February 25, 1909

Mosby, John S., 1833-1916

Typed letter signed

Title: to Alexander Spottswood Campbell

Spottswood was possibly Mosby's grandson (son of daughter May Virginia Campbell and Robert Campbell). Typed on Department of Justice stationery with the printed heading, "Carbon copy for the file". Transmits a clipping from the Times-Dispatch on an essay on Robert E. Lee by "a Northern girl." Declares that it is a fair assessment of Lee, and discusses the article at length: "...if there had been free schools in the south there would have been no war simply because an enlightened public opinion in that section would not have submitted to the rule of a slave holding oligarchy. A large…

GLC05738

1 January 1803

Jansen, Zacharias, fl. 1803

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Grants of money for children of slaves in Ulster County, New York]

Grants of money for the children of slaves in the town of Shawangunk, New York. Signed by Zacharias Jansen, several other members of the Jansen family, and various others. Refers to the eventual abolition of slavery in New York State. "...for the support and maintenance of the children of slaves duly registered and born after the fourth day of July, 1799 whose right of service has been abandoned by the respective proprietors of the mothers of such children in pursuance to the directions of the several acts of the Legislature for the gradual abolition of slavery ..." Lists the names and birth…

GLC05685

24 April 1834

Whittier, John G., 1807-1892

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel J. May

Whittier writes to May, an ardent abolitionist: "Until connected with the Cause of Anti-Slavery I never knew what friendship was... engaged in this holy cause of Truth & Love, I have found high & pure hearts beating in perfect unison... No matter what may be our creed- whether we follow Socinius or Fox, or Calvin,- we are all brethren." Discusses the engagement of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to Helen Eliza Benson: "It will quiet the fears of some of our good Colonisationists that our friend G. might some day or other practice upon the thing of Amalgamation- and, smitten by…

GLC05720

22 July 1851

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Robinson Hazard

Clay writes from Ashland, his estate, to Hazard, the noted reformer. Declines an invitation to visit Hazard in Rhode Island, relating that he will not be able to leave home this summer due to ill health. Also due to his health, this letter is written by an amanuensis. Notes that though the climate and sea bathing of Rhode Island would aid his health, "the journey, the cities, the crowds, and the company which I should encounter would neutralize any advantage that I should derive from visiting Newport." Agrees with Hazard on African colonization, remarking, "Its success and prosperity are…

GLC05721

17 April 1865

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mrs. Schoolcraft

Fears that President Johnson "will not feel as much kindness toward the South." Also, plans to meet to debate slavery. The letter was written three days after President Lincoln's assassination.

GLC05743

10 May 1878

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Greenleaf Whittier

Garrison replies to a letter from Whittier, the Quaker poet and abolitionist. Discusses the deaths of other abolitionists. Whittier had informed Garrison of the death of Captain Jonathan Walker, a fellow abolitionist. Laments Walker's death, describing him as "a kind-hearted, honest, unsophisticated man, who, for attempting to aid certain slaves to escape from their taskmasters, bore with martyr-like fortitude and serenity the penalty burnt into his living flesh by the decree of a court acting in accordance with the provisions of the Slave Code." Notes that the "SS" which was burnt on…

GLC05748

1864

American Anti-Slavery Society

Book

Title: Proceedings of the American Anti-Slavery Society, at its third decade, held in the City of Philadelphia, Dec. 3d and 4th, 1863.

Contain an appendix and a catalogue of anti-slavery publications in America from 1750-1863. Includes writings and/or speeches by William Lloyd Garrison (Anti-slavery Society President), Henry Ward Beecher, Stephen S. Foster, Abby Kelley Foster, Susan B. Anthony, Oliver Johnson, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and John Greenleaf Whittier, among others. Bound in yellow paper cover.

GLC05821

1866-1867

Header Record

Title: National anti-slavery standard. [Vol. 26, no. 35 (January 6, 1866)- v. 28, no. 34 (December 28, 1867)] [with gaps]

Volume 26 is missing issue numbers 43 and 47. Volume 27 is missing issue numbers 8,13,and 35. Volume 28 is missing issue number 28. The January 5, 1866, Vol. 27, no. 35 most likely contains misprint in either the date or the Volume and issue number. The issues contain information on the 14th Amendment & impeachment of [Andrew] Johnson, speeches of Sumner, women's suffrage, and advertisements for colored soldiers to collect bounties.

