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- Charles Sumner's The anti-slavery enterprise, 1855
- Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a United States senator from Massachusetts and a campaigner against slavery. This is a draft, ca. 1855, of a version of the speech delivered in New York on May 9, 1855, and published that year under the title "The anti-slavery enterprise." Internal evidence indicates that it was to be delivered to a Boston audience, probably on May 15, 1855.
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- John Clarkson Manuscripts, August 6, 1791-August 4, 1792
- John Clarkson (1764-1828) was an English abolitionist, agent for the Sierra Leone Company, and lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. The collection consists of Clarkson's manuscripts, written in journal form, of his involvement with the settlement of free African-American loyalists from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, Africa. The loyalists had been evacuated from New York when the British pulled out at the end of the Revolutionary War and initially settled in Nova Scotia. Vol. 1, entitled "Clarkson's Mission to America," covers Aug. 6, 1791-Mar. 18, 1792 as Clarkson arranged for the transportation of the settlers; it provides a detailed account of his activities in Nova Scotia, persons he met there, and the problems fitting out the ships (478 p.). Vol. 2, entitled "Clarksons Mission to Africa," covers Mar. 19, 1792-Aug. 4, 1792. Clarkson's account of the founding and first months of Free Town, Sierra Leone gives numerous details of the difficulties met, relations with the native population, attitudes of the Nova Scotia settlers, and supplies (422 p.).
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- Joseph Goodwin Diary, 1820-1827
- Joseph Goodwin was a plantation manager in Cuba originally from Hudson, N.Y. This diary was presumably kept by Goodwin, although it may have been kept by his brother. After leaving home in Hudson, N.Y., Goodwin worked for Gen. George De Wolf, first in Bristol, Rhode Island for a few months and then on De Wolfs plantations near Matanzas, Cuba as a manager or overseer. The plantations grew mainly coffee although other crops are mentioned. The crops were worked by slaves. The diary entries are mainly routine and record weather, plantation activities, people met, and local news. Mentioned often are George and William De Wolf. While in Cuba, Goodwin stayed first at the home of John Line and later at the plantations Buena Esperanza and Arca de Noe. Some pages of the diary are missing.
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- Journal of a voyage among the West India Islands,1839 Nov. 11-1840 Apr. 20.
- Mahlon Day (1790-1854) was a Quaker, publisher of children's books, printer, and bookseller in New York City. This is a contemporary copy of a diary kept by Day while on a tour of the West Indies (Nov. 1839-Apr. 1840) in the company of Joseph John Gurney, the English Quaker philanthropist, minister, and writer. In most of the places they visited, they did considerable sightseeing, held religious services for all faiths, and were entertained by many residents. They were particularly interested in education, religion, and the condition of the Black population, especially on the free islands as compared to those that still permitted slavery. Day also includes many rhymes composed by Gurney to commemorate particular occasions. Persons whom they visited include: Sir W.M.B.G. Colebrooke and Nathaniel Gilbert of Antigua, and John and Maria Candler of Jamaica.
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- Jupiter Hammon poem on Anne Hutchinson, 1770.
- Untitled poem attributed to Jupiter Hammon, a slave, who belonged to the Lloyd family, proprietors of the Manor of Queens Village in what is now the Village of Lloyd Harbor, N.Y. It was composed as a tribute to Anne Hutchinson, who advocated for civil liberty and religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The poem is part of the Townsend family papers, and was written down by Phebe Townsend, youngest of Robert Townsend's three sisters. The Townsends interacted with the Lloyd family. Inscribed at the foot of page [3]: 'Compos[e]d by Jupiter Hammon, A Negro Belonging to Mr. Joseph Lloyd of Q[u]eens Villiage [sic] on Long Island. August the 10th 1770. Phebe Townsend.'
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- Lysander Spooner papers, 1844-1886
- Correspondence, 1844-1886, including letters received and copies of letters sent by Boston lawyer and abolitionist Lysander Spooner. Many of the letters pertain to Spooner’s activities as an abolitionist and author of works opposing slavery. Included are 100 letters to or from George Bradburn, 106 letters to or from Gerrit Smith, 7 pieces of correspondence with Charles D. Cleveland, 7 with Daniel Drayton, 19 with Richard Goodell, 10 with Charles D. Miller, 9 with John A. Thomson, 11 letters from Daniel McFarland, and 4 letters from Lewis Tappan.
