Bock and Krauss Department Stores Collection (Z/0571)

Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Bock and Krauss Department Stores Collection (Z/0571).
Creator/Collector: David Bock; Sidney S. Krauss; Ferdinand “Ferdie” Thomas Krauss; and others.
Date(s): 1906-1955; n.d.
Size: 40 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH staff, August 1973; Reprocessed by MDAH intern Grant Jones, June 2019.
Provenance: Gift of Calista Hackett of Port Gibson, MS, in 1972; Z/U/1972.068.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).

Preferred citation: Bock and Krauss Department Stores Collection (Z/0571), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Biography:

David Bock was born on October 28, 1864 in Poland, the only child of Albert and Francis Bock. His half-brother, Felix Bock, was born on March 29, 1873, to Albert Bock. Felix’s mother is unknown. David Bock arrived in the United States in 1879 and settled first in an unknown location in Mississippi. He married Esther Morris in 1896, and his daughter, Juliette, was born on July 19, 1896. He resided in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi as early as 1900, where he opened a department store. His second daughter, Florence, was born in 1901, followed by his third daughter, Ray, who was born on March 31, 1902. His wife died on October 12, 1906 while at a sanatorium in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1907, he married Rosa Sartorius before relocating to Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, by 1920. His second wife, Rosa Bock, died on February 3, 1928. Her death was followed by the death of Felix on April 12, 1933.

David Bock was active in local, national, and international Jewish communities. He was an active member of the Gemiluth Chasedom congregation in Port Gibson, as well as the Anshe Chesed congregation in Vicksburg. He was also a financial supporter of local and national Jewish relief agencies, and was active in his support of the Zionist Movement.

David Bock become a very prominent businessman, and he is portrayed as living a very luxurious lifestyle while having affiliations with three major businesses throughout his life. He was president of Bock-Fischel Dry Goods from its opening until his resignation on December 24, 1932. He was the president of Bock’s Department Store from approximately 1900 until the death of his half-brother, Felix, in 1933. After the death of Felix Bock in 1933, he opened a wholesale business in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. He resided in Vicksburg for the remainder of his life, until his death on June 19, 1938.

Sidney S. Krauss was vice president of Bock’s Department Store until the death of Felix, when he replaced David Bock as president. Bock’s Department Store then became Krauss Department Store. He was born in Mississippi on January 25, 1872, to Ferdinand Krauss and Bertha Simon Krauss. He was the oldest of nine children born to Ferdinand and Bertha Krauss. Residing first in Fayette, Jefferson County, Mississippi, he married Nellie Rea in 1897 and by 1900 was living in Port Gibson and serving as vice president of Bock’s Department Store. He had one child with Nellie Rea, Ferdinand Thomas Krauss, born November 17, 1898.

Ferdinand “Ferdie” Thomas Krauss attended local schools before attending college at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi. He then graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He married Hilda Gigher on August 25, 1934. She died on February 13, 1948, followed by the death of Ferdinand’s mother on March 7, 1949, and his father on July 27, 1950. He succeeded to the ownership of Krauss Department Store upon the death of his father. Ferdinand “Ferdie” Thomas Krauss died on May 21, 1952 in Lorman, Jefferson County, Mississippi.

Scope and Content Note: 

This collection contains fiscal correspondence and insurance documents of Bock’s Department Store, Bock-Fischel Dry Goods, David Bock Inc., Krauss Department Store, and the national Krauss franchise. Included in the collection is personal correspondence detailing the involvement of the Bock family in the local, national, and international Jewish communities. The collection also contains personal correspondence belonging to Ferdinand Thomas Krauss and his close friends and extended family following his inheritance of the Krauss Department Store.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Jewish Community. 1918-1930.

Subseries 1.1: Bilbo Jewish Relief Day Proclamation. 1918. 
Governor Theo G. Bilbo was Governor of Mississippi from 1916-1920, encompassing the years of the First World War. This subseries contains one item, a proclamation by Governor Bilbo declaring September 23, 1918 Jewish Relief Day in Mississippi.

