Michael Plunkett, Editor
University of Virginia Press
© 1995 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of
Virginia
Conditions of Use
Michael Plunkett, Editor
University of Virginia Press
© 1995 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of
Virginia
Conditions of Use
Manuscripts Division
Special Collections
Department
University of Virginia Library
Charlottesville, VA 22903
804-924-3025
Fax: 804-924-4968
e-mail: mssbks@virginia.edu
Papers of John Adams (ca. 1825-1873), a Richmond free black
contractor and plasterer, consisting of receipts, bills, printed
material, legal documents, cancelled checks, and insurance and estate
papers.
(Acc. 11078)
In a farm journal 1881-89, written in an atlas published in 1831 is
an entry for the sale of slaves on August 27, 1841.
(Acc. 38-4)
Poll books for 1893, 1901, and 1902 for Free Union, White Hall
Magisterial District, and lists of registered voters both white and
'Colored" for 1894.
(Acc. 9096-a)
Consists almost entirely of the papers of the first president of the
University of Virginia. Some early papers of the Alderman family
include a receipt for the purchase of a slave in Wilmington, N.C., on
January 21, 1863. There are also some documents containing
statistical information about education in North Carolina in the
1870s and 1880s including references to blacks.
(Acc. 1001, etc.)
Included in the records of this King George County businessman is an
1848 list of dower servants.
(Acc. 4800)
Official papers including many documents relating to slaves, such as
bonds for free slaves to remain within the corporation of Alexandria
in 1822; answers from a number of Alexandria churches in 1831 to a
questionnaire inquiring about the use of their facilities by blacks;
and a number of other documents about free blacks, escaped slaves,
the fugitive slave law, and the assembling of blacks for worship.
(Acc. 7146;-a)
Included are an 1847 report of a committee about a servant abused by
the watch, an 1848 letter by the mayor concerning free blacks, and
1856 depositions in a case involving the throwing of a brick by a
black man.
(Acc. 8497)
A copy of a letter from this Fauquier County resident to his son in
which he wrote about a sickness, "Flux," which some slaves had
contracted.
(Acc. 4072)
Personal letters of this Botetourt County family. A letter of Mary
Allen to her son, April 27, 1855, tells of three family slaves who
ran away, possibly across the Ohio River, while out with passes on an
errand.
(Acc. 9780)
Financial papers, including accounts for goods and services, bills
and receipts, chiefly of Elizabeth Jeter Allen of Cumberland County.
Miscellaneous items include a slave appraisal list.
(Acc. 10629)
Farm records of Clifton in Clarke County, kept by David Allen and his
son Edgar, with entries about slaves, such as medical assistance,
deaths, hiring out, and yearly accounting.
(Acc. 4814)
A letter on February 25, 1736, from Allen of James River to Peter
Turnbull & Co. of Jamaica describes Allen's dissatisfaction with
a "Negro Wench" whom he had ordered from the firm.
(Acc. 38-471-a)
Business and personal letters of John Jaquelin Ambler of Glen Ambler,
Amherst County, with scattered references to slavery, such as tax
receipts listing numbers of slaves.
(Acc. 38-77)
Business and personal papers of this Jamestown planter. Of special
note are letters from an overseer at one of the Ambler plantations;
one written on June 15, 1830, to Ambler describes the treatment of a
runaway slave. Intermingled in the business papers are items
mentioning slaves.
(Acc. 1140)
Working papers of the Virginia branch which include a number of civil
rights cases. Access to portions restricted.
(Acc. 9690)
Farm journal of Ash Lawn in Albemarle County kept by John P. Garrett
including materials on slavery, among them a detailed list of slaves
in 1838.
(Acc. 2794)
Photographic negatives of Richard N. Anderson, professional
photographer and architect. Included are many scenes of civil rights
marches and integration sit-ins in Virginia and the South.
(Acc. 5793-D)
Anderson Photograph Collection.
The letters contain references to the business activities of this
Petersburg merchant. Among the topics discussed are tobacco, land,
and slave prices. Extracts have been published in the Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography 15 (1908): 345-59.
(Acc. 3238,-a)
Included in this collection of letters are two bills drawn against
William Augustine Washington for the purchase of slave shoes.
(Acc. 5976)
Included are letters, receipts, and bills of sale pertaining to John
Bacon, Richard Bacon, Edmund Bacon, and William Bacon, primarily for
the settlement of John Bacon's estate and the purchase of slaves. Two
of the letters, from Edmund Bacon to William J. Bacon, June 4, 1864,
and March 14, 1865, discuss the family, management of William's farm
during his absence, crops, slaves running off to join the Union army,
and other Civil War news.
(Acc. 10569)
The memoranda book of Bacon, the overseer at Monticello, contains
personal financial accounts and notes on transactions handled for
Thomas Jefferson during the years he managed Monticello. There are
entries for livestock sales, slave hirings and sales, taxes, wages,
and purchases of general merchandise.
(Acc. 5385-an)
Business, legal, and personal correspondence and accounts of this dry
goods and tobacco businessman from Halifax County. Many of the
financial and legal documents contain information regarding slavery
and individual slaves, such as birth dates of slaves, mothers' names,
The collection contains correspondence, business and legal papers,
and surveys, and genealogical material of the Baker, Mills, Quarles,
Swift families of Gordonsville. Correspondence is chiefly that of
Martin Baker, Sr., and Martin Baker, Jr. Of interest are letters
discussing slaves and freedmen, particularly illness and deaths of
family slaves and black office seekers during Reconstruction.
Business and legal papers of Martin Baker, Jr., include an 1818-33
account book with the Farmers Bank of Virginia, an 1835 will, a slave
sale document, and papers about the estates of Martin Baker, Sr. and
Jr.
(Acc. 10676)
A series of letters from John Hargon in Mississippi to Colonel Edward
Lloyd in Annapolis, Maryland. Hargon apparently was the manager of a
number of Mississippi plantations owned by Lloyd. There is frequent
discussion about the plantation slaves, especially deaths, deaths,
and sickness.
(Acc. 5163)
Personal letters of 1825, some from R. Hume, that mention slave
problems; an 1829 bill of sale for two slaves; and an 1865 letter
describing the departure of slaves at the end of the Civil War.
(Acc. 38-463)
An account book kept at Port Royal and at Carlton, Albemarle County,
which includes slave lists.
(Acc. 2730)
Correspondence, personal, and business papers of this Orange County
planter. Some of the letters discuss the sale of slaves. Also
included is a ledger listing the working hands and the sales of
slaves for 1816-40.
(Acc. 1486)
Correspondence and business papers relating to this Lynchburg family,
consisting mainly of letters from Charles F. Barnes and Edward
Barnes, Confederate soldiers, to their mother, Mrs. R. A. Barnes. Two
letters from Charles Barnes describe a race riot in west Florida in
Minutes, records, correspondence, and documents of this day nursery
for black children in Charlottesville.
(Acc. 3283)
Correspondence, essays, and genealogical material of this Albemarle
County and North Carolina family, principally of Paul Brandon
Barringer. Two letters refer to the sale, price, and investment value
of slaves and to the inclusion of slaves as part of a dowry. Numerous
letters, essays, news clippings, and printed monographs by Paul B.
Barringer et al. address the "Negro question." Included are two
letters from Booker T. Washington.
(Acc. 2588, etc.)
Business and personal papers of these Essex County families including
papers of Samuel Barron, CSN. Scattered references to slavery include
an October 27, 1862, letter describing the escape of nine blacks
impressed for work and a November 2, 1860, letter describing
This letterbook of the Kentucky statesman and postmaster general
mentions blacks on pages 25, 50, 72, 94, 123, 141, and 157. Most of
the references are fleeting, but one, a letter of August 9, 1832,
describes an epidemic of cholera among slaves.
(Acc. 2569)
Correspondence and other papers of this New Market, Caroline County,
family. An October 2, 1804, letter from David Morrow to John Baylor
says that Baylor's servant Ned wanted to have money paid directly to
him for work done rather than through Baylor. There are references in
the business and legal papers to slavery; an 1865 farm account book
contains entries entitled "Servants Accounts."
(Acc. 2257)
Legal and business papers of this Rockingham County family. A number
of the documents pertain to slavery, including a December 1793 deed
of manumission for the slaves of William Ball of Culpeper
Personal, business, and legal papers of this Essex County family. The
1810-15 medical accounts of William Waring to Alexander Somervail
record the treatment of slaves. An 1844-49 journal of Robert P.
Waring has very good year-by-year evaluations slaves at a number of
his plantations, including Edenatta, Glencairn, Thomas Neck,
Greenfield, and Port Micon.
(Acc. 6056)
Business and legal papers of this Augusta County family. Slave
documents include depositions attesting to the sale of slaves from
John Bell's estate and a public sale notice of a superannuated female
slave to be cared for by the lowest bidder. In a November 21, 1831,
letter describing a wedding, the writer reported that she had heard
that at the celebration the groom "left a pack of white people to
wait on a pack of Negroes."
(Acc. 6688)
Personal, business, and legal papers of this family of Barn Elms,
Middlesex County; Aldie, Loudoun County; and Albemarle County.
Scattered throughout are overseers' reports, accounts of slave
expenses, slave lists, and bills of sale for slaves.
(Acc. 38-113)
Diaries of this Petersburg lawyer contain an entry for March 22,
1859, about the legal status of whites, blacks, and Indians in
Virginia.
(Acc. 7745-a)
List of black voters by ward.
(Acc. 9077)
The entry for February 20 describes cruelty to three young female
slaves by owner Mrs. James M. Boyd of Lynchburg.
(Acc. 4763)
Personal correspondence of Elizabeth Blackwell and family members of
Fauquier County. There is some mention of slaves, such as a letter of
June 22, n.y., from Octavia noting that a slave tried to get away in
Cincinnati as they were going to Missouri and a letter of June 30,
n.y., from Sarah T. Buckner who wanted to collect on a loan so that
she could buy a slave's husband and send them both west.
(Acc. 38-143-b)
A letter from this Kentucky woman concerning the freeing of her
slaves.
(Acc. 799)
Includes letters of Theodorick Bland and Edmund Ruffin. A June 1863
letter to Ruffin from Charleston, South Carolina, mentions that
Colonel Heyward's slaves had burned down his residence and run
off.
(Acc. 3026)
Correspondence, financial and legal papers, ledgers, and speeches of
Bocock and the Bocock, Thornhill, Christian, Stephens, Flood,
Patteson, and Diuguid families of Buckingham and Appomattox counties.
Among the subjects discussed are slavery, abolition, the antebellum
South, and the use of slaves on military fortifications. Included is
a minute book of the New Hope Baptist Church, Augusta County, with
many references to blacks.
(Acc. 10612)
Contains references to the hiring of slaves; farm book, 1841-47.
Also ledgers contain references to slaves; daybook, 1834-39; account
book index, 1824, ledger of Thomas Bondurant, 1847-60.
(Acc. 3918)
Correspondence, financial records, wills, and genealogical data of
the
Papers of this delegate and state senator from Alexandria. There are
correspondence and material about Boothe's attempts as a state
senator to keep the public schools in Virginia open during the
integration crisis in the 1950s.
(Acc. 8319)
Written by this Essex County man while living in Charles City County,
this diary contains comments on blacks in Virginia.
(Acc. 5727)
Entries for 1860-61 by this Westmoreland County planter record the
hiring and renting of slaves, e.g., January 2, 7, 14, 17, and 30,
1861.
(Acc. 8528)
Personal, legal, and business papers of this Charlottesville woman
who was involved in school integration and other civil rights issues
in central Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s. Included is
correspondence with black leaders such as Ralph Abernathy and Martin
Luther King.
(Acc. 8003)
Correspondence of this noted black poet, critic, and anthologist,
consisting mainly of letters written to Braithwaite in connection
with his anthologies.
(Accs. 6787 & 8990)
Primarily the papers of Allen Caperton Braxton, a Staunton attorney,
with a very small group of papers of the Braxton family from
Chericoke, King William County. Of particular importance are the
notes and correspondence of Allen Caperton Braxton when he was a
member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901-2 that
disfranchised the black voter.
(Acc. 3329,-a)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this family of Grove Hill,
Botetourt County. Included are many references to slavery, such as a
November 29, 1825, letter from Mrs. M. Gilmer to Emma describing the
murder of Captain John Edgar and the apprehension and trial of a
black man, Harry; an August 28, 1831, letter from William Gilmer to
Peachy Gilmer mentioning trouble with blacks in Albemarle County and
the insurrection in Southampton County; and an October 3, 1831,
letter from Emma at Grove Hill mentioning a rumor that Nat Turner
passed through Botetourt County.
(Acc. 9846)
Personal papers of this Grove Hill, Botetourt County, planter and
businessman. Many documents pertain to slavery, especially slaves
employed at Breckinridge's ironworks, and there is an 1820 letter
from a former slave.
(Acc. 10395)
Business and personal papers of the Cocke and Cabell families of
Bremo Recess in Fluvanna County. The papers contain a number of
references to blacks and letters of former slaves who had emigrated
to Liberia, e.g., Matilda Skipwith to Miss S. F. Cocke, October 1844,
and
Included in this bound volume of letters and documents pertaining to
the British antislavery movement are a number of letters written by
Frederick Douglass.
(Acc. 3846)
Black members are noted in the minutes of the congregational meetings
of this Fauquier County church, as well as actions taken concerning
them.
(Acc. 4305)
Papers of this Virginia doctor contain a February 7, 1832, letter
from Congressman John Jones Roane inquiring on behalf of a third
party about the purchase of fifty slaves or more in family units.
(Acc. 38- 157)
The collection consists chiefly of correspondence between Brooke and
his wife Margaret Lyle Smith Brooke written while he was serving in
the General Assembly. Subjects include family and household affairs
in Augusta County including slave hiring and "correction" and social
and political news from Richmond.
(Acc. 38-137)
Genealogical records of this Buckingham County family. The Bible
records include birth and death entries for slaves.
(Acc. 4417)
Included in the papers of this Culpeper County family is an 1824
contract for the sale of a young male slave.
(Acc. 4117)
Personal correspondence and diary of this Powhatan County painter and
farmer who had a farm in Missouri run by an overseer. In a November
4, 1848, letter to Brown, the overseer, L. Weedin, described the
health of the slaves and an episode about a runaway brought back to a
neighboring farm. There are other scattered references to slaves
The diary of this clerk of the court of King George County contains a
December 17, 1843, description of a song and prayer meeting in the
slave quarters; a January 17, 1844, mention of the murder of one
slave by another; an April 12, 1845, record of an attack on Captain
John S. Washington by a black man; and a November 1, 1845, mention of
the will of N. H. Hove that freed his slaves and sent them to
Africa.
