United States

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Holograph manuscript diary describing a trip taken by Charles Peter Gizzard, a New York City businessman, and his wife, Martha Gizzard, to visit Martha’s brother, Major Feltus, on his plantations near Woodville, Mississippi. Gizzard describes in detail his travel experiences, including steamboat travel on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Alabama Rivers, his views on plantation life and slavery, and other impressions of the South.

A letter dated 1835 Dec 24-26, at Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, was written while Hulin worked as a schoolteacher in Louisiana. He discusses his impressions of the South, the character of Southern planters, slavery, and attitudes of Southerners toward Arthur Tappan and other Northern abolitionists. The letter reports the hanging of a group of African American slaves and whites accused of planning a rebellion against slave owners in Jackson, Louisiana. Hulin also gives examples of Southern dialect and briefly discusses his work as a teacher.

Correspondence and writings by and about Abraham Lincoln. Includes an autograph praecipe issued by Lincoln for writ in his first law case, two volumes containing letters and writings by and about members of Lincoln’s cabinet, a fragment of a speech on slavery, and the gold pen used by Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.

The collection consists of letters sent to New England resident Adella Fowler Larkin by her family and friends during the second half of the nineteenth century. Prominent in the collection are letters from her sister Myra Fowler McFarland, a teacher with the American Missionary Association working in Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia before, during, and immediately after the Civil War.

Fifteen volumes of original correspondence, typed and bound, from the archives of the U.S. Navy Department at Washington, D.C. Letters range from 1819 to 1861 and cover all aspects of the African Squadron, including the settlement of Liberia, the repatriation of captured slaves, and efforts to suppress the international slave trade.

There are four scrapbooks of pastor Amos G. Beman in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection. Beman (1812-1874) was a prominent abolitionist, minister, and missionary, and a leader of the black temperance movement. The scrapbooks, which include newspaper clippings, programs, and correspondence, were a gift of New Haven’s Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church.

The Beinecke Library holds several important abolitionist newspapers from various time periods and geographic locations, including the Alton Observer, American Citizen, Charter Oak, Emancipator, Liberator, Philanthropist, National Anti-Slavery Standard, and True American. Other newspapers, including the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, American Missionary, Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines’ Friend, and British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, are available through Orbis.

Manuscript account book, in unidentified handwriting, for Austin & Laurens, in Charleston, South Carolina, recording purchases and sales. Includes accounts relating to the sale of slaves. The firm was founded by George Austin and Henry Laurens, and later joined by George Appleby. One volume, 368 pages.

The papers concern Barbara D. Simison’s projected edition of the letters of Lydia Maria Child, and consist of research correspondence with other scholars and with libraries and Simison’s annotated working transcripts of Child’s letters. In addition, the collection contains 15 autograph letters by Lydia Maria Child, including an ALS to Richard Fletcher describing the Samaritan Asylum for Colored Orphans; 3 ALS to Oliver Johnson concerning publishing projects and Civil War politics; and an ALS to James Redpath in support of a woman sculptor’s effort to secure the commission for a statue of John Brown.

Darrach moved to Kansas Territory in 1855. About fifty letters dated at Osawatomie, 1855-1856, contain a detailed narrative of the lives of settlers and events of the Kansas border war, including discussion of elections and constitutional conventions; events in Lawrence and other fighting between free soil and slavery advocates; and the killings at Pottawatomie by John Brown and the subsequent sack of Osawatomie.

Correspondence and official documents originating from various CSA government departments and from individual Confederate states, 1861-65. Includes correspondence of Jefferson Davis, Confederate cabinet members and congressmen, and other officials, as well as official reports of Civil War battles and events, estimates of expenditures and appropriations, petitions, special orders, forms, passes, receipts, bonds, tax records, and other documents. The collection also includes designs for an alternate Confederate flag.