Box 1, Folder 1

Subseries 1.2: Assistance Request for Jewish Relief. 1918-1930. 
The National and International Jewish Community coordinated fundraising and relief in an effort to aid Jews who had been displaced and marginalized by the First World War. In this subseries, letters from the Jewish Children’s Home, Jewish War Sufferers, and the Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans addressed to the David and Felix Bock show the brothers’ involvement both as Hebrews and as businessmen in the collective Jewish War Relief efforts.

Box 1, folders 2-4

Subseries 1.3: Gemiluth Chasedom Congregation Correspondence. 1923-1926. 
This subseries consists of correspondence regarding the Gemiluth Chasedom Congregation. The Gemiluth Chasedom Congregation was the local Jewish congregation in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi. The items in this subseries portray the extent to which the Bock brothers were active in support and attendance of the congregation, as well as their liaison roles between the Gemiluth Chasedom Congregation and other regional Jewish religious communities such as Congregation Mt. Zion in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Bock brothers were also affiliated with the Commission on Jewish Education and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Notices regarding yearly dues of the Mortuary Benefit Association of the Wahabi Temple are included in this subseries.

Box 1, folders 5-7

Subseries 1.4: Solomon Lysander Kory Correspondence. 1920-1926; n.d. 
This subseries contains letters to the Bock family from Rabbi Solomon Lysander Kory. He was an American Hebrew Rabbi who led the Anshe Chesed Congregation in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi. He was also on the Mississippi Jewish Relief Committee and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Box 1, folders 8-10

Series 2: Correspondence. 1912-1954; n.d.

Subseries 2.1: Fiscal Correspondence. 1912-1954; n.d. 
This subseries contains fiscal correspondence and insurance records of the Bock Department Store and the Krauss Department Store from 1912-1954. Included in the fiscal correspondence is sample pieces of cloth, silk, and wool. Fiscal correspondence of Chamberlain Hunt Academy is included in this subseries, along with two pencil-drawn sketches of the Chamberlain Hunt Academy logo. Fiscal correspondence of David Bock’s wholesale and dry-goods company is also located in this subseries.

Box 1, folders 11-35
Box 2, folders 1-12

Subseries 2.2: Personal Correspondence. 1923-1950; n.d. 
This subseries contains personal letters between Ferdinand Thomas Krauss and his extended family and friends following the death of his wife and mother, and the sickness and subsequent death of his father within three consecutive years. Included are letters to two of Ferdinand Krauss’ aunts, Grace Golden and Blanche Heyman. This subseries contains a letter mentioning the “Hackett” surname, which is the only reference to the Hackett name throughout personal correspondence in the collection. Also included in this subseries are several personal letters written to Felix Bock and Sidney and Nell Krauss.

Box 2, folders 13-15

Series 3: Business Records. 1906-1950. 
Series 3 contains business records in the form of account books, day books, cash books, customer ledgers, credit ledgers, merchandise ledgers, trial balance books, inventory books, invoice books, and order books.

Volumes 1-19; 21-38; 43
Box 23: Volumes 39-42: Trial Balance Books, 1908-1911
Box 42: Volumes 44-48: Trial Balance Books, 1915-1929
Boxes 43-45: Volume 20, Inventory Book, 1924-1949

Series 4: Insurance and Tax Records. 1897-1954. 
This series contains insurance and tax records of David Bock’s Department Store and S. S. Krauss’ Department Store. Included are state and federal tax returns, monthly income reports, and insurance policies.

Box 2, Folders 16-29
Box 3, Folders 1-15

Box List:

Box 1, Folder 1: Theo G. Bilbo Jewish Relief Day Proclamation, 1918. 
Box 1, Folder 2: Jewish War Sufferers and Jewish Welfare Fund, 1918; n.d. 
Box 1, Folder 3: Jewish Children’s Home, 1918; 1925-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 4: General Zionist Affairs, 1918; 1930. 
Box 1, Folder 5: Department of Synagogue and School Extension, 1924. 
Box 1, Folder 6: Gemiluth Chasedom Congregation, 1924-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 7: Mortuary Benefit Association, 1925-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 8: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1925; n.d. 
Box 1, Folder 9: Solomon Kory - Bock Correspondence, 1923-1924; 1926. 
Box 1, Folder 10: Mississippi Jewish Relief Committee, 1920. 
Box 1, Folder 11: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1908-1909; 1918; 1925-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 12: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1909; 1918-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 13: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1911; 1917-1920; n.d. 
Box 1, Folder 15: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1912; 1918-1921; 1924-1926; 1931-1933. 
Box 1, Folder 16: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1915; 1929-1920; 1924; 1926. 
Box 1, Folder 17: Hackett, N. L. and Calista, 1917-1918; 1920, 1924-1927. 
Box 1, Folder 18: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1924, 1932-1933. 
Box 1, Folder 19: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1917-1920; 1924-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 20: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1917-1920; 1923-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 21: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1918-1920; 1924-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 22: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1918-1920; 1933. 
Box 1, Folder 23: David Bock – Chamberlain-Hunt Fiscal Correspondence1918-1935; 1950; n.d. 
Box 1, Folder 24: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1918-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 25: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1918-1920; 1924; 1926. 
Box 1, Folder 26: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1918-1920, 1924; 1927. 
Box 1, Folder 27: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1919; 1924-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 28: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1919-1920; 1924; 1926. 
Box 1, Folder 29: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1919-1925. 
Box 1, Folder 30: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1919; 1925-1930. 
Box 1, Folder 31: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1910; 1925; 1930; 1933. 
Box 1, Folder 32: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1920; 1925-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 33: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1920; 1926; 1929; 1930; 1933. 
Box 1, Folder 34: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1920; 1925-1926. 
Box 1, Folder 35: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1909; 1911; 1917; 1935; 1942; 1944; 1946; 1953; 1955; n.d. 

Box 2, Folder 1: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1920; 1925-1926; n.d. 
Box 2, Folder 2: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1920; 1924-1936. 
Box 2, Folder 3: Fiscal Correspondence – David Bock Inc., 1933. 
Box 2, Folder 4: David Bock Fiscal Correspondence, 1912; 1916-1920. 
Box 2, Folder 5: Fiscal Correspondence – Rice-Stix, 1918-1919; 1947. 
Box 2, Folder 6: Fiscal Correspondence – J. T. Trevillion, 1919-1920. 
Box 2, Folder 7: Bock-Fischel Dry Goods, 1920; 1930-1932; n.d. 
Box 2, Folder 8: S. S. Krauss Fiscal Correspondence, 1912, 1920-1924; 1935; 1947. 
Box 2, Folder 9: S. S. Krauss Fiscal Correspondence, 1947. 
Box 2, Folder 10: S. S. Krauss Fiscal Correspondence, 1947. 
Box 2, Folder 11: S. S. Krauss Fiscal Correspondence, 1948-1952; n.d. 
Box 2, Folder 12: Hackett Fiscal Correspondence, 1950-1952. 
Box 2, Folder 13: Felix Bock Personal Correspondence, 1923-1926; n.d. 
Box 2, Folder 14: S. S. Krauss Personal Correspondence, 1949-1950. 
Box 2, Folder 15: F. T. Krauss Personal Correspondence, 1949-1950. 
Box 2, Folder 16: Mutual Life Insurance Policies, 1897-1921. 
Box 2, Folder 17: Home Insurance Policy, 1923. 
Box 2, Folder 18: Home Insurance Company, 1923-1926; 1929-1932; 1947-1950. 
Box 2, Folder 19: Fidelity –Phenix Fire Insurance Policy, 1933 
Box 2, Folder 20: Commercial Union Insurance Policies, 1933-1949. 
Box 2, Folder 21: Globe Insurance Policies, 1935-1947. 
Box 2, Folder 22: Aetna Insurance Policies, 1936-1937; 1948-1951. 
Box 2, Folder 23: American Insurance Policies, 1937-1948. 
Box 2, Folder 24: Caldonian Insurance Policy, 1947. 
Box 2, Folder 25: Hartford Fire Insurance Policies, 1947-1949. 
Box 2, Folder 26: Automobile Insurance Policies, 1948-1951. 
Box 2, Folder 27: National Liberty Insurance Policy, 1948. 
Box 2, Folder 28: N. British and Mercantile Insurance Policies, 1948-1951. 
Box 2, Folder 29: Insurance Policies, 1949. 