(Acc. 4492)
Correspondence, journals, and account books of James Bruce and his
son, James Cole Bruce, of Berry Hill, Halifax County. There are lists
of slaves, e.g., a November 22, 1849, list and inventory of slaves on
the plantation of Messrs. Bruce, Seddon, and Williams and an 1852
"Register of Negroes," plus many entries in the account books and
other material relating to slavery.
(Acc. 2692)
Documents and letters, some of which refer to the hiring and leasing
of slaves. A December 11, 1824, letter apparently was written by a
black woman in Petersburg attempting to gain some form of recompense
for an ancestor, Ned Brandom, who served as a substitute in the
Revolutionary War.
(Acc. 3307,-a)
Annotated listings of the slaves at Eagle Point in Gloucester
County.
(Acc. 9822-d)
Correspondence, personal, and business papers of this Winchester
family. It is a very good archive of one family's business and
personal interests. There is much correspondence about slavery,
including October 6 and 27, 1848, letters from a slave hunter, Joseph
Kinsel; a November 31, 1848, letter from a runaway slave to his
mother requesting that she ask "Master William" to take him back; and
a February 1, 1843, letter about a family of slaves afflicted by a
serious illness.
(Acc. 4932)
Microfilm copies of the original records in the National
Archives.
(Acc. 10154-a)
Tax assessment book kept by John Horsley. Includes taxes based on the
number of slaves.
(Acc. 4487)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this Bedford County
businessman who was engaged in building the Virginia-Tennessee
Railroad in 1851-60. Check rolls of the company contain information
on hired black gangs; there are also individual receipts for the
hiring of slaves to work on the railroad and a July 15, 1851, letter
from Ro. Mitchell to Buford about the work of some of the blacks.
Documents dated November 27, 1861, record that two free blacks, found
guilty of a crime (not stated), were sold and purchased by
Buford.
(Acc. 9782)
A notebook of articles from newspapers based on letters from Burnet
discussing slaves, runaways, etc., in Texas.
(Acc. 1288)
Business and personal papers, chiefly those of Colonel Lewis Burwell
of Kings Mill near Williamsburg and of the family of Bedford County.
A seventeen-page manuscript by William Burwell reviews the economic
conditions of blacks in the South in the 1870s, and a November 1853
letter to C. K. Marshall apparently from William Burwell discusses
the relationship of blacks in southern society. Correspondence in the
1840s and 1850s examines the influence of slavery on national
politics.
(Acc. 4400-b)
Business and legal papers of Nathaniel Burwell of Carter's Grove and
Carter's Hall in James City County. Many of these concern the estates
of William Pasteur and John Paradise. Included are estate appraisals
for Pasteur's livestock, slaves, and household and farming
implements.
(Acc. 5757-c)
Business and personal papers of Nicholas Cabell, William Cabell, and
Nathaniel Francis Cabell of Buckingham County. An 1844 list details
births of slaves; a December 23, 1860, letter from W. C. Scott to
Mrs.
Business, personal, and political papers of this Amherst (now Nelson)
County planter, businessman, and politician. Although much of the
collection is political in nature, there are detailed records
concerning slavery and plantation life, e.g., March and April 1814
letters reporting raids by the British in which slaves were
taken.
(Acc. 38-111, etc.)
Correspondence and other papers of this Nelson County and Washington,
D.C., educator. Scattered throughout are infrequent references to
slavery, such as a December 5, 1863, letter from John Fry to Cabell
discussing the hiring of slaves; an 1864 list of farm servants; an
1863 valuation of a slave at $3,250 by a committee of freeholders; a
September 18, 1863, letter from a slave asking Cabell to keep his
wife; an 1864 list of shoes delivered to slaves; and an August 18,
1856, letter from Cabell to Joseph C. Cabell mentioning that a number
of slaves had been killed by poisonous brandy.
(Acc. 276, etc.)
Letters and manuscripts of this American author. One forty-page
manuscript by Cable is entitled "Creole Slave Songs."
(Barrett Library Acc. 7161-g)
Included in these records of the Campbell and Albemarle counties and
Asheville, North Carolina, family is a page listing slave births.
(Acc. 7903)
A letter by this Norfolk resident discusses the excitement and
confusion in the wake of Nat Turner's revolt. The whites were armed,
and many rumors were flying of other alleged slave revolts.
(Acc. 1441)
Personal and business papers of the Caperton and allied families from
Monroe City, containing few references to slavery, such as two
letters from John Caperton in New Orleans to William Caperton in
Monroe City, December 4, 1847, and January 2, 1848, in which John
The collection contains a bound manuscript journal of this
Massachusetts schoolteacher of freedmen in Charlottesville, 1866-75,
under the auspices of the American Freedmen's Aid Commission entitled
"Reminiscences of my Life and Work among the Freedmen of
Charlottesville, Virginia, from March 1st 1866 to July 1st 1875,"
vol. 1, together with a carte-de-visite portrait, n.d., of Carkin by
Charlottesville photographer William Roads, and a copy of her
certificate of commission as a teacher of ex-slaves issued by the
Eastern Department of the American Freedman's Aid Commission.
(Acc. 11123)
Included is an 1833 slave valuation for this Albemarle County
plantation.
(Acc. 38-216)
Personal and business papers of the Carr family and George Carr of
Albemarle County. Included are references to the emancipation of
slaves and an estate evaluation. See items dated November 14, 1830,
November 29, 1837, June 14, 1847, and February 13 and April 18, 1854,
for emancipated slaves; January 5, 1822, for the separation of slave
families; and an 1840 speech. Also included are a photograph of a
black woman (Poore family) and a May 6, 1868, letter about the death
of a black woman.
(Acc. 4869, etc.)
Carr Family papers.
Family correspondence between the related members of the Carr, Cary,
Randolph, Nicholas, Jefferson, and Stevenson families of Albemarle
and Fluvanna counties. There are some scattered references to
slavery, such as a December 31, 1806, letter from Peter
Letters of John, Charles, and Landon Carter, executors of Robert
"King" Carter of Corotoman, in Lancaster County. Mainly business
accounts, a series of April 1737 letters discuss the slave trade on
the ship Antelope. Other letters discuss the slave trade very
thoroughly, such as a May 28, 1737, letter to agents in Liverpool;
see also those of September 25, 1737, and August 3, 1738.
(Acc. 4996)
Materials on the Carter, Coles, Smith, and Nicholas families. Primary
interest centers on General Samuel Smith and his son, John Spear
Smith of Baltimore, and his daughter Margaret who married Robert Hill
Carter of Redlands, Albemarle County. A series of April 1870 letters
from A. Drummond in Williamsburg to the Coles family in Albemarle
discuss among other things the selling and buying of slaves.
(Acc. 1729)
The 1722-27 diary, four letterbooks, and the corn book of this
Business, legal, and personal papers of this Port Royal farmer. A
number of items concern slavery, such as a February 1, 1782, deed of
sale for two slaves and a January 4, 1847, letter from Patrick
Catlett to Elizabeth Catlett regarding hiring of slaves.
(Acc. 9398j)
This ledger contains some entries on birth and death dates of slaves
at Montebello in Orange County.
(Acc. 3527)
This freed slave who emigrated to Liberia, Africa, wrote to David S.
Haselden and to his former master Henry F. Westfall, both of
Buchannon, about his life in Liberia, studies, religious sentiment,
and illnesses. He related his impressions of the country and the
natives and discussed the possibility of success for the freed slaves
in their new home.
(Acc. 10595)
The daily record of this Madison County farmer is complete only for
1843 and 1851. There are a few entries on slaves and an entry for
June 24, 1843, that reads: "went below Bethesda meeting house to
examine some Negroes who had been engaged in a riot."
(Acc. 4472)
Working papers of this organization, which include materials on the
integration of schools in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.
(Acc. 9606, etc.)
The minutes and documents, such as constitutions and programs, of
this local citywide commission.
(Acc. 3161)
Papers of this black novelist and short story writer in the Western
Reserve Historical Society.
(Acc. 7475)
Papers of Chichester, Taliaferro, and related families of Fauquier
and Culpeper counties, including personal and business
correspondence, wills, deeds, plats, muster rolls, and published
books. Of special interest are lists of slaves, a memorandum book of
slave hire, letters mentioning the selling of slaves, and bills of
sale for slaves.
(Acc. 11047)
Records of this Charlottesville church. The Parish Register, 1838-65,
contains records of the marriages and burials of blacks. There are
only a couple of entries for blacks in the baptism and communicants
sections. The Parish Register for 1868-87 contains records of the
burials of black members.
(Acc. 9682)
Business and personal papers of this Leesburg doctor and merchant. A
number of letters, 1834-41, are from Philip Nelson, a free black, to
Clagett, who was apparently acting as Nelson's agent in Virginia to
This collection of Clay Family Papers at the University of Kentucky
includes speeches on slavery and the free states by Henry Clay and
others.
(Acc. 5182)
A letter to Lewis Tappan discusses efforts to suppress the slave
trade.
(Acc. 6643-b)
A typescript copy of the will of this Gloucester County resident.
Included is the division of his slaves to various heirs.
(Acc. 5807)
Papers of this Pittsylvania County farmer consisting of a January
1865 account with merchant Robert W. Calloway for livestock and
grains and a tax bill, paid January 18, 1858, for slaves and personal
property.
(Acc. 38-94-a)
Correspondence, diaries, account books, and plantation records of
this Fluvanna County planter and of various members of the Cocke and
related families. This collection, a combination of many separate
accessions, is invaluable for a study of slave life on large
plantations. Other areas of interest are the American Colonization
Society and letters from freed slaves in Liberia. A 1961 University
of Virginia Ph.D. dissertation on Cocke by Martin Boyd Coyner is a
very helpful tool to use in approaching the Cocke manuscripts.
(Acc. 640, etc.)
The detailed ledger kept by this planter of Cedar Vale in Nansemond
County is rich in demographic material on his slaves over a
fifty-year period. Names, birth and death dates, parentage, source of
acquisition, and hiring statistics are supplied.
(Acc. 8868)
Included is a journal of Mrs. Jane Lindsay Coleman of Bedford near
Augusta, Georgia, containing records of the births and ages of
slaves, 1832-63. There do not appear to be any other references to
slavery in the collection.
(Acc. 1794)
Business papers of this Halifax County family include an account book
kept by Ethelbert Algernon Coleman for his ward, Jane C. Coleman
Hamilton, listing the births and deaths of her slaves.
(Acc. 7014)
Included is a photostat of a letter written in 1865 by a former slave
wishing to return to her master.
(Acc. 1626)
Correspondence of a former slave at Gale Hill in Albemarle County,
home of William Wardlaw Minor. Most of the letters are to the Minor
family; they contain family news and touch on the relationship
between blacks and whites in early twentieth-century Virginia.
(Acc. 10322)
Kate Flanagan Coles Papers.
Instructions sent to Lieutenant Governor William Nelson of Virginia
on December 10, 1770, by George III ordering Nelson to disallow a law
passed by the colony which placed an additional tax on the
importation of slaves.
(Acc. 3195)
Copies of four documents concerning the sentencing and execution of
slaves in Sussex and Charlotte counties.
(Acc. 3076)
Letters of this Culpeper County family chiefly written to Thomas A.
Compton in Mississippi. Included are an 1826 letter in which the
writer indicated a willingness to part with some of his slaves in
exchange for land; an 1846 estate list, including slaves; and an 1847
request to see that the writer's slaves got across a river by ferry
safely.
(Acc. 38-116)
Speech given by F. H. Parrish apparently before a group interested in
church missionary work.
(Acc. 9222)
A small collection of three account books of this family from Orange
and Madison counties. In the farm account book of 1849-66 are a few
pages detailing birth and death records of slaves.
(Acc. 2485)
Mainly personal correspondence of Thomas Jefferson's descendants,
especially his granddaughter Ellen Wayles Coolidge. The letters
contain some discussion of slavery, such as one of August 1825 from
Martha Randolph to Ellen mentioning complications in selling
slaves.
(Acc. 9090)
An account book of this Culpeper County resident. It includes entries
on sales of slaves and the hiring out of slaves.
(Acc. 4323)
The 1763-68 letterbook of this Baltimore merchant contains occasional
references to slaves he had for sale. Original manuscript at the New-
York Historical Society.
(Acc. 9530)
This collection contains papers of Leroy Wesley Cox, a
Charlottesville carriage and wagon manufacturer and Republican party
worker. It includes an 1884 account book from his carriage business,
voter registration lists, papers about party meetings, and 1896 lists
of black
A letter from this black sea captain and emigration organizer to W.
Roper.
(Barrett Library Acc. 7174)
One letter, a manuscript of his poem "Requiescam," and a copy of a
sketch of this black American poet.
(Barrett Library Acc. 8364)
Business, political, and personal papers of Franklin Roosevelt's
attorney general. One file of material is on a 1936 case
investigating charges that blacks were used as slaves in
Arkansas.
(Acc. 9973)
Personal correspondence of these central Virginia families, primarily
of Richard Heath Dabney and his wife Lucy Heth Davis Dabney. There
are a few scattered references to slaves, such as a document hiring a
slave in January 1865; a February 10, 1867, letter from Alice
Personal and business papers, manuscripts, photographs, and
memorabilia of this noted Richmond journalist and Pulitzer Prize-
winning author. There is a great deal of material on blacks, civil
rights, school desegregation, the NAACP, etc.
(Acc. 7690)
A typescript copy of the constitution and minutes of the society.
(Acc. 4040)
Medical account books of this Buckingham Court House physician. There
are many entries on treatment of slaves.
(Acc. 4156)
Memoirs of W. F. Davis of Charlottesville and a diary kept by his
father, J. H. Davis, during the Civil War. J. H. Davis noted a local
Personal papers of this Albemarle County family, including a November
1850 letter from Eugene Davis of Charlottesville to [Thomas
Hewitt Key] in London asking advice on freeing a female
slave.
(Acc. 2483-a)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this Orange County resident,
including some slavery material, such as sales and a September 17,
1824, letter from a slave to Thomas Davis.