The collection consists of eight documents concerning slavery in Delaware: six signed manuscript records, manuscript copies of documents dated between 1783 and 1809, documenting the trade and emancipation of slaves and indentured servants by individual slave owners in Delaware; an order, dated April 29, 1829, signed and sealed by Delaware Governor Charles Polk, pardons James John for kidnapping Betsy Martin, a free racially-mixed woman, and transporting her across state lines; and a brief letter, dated December 11, 1910, from Henry C. Conrad, Delaware Superior Court judge, to Walter V. Johnson of Johns Hopkins University, concerns Abraham Lincoln’s abolition of slavery in Delaware.

Twelve manuscript legal documents in unidentified hands concerning the slave trade in Louisiana and Mississippi and one printed broadside advertising the sale of slaves in St. Louis, Missouri. The legal documents include bills of sale for slaves.

Autograph manuscript letters and receipts, dated 1858 to 1868, and other letters, deeds and documents relating to slaves and the slave trade, from 1788 to 1863. The focus is on the firm of J. D. Fondren & Bro., based in Richmond, Virginia. About 80 items total, in one volume.

Two manuscript legal documents written in unidentified hands concerning the purchase of slaves by David D. Withers of New York. A receipt, December 20, 1854, New Orleans, acknowledges the sale of thirty-seven slaves from Walter L. Campbell to Withers. There is another manuscript document regarding the 1855 sale of ninety-one slaves from the Union Bank of Louisiana to Withers for fifty-five thousand dollars.

The E. L. McGlashan Collection of Papers Concerning Slavery in the United States consists of bills of sale, receipts, estate records, and other material documenting slave ownership and the slave trade in the United States. The papers span the dates 1770-1862, and predominantly document transactions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama. There are also records which document legal actions involving slaves in Maine, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana.

The collection comprises Howe’s outgoing and incoming correspondence, third-party correspondence, and six manuscript writings pertaining to slavery and ethics. The letters address Howe’s religious beliefs, opposition to the institution of slavery, support of the temperance movement, the annexation of Texas, and other political matters.

Although not focused primarily on slavery and abolition, this collection is a key resource for understanding the history of race in America. In addition to Johnson’s papers, there are significant manuscript materials from W. E. B. DuBois, Walter White, Poppy Cannon White, Dorothy Peterson, Chester Himes, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Jean Toomer, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Wallace Thurman.

Four manuscript letters, dated between 1855 and 1856, provide information on the conflict between antislavery and proslavery settlers in Kansas Territory. Narratives by Frederick and Jason Brown, sons of the militant abolitionist John Brown, describe the family’s encounters with proslavery forces in various locations.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was a Quaker abolitionist and poet of international renown. He was affiliated with the National Era, one of the most important abolitionist newspapers in America. This collection consists of miscellaneous correspondence, manuscripts, and other material by and about Whittier. Included is the orignal draft for “Moloch in State Street,” about the arrest of fugitive slave Thomas Sims, with significant alterations and revisions.

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The papers consist of correspondence and business papers of Aaron Columbus Burr, merchant of New York City and adopted son of Aaron Burr. The papers relate to an attempt by Burr and James Grant to establish a colony for freed American slaves in Honduras. There is also material relating to the American Honduras Company, a firm formed by Burr and Grant for the cutting and exporting of mahogany.

Correspondence, diaries, proclamations, and drafts of letters chiefly relating to the Civil War, but also including letters from the Jacksonian period. The major portion of the collection concerns the siege of Fort Sumter with letters from both Major Robert Anderson and General P.G.T. Beauregard. Included also are a diary kept by General S. Wylie Crawford during the siege and two letters from Abraham Lincoln.

The papers consist of correspondence, newspaper clippings of a historical and religious nature, journals, and other papers of the Bacon family. Included are sermons and writings of Leonard Bacon, and papers and journals of Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Benjamin Wisner Bacon. Leonard Bacon was actively involved in colonization, missionary, and antislavery movements throughout his career. His brother, David Francis Bacon, served as a medical professional in Liberia.

Roger Sherman Baldwin (1793-1863) graduated from Yale University in 1811, and began his law practice in New Haven in 1814. He served in New Haven and Connecticut politics (1826-1838), established a national reputation for his anti-slavery defense of slaves in the “Amistad” case (1839-1840), was elected governor of Connecticut (1844-1845), accepted the appointment and subsequent election to the U.S. Senate (1847-1851), and served as a delegate to the National Peace Convention (1861). Baldwin’s notebook on the Amistad case and correspondence with the captives are included in the collection.

