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

1894

Johnson, Homer Uri, fl. 1896

Book

Title: From Dixie to Canada: romance and realities of the underground railroad

Second edition. Printed by H.U. Johnson. Includes a printed frontispiece photograph of Johnson. Johnson gathered the stories within this book from "personal observation, extensive reading, visitations along many of the old lines, and numerous interviews and extensive correspondence with those heroic men and women who dared their fortunes and their personal liberty in the cause of humanity and right..."

GLC06145

1849

Thompson, George, ?-1893

Book

Title: Prison life and reflections; or, a narrative of the arrest, trial, conviction, imprisonment, treatment, observations, reflections, and deliverance of Work, Burr, and Thompson...

(title continued)... who suffered an unjust and cruel imprisonment in Missouri Penitentiary for attempting to aid some slaves to liberty. Published by A. (possibly Alanson) Work.

GLC06169

28 June 1864

Loguen, Jermain Wesley, 1814-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Helen Amelia Loguen [written on a printed circular "To the Friends of the Fugitives from Slavery]

Loguen responds to a letter from his daughter, whom he calls "Amelia." Notes that he will not be able to make Amelia's picnic, but will be there to visit her on the Sabbath. Comments on a relative or acquaintance with the measles, and a visit from "Miss [Tenney?]." Hopes to see Amelia's school (where she teaches) when he comes to visit her Sunday. Mentions his ill health and an upcoming wedding. Handwritten letter is two pages long, on two of three blank leaves of a broadside. The broadside, comprised of one page of printed text, was issued 5 June 1860 and is directed "To the Friends of…

GLC06175

1845

Clark, Lewis Garrard, 1812-1897)

Pamphlet

Title: Narrative of the sufferings of Lewis Clarke, during a captivity of more than twenty-five years, among the Algerines of Kentucky, one of the so called Christian states of North America.

Printed by David H. Ela. Signed on front and rear cover by Caleb Hobart of East Maison (possibly Tennessee). Dictated by Clark. With an introduction, verifying Clark's testimony, by Joseph Cammet Lovejoy (anti-slavery figure and brother of abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy). Includes frontispiece engraving of Clark.

GLC06177

July - December 1863

Prentice, George Dennison, 1802-1870

Newspaper

Title: Louisville (Kentucky) daily journal.

The bulk of the paper is taken up by ads, many for military supplies, railway lines, schools, and others for medical needs and retail supplies. Telegraphic news lists special dispatches of war news. A back page statement of assets lists stocks and liabilities, with licensed agents. Many issues contain a list of local police proceedings. Fictional stories are also included, particularly in the Sunday issue, when there are fewer advertisements. Some issues contain marriage notices and obituaries, and some list river notices. Some Sunday papers have a Masonic Intelligence column. The 12…

GLC05959.14

1862

Holden, William Woods, 1818-1892

Header Record

Title: Weekly standard.

The paper gives regular reports of the latest war news. Advertisements include runaway slave notices and slaves for sale; retail, real estate, and other items for sale; conscription substitutes wanted; lost items; and market reports. Telegraphic news is also included. Obituaries are printed, as are notices of deserters. Many issues contain minutes of the North Carolina Legislature or Acts and Resolutions of the North Carolina General Assembly. Most issues contain fugitive slave and negro for sale ads. (1862/9/17, 1862/12/17, 1862/12/24, and 1862/12/31)

GLC05959.22

1862

Spelman, John, 1821-1899

Header Record

Title: Weekly state journal.

A column titled "Latest News" gives war briefs and reports, as well as a column with "the very latest from the North," detailing war news. Notices from particular North Carolina troops are printed. Laws, minutes, and reports of the state of North Carolina are often printed. Advertisements refer to fugitive slaves, soldiers in need of clothing and supplies, the sale and rent of plantations and other retail items. Obituaries are often included. Vol. 2 nos. 24-25, 27 and 52. 4/23/1862, 4/30/1862, 5/14/1862 and 11/5/1862.