(Acc. 320)
Papers of Jackson Davis, assistant director of the Virginia General
Education Board. There is correspondence on black education in the
South with such people as Robert R. Moton, principal of Tuskegee
Institute, and Virginia Randolph. There is also a large collection of
Mainly business and personal letters of W. W. Davis concerning his
iron business in Rockbridge County and other activities. A February
9, 1844, letter from Benjamin A. Firebaugh to A. B. Stuart discusses
the possibility of hiring out a slave, and a January 1845 bond for
the hire of a female slave specifies her clothing allotment, as does
one for 1858. This collection has a good amount of material on the
practice of hiring out slaves.
(Acc. 378)
The papers contain seven letters, 1841-75, about family matters,
business, crops, slave purchases, and life in Kentucky.
(Acc. 10565)
A letter written from Norfolk by M. W. deBree to her father John B.
deBree containing personal news and a mention of an aborted slave
insurrection planned for a ship bound for New Orleans.
(Acc. 10930)
The original of this Prince William County vestry book is in the
Virginia State Library. Indentures have been copied and bound into
the book; some concern free blacks such as a 1750 document about the
mulatto offspring of a free black.
(Acc. 2536)
The diary of a minor British official appointed by Parliament to
examine documents in the United States relative to American claims.
There is much comment on slavery and the treatment of blacks.
(McGregor Library Acc. 4528)
Papers of this family of Franklin County. Letters of March 28 and May
29, 1858, to Miss Sallie describe the capture of a fugitive slave in
Cincinnati.
(Acc. 38-176)
Personal and business papers of this Nansemond County family,
including the papers of James Hardy Dillard (1856-1940), a southern
educator known for his role in the advancement of race relations and
black education in the South.
(Acc. 9498)
Personal and business correspondence of this Greene County resident.
Tax assessments for 1863 giving the number and value of slaves and
Two letters and one photograph of this noted black American
abolitionist, writer, and journalist.
(Barrett Library Acc. 7181)
Collection consists of the correspondence of Duke and his son, Judge
Richard Thomas Walker Duke of Albemarle County. Topics include the
hiring of former slaves.
(Acc. 9521j)
Letters and one manuscript of this major black American poet.
(Barrett Library Acc. 6323)
The microfilm edition of his papers held by the Ohio Historical
Society.
(Acc. 7147)
Personal papers of this Charlottesville resident who was a spokesman
for "Freedom of Choice" as the solution to the problem of integration
of the Virginia public schools in the 1960s. Included is
correspondence with black leaders.
(Acc. 9751) 304. MARTHA TABB DYER DIARIES 3 items, 1823-39 Three
diaries, 1823-39, kept by this Calloway County, Missouri, woman with
references to sewing, etc., for her slaves.
(Acc. 7776)
Papers of this state senator from Madison County, which include a tax
book listing free blacks and slaveholders kept while Early was
sheriff of Madison County.
(Acc. 4224)
A letter written from this Albemarle County school about the purchase
of slaves for $11,000.
(Acc. 38-421)
Personal papers of this Augusta County family. The diary of Nancy
Emerson has occasional references to family slaves and an account of
the flight of the Reverend Luther Emerson and his slaves from
advancing Union troops in the Valley of Virginia.
(Acc. 38-47)
An African-American family of Knoxville, Maryland; Mary Evans, a
former slave, and her son Henry write to her former owner, Brian
Philpot, Chicago, conveying news of family and friends in Knoxville.
Several letters thank Philpot for gifts of clothing and money.
(Acc. 11018)
General merchandise and farm records of J. Sanders & Co., Moore,
Robinson & Co., J. B. Robinson, and J. K. Robinson. Included are
scattered slavery references.
(Acc. 38-47)
Five transcripts of ex-slave interviews conducted by WPA workers.
(Acc. 3462)
Included are two letters by a former slave living in California to
his master's son, in Virginia, requesting to spend his last years on
the old home place and recalling the Civil War, which "broke us
up."
(Acc. 2331)
Business and personal papers of the Fife and related Herndon,
Strickler, and Graves families, chiefly of Albemarle, Madison, and
Spotsylvania counties. A Herndon account book, 1810-22, contains
entries for "Dr. Thos. Colson's Old Negroes or the Fund for their
Support."
(Acc. 5943)
The manuscript of Keeping the Faith: A History of First Baptist
Church, 1863-1980, in Light of Its Times, West Main and Seventh
Streets, Charlottesville, Virginia (Charlottesville: The Church,
1981) by Richard I. McKinney, a history of the oldest black church in
Charlottesville.
(Acc. 10479)
Personal correspondence of William Fitzhugh of Chatham. Included is a
July 14, 1796, letter from William Fitzhugh to Benjamin Grymes
discussing a smallpox epidemic which was killing the slaves.
(Acc. 5242)
General correspondence of a Fredericksburg law firm, including the
sale of Mrs. Thornton's slaves in May 1838. It compares slave prices
in Virginia and Alabama.
(Acc. 2062)
Business, legal, and financial papers of this King George County
resident. Included is an 1858 list of the valuation of slaves.
(Acc. 5723)
An item concerning the devotion of a Virginia black man to his former
master.
(Acc. 38-412)
Includes a letter, ca. 1874, from Frank Morton, an ex-slave living in
Claiborne County, Mississippi, to Joe Perkins of Fluvanna County in
which Morton asked Perkins if he knew of the whereabouts of any of
his five boys whom he had to leave in 1855 when he was sold to
Mississippi.
(Acc. 8386)
Business and personal papers of the Cochran family of Folly Farm near
Staunton. Includes a number of slavery items, such as lists of slaves
for hire in 1856-60 and two lists of gifts to slaves.
(Acc. 9380)
Business, legal, and personal papers of Colonel Walter S. Fontaine of
Buckingham County and of the Fontaine, Brown, Thompson and allied
families. There are letters and business records regarding the sale
of slaves, such as a March 21, 1817, letter from Benjamin Lewis to
Fontaine asking him to sell two slaves but to try to respect the
slaves' wishes to remain in the neighborhood, if possible, and
testimony from relatives and neighbors regarding an accusation that
overseer Christopher Johnson beat a slave to death.
(Acc. 4149)
Mainly legal and business papers of this Buckingham County merchant.
Included are an 1820 estate valuation of William Toney listing the
estate's slaves and values; a receipt for hiring out a slave on
August 23, 1831; and a December 1822 deed of sale for a female slave
and her two children.
(Acc. 7984)
Personal and business papers of this Richmond portrait artist (1806-
1868). Two letters from Joseph Mills in Norfolk to Ford, January 13
and July 28, 1840, ask Ford to sell a black woman, Delphina, owned by
Mills because she did not want to live in Norfolk.
(Acc. 6073)
A letter from Foster to Cynthia in which he described in much detail
the life on Tidewater plantations, especially Auborn in Mathews
County. He went into detail on the work of the slaves and also
expressed his interpretation of their feelings.
(Acc. 10103)
A small collection of business and legal papers of this Mathews
County merchant and planter. Included is a May 20, 1803, deposition
signed by the justice of peace of Mathews County taking custody of a
runaway slave turned over to him.
(Acc. 3523)
Business and personal papers of these families from Orange and
Amherst counties. Data on slave births and deaths are recorded in the
Included is a daybook kept by George P. King of Stafford County which
shows how blacks were hired as tenant farmers beginning in 1867.
(Acc. 5307)
Court records for the corporation of Fredericksburg and the county of
Spotsylvania. The Hustings Court records include entries on
prosecutions of slaves and freedmen.
(Acc. 4141)
Work agreements with former slaves of George Hannah of Gravel
Hill.
(Acc. 2602)
A microfilm copy of the records of Charlottesville and Albemarle
County made from the originals in the National Archives.
(Acc. 4443)
A 1759-95 account book of the Reverend Henry Fry of Albemarle County
which includes an entry for George Washington and one for James
Madison, Sr. There are also two pocket almanacs, 1783? and 1795, kept
by Fry, account books, and notebooks. The 1806-62 account book
contains lists of slaves.
(Acc. 10659-a)
Business and personal letters of this family of Red Oak, Buckingham
County. In the business papers is an 1848 listing and valuation of
the slaves of Archibald Clark and Mary C. Molloy.
(Acc. 3784)
Business and legal papers of this Essex County family. Included is an
1830 account of L. Lewis for furnishing support of slaves of George
Washington's estate.
(Acc. 6053)
Remarks to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 on a
measure concerning free blacks.
(Acc. 5115)
Correspondence, personal, and business papers of this family of York
County. Many scattered references to slavery include a July 2, 1843,
letter to William Nelson giving permission for a slave, Jim, to be
baptized; a December 20, 1851, letter from G. R. Garrett to his
brother who had reported trouble at a Richmond college because blacks
were allowed to be married there; an April 15, 1852, letter telling
of a Captain Ravley who stabbed several blacks and killed at least
one black person and, according to an October 11, 1852, letter, was
found not guilty; and an October 4, 1852, letter mentioning that
Fanny had been sold for behaving badly.
(Acc. 9974,-a)
This letter from H. C. Garrett to Richard Stewart of Culpeper Court
House includes a reference to the buying of slaves.
(Acc. 38-463-a)
Records of this black Baptist church of Petersburg beginning with the
April 1827 Record Book.
(Acc. 10041)
Primarily the personal and political correspondence, various
accounts, and bills of this Dinwiddie County family. A specific
section of this collection is devoted entirely to slavery and
includes papers on the hiring out, trading, and purchasing of
slaves.
(Acc. 2608)
Primarily business and personal correspondence of this family of High
Meadow near Richmond. A number of letters discuss slave prices and
the buying and selling of slaves, such as a June 29, 1859, letter of
J. T. Foster to Gilliam commenting on the high price of slaves and
the fact that he would have to send to "Delaware for our supply."
(Acc. 3593,-a)
A medical daybook of this Charlottesville physician who counted
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison among his patients. There are many
entries on medical treatment for slaves.
(Acc. 6145)
George Gilmer Daybook.
The two diaries contain a November 9, 1861, entry by this
Correspondence and papers of Colonel Claiborne William Gooch of
Richmond, his wife Rebecca, and sons Richard Barnes, Philip, and
Arthur Fleming. The collection is primarily political in nature with
much material on the U.S. Bank, nullification, and states' rights.
Scattered slavery references include John Floyd's February 17, 1825,
letter to C. W. Gooch which contains views on the slavery question
and a January 22, 1845, letter of P. B. Gooch to P. C. Gooch
discussing the sale of slaves.
(Acc. 3921,-a)
Compiled by Reverend William Douglass, this register includes a page
entitled "Register of Negroes born & christened."
(Acc. 923)
Includes literacy statistics for white and black students and a
September 17, 1896, teacher listing by race and salary.
(Acc. 1032)
Genealogical records of the Goodwin, Burruss, Hart, and Winston
families from the Goodwin family Bible that contain information on
slaves' births and deaths from 1823 to 1865.
(Acc. 4125)
Church records, 1775-1853, including lists of slave members.
(Acc. 4496)
Collection includes the 1845-88 diary of William Gordon, a planter of
Nelson County. It contains frequent references to, as well as annual
records of, the plantation slaves.
(Acc. 9553)
Personal and political papers of William Fitzhugh Gordon of Orange
County. Some of the family personal correspondence involves the
slaves, such as a December 15, 1830, letter relating that a slave,
Nancy, had been sold to her reputed father and sent to Philadelphia
and a February 18, 1847, letter reporting that some of the slaves had
to be sold to meet debts.
(Acc. 10089)
Business records of the Wytheville ironworks of Joseph J. and David
Graham. A seven-volume time book for 1828-52 consists of records of
black labor, slaves hired and at what prices, information on
runaways, etc. There is also a five-volume time book for 1846-70.
(Acc. 38-106, etc.)
Records and correspondence of the Hannah family of Gravel Hill,
Charlotte County. There are a few references to blacks, such as
George Hannah's "Register of My Black Family's Ages, 1800-1851" and
medical accounts of George Hannah for 1855-60 including treatment of
blacks.
(Acc. 2320)
A small collection of family letters primarily of this Georgia and
North Carolina family. Among a few documents on slave sales and
hiring out are a March 17, 1844, sale of four slaves and a January
20, 1859, sale of a male slave described as a brick mason.
(Acc. 1776)
Account book, 1822-53, and diaries, 1843-78, of this Pittsylvania
County planter, with references to slavery.
(Acc. 5047)
Letters, sermons, etc., bound in journals belonging to a Methodist
circuit preacher and containing numerous references to slavery.
(Acc. 7652)
Papers of these Culpeper and Rappahanock county families including a
list of the slaves owned by the Green family and an August 4, 1865,
letter discussing black labor in New Orleans.
(Acc. 4694)
Legal papers and documents of John F. Greenlee, clerk of Rockbridge
County Court. Included are an 1860 alphabetical list of free blacks
in Rockbridge County and a September 22, 1863, list of the number of
slaves drafted in Rockbridge County to work in the defense of
Richmond.
(Acc. 5213-c)
Business records, correspondence, and account books of this family of
Fredericksburg. Many of the documents contain references to slavery.
Among them are bills of sale, correspondence among family members
regarding slavery, an October 7, 1790, payment for sold slaves; a
February 12, 1851, letter from Louisa to A. G. Grinnan with
references to the fugitive slave bill; an April 13, 1864, letter from
Robert Grinnan to A. G. Grinnan about the sale of slaves; an April
18, 1855, letter from G. B. Wallace to Andrew Grinnan (in family
correspondence, 1854-56) which discusses slave breeding; a letter
from a slave asking to be purchased (in the 1824-30 folder); and
letters containing references to abolitionism, a letter from a slave
to his master, and an April 3, 1834, letter referring to payment for
the "hauling" of blacks (in the 1832-39 folder).
(Acc. 49, etc.)
This travel diary of an Englishman describes life in Virginia around
Williamsburg and Yorktown. The entries describe slave quarters near
Williamsburg and the life-style of slaves, as well as traveling on a
slave ship.
(McGregor Library Acc. 3850)
A daily plantation account of Mount Stuart in King George County,
with a list of slaves noting occupations and valuations.
(Acc. 4494)
From a group of citizens to Governor John Letcher asking that a death
sentence given a slave be commuted.
(Acc. 10287-a)
Papers, account books, and memorabilia of this physician of
Wytheville. Haller's report in 1870 to the overseers of the poor for
Wytheville township records the medical treatment of the poor
including black citizens. There is also material on the medical
treatment of slaves.
(Acc. 981)
Correspondence and accounts of the Hamlet family of Campbell County.
Included is a copy of an October 1, 1878, letter from Thomas Clark to
"Brother" Hamlet explaining the expulsion for "grossly immoral
conduct" of a slave named Tom from the Baptist church at Union
Hill.
