Folks, I wonder if someone on this list could help me out. I have gone through Sarah Hunt Mills Peirce's family ledger for 1858 and totalled up all expenditures I could find, from groceries to rent. These expenses look consistent across the years she kept the ledger, but I have not added up all months' expenditures. These expenditures come out to (very roughly) $8,000 per year in 1858 dollars or roughly $240,000.00 in 2019 dollars.
However, although Benjamin Peirce was one of Harvard's highest paid professors (he earned more than Asa Gray and Louis Agassiz), earning only $300 per annum less than James Walker, Harvard's president, Harvard still only lists his annual salary as $2,200 (rougly $60,000.00 in 2019 dollars). Peirce was not yet the head of the Coast Survey, so he did not have that income. I am sure he must have had other sources of income, but so far have not been able to identify any. I am wondering if anyone on this list might know of non-Harvard income that Benjamin and Sarah had at this time (Charley was 19). Sarah came from a well-to-do family, but I don't think that accounts for the huge discrepancy. One possibility that I am looking into is that Harvard shared income taken in by departments with their professors, on top of their salaries. Other than that, I am somewhat stymied. Any suggestions? Dan Everett ********************** Dan Everett daneverettbooks.com
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