Partly Printed Receipt dated Febr 2nd, 1853 which appears to be signed by Thomas Dalton acknowledging payment of $10 for or by Boston Committee for Schools to Allen & Co, 74 State Street [Boston] for Printings and Paper.

Boston, 1853. Very Good. Personal check-sized Allen & Co. receipt on pale blue paper. Approximately 17 x 7 cm. Brief notation on back. We believe that the signatory on this receipt was Thomas Dalton, 1794-1883, an African American free born in Gloucester, Mass. who lived most of his life in Boston. Dalton and his second wife Lucy were active in various local and regional educational organizations. Wikipedia lists the Massachusetts General Colored Association, New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston Mutual Lyceum and the Infant School Association. We have assumed that this receipt is for one of these or a similar organization. We found nothing online specifically identified as Boston Committee for Schools. The Boston City Directory for 1853 lists a Thomas Dalton as residing at 29 South Russell which was the same address for the Thomas Dalton who appears in the Boston City Directories Colored Section in the 1840s when Boston City Directories segregated African Americans into a separate section after the main alphabetical listing of residents. The only other Boston resident named Thomas Dalton listed in the 1853 directory is identified as a clerk at E. R. R. (presumably Eastern Railroad). Our document appears ot be written in the same hand as what we describe as the Dalton signature. We have seen no Dalton documents with which we can compare handwriting or signature. (Inventory #: 95144)