(Acc. 3270-b)
Records of letters received and sent and orders received and issued
directly related to the naval commands and duties of Captain Andrew
Snape Hamond and Admiral Graham Eden Hamond of the Royal Navy. Andrew
Hamond's papers are concerned principally with British naval
operations during the American Revolutionary War. The letterbooks for
May and June 1776 mention the use of Afro-American troops by English
forces in the Tidewater area.
(McGregor Library Acc. 680)
Bills of sale, receipts, and hiring out notes for slaves in Charlotte
County.
(Acc. 970)
A tax book of Hanover County residents kept by Henry C. Bowles.
Included is a list of free blacks and a birth list of slaves.
(Acc. 4643)
The bulk of this collection deals with the slave market around
Scottsville and Richmond. Many letters detail the prices of slaves
and
Consists primarily of letters of E. L. Roberts, a Confederate
soldier, to his wife and daughter. A December 18, 1861, letter from
Roberts describes a planned slave insurrection in Shreveport and a
slave who threatened to kill his Alabama master. A February 21, 1862,
letter describes how a slave freed by Union soldiers escaped and
returned to the Confederate lines.
(Acc. 10207)
Legal and business papers of this Buckingham Court House lawyer. A
will of Abraham Neighbours on April 4, 1850, divides his slaves among
his survivors.
(Acc. 1173)
The account books, ledgers, and journals of this Orange County
plantation. Noted is a photograph of black and white miners at
Mineral Springs, a sulphur mine on the plantation.
The account books of the 1840s and 1850s have infrequent references
to payment of slaves. There is also a plantation record book kept by
the overseer.
(Acc. 2198)
Hawfield Plantation Papers.
Primarily the business papers of Laban Hawkins of Prince Edward
County. Slave references include tax receipts, doctor's bills, and
bills of sale for slaves.
(Acc. 38-142)
Genealogies of the slaves at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson,
compiled by John Cook Wylie.
(Acc. 6636,-a,-b,-c)
Papers of Hench as Charlottesville School Board member and member of
various committees including curriculum, personnel, education
facilities for blacks, and the special committee to investigate
conditions at Jefferson High, containing correspondence, memoranda,
meeting dockets, and related material. General topics include school
budgets, teachers' salaries, Miller School applicants, school
activities and programs, war activities, and statistics. Specific
topics of interest are the opening of Lane High School, 1940;
petitioning for equalization of salaries for blacks and whites; and
teacher-principal conflicts at Jefferson High School, 1945-46.
(Acc. 927)
A miscellaneous collection of letters, primarily by Virginians,
collected by Hench. Included are some letters discussing slavery and
an 1860 deposition and conviction notice of Lafayette Lee for selling
liquor to a slave.
(Acc. 4030)
Papers of New Market, Shenandoah County, family of Lutheran clergy
and printers, operators of the German/English Henkel Press. Contains
a letter in German, February 22, 1816, from Jacob Crigler to Dr.
Solomon Henkel about a slave ill with dysentery.
(Acc. 8653-f)
Included are an 1823 receipt for the purchase of two slaves and a
reference in an 1840 letter to a slave who had run away to
Canada.
(Acc. 38-473)
Business, personal, and legal correspondence and documents of this
Richmond and Norfolk area businessman who owned the Black Heath coal
pits. Scattered references to slavery include a December 25, 1796,
letter about the hire of slaves; a list of slaves, ca. 1810; and an
1821 certificate concerning the apprehension of a runaway slave.
(Acc. 38-114)
Papers and personal correspondence of these Richmond-area families.
Business, legal, and personal papers of this family of King William
and King and Queen counties. In the farm diaries kept by Edward Hill
for 1860-66 there are numerous entries on slaves including one on May
31, 1863, noting that a slave named William was missing.
(Acc. 6548)
Printed form used by this company for slave purchases.
(Acc. 2146)
Letters between Asa Hillyer of Connecticut and his sons. Most of the
correspondence is with his son Shaler of Poplar Grove, Georgia. The
social comment mainly concerns Georgia. Included are a slave bill of
sale; a "Cotton Book" listing the number of pounds picked by each
hand; and a list of slaves "Freed by Abe Lincoln's Proclamation."
(Acc. 2130)
Correspondence, military papers, speeches, photographs, printed
material, and memorabilia of this Civil War Union officer (1831-
1874). Military papers of Hillyer include references to various
services by blacks.
(Acc. 10645)
Most of the journal concerns a trip to famous natural scenic spots in
the Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The account includes
a short description of a black church in Lexington. The journal was
privately printed in 1970 as The Journals of Mary Jane Boggs
Holladay. 1851-1861, and portions of it were published in the
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 77 (1969): 78-111.
(Acc. 9703)
Consists of the legal papers of Asa Holland, sheriff of Rockingham
County. Included are an indenture of October 29, 1847, mentioning the
sale of slaves to pay a debt; a bill of sale for a young boy in 1846
for $500; and an 1805-12 cash book which lists the ages of black
children.
(Acc. 902)
The medical account journal of Drs. William Amiss and William S.
Alsop of Rappahannock County. The accounts include references to
medical treatment of slaves such as an entry of April 4, 1852, noting
the extraction of a tooth for a "negro woman."
(Acc. 6133-b)
Glass and film negatives of this local Charlottesville studio.
Included among the many portraits are those of a few local black
citizens.
(Acc. 9862)
Holsinger Studio Photograph Collection.
Personal letters primarily from Nathaniel Hooe of King George County
to his son-in-law William A. Harrison in Alabama. Some discuss the
movement of slaves from Virginia to Alabama.
(Acc. 10548)
Personal correspondence, business correspondence, and ledgers of Hook
and his son-in-law, Bowker Preston, of Franklin and Bedford
Correspondence and financial records of Nicholas Hooper of Front
Royal and Middletown and of George Wright of Middletown. Included is
a deed of manumission for Rachael Smith dated December 1799.
(Acc. 4392)
The diary of Major Marcus Hopkins, a Civil War soldier from Ohio, who
was an official in the Freedmen's Bureau in central Virginia. There
is much discussion of the treatment of blacks.
(Acc. 4656)
Personal correspondence, business records, account books, and diaries
of this medical doctor who served as ship's surgeon in the U.S. Navy.
Letters of a captain in the Quartermaster Corps of the Confederate
army stationed in Mississippi, as well as letters of James Preston
Pinkston and a few other family members. A March 17, 1853, letter
from Hoskins to his son mentions that "Cousin John" had some sick
slaves that had been "pressed" by the government. A letter of March
17, 1864, from Alice Pearson to her aunt reports that the northern
soldiers burned the house of Aunt Maryan, the slaves told the
soldiers where everything was hidden, and twenty-eight slaves went
with the Federal troops.
(Acc. 7478)
A Book of Common Prayer recording the births of slaves of an
Albemarle County family, 1782-1824.
(Acc. 7988)
Two letters to Robert T. Hubard, Sr., in Cumberland County and an
1827 diary probably kept by a family member. The diary has notations
Correspondence, legal, and business documents of Robert T. Hubard,
Sr., and his descendants of Rosny and Chellowe in Buckingham County.
This large family collection has references to slavery including a
list of Hubard's slaves and their value at emancipation; a list of
Virginia counties having fewer than 500 taxable slaves; a table of
the population, both slave and white, of Virginia by decades from
1790 to 1870; and a December 22, 1854, letter from Charles Jones to
Robert Hubard written for a slave, Walker, who wanted Hubard to buy
his wife who was going to be sold.
(Acc. 8039)
Additional business and personal papers of Robert T. Hubard, Sr. An
1844 letter from Thomas Gilmer to Hubard states "it was useless to
deny or doubt that this Negro question is the question on which our
fate hangs. We must give up our slaves or give up the Union." A
February 14, 1843, letter from William B. Hubard to Robert Hubard
speaks of William s desire to acquire a good "body servant."
(Acc. 7093-c,-e,-f)
Additional papers of this family, chiefly receipts and accounts,
detailing every phase of the operation of Rosny, in Buckingham
County, and Tye River Quarter, in Nelson County. In several
notebooks, 1836-62, Robert T. Hubard, Sr., made notes for the
instruction of his sons in farming methods, of his crops produced
each year on the plantations, and on his slaves. Post-Civil War
material includes many receipts of payment to freedmen for work on
his plantations.
(Acc. 8708)
A register entitled "Negroes in Buckingham" kept by Hubard. The
document includes records of slave purchases and deaths.
(Acc. 7786-m)
Included is a Civil War diary kept by Hubard which contains
occasional mention of his personal servant, Davy, who accompanied him
to the front.
(Acc. 10522)
A letter from A. D. Almond, Howardsville, to A. R. Blakey, Madison
Court House, describing conditions on the Hubard farm and mentioning
procurement of "linen for all our Negroes."
(Acc. 7786-v)
Mainly the papers of Joseph A. Huger, a plantation owner near
Savannah, Georgia. A "plantation book" for 1855-61 has detailed
information on the numbers of slaves, clothing issued them, births,
deaths, and work assigned.
(Acc. 6019)
Correspondence of this career army officer from South Carolina who
served in the Mexican War and the Civil War. There is practically no
material on blacks, but an October 10, 1837, letter from a friend of
Huger, Captain Gait, who was serving in the Indian wars in Florida,
mentions that a number of black slaves had surrendered to the post in
St. Augustine. He thought that the slaves were let loose by the
Indians because of a food shortage.
(Acc. 9942)
Business, legal, and personal papers of various Virginia families. An
account book of R. C. Ambler, 1831-36, notes medical treatment,
including treatment of slaves.
(Acc. 6394)
Farm notebooks kept at Palmyra, with references to the health of
slaves, etc.
(Acc. 1623)
Official correspondence of this CSA surgeon. An October 12, 1861,
letter to Hunter requests a pass for a sick black "teamster."
(Acc. 166)
Papers of the Hunter-Garnet families consisting primarily of
personal, financial, and political correspondence of Muscoe Garnett
(1821-1864) and architectural plans, plats, and legal documents
concerning the family estate Elmwood. Also included are a daybook of
William Hunter containing lists of slaves and clothing and shoe
allotments and a daybook of James Mercer and Mercer Garnett as estate
administrators containing slave lists and evaluations.
(Acc. 38-45-C)
Bible records of the Isaac Hutchinson family, 1781-1850, of Virginia
and West Virginia, including his son's slaves.
(Acc. 4735)
Papers of the Hutton family of Broughton, England, and of Isaac
Hutton who emigrated to America in 1814 and lived in Albany, New
An indenture binding a "Free girl of color," Susan, to John F.
Hawkins to learn to be a house servant.
(Acc. 6060)
Correspondence and plantation records of this Nottoway County
resident. The many slave references include an 1805 memorandum book
which is chiefly a record of slaves; accounts of slaves, 1848-53; an
1858 overseer's notebook; 1805 slave records; and plantation records
with slave accounts for 1847 and 1854-56.
(Acc. 1194)
A large collection consisting of the papers of these Campbell and
Prince Edward counties families. Among the many business and legal
papers and documents are slave sale transactions. The personal
letters, especially those of the Civil War period, discuss slaves and
slave problems, e.g., an October 7, 1861, letter from Fleming
Saunders to his mother concerning troubles with slaves and an October
24, 1863, letter relating news of a murder by a slave. Also included
are
Fragments of Washington Irving manuscripts including an incomplete
discussion of the case concerning the Spanish slave ship Amistad and
the ownership of the ship and cargo following the mutiny of the
slaves, as well as a story of a German "who had an amour with a
slave."
(Clifton Waller Barrett Library Acc. 6256-aj)
The account book of this Afro-American Petersburg resident who
performed medical services such as "cupping" and "leeching." She
noted many visits to servants.
(Acc. 2120)
Personal and business correspondence of the editor of the Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot. There is correspondence with Governor Harry
F. Byrd, Sr., concerning a proposed antilynching bill and with such
prominent Afro-Americans as Walter White and P. B. Young, editor of
the Norfolk Journal and Guide.
(Acc. 9924)
Articles, reports, speeches, news clippings, pamphlets, and other
printed material, photographs, and some correspondence, all
pertaining to subjects of concern to Jaffe as editor of the
Virginian- Pilot. The chief topic is the use by Norfolk Polytechnic
College (Virginia State University) of a vacated nurses home at the
former St. Vincent's Hospital in a predominantly black section of
Norfolk. Also of interest are materials on the Southern Regional
Council including minutes of the executive committee and board
meetings and copies of The Southern Frontier and The New South. Other
topics include suffrage reform, particularly in regard to the poll
tax; World War II, especially the military buildup in Norfolk and
attendant problems; Virginia politics and the Byrd machine; Norfolk
civic issues; public health; and Judaism. Of unusual interest is a
letter from Bravid W. Harris about Third World democracy and
Liberia.
(Acc. 9924-k)
Records of the James family of lower Norfolk County consisting mostly
of legal and business records. Occasional slave bills of sale are
included, such as an 1829 bill for the sale of a woman, as are 1784
lists of tithables and taxable property for various Tidewater
districts.
(Acc. 38-402)
Minutes of stockholders' meetings that in March 1865 mention the use
of black labor to repair locks destroyed by Sheridan.
(Acc. 10421-a)
Largely private correspondence of a number of North Carolina and
other southern families. Many of the letters discuss slaves: prices,
runaways, etc. A May 30, 1838, letter to Major Thomas B. Cooper from
George Phillips mentions a slave's attempt to kill an overseer.
(Acc. 1030)
The manuscript reminiscences of this Monticello slave once owned by
Thomas Jefferson as told to Charles Campbell, printed as Memoirs of a
Monticello Slave (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,
1951), and a daguerreotype of Isaac Jefferson. (McGregor Library Acc.
2041)
Isaac Jefferson Collection.
The Jefferson Papers contain many references to slaves and slavery. A
Signed sepia photograph of James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938),
African-American writer and one of the founders of the National
Association for the Avancement of Colored Persons (NAACP) and its
secretary from 1916 to 1930. Johnson is shown sitting against a
wooden post. Signed on the bottom margin in blue ink "James Weldon
Johnson."
(Barrett Library Acc. 11072)
The collection consists chiefly of personal account books, daybooks,
journals, ledgers, business correspondence, and other papers of James
Johnston, postmaster at Hardware, ca. 1885-90, general merchant, and
owner of the Green Mountain Mill, Albemarle. An 1891 letter from
Thomas E. Locke, a minister, about his services and salary and an
1885 letter from William Garland to Joshua Martin about a "Yankee
carpetbagger" causing trouble among blacks are of note.