GLC05825

1839

American Anti-Slavery Society

Pamphlet

Title: The American anti-slavery almanac, for 1839.

With original yellow wrappers and illustrations for almost every month. Illustrations depict the horrors of slavery. Contains ink stains. Published for the Anti-Slavery Society by S. W. Benedict.

GLC05826

1788

Pennsylvania, General Assembly.

Pamphlet

Title: The constitution of the Pennsylvania Society, for promoting the abolition of slavery, and the relief of free Negroes, unlawfully held in bondage...

(title continues)... begun in the year 1774, and enlarged on the twenty-third of April, 1787 : to which are added, the acts of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, for the gradual abolition of slavery. Benjamin Franklin serves as President of the Society.

GLC05827

1832

Faulkner, Charles James, 1847-1929

Pamphlet

Title: The speech of Charles Jas. Faulkner (of Berkeley) in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the policy of the state with respect to her slave population: Delivered January 20, 1832.

Printed by Thomas W. White. Faulkner states, "... the evils of slavery stand confessed before us. The only question with a Virginia statesman, should be-- is there any remedy and what shall that remedy be?... although I am decidedly in favor of some scheme of manumission that will ultimately relieve my country from the catastrophe which threatens it, let no gentleman suppose, from what has fallen from me, that I am in favor of any rash, violent, or hasty legislation." Bound with string.

GLC05829

1796

Foster, Theodore, 1752-1828

Pamphlet

Title: Minutes of the proceedings of the third convention of delegates from the abolition societies established in different parts of the United States, assembled at Philadelphia...

(title continues)... on the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, and continued, by adjournments, until the seventh day of the same month, inclusive. Printed by Zachariah Poulson, Jr. Cites the names of delegates from the abolitionist societies of Providence, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Maryland, and Virginia. Theodore Foster is listed as president of the convention, and Thomas Pim Cope as secretary. Some pages are separated from binding.

GLC05833

February 20, 1812

Colden, Cadwallader David, 1769-1834

Printed document signed

Title: [Joseph Curtis's membership certificate for the New York society for promoting the Manumission of Slaves]

This document is a large printed certificate for Joseph Curtis, with seal, confirming that he is a member of the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves. It it signed by Cadwallader Colden as President and William Van Hook as Secretary of the Society. Engraved and written by Peter Maverick. Accompanied by a paper seal.

GLC05834

1839

United States. Congress (26th: 1839-1841). House

Pamphlet

Title: Report of the committee on the judiciary. Relative to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and in relation to the colored population of this country.

Printed by Boas & Coplan. Signed on front cover by "J. H. Battain." "Slavery is justly deplored by every good man, as a great evil, and one which should be removed as speedily as the safety and welfare of the country will permit, but let it not be removed in a manner that will inevitably produce a greater evil."

GLC05837

1850

Stuart, Moses, 1780-1852

Pamphlet

Title: Conscience and the Constitution with remarks on the recent speech of the Hon. Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United States on the subject of slavery.

Published by Crocker & Brewster. Stuart, a minister and Professor of Biblical Studies at Andover Seminary (near Boston), justifies slavery using a Biblical argument. Also predicts the economic repercussions of abolition: "Suppose the black population are made free; then what is to be done with them after this, specially in those States, or parts of States, where they are more numerous than the whites; how are they going to live and prosper... What then I ask the Abolitionists... what is to be done with such a population?" Argues for colonization.

GLC05845

5 September 1863

Sears, Joseph H., fl. 1850-1862

Newspaper

Title: New south. [Vol.1, no. 52 (September 5, 1863)]

Union occupation newspaper. Contains a sarcastic poem titled "Farewell to the South," disparaging views of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, a list of "Loyal Generals" who support abolition and "unconditionally sustain the President and his constitutional advisers," and a detailed description of the layout of Fort Sumter. Articles concerning th 6th Conn. are circled. Many humorous stories are marked "show this to Frank," insulting poem about Jefferson Davis written in the voice of his coachman, list of those wounded and killed.

