This collection contains four account books maintained by William J. Tarter, a Favonia (Wythe County), Virginia merchant and postmaster. Included is a postmaster's account book containing quarterly property inventories and transaction tallies. The collection also contains three ledgers for Tarter's business enterprises. The first of these, a cash book, spans the years 1907 to 1917, and provides a daily log of cash received as well as a list of store expenditures to individuals and other businesses. (Loosely inserted in the front of the ledger are additional records of the Favonia post office.) Two additional ledgers seem to record a variety of accounts, including grocery purchases, wages of millworkers and other laborers, farm accounts, and the income derived from--and expenses associated with--a truck used for hauling coal, wood, and hay.