(Acc. 38-8)
A collection of bills, receipts, and legal documents of Isaac and
Thomas Jones, merchants of Fredericksburg. Included is a November 2,
1795, bill of sale for a slave belonging to William True.
(Acc. 2428-a)
Letters and postcards of this contemporary black author to Diane Di
Prima.
(Barrett Library Acc. 7884)
The Jordan family were Quakers residing in James City, Isle of Wight,
Nansemond, and Halifax counties. The papers consist of
correspondence, family histories, a genealogical chart, and Bible
records containing birth and death dates for both family and slaves.
Most of the material pertains to the descendants of 1609 immigrants
Samuel and Cicely Jourdan (Jordan), and particularly to the family of
Dr. Clement Hobson Jordan.
(Acc. 10617-E)
Staff writer for the Washington Star, Kelly covered Virginia
politics, particularly election campaigns, and activities of the
General Assembly. Politically related topics in the collection
include the desegregation of Prince Edward County schools.
(Acc. 10566)
Letters primarily from John Kelly, a retail merchant in
Charlottesville, to Opie Norris, a commission merchant in Richmond. A
March 19, 1813, letter from Kelly to Norris mentions a slave who
seemed to be an habitual runaway.
(Acc. 3928-a)
Personal and business papers of William Henry Kennon and his son,
William Upshur Kennon, of Norwood, Powhatan County. A two-volume
journal, 1808-83, of Beverly Randolph's Powhatan County plantation
contains slave records. The voluminous general correspondence
probably contains reference to slaves and slavery.
(Acc. 38-95)
Bill of sale, original at the University of Kentucky Library, between
W. Crawford and James Pipen of Nicholas County, Kentucky, authorizing
the sale of a female slave for $350 from Pipen to Crawford.
(Acc. 4679)
Contains business papers and Bible records of the Kent, Meux, and
McGavock families of Bedford County. An indenture, October 17, 1805,
signs over slaves and other property of Jane Quirk of Montgomery
County to Joseph Kent of Wythe County.
(Acc. 8994)
Papers of Robert M. Kent of Louisa Court House and the Hunter,
Thompson, and Lane families of Louisa County. Three letters, 1851 and
1853, to Robert M. Kent from William H. Starr of the American
Colonization Society discuss the emigration of ex-slaves to Liberia.
Among the correspondence of the Thompson family, 1823-51, are letters
describing the selling of slaves.
(Acc. 4165)
Business and personal papers of James J. Kilpatrick, newspaper editor
and syndicated columnist. There is much correspondence concerning
Virginia's position on integration of the public school system during
the 1950s and 1960s.
(Acc. 6626)
Journal of this woman from Mount Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley
recording daily farm business. There are frequent references to
slaves ("hands") and a detailed account concerning the return of
runaway slaves with Union troops to rescue their wives and
families.
(Acc. 2534)
Three tax books and a fee book which record taxes on slaves and the
taxation of free blacks.
(Acc. 4414)
Chiefly correspondence of Dr. Philip Klipstein of Fauquier County.
Included are receipts for the hire of black women, discussion of a
court case involving the ownership of slaves taken from Virginia to
A small group of letters, documents, and diaries of this Union
soldier in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry who was in Virginia during the
Civil War. The diaries have occasional references to freed slaves and
black troops.
(Acc. 38-219)
A daybook of Lewis Latane, a Huguenot immigrant who lived in Manakin,
Goochland County. It contains many names and birth dates of
slaves.
(Acc. 4348)
Personal, legal, military, and business correspondence and accounts
of this family of Essex County. A number of letters and documents
refer to individual slaves and slavery in general, including a
December 10, 1772, letter from Samuel Peachey to William Latane
asking that a young male slave be sent to him to learn the blacksmith
trade; a 1794 circular referring to the transportation of slaves from
Africa to the
Correspondence of this Englishman who immigrated to the United States
and became prominent in Washington society. In a November 1, 1824,
letter he discussed emigration of American slaves to Haiti, and on
October 1, 1828, he wrote of the emancipation of slaves.
(McGregor Library Acc. 2801)
Letter from Charles Lee, Alexandria, to William Broadfoot, with legal
advice concerning compensation for the seizure of a ship apparently
used as a slave trader.
(Acc. 38-112-C)
A letter from Richard Bland Lee to Edmund Jennings Lee; five letters
from Jean Jules Jusserand to Frederic A. Delano; and a pamphlet,
Patronage National des Blesses. The December 13, 1798, Lee
letter concerns an apparent confusion over the sale and expected
emancipation of a slave, Caroline.
(Acc. 9971-a)
Business, legal, and personal papers of five interrelated Loudoun
County families: the Fendall, Harrison, Miller, Murray, and Jones
families. Included are lists and descriptions, 1823-30, of slaves
belonging to Miss McCall, whose estate was settled by Walter Jones.
Correspondence, financial and legal papers, printed material, and
miscellaneous related papers of this Bedford County businessman and
farmer. Tax statements for the year 1802 depict Joel Leftwich as the
owner of seven slaves for which he paid a tax of $13.90 (the tax for
Pilgrim was ten dollars). Other documents pertain to the hiring of
his slaves and the legal dispensations of them for the payment of
debts, 1796-1826. Among these legal documents is a complaint against
a slave named Bill who was owned by Jesse Leftwich; the slave had
shot a dog belonging to his owner's brother Augustine, and Joel
Leftwich, as justice of the peace, issued a warrant for his
arrest.
(Acc. 38-32)
Memoirs of the Civil War experiences of this former officer of the 2d
Brigade of the Indiana Volunteer Militia. He made scattered
references to black troops and on pages 489-90 described Cherokee
Mainly business papers of this Essex County family. The many slave
entries include a May 18, 1810, letter from Erasmus Jones to Vernon
Lewis describing the sale and swap of a slave, Esther, who wanted to
remain with her husband and an inventory of the slaves of the estate
of Dr. John Lewis.
(Acc. 1525)
Personal, business, and legal correspondence of these Albemarle
County residents. Included are an April 6, 1778, letter from an
elderly slave to Lucy Marks and numerous documents and letters
concerning slavery, as well as a series of letters in 1827-28 from
Sidney Reese, a member of Congress, to Reuben Lewis describing the
payment of a debt to Reese in the form of slaves.
(Acc. 9041)
Business papers of this Albemarle County resident. There appears to
be only one reference to slavery, a document in which the births of
slaves are recorded.
(Acc. 9946)
Letterbooks and scrapbooks of Judson A. Lewis, U.S. consul to Sierra
Leone in West Africa, and a diary kept by his wife which mentions
Stanley (William Stanley?). The letterbooks and the diary are filled
with commentary about Africans.
(Acc. 7665)
Account books of this Port Royal, Caroline County, resident. Three
are ledgers, two are daybooks, and one is a slave book for 1850-72,
which details names of slaves, clothes allotments, life dates,
etc.
(Acc. 5
In an August 27, 1868, letter to George Tutwiler, Long expressed hope
that European peasants would emigrate to the United States and
eliminate the need for black labor.
(Acc. 1230)
Photograph of black laborers constructing the Longdale Furnace in
Alleghany County in 1889.
(Acc. 9515-a)
Longdale Iron Co. Photographs.
Mainly legal and business papers of these and other families chiefly
from Caroline County. There are infrequent slavery references, such
as an 1849 doctor's account which notes a visit to a sick "Negro
woman"; a January 1, 1819, receipt for hire of a slave; an 1856-57
journal of John Hackett containing many entries on sales of slaves
and expenditures for hiring out slaves; and an 1856 account sheet
noting payment for medical treatment of slaves.
(Acc. 1800)
A list of free blacks.
(Acc. 2376) LYBROOK FAMILY LETTERS 5 items, 1833-43 Letters of Philip
and Sally Lybrook of Giles County, to their brother, Henry C.
Lybrook, Cassopolis, Cass County, Michigan, regarding sales of slaves
and estates, slave children as workers, an 1843 smallpox outbreak,
and family news.
(Acc. 11087)
The ledger of the Proceedings of the Trustees of the Town of
Lynchburg and the ledger of the Proceedings of the Mayor, Aldermen,
and Common Council of the Corporation of Lynchburg. A few entries
concern slavery, such as the amount of revenue in 1837 attributable
to slaves and a series of entries in the Common Council proceedings
in 1827-28 about a slave named Joe who was apparently purchased by
the corporation and eventually sold to a New Orleans merchant.
(Acc. 4033)
Correspondence with prominent scholars, U.S. and British literary
figures, and Civil War veterans. Topics include the Civil War, the
Confederacy, World War I, and black suffrage.
(Acc. 10568)
Included in the papers of this musician are several concert programs.
Among them is one for the performance of the Fisk Jubilee Singers,
Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, May 5, 1925, in Paris, France.
The program included "Steal Away," "Go Down Moses," and "Swing
Low."
(Acc. 2515-b)
Correspondence, business papers, legal documents, etc., of a free
black family from Culpeper and Rappahanock counties. Included are
genealogical data, deeds of land, and correspondence attesting to the
character of the Maddens.
(Acc. 4120)
Sales records from the estate of William Madison containing records
of the value of his slaves.
(Acc. 8607-a)
A letter from Madison to Jedidiah Morse answering a series of
questions (not included) on slavery.
(Acc. 8347)
A small collection of the business papers of Nathan and John Mallory,
small planters, of Orange County. Included are a February 2, 1758,
bill of sale for a black woman; a September 1767 letter offering
payment of debt in slaves; and a June 16, 1774, letter from Colonel
Aylett forbidding the sale of slaves to satisfy estate
settlement.
(Acc. 38-140)
Contains, among other diverse documents, an 1824 list of slaves hired
out to Urial Hillman of Orange County by George Wallis and an 1851
letter from C. S. Morgan to Duff Green about the purchase of a
slave.
(Acc. 8979-s)
Includes an 1827 will, recorded in 1850, of Francis Harriss of
Buckingham County mentioning slaves previously given to heirs.
(Acc. 10644)
Contains two Chesterfield County tax receipts, 1853 and 1857,
including one for a freedman, and a photograph, ca. 1927, of the gas
station and cafe of Mathew Jackson of Disputanta, the first black-
owned Greyhound bus stop.
(Acc. 8979-r)
Letters of seven Union and two Confederate soldiers mentioning
Federal occupation of Winchester, the 1862 Chambersburg raid, the
1863 bombardment of Charleston, camp life including picket duty and
the guarding of black homes, the duty of men to enlist and save the
Union, and the Elmira prison.
(Acc. 10694)
Collection relates chiefly to Richmond blacks and includes a minute
book for the Clocks Social Club detailing the regular and business
meetings of the club and recording dues and attendance. Also included
are a list of sewing instructions, a February 1935 letter to the
Clocks urging them to buy tickets to hear the Eva Jessye Choir at the
Ebenezer Baptist Church, a copy of the Reverend John Jasper's sermon
"De sun do move," and a photograph of Jasper. A February 11, 1839,
letter from Sarah McPhail of Franklin, Tennessee, to her
Collection includes miscellaneous letters, University of Virginia
student notebooks of Archer and Joseph R. J. Anderson, account books
and ledgers from various Virginia businesses, a genealogical record
of the Withrow family of Rockbridge County, and 1875-76 letters from
Mrs. J. H. Fultz to Washington May about money for Leanna, a
freedwoman, and her child.
(Acc. 8850)
Collection includes two sets of depositions taken in Botetourt County
for the Superior Court of Chancery, Lewisburg, Greenbrier County,
concerning the sale by John B. Douglas of a slave, Sucky, to Elisha
Williams.
(Acc. 8977-aa)
Included is a letter from John Francis Heath, Petersburg, December
19, 1856, discussing a slave, William.
(Acc. 10590)
Diary written on a walking trip from Philadelphia, to his home in
Society Hill, South Carolina. Marshall made a few observations on
blacks, such as an entry on November 1, 1824, in which he compared
the differences between blacks on either side of the Blue Ridge; he
believed those blacks on the eastern side were more deferential. On
November 7, 1824, he wrote of slaves near the Dan River who he
believed "do as they please."
(Acc. 9655-a)
Farm journals of 1856-57 kept by Captain Marshall at the Hermitage in
Prince Edward County, with frequent references to slaves and slave
problems. The March 16 entry notes that his slaves disciplined a
hired slave from another plantation by whipping him.
(Acc. 2425)
Mainly business papers and ledgers of this Caroline County resident.
Included in a ledger is a page entitled "Ages of Negro Children."
(Acc. 4224)
Business ledgers of this family of Richmond and Falls Plantation in
Chesterfield County. Two of the ledgers have occasional entries on
sales and hiring of slaves.
(Acc. 1213)
A small collection of business and legal papers of this Sussex County
family. Documents pertaining to slavery, i.e., sales, tax lists,
etc., are included.
(Acc. 1228)
List of marriages including blacks performed by this Massachusetts
minister.
(McGregor Library Acc. 4860)
A letter of William Mathews, Charlottesville, to "Grand Pa" in which
he wrote of a slave, Maria, who was in jail where she had been beaten
repeatedly and had a chain around her neck.
(Acc. 10274)
The papers of this Rockingham County physician contain receipts,
accounts, a slave bill of sale, a bond, and two physician's licenses
issued to Dr. Maupin.
(Acc. 10737)
Correspondence between Maupin in Richmond and his brother in
Charlottesville. There is a good deal of material on domestic slaves.
A May 31, 1847, letter states that flogging a slave might bring him
in line and describes him as a "true Negro" because he was always
doing "poorly"; one of December 21, 1847, offers a personal servant
for sale or for hire; one of June 27, 1849, discusses a black man's
attack of cholera; one of December 23, 1849, discusses selling a
slave, Garland, whom Maupin had trouble handling; and another of
December 28, 1849, raises the possibility of turning Garland over to
an "agent" to "handle"; and a November 30, 1856, letter describes
smallpox in Richmond mainly in the black population.
(Acc. 2769-a)
Private and business correspondence of this Albemarle County family,
mainly of James Maury. The correspondence is predominantly about
business, but the letters of Matthew Maury to his brother James do
A diary containing references to the debates on slavery in the
Virginia General Assembly.
(Acc. 949)
Correspondence, legal and business papers, accounts, and Confederate
army quartermaster records from the personal papers of the Reverend
John McCue of Augusta County, Judge John Howard McCue of Nelson
County, and William T. McCue of Staunton. Among the papers are the
policies and rates of the Lynchburg Hose and Fire Insurance Company,
which include rates for insuring slaves.
