1863

Kimball, W.W., fl. 1886

Photograph

Title: Rebecca, An emancipated slave from New Orleans

Typed inscription on verso reads: "Proceeds from photograph sales go to the "Education of Colored people in the Dept. of the Gulf, now under the command of Major General [Nathaniel] Banks." Photo by Kimball, New Orleans. Depicts a very light-skinned former slave, with straight hair curled into fashionable spirals. She wears a child's day dress with dark trim.

GLC06438

1863 May

Black, J.W., 1825-1896

Photograph

Title: Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence

Depicts Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence "redeemed in Virginia by Catherine S. Lawrence; baptized in Brooklyn by Henry Ward Beecher..." Full-length standing portrait. Shows Fanny standing with her hands on hips, wearing a day dress, cape and hat. Her hair is fashionably curled. Published by J.W. Black, Boston.

GLC06445

27 April 1856

Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry A. Davis

Responds to Davis's former request for one of Fillmore's speeches on the subject of slavery. Relates that he never saved his speeches. Referring to slavery, remarks "all who know me must know that I am opposed to it. I enclose an article which supports me here on that subject, and my Biography, where you will see a letter at page 49, used against me at the South to prove I am an abolitionist; and two other letters in 1848, which are all I have on the subject." Marked "Private" at the top.

GLC06454

4 September 1859

Thompson, Dauphin Adolphus, 1838-1859

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his brother and sister

Discusses preparations for the raid on Harper's Ferry. Never mentions a raid, or any specific plans, but states "we have not got ready to begin operations yet." Also does not reveal his location, saying he is writing from "parts unknown." Discusses a religious meeting of the anti-slavery "winebenarians" (Winbrennians). Worries that "we have to be very careful how we act in everything we have one colored man in our company who has been seen by a woman but she thinks he is a fugitive slave and that we are trying to help him onto his freedom," and thinks she will not report them. Also in…

GLC06471

circa 1830-1840

Broadside

Title: Views of slavery

Abolitionist broadside with six images depicting kidnapping, torture, auction, and labor of enslaved people. With Channing quotation, "Our laws know no higher crime than that of reducing a man to slavery. To steal or to buy an African on his own shores is a piracy." Lithograph drawings.

GLC06477

1856 ca.

Map

Title: To the free men of the North [election] [large cloth-backed lithographed map]

Free Labor Party abolitionist map used during the 1856 presidential campaign, printed, with hand-coloring in red, black and green.

GLC06662

1852/07/05

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Pamphlet

Title: Oration delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester

First Edition by Lee, Mann & Co. Douglass' famous fourth of July oration, given on the fifth. Douglass was asked by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society to give the oration on the fourth, choosing the topic "the meaning of the Fourth to the Negro." Douglass' famous peroration: "Are the great principles of political freedom and natural justice [of the Fourth], embodied in the Declaration of Independence, extended to us? .... This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, but I must mourn." McFeely called this "perhaps the greatest anti-slavery oration ever given." Sabin…

GLC06829

1795/02/17

Belknap, Jeremy, 1744-1798

Document signed

Title: Queries Respecting the Introduction, Progress and Abolition of Slavery in Mass.

Small broadside, disbound and signed by Belknap. Virginian St. George Tucker wrote a 1796 Dissertation on Slavery, proposing abolition. As part of his research, he queried colleagues with a list of eleven questions which are printed here. Jeremy Belknap, first Corresponding Secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, is believed to be responsible for this printing for distribution to local colleagues. Evans 28257, MHS 2738.

GLC06764

1906, 1915/02/15

Avey, Elijah, fl. 1906

Book signed

Title: The Capture and Execution of John Brown: A Tale of Martyrdom

With thirty illustrations. Eyewitness account, inscribed. Printed by the Brethren Publishing House for the author and Publisher. Accompanied (.02) by publisher's prospectus, small printed leaf of Brown's last written words, photo of Brown's widow's house in California.

GLC06806

1915 circa

Header Record

Title: [Materials related to "The Capture of John Brown"] [decimalized .01-.03]

Items accompanying Avey's book: the original publisher's prospectus signed by James Collin as publisher's agent, small printed leaflet facsimile of Brown's last written words (included with the book, according to the note written on it), and a photograph of Brown's widow's house in California. The prospectus notes "Avery... was learning the watchmaker's trade in Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia in 1859 in the days of the John Brown troubles. He heard John Brown's trial and those of his associates. He saw him and his six men executed."

GLC06806.02

1865

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Pamphlet

Title: The equality of men before the law, claimed and defended in speeches...

Title continued: "by Hon. William D. Kelley, Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass." Lacks original wrappers, stab-stitched. Douglass' speech was made to the annual Anti-Slavery Convention. Blockson Collection 2779. Schomburg 324.15-K. USE WITH CARE.

GLC06831

1842

Channing, William Ellery, 1780-1842

Pamphlet

Title: The duty of the Free States, or remarks suggested by the case of the Creole

In original wrappers. Channing argues in favor of the slaves who had taken over the Creole, a slave ship. Steering towards the British West Indies, they won freedom under British law, even though the U.S. attempted to reclaim them. Blockson Collection 9370, Dumon p. 36.

