The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], S. P. Hite Company Daybook, Ms1986-005, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The S. P. Hite Company Daybook was acquired by Special Collections prior to 1987.
The processing and description of the S. P. Hite Company Daybook commenced and was completed in October 2017.
Samuel P. Hite was born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1843. In 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company D, 5th Virginia Infantry. Hite was wounded in the battles of Malvern Hill and Chancellorsville; on February 6, 1864, he was captured at Morton's Ford. Six weeks later, upon taking the oath of allegiance, Hite was sent to New York.
By 1871, Hite was manufacturing patent medicines on Moffatt's Creek (Augusta County), Virginia. His business a success, Hite in 1887 moved his laboratory to nearby Staunton, where he and his workers manufactured a number of products, with Hite's Pain Cure apparently being the most successful of these.
As Hite's business continued to expand, it was incorporated as the S. P. Hite Company in 1905, with $100,000 in stocks sold to several Roanoke investors. Hite was retained as president and remained in Staunton, but the company's headquarters relocated to Roanoke. Hite himself remained in Staunton, however. Hite died in Radford on March 10, 1917. Unmarried, he bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the Children's Home in Richmond.
This collection consists of a single daybook maintained by S. P. Hite Company, a patent drug manufacturer and distributor operating in Roanoke, Virginia, during the early 20th century. The entries, spanning October 31, 1905 to July 31, 1909, record sales of the company's various products, including Hite's Pain Cure (abbreviated in the daybook as "HPC"), cough syrup, liver pills, asthma and catarrh powders, and others. Among the customers named are grocers and druggists throughout Virginia and the greater mid-Atlantic region.
The guide to the S. P. Hite Company Daybook by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).