(Acc. 4406)
Largely the papers of Colonel James McDowell of Rockbridge County.
These are mainly political in nature, but there are references to
slavery, such as a letter from Preston to James McDowell discussing
the possibility of selling his slaves and undated lists
Business, personal papers, and account books of this Rockingham
County family. A genealogy of this family contains slave births and
death dates.
(Acc. 4543)
Collection consists mainly of letters from this army surgeon while on
duty in the American Southwest, 1878-80. He vividly described
attempts to capture renegade Apaches under the leadership of
Victoria. One of the units pursuing Victoria was the North Cavalry, a
black troop, which McPherson mentioned in letters of May 25 and
October 8, 1879, and March 13, 1880.
(Acc. 6144)
Primarily consists of family correspondence of Richard Everard Meade,
originally of Amelia County. Scattered references to slavery include
a November 12, 1824, letter from Hadijah Meade to R. L. Meade
cautioning him that buying slaves might not be a worthwhile venture
because they were "lazy and vicious."
(Acc. 10126-a,-b)
Correspondence and business letters of these Clarke County families.
An 1852 letter describes a medical exam of a slave, and a legal
deposition deals with a slave woman and child.
(Acc. 3039)
Personal papers of David Scott Meikleham and his wife Septimia
Randolph Meikleham. A letter from P. Turnbull in Havana discusses the
stories about the shipwreck of the slave ship Aquila in Havana.
(Acc. 6065)
Personal and family letters of a granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson.
Included is an 1821 Monticello slave bread list in Jefferson's hand
and a letter from a slave, John Hemmings, to Septimia, August 28,
1825.
(Acc. 4726-a)
Business, personal, and legal papers of this Bedford County lawyer. A
letter of January 17, 1820, from John Mays to Mennis asks about two
runaway slaves; a March 1827 letter from Thomas Preston concerns
Personal diary of this woman who lived at "Pant-Ops" in Albemarle
County. Of special interest are comments about freed slaves
emigrating to Liberia in December 1856, talk of insurrection among
the slaves in the same month, and general disparaging comments about
freed slaves in December 1865.
(Acc. 10685)
Mainly business, legal, and educational papers of John B. Minor, a
University of Virginia law professor, and the Minor family of
Albemarle County. There appears to be very little material relating
to slavery; however, a letter to Minor in 1860 refers to the American
Colonization Society.
(Acc. 38-602)
Letters from former slaves of the Minor family of Albemarle County
written from Liberia. The slaves were freed under the terms of the
will of their owner, Dr. James Hunter Terrell, and were transported
to
Business and personal papers of Launcelot Minor and his family of
Pedlar Mills, Amherst County. An 1838-87 farm ledger has information
on slaves, especially birth dates, and on sharecropping by freedmen
after the war. Bible records note slave births and deaths, and there
is a daguerreotype of a female slave.
(Acc. 6055)
Minor Family Papers.
Personal correspondence of this family of Edgewood in Albemarle
County. A statement by Bishop William Meade attests to the fact that
his wife before her death wished part of her estate to be used for
"The Welfare of The African race" and a November 22, 1884, letter
from C. L. C. Minor at Winchester comments on the trial of two blacks
for killing a white man and the mood of the community for a lynching
if the verdict was not death.
(Acc. 6907)
Unidentified fragment which discusses Mississippi and the regulation
of the slave trade.
(Acc. 3226)
Account books, ledgers, journals, and daybooks from the plantations
of James Mercer Garnett, Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett, and Robert
Mercer Taliaferro Hunter. Interwoven in all of these records are
slave accounts.
(Acc. 38-45)
Personal correspondence of a black family living in Highland
County.
(Acc. 5113)
Included are letters in which Monroe discussed slavery and the buying
and selling of slaves, such as an April 7, 1788, letter on the sale
of a slave; a February 25, 1817, letter to William Noland on the
alleged mistreatment of one of his slaves; an August 12, 1822, letter
to his overseer on the health of a slave; a June 6, 1830, letter to
[Egbert Watson] on the possibility of selling some of his
slaves; and a letter of July 5, 1830, to Watson again discussing the
sale of a slave, Nancy.
Correspondence, financial and legal papers, account books, and
Correspondence and other papers of Colonel Jeremiah Morton, Jackson
Morton, and Joseph J. Halsey of Culpeper County. Included is material
on Colonel Morton's participation in a slave trade centered in
Virginia and Mobile, Alabama. Morton's personal account book for
1836-47 and an 1861 slave account book reflect this interest. There
is also correspondence to Halsey from Northern family and friends
commenting on their reaction to slavery.
(Acc. 3995)
These scrapbooks, compiled by Mosby and his daughter, Mary Virginia
Mosby Campbell, contain newspaper articles relating to Mosby's life
and career as well as miscellaneous poetry, correspondence,
photographs, and memorabilia. Topics include Mosby's Civil War slave,
Aaron Burton.
(Acc. 7872-a)
The minute book of this Batesville church contains lists of names of
black church members.
(Acc. 3673)
Included is a five-page typescript article, "The Negro in Nansemond
County" by W. E. MacClenny.
Typescript master's thesis by Carl I. Olson, University of
Mississippi, 1951.
(Acc. 5820)
Account books, daybooks, journals, and ledgers of Nelson County
businesses owned and/or operated by William Faber, Hudson Martin, T.
W. Martin, Martin Thurmond, etc. A "Negro Book," 1858-62, details
general store and work transactions with area slaves.
(Acc. 5640)
The papers consist chiefly of thirty-five letters, 1856-61, from
Thomas Frederick Nelson to his parents, Robert Carter Burwell Nelson
and Susan Price Nelson, about life at the school run by his
great-aunts at their Clarke County home, Rosney. The collection
contains the 1855 will of John M. Price of Fincastle mentioning
slaves.
(Acc. 10605)
Legal and business papers of Hugh Nelson of Belvoir, Albemarle
County, dealing primarily with the estate of his father-in-law,
Francis Kinloch. Included are various legal documents and papers on
transfers, prices, and the inheritance of slaves.
(Acc. 2841)
Business, legal, and personal correspondence of these families of
Richmond and Yorktown. Included is a July 9, 1809, letter from Thomas
Nelson to Francis Page asking him to be on the lookout for his
runaway slave, Bristol, and a receipt signed by Sarah Chisholm for
money received for midwifery services performed for a slave of
Francis Page, October 20, 1811.
(Acc. 9014)
Primarily the Civil War letters of this James City County resident.
An 1834 marriage indenture conveys the dower right to eight
slaves.
(Acc. 1291)
Business and personal papers of this governor of Virginia
concentrating in the years of the War of 1812. There is a slave Tax
Book of 1815, and the abundant personal letters no doubt contain
material on blacks.
(Acc. 2343)
Mostly personal correspondence of the Randolph family of Edgehill and
of Nicholas. The documents concerning slavery include a June
1802-June 1803 list of the sale of slaves; a December 21, 1808,
letter of Peggy Nicholas to Wilson Cary Nicholas about a massacre
plotted by slaves; and several undated items: a note by Nicholas
about slaves and land, a note on the sale of Edmund Randolph's
slaves, and a petition for educating slaves before freeing them.
(Acc. 5533)
Personal, political, and military correspondence of this North
Carolina citizen. The correspondence between Branch and his wife
contains some comment on family slaves. A March 8, 1862, letter from
J. Robert Jeffreys in Pacific, North Carolina, answering a request
from Branch, replies that Jeffreys "drafted" fifty-six free blacks
and sent them to the chief engineer at New Bern, North Carolina.
(Acc. 10057)
The volume contains names, prices, purchasers, and profits of slaves
sold by this firm.
(Acc. 4122)
Entries in September and March 1772 record paying "blacks" for
burying a sailor and for bringing back a "runaway" sailor.
(Acc. 9183)
Legal, business, and personal papers of this family of Prospect Hill,
Louisa County. The early plantation records contain slavery material,
such as a July 1835 sale of a slave, Katy, to Mr. Overton and an 1837
deed of sale of a slave to William Overton.
(Acc. 8929)
Printing block belonging to this American novelist and diplomat. The
block contains a photoengraving of an old black man and a relief
metal engraving of the manuscript of the first page of Page's story
Marse Chan.
(Acc. 9109)
This collection consists of the papers of these families of Castle
Hill and Keswick in Albemarle County. Among the items are bills of
sale for slaves in 1785 and 1786, an 1803 rental of a slave wagon
driver, and a 1868 letter from a former slave.
(Acc. 3098)
Business and legal papers of this Cumberland County businessman.
Included are registration lists for black voters of Madison Township
in Farmville.
(Acc. 38-55)
Interspersed throughout this collection of a Cumberland County farmer
are documents and letters relating to slavery, such as an 1830 deed
of sale for a slave. In the 1830s there are a few notes promising
Letters, indentures, accounts, receipts, promissory notes, and tax
receipts of this Pittsylvania County plantation owner. Many concern
tobacco, grist mill accounts, railroad shipments, and the hiring of
laborers. Of interest are 1858 and 1862 accounts for medical
treatment of slaves, receipts for slaves impressed to work on
Confederate fortifications, an 1867 list of wages paid to
sharecroppers, and a Freedman's Bureau apprenticeship indenture.
(Acc. 10721)
A manuscript by this noted American antislavery clergyman entitled
"Aspect of the Slave Power in America in the Beginning of 1854." Also
included is a draft of a letter to the pope appealing for support
against slave owners.
(Barrett Library Acc. 8119)
Papers of this Richmond, Kentucky, attorney. Included is
correspondence with several socialist and religious organizations,
Business, educational, and religious records of this black teacher in
Buckingham County, consisting mainly of school papers of a one-room
black school in Buckingham and records of black churches in
Buckingham County.
(Acc. 10154)
Personal correspondence of Bettie V. Jones Payne and William J. Payne
of Fluvanna County. A November 23, 1853, letter from James M. Payne
in Arkansas to his brother William mentions that he had recently
purchased a woman as a slave but she had run away the next day.
(Acc. 10530)
Letters to William Pendleton of Louisa County. A May 5, 1849, letter
from W. Barret of Richmond discusses the health of slaves.
(Acc. 9096)
Consists primarily of the legal, financial, and medical records of W.
H. Perry of Lunenberg County. There is a large number of medical
receipts dated 1834, many containing entries on treatment of
slaves.
(Acc. 9960)
Business and personal papers of these related northern Virginia
families. There are infrequent references to slavery, such as a
December 29, 1856, letter from Lexington mentioning a good deal of
"excitement about some fears lest there should be a Negro riot." A
July 17, 1864, letter from a Confederate soldier requests that his
uncle trade a slave for a good horse for him.
(Acc. 6806-b)
Very small personal account book of an unknown man. Included are two
memoranda discussing the disposition of slaves among family
members.
(Acc. 1613)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this family of Georgetown,
Account books from various Petersburg businesses and merchants. The
1836-39 daybooks and ledgers of the Blandford Mill Company include
records of wages paid to hired hands and entries such as "Negro
Expenses."
(Acc. 2135)
This small collection of a Rapidan citizen includes a diary with
occasional mention of runaway slaves during the Civil War and
incidents of Federal troops taking slaves on raids.
(Acc. 4944)
Photograph of post office building at Surry Court House, showing a
group of men including two Union cavalrymen and an unidentified black
man; identified persons are Dr. Corbell and his partner, Peyton A.
Cocke.
(Acc. 11077)
A 1797 document (original held by donor) authorizes the sale of some
of the slaves of George Pickett.
(Acc. 8845)
Apparently adopted at a public meeting, this resolution calls for
Virginia to retaliate by any means against states who refuse to
cooperate with the Fugitive Slave Law.
(Acc. 6458)
A letter from this Virginia governor to Littleton W. Tazewell giving
his feelings on the slavery question. Pleasants contended that the
problem would be comparatively small, "if the unfortunate beings were
white."
(Acc. 10063)
The business and personal papers of the Pittsylvania County
plantation families Smith and Clement. These records are filled with
references to slavery, including items such as account books and
slave records of the Smith family and slave account books and a
medical record book of the Clement family. (McGregor Library Acc.
2027)
Legal document signed by David Bullock of Hanover Court House
Personal correspondence, pamphlets, and miscellaneous material of
John Powell, noted composer from Richmond. One box of material covers
Powell's association with the Anglo-Saxon Clubs, an organization
dedicated to belief in the racial superiority of the white race over
the black race.
(Acc. 7284)
Personal and business correspondence of these Albemarle County
families. Included are January 26, 1854, and July 8, 1859, letters
about the religious instruction of slaves.
(Acc. 4951)
Used in antisyphilis program for blacks.
(Acc. 851)
Personal and business papers of Major General Quitman. An 1855 letter
refers to efforts to keep slaves safe in Texas.
(Acc. 38-343)
A scrapbook mainly of clippings from the Chicago Tribune kept by
Monroe F. Cockrell.
(Acc. 5276-a)
Letters of this Boydton family. One letter concerns the sale of a
slave in 1836, and another refers to the whipping of a slave.
(Acc. 2734)
Letters of Burton Randall, an army surgeon from Annapolis, Maryland,
who was stationed in the West and Southwest. They contain references
to slaves and slavery, such as an 1827 letter from Randall to
Alexander Randall asking him to procure slaves from markets on the
Eastern Shore.
(Acc. 9564)
Personal correspondence and business papers of the Randolph, Page,
and Taylor families of Albemarle County (descendants of Thomas
Jefferson), including many of the papers of Thomas Jefferson
Randolph. There are many references to slaves and their treatment,
e.g., a January 11, 1827, letter from P. H. Leuba to [Thomas
Jefferson
Included in this small Randolph collection is a manuscript written by
John F. Watson in 1818 entitled a "Scheme for Colonizing the Island
of St. Domingo with American Blacks" and a death notice of an
Edgehill slave dated October 30, 1822.
(Acc. 5385-f)
Written to Walter Coles discussing his refusal to sell one of his
slaves.
(Acc. 5076)
A copy of the last will of Richard Randolph of Bizarre in Cumberland
County wherein he explained why he was emancipating his slaves and
declared his opposition to slavery.
(Acc. 3882)
One volume contains notes by Joseph Walker on Dr. Smith's proslavery
lectures.
(Acc. 5042-a)
Diary and commonplace book kept in Louisiana. There are very few
references to blacks except for a couple of pages about the
disruption of the slaves when the Federal troops arrived.
(Acc. 2607)
A typescript copy of Jane Maury Maverick's remembrances of Piedmont,
the Albemarle County home of the Maurys. She wrote of moving to the
University of Virginia after the Civil War because of fear of "roving
negroes."
