The four daybooks document the stove and tinware business in Orange and surrounding towns--New Salem, Erving--in the 1870s and 1880s. Parker's customers, aside from local residents, included several Orange businesses, such as the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Co., the Orange Manufacturing Co., and the Rodney Hunt Machine Co. Parker also charged for labor, especially soldering, but it is not clear if he employed any workers in his business or did the work himself. Other types of information available in the daybooks include the cost of stoves, pipe, kettles of various sorts, and roofing material, as well as information about shipping costs.