlico District, North Carolina, 1831-1860. Family correspondence predominates between 1840 and 1860. For the Civil War years there are many letters from Joseph S. Fowler, Jr., written largely from the Confederate Commissary Office, Kinston, North Carolina.

The collection also includes diplomas; a ledger of Joseph S. Fowler, (1817-1834), 1836, 1866, 1 vol.; financial and legal papers, 1800-1860; broadsides concerning state policies; the logbook of Absalom Fulford kept on the Neuse River lightship, 1845-1849, recording weather and the passage of ships; certificates for jurors, U.S. District Court, New Bern, 1839-1858; business letters addressed to DeWitt C. Fowler and Brother at Bay River, 1860-1868, a general store and liquor dealer; and a few items relating to North Carolina schools. Among correspondents in the collection are Silvester Brown, Benjamin Q. Tucker, Absalom Fulford, and Wesley Jones.

Correspondence, accounts, manifests, and other papers, of James Redding Grist, his father, Allen Grist, and of other members of the family. Materials relate to the operation of a general store, trade with the West Indies, Richard Grist's export business in New Bern, N.C., J. R. Grist's turpentine business near Wilmington, N.C., and his efforts to revive his trade in naval stores after the Civil War. Includes taxation lists, ca. 1815-1816, for Beaufort Co., N.C. Correspondents include Henry Toole Clark. A bound volume (shelved and cataloged separately) contains entries relating to the operation of a North Carolina general store and an earlier similar operation in the West Indies. The first half of the volume comprises the Thomas Dickinson ledger from St. Eustatius, West Indies, 1780-1781, with entries documenting payments for rum, madeira, slave clothing, cheese, flour, twine, nails, brown sugar, needles, and other sundries. His relation, if any, to the Grists is not known. The second half of the volume comprises the ledger of Allen Grist of Washington, Beaufort County, NC, 1813-1816, with entries for food, spirits, building material, and other sundries. A few entries in each section record slave transactions: money lent for the purchase of slaves, money paid for their labor, or money received for the actual sale of slaves.