(Acc. 2129)
Civil War letters of a Union soldier from Illinois. Included are
comments on blacks, such as a May 8, 1864, letter telling of burning
and sacking plantations in Louisiana and how many slaves followed the
Union troops. A November 5, 1865, letter expresses Redman's violent
opposition to suffrage for blacks.
(Acc. 7415;-a)
Includes descriptions of 144 free blacks including age, physical
appearance, occupation, and manner in which freedom was obtained.
(Acc. 41-a)
A miscellaneous collection of documents pertaining to the history of
southside Virginia. Included are two volumes (1790-1814, 1814-1832)
of the Church minutes of the County Line Baptist Church in
Pittsylvania County which include information on black members. These
minute books are available only on microfilm (M-618). Also included
are miscellaneous documents, such as bills of sale, authorization to
form a company of "Patrollers" (1806), rental agreements, wills,
runway notices, etc., pertaining to the history of slavery.
(Acc. 550)
Correspondence of the Charlottesville Republican party. Included are
a list of the "colored" vote in 1900 and a 1911 form letter urging
the recipient to help in the voter registration drive, signed by R.
M. Flanagan.
(Acc. 9077)
Miscellaneous papers of this Louisa County resident. Included are a
1792 document emancipating some slaves and an 1839 warrant for the
arrest of David Richardson and his slave Warner for allowing a slave
to be at large contrary to law.
(Acc. 5616)
Contains entries on runaway slaves, etc. All entries differentiate
subjects by race.
(Acc. 1481)
Mainly legal papers of this Nansemond County family. Included is a
copy of an 1820 document exempting the Riddick estate from taxation
on two slaves.
(Acc. 2227)
Papers of this Albemarle County and Boston, Massachusetts, lawyer.
Chiefly letters from J. D. Osbourne, Paris; John C. Rutherfoord, Rock
Castle; and Charles Morris, Hanover. Topics include the Civil War,
Reconstruction, sharecropping, and the education of freedmen.
(Acc. 10596-a)
Personal and business papers of this family of Albemarle County,
chiefly of Robert Rives, Jr., of Oakland near Warren. A February 23,
1850, letter from P. Rives to her brother Robert discusses the sale
of slaves. Also, a January 18, 1850, letter from R. Pollard to Robert
Rives mentions that male slaves were selling in Georgia and Florida
at $1,000 to $1,200.
(Acc. 4289)
Included in this small collection is a May 29, 1838, letter from R.
Pollard to Robert Rives of Nelson County complaining that the slaves
on Pollard's plantation were mistreating his children in his absence
and asking Rives to look into it.
(Acc. 6094)
Chiefly correspondence among members of the Rives family of Castle
Hill, Cobham. Judith Page Walker Rives's letters discuss news of her
family and friends and, during 1865-67, express her opinions
concerning the effects of the Civil War on blacks. On November 6,
1865, she mentioned a "free negro settlement" in Cobham to whom Dr.
Eastham had offered work. On January 15, 1866, she wrote of the
conditions and work relationships with blacks after the war. And, in
her letters of March 9 and 19 and June 15, 1867, she expressed her
displeasure that blacks had received the right to vote while her
husband and son, Alfred Landon, had been disfranchised.
(Acc. 10596-c)
Correspondence, business and legal papers, genealogical papers,
diary, photographs, clippings, and memorabilia of the Rives family,
especially
A small collection of the personal and business correspondence of
this editor of a black newspaper, the Alexandria Leader.
(Acc. 1499)
A list of Robinson's slaves sold by his estate in [Orange
County].
(Acc. 6008)
In a June 9, 1972, letter Murrell Edmunds discussed his novel
Behold, Thy Brother, about the coming of blacks to the major
leagues, and commented on Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth,
which Edmunds was sending to Rogers.
(Acc. 6803-p)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this family of Pittsylvania
Business and legal papers of this family of Loudoun County and
Baltimore, Maryland, mainly those of Armistead Thomson Mason Rust and
George T. Rust. A series of 1848-57 documents detail a number of
slave purchases by George Rust and the hiring of slaves by A. T. M.
Rust.
(Acc. 9706)
Business, legal, and personal papers of Landon Carter of Sabine Hall,
Richmond County. Two of the personal letters mention slaves: a
January 1, 1764, letter from Landon Carter, Jr., to Landon Carter
mentioning a runaway slave and a 1770 letter from Charles Carter to
Landon Carter complaining of runaways. A published guide is
available: Walter Ray Wineman, The Landon Carter Papers in the
University of Virginia Library (Charlottesville: University of
Virginia Press, 1962).
(Acc. 1959)
Business correspondence and writings of one of the founders of the
Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills of Danville. In one of his
manuscript histories of Dan River Mills, Schoolfield wrote of the
riot of 1883 in Danville and the importing of North Carolina labor to
"break negro rule."
(Acc. 10325)
Manuscript by African-American writer and journalist George Samuel
Schuyler (1895-1977), on Dr. Robert Weaver (b. 1907) and the creation
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Weaver was the
first black to serve in the cabinet of a US president. Also present
is a small memorandum book, 1932, containing Schuyler's notes on
cannibalism and lycanthropy, "When Man Eats Man," and a blank
memorandum book "Plots / Articles, Sketches," 1934.
(Barrett Library Acc. 11071)
Ledger of The Secret Twelve Club, an all male African-American social
club in Charlottesville. Most entries were made between January 10,
1950, and February 22, 1955, and consist of minutes, membership
lists, dues and assessments, "Rules and Regulations," initiation
rituals, and donations of funds to various individuals and
organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP).
(Acc. 11089)
Business and personal papers of William Seward of Isle of Wight
County. The Seward farm journal, 1857-88, includes vital statistics
for slaves.
(Acc. 38-60)
Memorial to the city of Lynchburg protesting the suppression of the
African Baptist Church following the Nat Turner revolt.
(Acc. 1122)
Business and personal papers of this Fluvanna County family. Some
interesting letters of 1870-71 concern the hiring out of black people
in Fluvanna County to work in the sugar refineries in Louisiana.
(Acc. 4241)
Collections from the Sheperdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia), and
northern Shenandoah Valley area including sermons, ledgers,
correspondence, receipts, and diaries of James Markell, merchant and
slave trader, and John Hargrave, Presbyterian circuit rider, and
various medical records of Dr. John Briscoe and Dr. John Quigley.
(Acc. 11104)
Diaries of this Union Army officer, 88th Illinois Cavalry, which give
brief accounts of his participation in the Chattanooga, Atlanta,
Shenandoah Valley, and Appomattox campaigns. He discussed camp life,
prison conditions, rumors of the death of General Grant, and
Confederate desertions and gave an account of several days spent in
Charlottesville during which it was rumored that blacks were
plundering the town with the encouragement of the townspeople.
(Acc. 10735)
Photographs of Westcairns, Albemarle County. Westcairns on Ivy Road
was for many years the McElroy residence; it is now the site of the
Children's Rehabilitation Center. Photographs show both its
construction and interior and exterior views of the completed house.
An inscription on one indicates the house was "built by H B Boone and
Kenneth Brown with negro 'hands' ranging from $2 a day to 25 cents.
Average $1 or less. R E Shaw architect."
(Acc. 9732-g)
A diary kept by this Culpeper County farmer contains many entries
Accounts of expenditures for slaves, 1817-27, perhaps contemporary
copies from an old ledger. The origin of the ledger is unknown.
(Acc. 38-692)
Bill of sale by Joseph Dinwiddie for the sale of a female slave,
Sarah, to William Dinwiddie for $700.
(Acc. 3194-h)
Bill of sale for a slave named Moses sold by William Morton of Louisa
County to George Adams of Louisa County.
(Acc. 6159)
These items are copies of material in Hampton University. They
consist mainly of individual unrelated documents such as bills of
sale, inventories, and manumission papers.
(Acc. 6428)
Three miscellaneous documents, two of them slave bills of sale: one
from Wickes County, Georgia, 1820, and the other an 1827 document
conveying a number of slaves bought by Lewis Berkeley.
(Acc. 9661)
Engineering Department slave pass from Richmond.
(Acc. 38-436-b)
Receipt for the sale of a slave woman and child
(Acc 4400)
A document authorizing the sale of the slave Reuben by Jeremiah
Morton of Orange County to William W. Hume.
(Acc. 3383)
An eight-page typescript by James J. Thomas.
(Acc. 8103)
Correspondence, business, and legal papers of Nathaniel A. Smith and
Mrs. Lavinia C. Smith of Louisa County and William O. Smith of
Somerset, Orange County. Of special interest are slave evaluations
made in 1840 by John C. Collins.
(Acc. 4186)
Correspondence, diaries, literary manuscripts, essays, and newspaper
columns of this nineteenth-century literary figure who was born in
Maine and lived in South Carolina and New York. A diary she kept
during the Civil War contains a lengthy description of the New York
draft riot in 1863.
(Acc. 38-707)
Five letters and one engraving of this noted American abolitionist
and philanthropist. A September 22, 1841, letter to Pauline Wright
was written on a pamphlet entitled Some of the Duties of an
Abolitionist.
(Barrett Library Acc. 7210)
Files and working papers of this Virginia congressman who
Chiefly letters written by Mrs. Smith of Charlottesville to her
sister. Her letters include comments on slavery.
(Acc. 1624)
Account book kept by an Amelia County merchant. Included are many
entries on two hired-out slaves, Henry and Phoenix.
(Acc. 5800)
This Richmond and Henrico County society offered rewards for
information leading to, or the actual return of, runaway slaves.
(Acc. 9272)
Papers of the Southern Elections Fund including professional and
personal correspondence of Julian Bond, the fund's chairman. Included
are correspondence, mailing lists, newsletters, printed material,
photographs, slides, videotapes, and miscellany produced by the
various officers and trustees of the organization. The fund was
established to funnel campaign funds and technical assistance to
progressive southern political candidates. Support from the fund was
instrumental in the election of many southern Afro-American
candidates. Among the correspondents are Robert Struass, Lawrence F.
O'Brien, Anne Wexler, Hubert Humphrey, William Brown, John Lewis,
John Conyers, Andrew Young, Ralph David Abernathy, and Walter
Mondale.
(Acc. 10907)
Included are quite a few scattered references to slavery, such as
doctor's bills for treating slaves, acknowledgment of pay for keeping
a family of slaves for a year, bill of hire for a slave child, and an
agreement for transporting and sale of slaves. A letter from the
sheriff of Marion reports the capture of a runaway slave who had been
traveling with a white woman; the slave had been dressed as a woman
and his accomplice as a man.
(Acc. 550)
The personal letters and diary of Henry S. Spaulding, captain in the
38th Company, New Jersey Volunteers. A March 25, 1865, letter from
Spaulding to Lieutenant E. G. Smith describes a disturbance in camp
caused by the "Colored Cavalry."
(Acc. 38-156)
This Virginia colonial governor prepared a manuscript entitled
"Proposals for Leasing My Ironworks at Tuball" in which he included a
good description of how slaves were to be leased.
(McGregor Library Acc. 425)
Papers and miscellaneous related items pertaining to the civic,
social, and professional activities of a Charlottesville,
African-American family: Mary C. Stanley (1901-91) and her brother,
George Albert Clarke (1910-92), a World War II veteran. Items include
Mary's beautician diploma and various materials regarding her
membership in Blue Ridge Temple 67 (Daughters of the Improved,
Benevolent, Protective Order of Elks of the World); military ribbons
and insignia and a letter to George from a fellow soldier while
stationed in France, May 1945; and a photographic china plate:
"Future Home For The Need -- Richmond, Virginia / Purchased by
Virginia State Baptist Deacon's Convention and Women's Auxiliary,
Inc."
(Acc. 10396-B)
Business, legal, and personal correspondence of a Richmond family,
much of it involving the tobacco business. The frequent references to
the buying and selling of slaves include a January 4, 1836, letter
from Bryce Stewart to Daniel Stewart commenting on the price of
slaves and noting that it was cheaper to buy slaves than hire
them.
(Acc. 7786-t)
Brief diary of William Stokes, lieutenant colonel in the 4th South
Carolina Cavalry, CSA. There are two entries on blacks: a September
14, 1863, description of a skirmish with a black outfit, the 1st
South Carolina Negro Regiment, at Green Pond, South Carolina; and an
engagement on June 28-29, 1864, near Stormy Creek in central Virginia
where some 500 or 600 blacks were recaptured from Federal troops.
(Acc. 7896)
Letters and manuscripts of the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Many of the letters discuss Stowe's and others' attitudes on slavery
and mention individual slaves and episodes of slavery.
(Barrett Library Acc. 6318)
Printed genealogy of Strother family by carol L. Merrill. Of special
interest because it pertains to an African-American family with
origins in Charlottesville.
(Acc. 10953)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this family of Stafford and
King George counties. The few slave references include a 1798 slave
contract; a series of papers, 1835-52, including slave bills of sale;
a group of papers from the trust estate of George Turberville of
Fairfax County including lists of slaves and expenses for their
clothes and their hires per year; and an 1862 deed of
manumission.
(Acc. 6406)
Personal correspondence of this prominent lawyer and politician of
Staunton. Included are such items as a slave sale in 1814, a will
providing for transference of slaves, and a mounted clipping on the
Virginia Secession Convention. There is a copy of the Report of the
Joint Committee of the General Assembly on the Harpers Ferry
Outrages, most of its twenty-four pages constituting a defense of
slavery and an attack on the treatment of blacks in the North.
(Acc. 345)
A large collection consisting almost solely of the legal, financial,
and personal correspondence of Archibald Stuart and Briscoe Baldwin,
lawyers from Staunton, and their related family letters. There are
very
Business and legal papers of William Sydnor of Christ Church Parish,
Lancaster County, and the Carter family of Frederick County. Included
are legal papers mainly involving the purchase and sale of slaves by
William A. Carter.
(Acc. 6405)
A small collection of papers of this Confederate general from
Gloucester County. Included is an 1862 slave list.
(Acc. 4536)
Business ledgers of Henry A., Benjamin Ogle, and Edward Thornton
Tayloe of King George County. A farm journal for 1850-69 contains
annual slave inventories, a reference to runaways, etc. The 1708-10
Lloyd brothers' store journal includes an "Account of sales of a
Cargo of Slaves Imported in the Leopard . . . from Guinea
Virginia July 4, 1710."
(Acc. 38-62)
Tayloe Family Papers.
