Files
Download Full Text (60.4 MB)
Contributing Institution
Prince Memorial Library
Document Type
Text
Exact Creation Date
5-1-1846
Language
English
Location
Cumberland
Keywords
Paupers; Indigent; Cumberland; Almshouses; Poor Farms
Recommended Citation
Cumberland (Me.), "Memorandum of Provisions at the Alms House, May 1, 1846" (1846). Cumberland Overseers of the Poor. 16.
https://digitalmaine.com/cumberland_overseers_of_the_poor/16
Rights Statement
No Copyright - United States. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.
Description
Memorandum of Provisions at the Alms House, May 1, 1846, is a list of supplies for the Cumberland almshouse. Common supplies included beef, pork, potatoes, meal, flour, butter, molasses, and as well as oakum, a loose fiber obtained by recycling old rope and cordage, and was mixed with tar and used for caulking in shipbuilding. Picking oakum was a common task in British work houses and penitentiaries, and its presence at Cumberland’s town farm indicates that the farm's inhabitants were engaged in work to offset the cost of maintaining the farm.