The W. H. Taylor Collection consists of records of a general merchandise store in North Bloomfield, Nevada County, California, and records of various other mercantile and mining establishtments in California which apparently were not collected by Taylor, but are included because of their similar or miscellaneous nature.

The North Bloomfield records cover the years 1862-1936. The store was established in 1852, presumably by Donald R. McKillican although there is no actual verification of that fact in this collection. The name of the McKillican store changed several times between the period of 1872 and 1898. An inventory book in the collection is in the name of McKillican Burt, 1872; from an indefinite year until 1890 it was Crandall and McKillican, when it became the Estate of D.R. McKillican; and in 1898, the store was called McKillican and Mobley, probably until its dissolution. D.R. McKillican died in 1892, and much of the correspondence in the collection deals with the settlement of his estate, which didn't actually take place until 1898.

The collection includes paper (correspondence, agreements, legal documents) and samples of various forms, checks, daily account books and inventories (1871-1917); general accounts (journals, daybooks, cash books, ledgers, trial balances, checkbooks) (1862-1936); purchasing, receiving, and production records (order books, sales books, invoices and vouchers) (1870-1908); and a few records of several other companies that were collected by Taylor (1872-1893). The records of other mercantile establishments and miscellaneous volumes comprise the rest of this collection (1837-1924). They include such companies as the Weaverville Supply Company, in Weaverville, Trinity County, California; Blake and Reed Company, also in Weaverville; Dolley's Store in Sierraville, California; and Frazer & Co. in Palo Alto, California, as well as several others. These records are all bound, and although not marked as part of the Taylor collection, many of the establishments that they represent are quite similar to the North Bloomfield operation, in location as well as type of business.

The series of miscellaneous volumes contains records that do not indicate to which business they belong, nor to which collection. They are listed by type of record and then by date (1865-1938). There are certain instances of books of a certain type falling into a consecutive series and being obviously part of the same collection, but they are considered miscellaneous because their identity has not been determined.

For most of these other business records there is no record of the donor, or how they came to Stanford University. Even though these records are unidentified and often non-consecutive, they provide an interesting and valuable source of information about early California merchandising practices. Coupled with the more complete and coherent records of the North Bloomfield store and the other establishments, the Taylor collection presents a good picture of mining town mercantile establishments.