Another interesting collecting area is that of billheads for cracker and/or biscuit companies. First, a little history. Crackers are an American invention. In 1792, John Pearson of Newbury, Massachusetts made a cracker-like bread product that he called "pilot bread". It became a hit with sailors because of its shelf-life - some of you know it by its other names hardtack or sea biscuit. In 1801, another Massachusetts baker, Josiah Bent, burnt some biscuits in his oven and the crackling noise that emanated from the oven gave way to the term "cracker". By 1840, three cracker varieties were on the market - butter crackers, soda crackers and sugar biscuits. Because crackers were less perishable than bread and thus more widely distributed. Since crackers were unleavened production was simpler and easily mechanized. In 1845, the Kennedy bakery in Arlington Massachusetts introduced steam power to run its machinery and fleets of wagons were soon leaving the factory. Crackers...
Billheads, letterheads, receipts, checks and more