This collection consists of financial records maintained by the treasurer of Centenary College of Louisiana (Jackson, La.). It consists of the following – Series 1: Manuscript volumes (1846-1906), Series 2: Bills, accounts, receipts (1841-1906).

Series 1: Manuscript volumes (1846-1906) include account books, daybooks, and cashbooks. The account books commonly list financial transactions grouped by person or subject. The daybooks and cashbooks provide a daily list of income and expenses in chronological order; most entries relate to student tuition and fees, professor’s salaries, and various expenses and income. Some volumes contain page number notations alongside each transaction; these serve as a cross reference to pages in other volumes in which the same transaction appears.

Series 2: Bills, accounts, receipts (1846-1906) consist of financial records on loose-leaf pages. These records commonly relate to student tuition and board, salaries for professors and tutors, building supplies and repairs, furniture, printing college course catalogs, and Centenary advertisements appearing in newspapers. The construction of the college’s Centre Building appears in records dated 1856 to 1859 and includes receipts for the architect and contractors; some of these records are glued together. Other records include extensive lumber mill receipts (1851), tax notice (1895 February 13) and an insurance policy (1901 November 12). A separate file folder contains promissory notes to the endowment fund (1885-1893). This series includes references to Black or enslaved workers (for example: 1846 July, 1849 July 24, 1851 October 10, 1857 January 13, circa 1859). Additional references to individuals that may have been Black or enslaved workers also appear (for example: 1849 July 20, 1849 July 23, 1850 December 14, 1851 August 23, 1851 October 30, 1851 December 5, 1851 December 29, 1854 December 18, 1856 June 19 (or 1856 January 19), 1857 January 13, 1858 June 26, 1858 August 1, 1858 August 4, 1860 January 1, 1860 March 1, 1860 June 1). Note: documents in this series are arranged chronologically using the date on which the document was created; documents lacking a specific date of creation and that list multiple financial transactions are filed according to the latest date listed.