Great Britain

120 High Street | Reading Room Home | Hours

Abolition & Emancipation

The collection consists of over 100 reels, divided into six parts. Part one includes the complete papers of Thomas Clarkson, William Lloyd Garrison, Zachary Macaulay, Harriet Martineau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and William Wilberforce from the Huntington Library in California. Parts two and three reproduce the slavery collections of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool. Part four reproduces the Granville Sharp Papers from the Gloucestershire Record Office. Part five reproduces the Papers of Thomas Clarkson from the British Library, London. Part six reproduces the Papers of William Wilberforce, William Smith, Iveson Brookes, Francis Corbin and related records from the Rare Books, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century, United States

Anti-Slavery Collection: 18th-19th Centuries, from the Library of the Society of Friends

This collection consists of anti-slavery tracts, pamphlets and journals from the Library of the Society of Friends. Also included is the Thompson-Clarkson Collection of autograph letters, portraits, and printed material relating to Thomas Clarkson’s “The history of the rise, progress and accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade.” Originals are in the Library of the Religious Society of Friends, Friends House, London, England.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

Anti-Slavery Materials: Regional Records and Other Pamphlets, 18th-19th Centuries

A singular resource for the study of English provincial philanthropic societies. The collection includes documents on Africa, the West Indies, and the American Civil War. Also included are the Raymond English collection of the letters, diaries, pamphlets and press cuttings of the abolitionist George Donisthorpe Thompson and his son-in-law F. W. Chesson and the H. J. Wilson anti-slavery collection of 19th century pamphlets.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Atlantic World, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

Foreign Office Records: Confidential Print, Slave Trade, 1858-1892

The records consist of fifty volumes of the confidential print relating to the slave trade. The confidential print is a collection of selected correspondence, memoranda and other documents printed for internal use in the Foreign Office and for distribution to the missions. Originals are in the Public Record Office, London, England. Published finding aid available.

Tags: Africa, Atlantic World, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century, Slave Trade

Foreign Office Records: General Correspondence before 1906, Slave Trade, 1816-1892

The records consist of 2,196 volumes of correspondence with commissioners at the several stations appointed to carry out the articles of the Slave Trade Conventions with various nations. The records constitute part of Public Record Office group Foreign Office class 84 (PRO FO 84). There are 1,222 microfilm reels.

Tags: Africa, Atlantic World, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century, Slave Trade

Mary Estlin Papers, 1840-1884

Mary Estlin was the daughter of John B. Estlin (1785-1855), a prominent opthalmic surgeon of Bristol, England, a Unitarian reformer and anti-slavery supporter. She was a member of the Bristol and Clifton Auxiliary Ladies Anti-Slavery Society and maintained an extensive correspondence with fellow abolitionists in the United States. After the Civil War she transferred her energies to the Women’s Rights campaign.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Great Britain, Manuscripts, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

Rhodes House Library, Oxford, Anti-Slavery Collection, 1795-1880

The records consist of correspondence, account books, minutes, attendance registers, and papers from the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, the Aborigines’ Protection Society, and the Mico Charity. There are 59 microfilm reels and a list available in Microform Reference. A smaller collection, Rhodes House Selected Anti-Slavery Papers, 1836-1868, is also available.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

The Humphrey Morice Papers from the Bank of England

Includes the Slave Journal of Humphrey Morice (1721-1730), Journal of Humphrey Morice (1708-1710), trading accounts, personal and business papers, and documents relating to British trade with Africa, America, and the West Indies. More information and a detailed research guide are available online.

Tags: Africa, Atlantic World, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Slave Trade

The Papers of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1804-1847

The papers consist of correspondence, parliamentary speeches, working papers, notebooks, and political pamphlets documenting the life and work of Thomas Fowell Buxton, nineteenth century abolitionist and reformer. The originals are in the Rhodes House Library, University of Oxford, England.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century, United States

The Papers of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, 1696-1707

The papers include records relating to trade, industry, plantations, agriculture, ranching, immigration and settlement, the anti-slavery movement, politics, religion, and military affairs of Scotland and England. Personal papers, diaries, state documents, printed material, and the records of industrial and commercial concerns are also included in the papers. Additional information is availableonline.

Tags: Africa, Atlantic World, Caribbean, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Seventeenth Century

Wilberforce: Slavery, Religion and Politics

The papers of William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802-1857). Series one reproduces the Wilberforce papers from the Bodleian Library, Oxford (50 reels). Series two reproduces the papers of William Wilberforce and related slavery and anti-slavery materials from Wilberforce House, Hull (16 reels). Detailed research guides are available.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century, Religion

William Smeal Collection from the Glasgow Public Library, 1833-1893

The collection consists of minute books, cash books, a subscription book, and annual reports of the Glasgow Emancipation Society; minutes and other records of the Glasgow Freeman’s Aid Society; and other papers, pamphlets and reports relating to the anti-slavery movement in Glasgow, Scotland.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Emancipation, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