A group of business and family letters. Much of the correspondence is
between Henry A. Tayloe in Alabama and his brother Benjamin Ogle
Tayloe in Virginia and centers around the business of getting
Virginia slaves to Alabama. There are many accounts of sales and
prices. Other references to slaves and black farmhands after the war
fill these letters.
(Acc. 38-630, 5854)
Personal, legal, and business correspondence of this family of
Westmoreland County. References to slavery include a December 31,
1863, letter from Henry Taylor refusing to hire out his slave to
Thomas Watson because the slave was previously returned from Watson
without the usual clothes provided and a June 5, 1865 letter of
William Robertson in Charlottesville to Henry Taylor discussing and
outlining the results of a meeting of "Masters" about how they would
handle emancipation.
(Acc. 4653)
Personal and military papers of John Cowdery Taylor and Dr. Harry
Taylor, Sr., of Norfolk. Included is a diary of the siege of
Vicksburg in
This letter concerns a shipment of clothes for slaves.
(Acc. 4561)
A bound manuscript, account book of H. N. Templeman and W. H.
Goodwin. Contains entries on their business of trading slaves listing
date, name of slave, age, price paid, date of sale, name of buyer,
and price received.
(Acc. 11036)
Consists mainly of the private correspondence of Dr. George N. Thrift
of Madison County. One letter of December 15, 1846, from Thrift to an
unknown correspondent concerns a runaway slave named Adam.
(Acc. 9153)
Included is an 1842-93 plantation account book with a few slave
entries and a slave bill of sale of November 29, 1820.
(Acc. 1490)
Family Bible records containing a few slave entries.
(Acc. 9769)
Correspondence of this Albemarle County family, mainly of John Toole.
Included is a May 8, 1901, letter from a former slave to "old
Mistress" (Jane Toole).
(Acc. 4876-e)
Consists of personal and business papers of the Trimble, Wilson, and
Love families of Augusta County. There are scattered slavery
documents such as deeds of sale in the Wilson papers dated January 13
and August 11, 1810, August 1, 1861, and January 1, 1863.
(Acc. 7792)
Mainly personal and legal papers of Nicholas Philip Trist and the
related families of Albemarle County. There is very little mention of
slavery in the personal correspondence except for a few scattered
letters such as one of November 22, 1818, from Thomas Mann Randolph
to Nicholas Trist mentioning an incident at a neighboring Albemarle
plantation owned by the Higginbothams involving the hanging suicide
of a male slave who apparently took his own life because of
punishment inflicted by a new overseer.
(Acc. 10487)
Business ledgers of this family of Brunswick County. One of the
volumes contains overseers' records for the period 1821-26.
(Acc. 3483)
Business, legal, and personal correspondence of these three Virginia
families, much of it involving the University of Virginia. Scattered
references to slavery include a March 14, 1861, letter from Gessner
Harrison to Eliza Tucker Harrison threatening to whip a "malingering"
slave and an August 27, 1862, letter on the cost of winter clothing
for slaves.
(Acc. 3847)
Letters between Tucker and his relatives while he was serving as
consul in Liverpool, England, in 1851-61. The letters from Virginia
were mainly from relatives at Tucker's home in Jefferson County. Many
of them contain news of the slaves: on January 30, 1853, the slave
Mammy requested that she be taken to her grave in a hearse, and a
March 28, 1856, letter mentions typhoid among slaves.
(Acc. 10321)
Papers of Tutwiler and family of Virginia and Greene Springs,
Alabama. Included are the alleged recollections of Le Grand Tutwiler,
former slave of Tutwiler.
(Acc. 10156-a)
Business, legal, and personal papers of this Albemarle County family.
Slavery material includes a February 15, 1838, letter from George
Twyman to his brother and mother in which he mentioned hearing that
they had lost a female slave and her baby; he was "very sorry to hear
of your losses in your black's." Two daybooks have frequent entries
on the hiring of slaves.
(Acc. 7808)
Included in these letters is an 1857 letter by Tyler in which he
commented on the African slave trade.
(Acc. 3402)
Many of the early records contain information on slavery at the
university, e.g., the faculty minutes, proctor's papers, and the
board of visitors minutes. The president's papers are a good source
for material
This project was established in the 1950s by the Virginia Historical
Society, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, University of Virginia
Library, and the Virginia State Library to reconstitute the archive
of Virginia's colonial history through a systematic survey of records
in public and private collections in England and to a much lesser
extent in Scotland, France, and Spain and by ordering microfilm of
many of the original documents. There is much on slavery and the
slave trade. The two-volume work by Charles M. Andrews, A Guide to
the Materials for American History, to 1783, in the Public Record
Office of Great Britain, is a good guide to the British records
and thus to the project. The 14,000 Survey Reports are available at
all four participating institutions, and the microfilm may be
borrowed from the University of Virginia. Preparation of a
personal-name index to the Survey Reports is under way for eventual
publication.
Personal papers of J. L. B. Buck as president of the Virginia
Committee for Public Schools. Organized to keep Virginia public
Included is an 1831 estate account of Lawrence Washington containing
a list of slaves hired out.
(Acc. 5736)
Letters and legal and business documents by and about Virginians.
Included are a number of slave documents, such as purchase and hiring
agreements.
(Acc. 7083)
Mostly family letters of the Walker family of Rockbridge County. In
the business and legal papers are a few scattered slave items, such
as an 1825 letter referring to the sale of slaves to provide cash, an
1837 letter listing high slave prices in Missouri, and an 1837 letter
discussing the need for slaves for rent in Missouri, at double the
Virginia rates.
(Acc. 1532)
Mostly letters sent to this resident of Winchester. One letter dated
May 1, 1864, discusses the deployment of black Union soldiers in that
city. Several other letters contain general references to blacks.
(Acc. 10482)
Family correspondence and legal documents of this family of Albemarle
County and the related Rogers family of Albemarle and Carter and
Woodson families of Goochland County. An 1837-43 account book of
Michael Wallace contains entries on the sale and hiring of
slaves.
(Acc. 2689)
Primarily the papers of Dr. Michael Wallace and his six sons of King
George County. Of special interest are the letters of his son Michael
concerning a suit involving counterclaims on a female slave.
(Acc. 38-150)
Business correspondence and documents and personal correspondence
Receipts, account books, deeds, and some correspondence of this
Caroline County family. An 1830-47 notebook of accounts of John
Washington with George Buckner contains notations on the hiring of
slaves and the repairing of slaves' shoes. Laid in a farm account
book of John Washington is a page detailing the birth dates of slaves
for 1794-1838.
(Acc. 3683)
Consists mainly of the personal and political correspondence of these
1 important Virginia families. In the Madison collection is an 1844
deed for slaves and a January 22, 1853, letter from John Tyler to
Thomas Ritchie concerning the emancipation of slaves etc. In the
Lewis
Letters and one autograph of this black leader and educator.
(Barrett Library Acc. 8337)
Correspondence, business and personal, ledger books, bank books, farm
account books, and sundry memorandum books of this Louisa County
family. This collection is rich in slave material and may prove
useful for quantitative approaches to slavery. Many of the journals
and the private correspondence refer to slavery and particular
slaves. Examples are a May 3, 1768, letter outlining medical
treatment for a young male slave; an 1824-50 farm diary describing
the division of slaves among the family members and the work
performed; an 1858 account book in which pages 32-60 are devoted to a
description of the work done by each slave; and an 1866 account book
labeled "Freedman Accounts."
(Acc. 530)
Watson Family Papers.
Business papers of William Weaver concerning his mines, furnaces, and
forges in Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Botetourt counties. The journal
volume for 1830-41 is devoted to accounts for black workers. The
volume for 1859-66 has a record of blacks vaccinated. A five- volume
"Negro Book" for 1839-59 has such items as a "list of boys who came
in sick." These volumes present a detailed picture of the use of
slave labor in the manufacture of pig and forged iron. The accounts
reveal a system of overtime work and compensation for the slave
employees. There is brief mention of slave hire in the bound journals
and daybooks, and the letterbooks and incoming loose correspondence
provide additional detail. Among the loose papers is an 1863
inventory of William Weaver's estate which identifies the slaves
owned by him. See also a bound ledger, 1865-72, with contracts and
accounts of blacks who stayed on in various jobs after the Civil
War.
(Acc. 38-98)
Correspondence, notebooks, journals, and manuscripts of these and
allied families of the Tidewater area of Virginia. Material on blacks
is generally sparse, but there are intermittent slave sales and
wills, such as a valuation and division of slaves belonging to the
estate of
Letter requesting the exemption of plantation overseers from military
service.
(Acc. 1663-a)
Correspondence, legal papers, genealogical material, photographs,
memorabilia, an account book, Masonic bylaws, and an obituary,
chiefly pertaining to Dr. Charles P. Wertenbaker, graduate of the
University of Virginia Medical School. An August 1, 1891, letter from
George Wertenbaker to his brother tells of the drowning of a black
boy in the old university reservoir (August 1, 1891).
(Acc. 10619-a)
Business and personal correspondence of this Charlottesville native
while he was in the U.S. Public Health Service. Included is
correspondence concerning tuberculosis among southern blacks.
(Acc. 3619)
A narrative by a Virginian, Robert Fisher, of his attempt to
establish an ice market in the West Indies. There are a few
references to blacks, including his description of a black man who
piloted the vessel into Kingston and his general discussion of the
loose morals of Jamaican white men and how they took mulatto women
for concubines.
(McGregor Library Acc. 3863)
An interview with Thomas Jefferson on slavery and other subjects.
(Acc. 2816)
Correspondence and financial and legal papers of the White and
related Robertson families of Abingdon. The collection contains the
business papers, 1807-38, of James White, lessor and operator of the
King saltworks, Saltville, Washington County. There are also papers
about cotton shipments and from the settlement of White's estate,
1838-78, including slave and land inventories and a record of
property divisions.
(Acc. 9372-b)
Personal and business papers of this Nelson County resident. A
temperance petition to the Nelson County court protests the selling
of liquor and attributes unrest and rebellion among slaves to liquor.
There is a March 14, 1837, letter from Milo Morris, apparently a
slave of the Whiteheads who had the authority to buy and sell slaves,
to "My Dear Master" (Floyd Whitehead). A May 15, 1839, letter from
Robert Rives to Whitehead asks that Morris be kept away from Rives's
slaves.
(Acc. 8712, a-d)
Diary kept by Whittle, a Virginian, of an expedition to the Pacific
islands in 1838 which mentions the sighting of a British slave ship.
His comments on the natives of the various island groups reflect his
racial attitudes.
(Acc. 3227)
J. Wilder? to T. H. Canfield?, Bristol, re the lynching of a black
man in the city and his own experience with mob justice. He discusses
in detail his belief that the local government is corrupt.
(Acc. 10961)
The will of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter of King George County emancipating
her three slaves Jack, Winnie, and Payne.
(Acc. 5678)
Primarily the personal Civil War letters of this Confederate soldier,
who infrequently mentioned blacks. A May 8, 1861, letter to his
sister discusses blacks throwing up breastworks.
(Acc. 490)
Personal and business papers of this Wilkes County, Georgia, family.
Included are a number of slavery documents, such as bills of sale; an
August 27, 1830, power of attorney for the purpose of catching and
returning a runaway slave; and a January 1861 list of slaves.
(Acc. 8304-a)
Personal, business, and legal papers of these Rockbridge County
families. An 1840 letter from Jesse Scott to Thomas Wilson complains
that the slaves had not milked the cows clean; a September 11, 1856,
letter from James Whitehead in the Kansas territory states that "we
met the pro-slavery army"; and a May 6, 1861, letter from N.
[Willson] of Troy, N.Y., to E[liza Wilson] of
Rockbridge County, expresses the author's views on slavery and the
danger from bands of blacks during the war.
(Acc. 38-490)
Personal, financial, and legal correspondence of the Minor family of
Charlottesville and the Wilson family of New Jersey. Included are
photographs of Afro-Americans who were servants for the Minor
family.
(Acc. 10489)
Seven letters written by this Fredericksburg resident to Benjamin
James in Charleston, South Carolina. In a January 18, 1793, letter,
Wilson told of selling a slave to alleviate financial distress.
(Acc. 9994)
Two of the letters concern Windsor's 1839 shipment of slaves for
another individual.
(Acc. 2867)
Business and legal documents of a Sussex County family. Included are
a bill of sale for a young male slave and an 1862 estate inventory
listing slaves and their valuation.
(Acc. 8509)
Bible records of these Louisa County families, including slave birth
and death records. There is a copy of an 1851 letter to W. Winston
from a member of the American Colonization Society about the shipping
of manumitted slaves to Liberia.
(Acc. 4762)
Business and personal letters of John Wise of Bath County. Some
references to slavery are included, such as a November 23, 1835,
letter of John Wise to his son Henry, in which he related the
necessity of selling a slave, Jane, and her subsequent attempt to
burn down the place, and a deed of sale for a slave named Fleming in
December 24, 1835.
(Acc. 6741)
A letter concerning the possibility that the ship Frederica was
engaged in the slave trade.
(Acc. 7939)
Personal correspondence of this Albemarle County resident and his
family. Much of the correspondence was during the Civil War years
Copies of the records kept by workers in the WPA Folklore project. Of
special interest are the ex-slave narratives and many interviews
concerning black folklore. Readers should consult the published guide
to the collection, An Annotated Listing of Folklore Collected by
Workers of the Virginia Writers' Project, Works Project
Administration: Held in the Manuscripts Department at Alderman
Library of the University of Virginia (Norwood Pa.: Norwood
Editions, 1979), compiled and edited by Charles L. Perdue, Jr.,
Thomas E. Barden, and Robert K. Phillips.
(Acc. 1547)
Contains 200 business, legal, and personal letters of Ralph Wormeley
of Rosegill, Middlesex County, mainly with merchants and political
A small collection of personal papers of Dr. William Wright of
Amherst County. A letter of December 1845 from Macon County, N.C., to
William Wright informs him that the writer was quite happy with a
slave [Jourdin?] received from him and that Jourdin sent his
regards to all, "both white and black." Also a letter of November 10,
1847, from Sheldon Wright to Dr. William Wright notes that Sheldon
had sold his slave Nancy and her children for $740; he could have
received a higher price if he had separated them, but he chose not
to.
(Acc. 3824)
Legal and financial papers of this Culpeper County family. Included
are an 1855 slave bill of sale, an 1848 will mentioning disposition
of slaves, and an 1824 doctor's bill which includes treatment of
slaves in Culpeper County.
(Acc. 10094)
These volumes contain records of Yancy's three plantations in