Correspondence, writings, speeches, diaries, clippings, printed matter, sermons, and other papers of two centuries of Beecher family members. The papers relate principally to Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), popular 19th century clergyman and orator, and members of his family. Among those represented are his father, the Reverend Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), clergyman; his brothers, Edward Beecher (1803-1895), educator and antislavery leader, and Thomas Kinnicut Beecher (1824-1900) and Charles Beecher (1815-1900), both clergyman and antislavery activists; and his sisters, Harriett Elizabeth (Beecher) Stowe (1811-1896), author, Catherine Esther Beecher (1800-1878), pioneer educator and writer on ‘domestic economy,’ and Isabella Homes (Beecher) Hooker (1822-1907), well-known suffragist.

The papers consist of correspondence, writings, and topical files, primarily documenting the professional career of historian C. Vann Woodward. A Yale professor for many years, Woodward was a leading scholar of the U.S. South.

The papers consist of diaries, letters, and miscellanea documenting Charles Griswold Gurley Merrill’s voyages as a seaman on the ship Merrimac and experiences as a Union army surgeon, including the command of black troops, during the Civil War.

 

The Civil War Manuscripts Collection was created to give the researcher more direct access to small and fragmentary collections of material on the subject of the Civil War in the United States, 1861-1865. It is an intentionally assembled collection of diaries, correspondence, photographs, printed material, and ephemera primarily documenting military events and daily camp life, as well as family life on the home front and civilian activities.

The records consist of correspondence written by Civil War soldiers from Yale College, 1855-1865. These records might be more revealing for what they do not say about slavery and emancipation than what they do offer on the subject. See also similar holdings at the Beinecke Library.

The papers consist of miscellaneous personal papers of Edward Parmelee Smith including letters to his future wife (1851-1854) and letters to his daughter (1872-1873) with an account of a sea voyage to California and his impressions once there. His years at Yale College are documented by an autograph album with messages from his teachers and classmates (1849-1855). Among the four photographs in the papers is one showing Smith with six students when he was president of Howard University, Washington, D.C. (1875). Clippings and correspondence describe his work as Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1873) and his death in Africa in 1876 while an envoy of the American Missionary Association.

The papers consist of correspondence and business papers relating to Eli Whitney’s interests in developing the cotton gin and the manufacture of firearms employing a system of interchangeable parts. The cotton gin, created in 1793, revolutionized southern argiculture and was a major factor in the spread of plantation slavery during the nineteenth century.

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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.

The American Missionary Association was established in 1846 as an interdenominational missionary society devoted to abolitionist principles. The manuscripts include correspondence, treasurer’s papers, minutes of executive committee meetings, and other materials such as sermons, statistical reports, drawings, pictures and essays. Additional information is available online.

Books, pamphlets and other documents outlining the moral, religious, economic and legal aspects of the slavery debate. Includes anti-slavery society records, campaign literature and speeches made in and out of Congress, children’s literature, sermons and theological works, proslavery literature, and more. There are 7,235 fiches, accompanied by a printed guide.

The papers of Benjamin Tappan, lawyer, judge, U.S. Senator from Ohio, and active participant in the antislavery movement, consist of correspondence, speeches, legal and business papers, and miscellaneous material. The correspondence, which constitutes the bulk of the papers, relates to Tappan’s law practice, his activities in the antislavery movement, and to Ohio and national politics especially during the Jacksonian period.

Family members include author and suffragist Alice Stone Blackwell (1857-1950); her parents, Henry Browne Blackwell (1825-1909) and Lucy Stone (1818-1893), abolitionists and advocates of women’s rights; her aunt, Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910), the first woman to receive an academic medical degree; and Elizabeth Blackwell’s adopted daughter, Kitty Barry Blackwell (1848-1936). Includes correspondence, diaries, articles, and speeches of these and other Blackwell family members.