Women, Emancipation and Literature: The Papers of Harriet Martineau, 1802-1876

The papers consist of correspondence, writings, manuscript notes, and printed material documenting the life of Harriet Martineau. Among the noteworthy correspondents are Matthew Arnold, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Samuel Courtauld, W. E. Gladstone, Robert Graves, Samuel Lucas, Lord John Russell, Maria Weston Chapman, and Henry William Wilberforce.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Great Britain, Microfilm, Nineteenth Century

128 Wall Street | Archives Home | Hours

Holwell Walshe Papers

The papers consist of correspondence and official government and military directives to and from Holwell Walshe, which document his career in the 1st and 2nd West India Regiments, particularly his years as commander of Sherbro Island, Sierra Leone. Walshe took possession of Sherbro in September 1862 and successfully defended the island and revitalized its economy. He remained as Civil Commandant until 1871, when he was transferred to Singapore as a police magistrate.

Tags: Africa, Caribbean, Great Britain, Manuscripts, Nineteenth Century, Slave Trade

Liverpool Emancipation Society Records

The records include correspondence, notes, printed circulars, and memorabilia which document the organization and functioning of the Liverpool Emancipation Society. The society sought to educate the public and thereby garner support for the Union side during the American Civil War. The society also raised funds to aid distressed freedmen.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Emancipation, Great Britain, Manuscripts, Nineteenth Century

Letters to Richard Oswald, 1759-1784

Ten letterbooks containing business correspondence to Oswald from his agents, factors, nephews and Edinburgh attorney, all written after his “retirement” to Scotland. The letters include extensive information on Oswald’s trading ventures, particularly his trade with the American colonies and his West African slave trade (based at Bunce Island), and his Scottish land investments.

Tags: Atlantic World, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Manuscripts, Slave Trade

121 Wall Street | Library Home | Hours

Notes by Granville Sharp

The Beinecke Library holds numerous books and pamphlets related to slavery and abolition, some of which were owned and annotated by prominent abolitionists. These include two books on the Somerset case (1772), concerning the legality of slavery in England, with extensive marginal annotations by Granville Sharp.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Printed Material, Slavery

Slavery Pamphlets

The independently catalogued “Slavery Pamphlets” include over 750 books and tracts from several different regions and time periods. The bulk of the collection consists of American and British pamphlets and includes Elizabeth Heyrick’s famous work, Immediate, Not Gradual Abolition(1824), which marked a revolutionary turn in transatlantic antislavery politics.

Tags: Antislavery Movements, Great Britain, Printed Material, Slavery, United States

409 Prospect Street | Library Home | Hours

Papers of the Christian Faith Society

The Society originated in a bequest by Robert Boyle in 1691 for advancing religion amongst infidels. In 1794, the charity was reconstituted as “The Society for the Conversion and Religious Instruction and Education of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands,” and in 1836, after the abolition of slavery, as “The Society for Advancing the Christian Faith in the British West-India Islands, and elsewhere, in the Dioceses of Jamaica, and of the Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, and in the Mauritius.” The papers document the Society’s activities from the 17th through the 20th centuries.

Tags: Caribbean, Great Britain, Microfilm, Religion

Records of the Freedmen's Missions Aid Society

The Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society was the British Counterpart to the American Missionary Association. It provided financial support for educational and religious work among former slaves and their descendants in Africa and the United States.

Tags: Atlantic World, Emancipation, Great Britain, Religion, United States

1080 Chapel Street | Gallery Home | Hours

Portrait of Elihu Yale

A portrait of Elihu Yale (1649-1721) and associates being waited upon by an enslaved young man. Painted circa 1708. The Yale University Art Gallery owns a different version of this painting and a related portrait depicting Yale interacting with a similar “black servant.”

Tags: Drawings and Images, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Slavery

Protector of Slaves Office

Created by Richard Bridgens, circa 1833. Apparently meant to represent Trinidad on the eve of emancipation. Graphite on wove paper, with additional text at the bottom.

Tags: Drawings and Images, Emancipation, Great Britain, Nineteenth Century

The Benevolent Effects of Abolishing Slavery

This print, made by W. Pyott in 1792, was based on C. F. von Breda’s 1789 painting, “Portrait of a Swedish Gentleman Instructing a Negro Prince.”

Tags: Drawings and Images, Eighteenth Century, Emancipation, Great Britain

The Drowning Slave

A rare line engraving, produced by Robert Brandard at some point in the first half of the nineteenth century. Based on an earlier image by George Cattermole.

Tags: Drawings and Images, Great Britain, Nineteenth Century, Slavery

The Slave Trade

A Mezzotint, printed in color, by John Raphael Smith. Issued in 1791, this image was engraved “to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.”

Tags: Drawings and Images, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Slave Trade

154 Main Street | Library Home | Hours

Slavery Prints and Cartoons

The Walpole Library is home to numerous eighteenth-century cartoons and prints pertaining to slavery and the slave trade. Of particular interest are a series of images depicting the lives of enslaved blacks and slaveholders in the Caribbean as well as cartoons illustrating the politics of slavery and freedom in Europe.

Tags: Caribbean, Drawings and Images, Eighteenth Century, Great Britain, Slavery