Ian, have you tried the published annual reports of state agencies? I found
fascinating labor statistics in a Labor Dept. annual report that I bought for
$3, figuring there would be something useful in it. I would not doubt in the
least that Ag and Markets, or its forefunner, gathered all kinds of statistics
including prices, and published them. -- L.E. Hendrix

Ian McGiver wrote:

> Does anyone on the list know of a (consolidated) source that lists prices
> for agricultural products, goods, and services in the late 18th and 19th
> centuries?
>
> I am working on a project examining rural migration for which it is
> important to key track of the year by year fluctuations in the value of
> agricultural productsparticularly wheat, potash, and lumber in the region
> surrounding Albany. As well, I need to have a sense of what farm families
> had to pay for various goods..
>
> I know that there is good coverage on this subject for Vermont. As
> example, I have come across a reference for a book entitled:  PRICES PAID
> BY VERMONT FARMERS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES AND RECEIVED BY THEM FOR FARM
> PRODUCTS, 1790-1940. But I have not been able to uncover a similar work
> for New York State. I re-reviewed key footnotes and the bibliography of
> David M. Ellis' LANDLORDS AND FARMERS (1944), and I saw that he was forced
> to piece together farm prices for the late 18th and early 19th centuries
> from a variety of sources (diaries, travel accounts, newspapers, etc).
> Ellis's work is very good, so I presume that no consolidated work on
> prices existed up to the point that he wrote the study.  But such a work
> might have existed and/or have been published since then. Does anyone know
> of such a work?
>
> I can readily generate commodity prices in New York City from the various
> "Prices Current" newspapers that were printed during the period. These
> newspapers (published at least weekly) listed the current prices for a
> whole range of goods. And there are readily available microfilm copies of
> the papers for the period I am examining. Although, however, I would
> prefer to generate a list of prices for the same period for the market at
> Albany. However I want to avoid the tedious and problematic task of
> generating prices for the Albany market by tracing merchants'
> advertisements in the Albany newspapers.  Does anyone know of a "Prices
> Current" existing for Albany?
>
> A limitation of  the Prices Current is that they give the market value of
> farm produce, but they do not provide information on the prices that
> farmers had to pay for various goods and services (eg, provisions, labor,
> a team of oxen, etc).
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Thanks
> Ian McGiver