The collection consists of over 200 original letters to C.K. Prioleau for the period 1860-1869 from figures such as J.D. Bulloch, agent for the Confederate Navy, Caleb Huse, principal Confederate Army purchasing officer in Europe, and General C.J. McRae, Confederate Treasury Agent in Europe. Subjects include the shelling of Charleston, blockade running, battles, armament supply and the financing of the Southern war effort. Accompanied by a printed guide.

The papers document the life and career of Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, orator, journalist, diplomat, and public official. They contain correspondence, a diary, speeches, articles, a manuscript of Douglass’ autobiography, financial and legal papers, newspaper clippings, and other material, chiefly covering the years 1862-1895. Topics include emancipation and the problems of emancipated blacks, women’s rights, political affairs, a proposed naval station in Haiti, and family.

The papers contain correspondence, business and land records, writings, legal records, and maps of Peter Smith, land speculator and local politician in Madison County, New York and his son Gerrit Smith, land owner, philanthropist, reformer, abolitionist, and temperance advocate. 89 reels, plus finding aid.

The papers consist primarily of correspondence and other papers relating to John Brown and events in Kansas for the years just before the Civil War. Some correspondence is family related, but the bulk concerns Brown’s anti-slavery activities. A series of documents from 1878-1919 consist of reminiscences about Brown and events like the Pottawatomie massacre. Originals at the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas.

The American Colonization Society was formed in Washington, DC, in 1817 to establish a colony in Africa for free people of color residing in the US. Most of the documents found here are letters between Liberia and representatives of the Society. Many cover fundraising issues relating to support and education in the newly-formed country. The collection consists of 324 microfilm reels. A majority of these documents are now available online at Fold3.

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The Law Library’s American Trials Collection includes numerous books and pamphlets related to slavery, abolition, and their legacies. Several pamphlets pertaining to slavery and race in the antebellum United States have been made available through the Library’s Rare Books Blog. A brief guide, Researching Race in the American Trials Collection, is also available online.

From the library of Simeon E. Baldwin. Includes several rare books and pamphlets on the Amistad slave revolt, manuscript correspondence about the revolt and its aftermath, and two notebooks used by attorney Roger Sherman Baldwin during the trials.

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Benjamin Lincoln, physician, anatomist, and medical educator, taught anatomy and dissection at the University of Vermont. His papers include a journal of travel to New Orleans, describing plantations and slavery, the physical, economic, and social conditions, and medicine and public health. The papers also include manuscripts on slavery and the Civil War.

These photographs are from a collection housed at the Medical Historical Library entitled Gunshot Wounds Illustrated. The collection is composed of enlarged photographs of individual soldiers who were treated at Harewood Hopsital in Washington D.C. during the Civil War. These images, some quite graphic, depict soldiers recovering from a variety of wounds, including gunshot wounds. The soldiers’ case histories and stories are included on the back of many of the photographs, although some remain anonymous.

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Aaron Dutton and his son Samuel William Southmayd Dutton were Congregational clergymen in Connecticut who were known for their abolitionist views.  Aaron Dutton served as minister of the First Congregational Church in Guilford from 1806 until 1842, at which time he resigned due to the dissension in the congregation regarding his abolitionist stance. Samuel Dutton was minister at North Church (now United Church on the Green), New Haven from 1838 to 1866.  He was a noted champion of the antislavery cause. Selected sermons of Samuel Dutton and an article by Aaron Dutton are available online.

The Freedmen’s Aid Society was founded in 1866 as an agency of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Society established and maintained schools and colleges for former slaves in the postbellum South. This collection consists of 120 microfilm reels, based on the originals housed at the Woodruff Library at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Part of a series of watercolor images entitled “Emancipation of the Slaves,” produced during the Civil War era in the United States. The Yale University Art Gallery owns a corresponding image from the same series.

The Yale University Art Gallery owns several different versions of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued in different shapes and sizes and utilizing different visual techniques. Most of these posters date from the period of the Civil War, although this elaborate color lithograph was produced in 1890.

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Highlights include recordings by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers and the Tuskegee Institute Singers as well as excerpts from Booker T. Washington’s famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech. The Beinecke Library holds complementary material related to blackface minstrelsy and spirtuals, including sheet music for the original “Jim Crow.”