Box 3, Folder 1: American Insurance Policies, 1950-1951. 
Box 3, Folder 2: Commercial Union Assurance Insurance Policies, 1950-1952. 
Box 3, Folder 3: Queen Insurance and Royal Insurance Policies, 1918-1919; 1933; 1946-1952. 
Box 3, Folder 4: Palmetto Fire Insurance Policy, 1931. 
Box 3, Folder 5: United Fire Insurance Policies, 1931-1933, 1941-1944; 1950-1951. 
Box 3, Folder 6: Pacific Fire Insurance Policies, 1932-1935; 1941-1944. 
Box 3, Folder 7: Saint Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Policies, 1947-1951. 
Box 3, Folder 8: Automotive Documents, 1947; 1950. 
Box 3, Folder 9: Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Policies, 1950-1954. 
Box 3, Folder 10: Income Tax Material, 1924-1928. 
Box 3, Folder 11: Monthly Report of Gross Income, 1934. 
Box 3, Folder 12: Federal Tax returns, 1935-1937. 
Box 3, Folder 13: Individual Tax Return, 1937-1939. 
Box 3, Folder 14: Sales tax Return, 1950-1951. 
Box 3, Folder 15: Inventory Books, 1950-1952. 

Volume 1: Account Book, 1917-1921. 
Volume 2: Cash Book, 1911-1914. 
Volume 3: Cash Book, 1914-1918. 
Volume 4: Cash Book, 1918-1921. 
Volume 5: Cash Book, 1921-1925. 
Volume 6: Credit Ledger, 1909-1910. 
Volume 7: Customer Ledger, 1906-1920. 
Volume 8: Customer Ledger, 1911-1914. 
Volume 9: Customer Ledger, 1915-1924. 
Volume 10: Customer Ledger, 1924-1934. 
Volume 11: Day Book, 1907-1908. 
Volume 12: Merchandise Ledger, 1911-1921. 
Volume 13: Day Book, 1911-1913. 
Volume 14: Day Book, 1913-1916. 
Volume 15: Day Book, 1916-1918. 
Volume 16: Day Book, 1919-1922. 
Volume 17: Day Book, 1922-1926. 
Volume 18: Inventory Book, 1911-1914. 
Volume 19: Trial Balance, 1912-1914. 
Box 43: Volume 20, Part 1: Inventory Book, 1937-1949. 
Box 44: Volume 20, Part 2: Inventory Book, 1926-1936. 
Box 45: Volume 20, Part 3: inventory Book, 1924-1925. 
Volume 21: Invoice Book, 1908. 
Volume 22: Invoice Book, 1909-1910. 
Volume 23: Invoice Book, 1910-1912. 
Volume 24: Invoice Book, 1912-1914. 
Volume 25: Invoice Book, 1914-1916. 
Volume 26: Invoice Book, 1916-1918. 
Volume 27: Invoice Book, 1918-1919. 
Volume 28: Invoice Book, 1919-1921. 
Volume 29: Invoice Book, 1921-1923. 
Volume 30: Invoice Book, 1923-1925. 
Volume 31: Invoice Book, 1925-1926. 
Volume 32: Invoice Book, 1926-1929 
Volume 33: Invoice Book, 1929-1931. 
Volume 34: Invoice Book, 1931-1933. 
Volume 35: Invoice Book, 1933-1935. 
Volume 36: Invoice Book, 1936-1938. 
Volume 37: Invoice Book, 1936-1950. 
Volume 38: Order Book, 1907-1908. 
Box 23: Volume 39: Trial Balance Book, 1909-1910. 
Box 23: Volume 40: Trial Balance Book, 1908. 
Box 23: Volume 41: Trial Balance Book, 1910. 
Box 23: Volume 42: Trial Balance Book, 1911. 
Volume 43: Inventory Book, 1914-1928. 
Box 42: Volume 44: Trial Balance Book, 1915-1916. 
Box 42: Volume 45: Trial Balance Book, 1917. 
Box 42: Volume 46: Trial Balance Book, 1918-1921. 
Box 42: Volume 47: Trial Balance Book, 1922-1924. 
Box 42: Volume 48: Trial Balance Book, 1926-1929.