GLC05959.25

22 May 1825

Lawton, Edward W., fl. 1810-1825

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Evans

One letter from Edward Lawton to Thomas Evans dated May 22, 1825. Relays the details of an enslaved girl seeking refuge. States that two years prior, she had been Anthony Barklay (or Barclay) and his family during a moved to Newport. The girl escaped and has been residing at the family of Nathaniel Hathaway in New Bedford. Reports that Barclay is still searching for the girl, and friends are hiding her to protect her from Barclay's cruelty. Hathaway's wife, Anna Shoemaker, has taken to girl to Philadelphia. Hopes to obtain for the girl "the speedy and effectual protection which her case…

GLC05800

1855

Drayton, Daniel, 1802-?

Book

Title: Personal memoir of Daniel Drayton, for four years and fours months a prisoner (for charity's sake) in Washington jail...

(title continues)... Including a narrative of the voyage and capture of the Schooner Pearl. Published by Bela Marsh. Includes a frontispiece printed portrait of Drayton. Of his attempt to assist a mass slave escape, Drayton writes, "The opportunity occurring, I did not hesitate to improve it; nor have I ever yet seen occasion to regret having done so."

GLC05873

1840

Hopper, Isaac T., 1771-1852

Pamphlet

Title: Exposition of the proceedings of John P. Darg, Henry W. Merritt, and others, in relation to the robbery of Darg, the elopement of his alleged slave...

(title continues)... , and the trial of Barney Corse, who was unjustly charged as an accessary.

GLC05828

1856

Thompson, John, 1812-?

Book

Title: The life of John Thompson, a fugitive slave; containing his history of 25 years in bondage, and his providential escape. [incomplete]

First edition. Incomplete copy lacking pages 99-106 in chapter 15. In the introduction, Thompson writes: "I am aware that now, when public opinion makes it no martyrdom to denounce slavery, there are multitudes of men that grow bold, and wield a powerful weapon against this great evil; and even school boys daringly denounce a system, the enormity of which they cannot appreciate, surely I thought it may be permitted to one who has worn the galling yoke of bondage, to say something of its pains, and something of that freedom which, if he should succeed in accurately defining…

GLC05841

1872

Still, William, 1821-1902

Book

Title: The underground railroad. A record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c., narrating the hardships, hair-breadth escapes and death struggles...

(title continues)... of the slaves in their efforts for freedom, as related by themselves and others, or witnessed by the author; together with sketches of some of the largest stockholders and most liberal aiders and advisers of the road. Printed by Porter & Coates. Contains a frontispiece printed portrait of Still, and woodcut illustrations throughout text. An exhaustive volume containing narratives, testimonies, and biographies.

GLC05843

1883

Still, William, 1821-1902

Book

Title: Still's underground rail road records. Revised edition. With a life of the author. Narrating the hardships, hairbreadth escapes and death struggles of the slaves in their efforts for freedom.

Contains woodcut illustrations. Published by Still. Includes a printed portrait of Still opposite title page. An exhaustive volume containing narratives, testimonies, and biographies.

GLC05844

1856

Object

Title: [Campaign ribbon on silk: "Old buck is coming"]

Faded pink silk ribbon with black ink images and text. Begins with an image of a buck (male dear), and the statement "Old Buck is Coming," referring to 1856 presidential candidate James Buchanan. Below the buck, the ribbon depicts blacks with knapsacks and a bear, apparently fleeing westward, with the exclamation "Fremont! Free Niggers! Off for the Rocky Mountains" (Buchanan's opponent, Senator John C. Fremont, argued that the government should prevent the spread of slavery into the new western territories). The next image on the ribbon portrays a pistol, and the exclamation "'National…

GLC05877

31 May 1786-14 March 1787

Gardiner, Catherine, fl. 1786-1787

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written from "Newport." Explains that at the beginning of the war, Knox applied to the Provincial Congress in Massachusetts to exchange furniture with Gardiner's Loyalist aunt and uncle Barnes, Knox's furniture being in Boston. Due to poor communication, the Barneses did not know that this exchange was happening until they arrived in England. They were upset because they had to lay out substantial sums for the move, and apparently could have used money from the furniture (either their set or Knox's). Further, all of Knox's furniture was left in the particular care of Mrs. Flucker, his…

GLC02437.03270

8 November 1788

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Littlefield Greene and Euphemia Morris Ogden