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- Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society records, 1832-1870
- Correspondence and papers, 1832-1870, of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, originally known as the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. Included are petitions to the legislature, resolutions, donations to the Liberator, lists of members and supporters, letters about slavery, editorials, meetings, a list of fugitive slaves aided by the Vigilance Committee, accounts of fugitive slaves, including the narrative of Jonathan Thomas, a fugitive slave from Kentucky; and lists, letters, editorials, and other papers pertaining to the notorious case of Anthony Burns. Persons whose names appear frequently include: Francis Jackson, Wendell Phillips, Ellis Gray Loring, Edmund Quincy, William Lloyd Garrison, and Samuel E. Sewall.
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- New-York African Free School records, 1817-1832
- These records cover the latter portion of the African Free-Schools' existence, ending two years before oversight for the schools was transferred to the Public School Society. They relate to classroom observation, student performance, behavior and promotions, as well as examples of lessons and student work. The records are in four volumes. The first includes regulations, by-laws, and reports, from 1817 to 1832. The regulations are for the format of the school's examination procedures, while the reports give numbers of students promoted for each quarter. These are limited to school No. 1. A substantial portion of the volume is also made up of observations of the visting committee, giving their impressions of the progress being made, along with the behavior and organization of the classroom and students. The second volume is also filled with reports and observations of the visiting committee, but these are limited to school No. 2, and cover 1820 to 1831. Added to the closing pages of the volume are several pages of lessons on adding, subtracting and division of money, with examples. The third volume includes extracts, compositions, addresses and pieces spoken at public examinations for 1818 to 1826, but early pages do include some material on promotions.The fourth volume complements the third with penmanship and drawing studies by the students (1816-1826). Of particular interest are copies of the speech given by James McCune Smith on the occasion of the Marquis de La Fayette's visit to New York in 1824.While there is little, if any, information on individuals in the first two volumes, attributions are often given for the material appearing in volumes three and four.
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- Petition of Citizens of New York to Abraham Lincoln, undated [circa 1862].
- Undated petition, probably circa 1862, to United States President Abraham Lincoln from citizens of New York requesting that the governor of New York be authorized to raise a number of regiments composed wholly or partly of African American troops, including the signatures and addresses of petitioners. In scroll form, appproximately 25 feet long. Printed document signed., Mss Collection - BV Petitions, New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, 212-873-3400.
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- Records of the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans, 1836-1972 (bulk 1850-1936)
- The Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans was founded in 1836 and was originally located on Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets in Manhattan. The Colored Orphan Asylum was among the earliest organizations in the country to provide housing, training, and employment specifically for African-American orphans. During the Draft Riots of July 14, 1863, the Colored Orphan Asylum was attacked by a mob. At that time, it housed some 600 to 800 homeless children in a large four story building surrounded by grounds and gardens. The crowd plundered the Asylum, then set fire to the first floor. The building burned to the ground. The records of the Colored Orphan Asylum document the activities of the institution from 1836 to 1972, with the bulk of the records falling between 1850 and 1936.
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- Slavery Collection, 1709-1864
- The Slavery Collection contains correspondence and legal and financial documents related to the North American slave trade, slave ownership, abolition, and political issues pertinent to slavery. The Slavery Collection is called an "artificial" collection because a third party placed unrelated items together according to subject matter. Researchers who have used this collection in the past, or those following citations in published sources, should be aware that it was rearranged in 1999 in order to facilitate intellectual and physical access. Certain material that formerly was not arranged, or was arranged chronologically, is now arranged by format. For example, depositions are now grouped together, rather than being interfiled with accounts, receipts or deeds of manumission.
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- Town Book for Castletown For the Entry of Black Children, 1799-1827
- Birth records and deeds of manumission for African American children in the town of Castleton, Staten Island, N.Y. between 1799 and 1827., Castleton is a former town in New York State. It was located in the northeastern part of Staten Island, prior to the incorporation of Staten Island into New York City in 1898., New-York Historical Society