GLC06835

1788

Pamphlet

Title: The Constitution of the Pennsylvania Society for ... the Abolition of Slavery

Rest of title: "and the relief of free Negroes, unlawfully held in bondage, begun in the year 1774 and enlarged... To which are added the Acts of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for the gradual abolition of slavery." First edition, printed by Francis Bailey. The Second year's Constitution of the Society. Disbound. Evans 21831.

GLC06836

1858/02/21

Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jesse Stubbs re: helping fugitive slaves escape (the Langford family)

GLC06733.04

1860 ca.

Stubbs, Jesse, fl. 1860

Document

Title: Printed biography mentioning the Langford story

Some details vary.

GLC06733.05

1782/08/06

Madison, James, 1751-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Edmund Pendleton re: waiting foreign dispatches on peace talks; selling slave

Awaiting news of peace talks and personal advice regarding impossibility of selling a slave. Madison notes that while European newspapers "teem with paragraphs relative to pacific negotiations" but past British policy "should always restrain our hopes of peace from circumscribing our preparations for war." In July 1782 the Earl of Sherlburne took over the ministry and in early August he agreed to enter formal negotiations with the Americans. Madison also talks about selling a slave: "Upon recollection, it will be impossible to dispose of the slave in this state[,] there being a legal…

GLC06757

February 2, 1865

Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872

Document signed

Title: [Sealed certification of the Thirteenth Amendment]

Seward, Secretary of State, certifies accompanying true copy of Thirteenth Amendment (GLC03264.02). Contains faded seal and fragmented dark blue ribbon. Partially printed on United States Department of State paper.

GLC03264.01

1860

Drew, Thomas, fl. 1860

Book

Title: The John Brown invasion; an authentic history of the Harper's Ferry tragedy, with full details of the capture, trial, and execution of the invaders, and of all the incidents connected therewith. With a lithographic portrait of Capt. John Brown, from a photograph by Whipple.

An attempt to compile a wide variety of contemporary sources in order to present a balanced view of the events surrounding the raid on Harpers Ferry. However, portrays Brown as a hero and states that the purpose of the book is to "combine in these pages every fact and incident relating to the event, which the friends and admirers of the man would wish to preserve, as mementoes of the simplicity of his character, the nobility of his purposes, the disinterestedness of his motives, the sublime heroism of his deeds, and the remarkable piety by which he was governed and sustained." Compiled by…

GLC03346

1889

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896

Book signed

Title: Uncle Tom's cabin

Inscribed by Stowe to Edward W. Seymour, dated June 27, 1890, with quotation from Psalms 72:12, "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor, & him that hath no Helper." A later edition, printed by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Edward Woodruff Seymour was a Connecticut politician and state supreme court justice from Litchfield, Connecticut, Stowe's home town.

GLC03363

1861/09/28, 1861/12/07

Header Record

Title: True witness (New Orleans, La.)

Vol. 8 nos. 31 and 41. Presbyterian religious newspaper. The 12/7/1861 issue discusses slavery and religious readings for soldiers.

GLC05959.18

1808

Clarkson, Thomas, 1760-1846

Header Record

Title: The history of the rise, progress and accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade by the British Parliament.

First edition in contemporary blue paper boards with paper spine label. Illustrations fold out, including the infamous woodcut of a slave ship filled with people (volume two, following page 110). Volume one contains 572 pages, volume two contains 592 pages. Printed by R. Taylor and Co., for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. Clarkson dedicates the book to British Parliamentary notables devoted to the abolition of slavery.

GLC05965

January 23, 1864

White, Edward B., fl. 1863-1868

Autograph letter signed

Title: to his sister

Offers reflections on his earlier prediction for the Confederacy. Writes in part: "my doctrine before the commencement of it [i.e., the war] was that secession would be followed by the bloodiest strife recorded in the page of modern history and lay the foundation stone for the abolition of slavery; but all such talk as this was, at that time, looked upon as proceeding from the imagination of a lunatic, and treated accordingly. There must be a tremendous reconning to settle up for the misery inflicted on the innocent thousands of young boys, who never had a voice in the affairs of government…

GLC06053.02

1865

North Carolina, Constitutional Convention

Broadside

Title: An ordinance prohibiting slavery in the State of North Carolina.

Ordinance No. 16, introduced by Mr. Settle. Declares, "... it is hereby declared and ordained, That Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than for crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby forever prohibited within the State."

GLC06079

March 30, 1866

Stone, William M., 1827-1893

Document signed

Title: [Iowa joint resolution, ratifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution]

Document of the eleventh General Assembly of the State of Iowa ratifying the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the United States which abolished slavery. Parchment document, with green state seal. Signed in ink by Iowa's Governor, William M. Stone, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and Secretary of State. The names of the members of the house and senate who voted in affirmative are printed at left. Printed by F. W. Palmer, state printer, register office, Des Moines. With a few small engravings depicting allegorical symbols of liberty and other patriotic images.

GLC06098

February 5, 1861

Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810-1903

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Frank W. Ballard

Clay, an abolitionist, informs his friend Ballard that he was misrepresented by the New York Tribune. Discusses the possibility of New Mexico entering the Union as a free or slave state, and the Compromise of 1850. Defends himself from Horace Greeley's criticism (Greeley was editor of the Tribune). Concludes by stating, "Things look awfully gloomy-- I feel a split on the slave [line]! God save the Republic."

GLC05692