Two parts. First for Catharine Greene. Apologizes that something may prevent him from seeing her. Hopes she will "accept [his] sincere wishes for your happiness, and the happiness of your dear little family." Tells her that if she ever needs anything to ask him and he will do his best to accomplish it. Mentions her runaway servant, Ham [described in GLC02437.04021 as "molatto."] Second for Euphemia Ogden. Regrets not being able to see and play whist with her due to being "detained here by purpose more disagreeable than the employ [of] several apothecary vials." Wishes her well and that…

GLC02437.10215

1837

Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873

Pamphlet

Title: Speech of Salmon P. Chase, in the case of the colored woman Matilda

Speech given before an Ohio court, arguing for the freedom of a slave named Matilda. Argues that Matilda should be free now that she is in Ohio, and argues that the Fugitive Slave Act is unconstitutional. Matilda had been brought before the court by a writ of habeas corpus. She had been working as a servant for Chase's client, when it was discovered she was an escaped slave.

GLC05114

1846

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Book

Title: The narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Written by himself.

Third English edition. Contains a frontispiece print of Douglass. Printed by Joseph Barker. Includes a preface to the second Dublin edition, preface to the first American edition, and a letter from Wendell Phillips (22 April 1845). Narrative is followed by an appendix and "American Slavery," a "Report of a public meeting held at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, to receive Frederick Douglass" (22 May 1846). Last pages contain information on the American Anti-Slavery Society for the "Friends of the Slave."

GLC05117

1850

Tappan, Lewis, 1788-1873

Pamphlet

Title: The fugitive slave bill: its history and unconstitutionality

Gives various arguments why the Fugitive Slave bill should be declared unconstitutional. Also tells the story of James Hamlet, a mulatto arrested under the law despite protests that he was not a slave. Eventually Hamlet was returned to freedom. Full title reads: "The Fugitive Slave Bill: its history and unconstitutionality; with an account of the seizure and enslavement of James Hamlet, and his subsequent restoration to liberty." Printed by William Harned. First edition. With handwritten…

GLC05118

21 March 1802

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Jacob Burdett

Written by Clay as a lawyer in Lexington, Kentucky, before he began his political career to Burdett as an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. References a previous letter by Burdett respecting Jim, a runaway slave whose status was in question. Says an answer was not necessary because he had already forwarded "a Copy of those papers on which Jim's right to his freedom is founded. He derives his title from an Indian ancestor who was in the early part of the last Century reduced to Slavery in Virginia, contrary to the laws of that State." The only difficulty of his claim arises from the uncertainty of…

GLC07098

1847

Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872

Pamphlet

Title: In the Supreme Court of the United States [fugitive slaves]

Continued: "John Van Zandt, Ad Sectum Wharton Jones. Argument for the defendant." Unsuccessful defense by Seward and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio farmer Van Zandt, sued by slave owner for unwittingly picking up 9 fugitive slaves.

GLC07036

1797

Book

Title: To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States...

Printed Quaker petition, containing letters and what is apparently the first printing of the first petition brought before Congress by free Blacks (p. 7) appealing for intervention against the Fugitive Slave Act, which is called "a Flagrant proof of how far human beings, merely on account of color and complexion, are through prevailing predjudices excluded from common justice and...humanity."

GLC07442

1858

Giddings, Joshua Reed, 1795-1864

Book

Title: Exiles of Florida: or, the crimes committed by our Government ...

The "Maroons," who fled from South Carolina and other Slave States, seeking protection under Spanish Law.

GLC07443

16 October 1725

Bradford, John, ?-1726

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Charles Calvert

Discusses two runaway slaves that were brought before him and returned to their masters. In part, "This day was brought before me a Runnaway Negro Woman taken up Near the Head of Mr: [Charles] Carrolls Land on the upper Side of Monockasey In Her way to the Shawan Town she was taken at a fire a Little past the Middle of the Night In Company with Her Husband who In the Dark made his Escape..." Writes that the man [possibly a Native American] who brought one of the slaves in was not happy with his reward of 200 pounds of tobacco, and stated he would not leave his family again to bring in a…

GLC07368