A. F. Curtis operated a hardware store in from the 1860s until 1882. He also served as a judge, was the president of the Mercantile National Bank, and was an active Republican and a member of the Clear Creek Bible Society. The A. F. Curtis collection in the CU Boulder Archives contains the records of Curtis' banking and hardware businesses including this very colorful receipt from 1877. Purple was a very rare color to be used for ink at the time not to mention how rare it is for such a color to remain so bright to this day.
The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Archives on June 6, 2018. This is story #21 in our series: 100 Stories for 100 Years from the Archives!