GLC06107.29

1862/09/26

W.L. Garrison & I. Knapp (publishers), 1831-1865

Newspaper

Title: Liberator. [Vol. 32, no. 39 (September 26, 1862)]

Prints Lincoln's first Emancipation Proclamation. Said to be the first printing of the proclamation in an abolitionist newspaper. Headline reads "Proclamation of Emancipation - Freedom of the Slaves in Rebellious States on the First Day of January." Peninsula campaign, the draft and contrabands. Inscription "J. Cullanan Jr."

GLC06107.48

3 January 1840-31 Decemeber 1847

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879

Header Record

Title: The liberator. [Vol. 10, no. 1 (January 3, 1840) - v. 17. no. 53 (December 31, 1847)]

Run of 416 weekly issues of the famous anti-slavery newspaper edited by William Lloyd Garrison.

GLC06109

1867

Brown, William Wells, 1815-1884

Book

Title: Clotelle; or the colored heroine. A tale of the Southern States.

Published by Lee and Shepard. Includes engraved plates. Previous documentation states this is the second American edition; the first edition was published in London. Clotelle is said to portray the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Signed by Emily C. Taylor, presumably a prior owner of the volume. The author, Brown, was an enslaved person who sought refuge and abolitionist

GLC06113

circa 1870

Child, Lydia Maria Francis, 1802-1880

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: [Incomplete essay on religious tolerance on verso of letter fragments from Edmonia Lewis and Samuel J. May]

Contains an incomplete essay (pages five, six, and seven) discussing religious tolerance written by Child, an author, scholar, and abolitionist. Child discusses religious tolerance, stating "People who are educated under one system of religion can never perhaps quite realize how another faith appears to those who have grown up under its influence; but sincere efforts to do this are among the most hopeful signs of the times." Discusses books of different religions and differentiation between religious symbolism and language. In pencil below her signature, Child invites the recipient to…

GLC06114

1845

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Book

Title: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave : written by himself.

First edition of Douglass's first autobiography. Contains an engraving of Douglass opposite title page. Published at the anti-slavery office.

GLC06117

1850

Burritt, Elihu, 1810-1879

Book

Title: Elihu Burritt's miscellaneous writings

Published by Thomas Drew, Jr. Printed wrappers with illustration, including a print of Burritt. Second edition. Includes the essay "Buying a Brother from Bondage" which describes the purchase of Frederick Douglass' freedom. Cover and some inner pages contain water stain. Accompanied by a small card printed at the American Tract Society in Boston, Massachusetts. The card, entitled "Friend, Come to Jesus," encourages Christian conversion. Card measures 13.1 x 8.7 cm.

GLC06118

26 April 1887

Pamphlet

Title: A sketch of Henry Franklin and family

Date written as "4 mo., 26th, 1887." Contains an extract from the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the death of Henry Franklin's son. The extract is included as a reflection of the lack of racial prejudice in France, where Franklin's son died. Includes a biographical description of Franklin, described as "the venerable colored janitor of the Academy of Fine Arts." Reports that Franklin's slave name was Bill Budd. States that Franklin serves as Treasurer of the Colored Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Also mentions his activism on behalf of fugitive slaves and his special invitation to…

GLC06120

1861

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879

Pamphlet

Title: The loyalty & devotion of colored Americans in the Revolution and War of 1812.

Published by Robert F. Wallcut. Contains excerpts from speeches and quotations related to African American military service. Includes excerpts from a William Howard Day speech delivered at a convention for African Americans held in Cleveland, Ohio, 9 September 1852; excerpts from an address delivered in 1842 before the Congregational and Presbyterian Anti-Slavery Society of Francestown, New Hampshire, by Dr. Harris (according to many sources an African American Revolutionary War veteran); excerpts from an 1821 speech by Dr. Clarke in the convention to revise the New York State Constitution;…

GLC06130

1835

Battey, Joel, 1790-?

Pamphlet signed

Title: Address of the Starksborough and Lincoln anti-slavery society to the public.

First edition, presented to Kimball 8 November 1834. Printed by Knapp and Jewett. In faded orange wrappers as issued. With printed constitution of the Society inside rear wrapper. Kimball signed outer cover. A note written on title page indicates this pamphlet was presented to Kimball by Joel Battey, secretary of the society.

GLC06137