1715/02/02

Livingston, Robert, 1654-1728

Manuscript document signed

Title: "Leendert Conyn & Kiliaen Winne's oath about the Examination. . .

. . .of Joh: Dykemans negro." Both of the oaths attest to the statement made by an enslaved person of Dykeman's that he did not help another enslaved person named Tom commit murder against his master. The statements are signed by Robert Livingston, Justice of the Peace.

GLC03107.01103

1725/10

Livingston, Robert, 1654-1728

Manuscript document

Title: Prices of imports from the West Indies

Lists prices of West Indian and African enslaved people, rum, sugar, molasses, and other items.

GLC03107.01732

1725/11/12

Bayard. Stephen, fl. 1725-1731

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert Livingston re: loss of slaves during voyage

Bayard reports that 30 enlsaved people died on a voyage to the colony due to a shortage of food. He also mentions that Moses Levy is awaiting payment of Livingston's account. Docketed on address leaf.

GLC03107.01740

1783/06/30

Cooper, Ananias, fl. 1783

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Robert Livingston, Jr. re: prescription for Robert, Jr.'s slave, Jack

Ananias Cooper says that he is sending Jack back to Robert, Jr., and explains that he is nearly recovered from an illness that caused him to cough and spit up blood. He prescribes some pills to be given to Jack, and recommends that he refrain from any physical labor until he is fully recovered. With note below the letter by Robert, Jr., dated 16 September 1783, in which he states that he made payment to Cooper.

GLC03107.03499

1885 ca.

Bell, Charles Milton, 1848-1893

Photograph signed

Title: [Frederick Douglass]

Inscribed on front "Frederick Douglass. Born 1817." Inscribed verso: "Frederick Douglass. Born February 1817." With newspaper obituary pasted on the back. The albumen surface has been slightly scratched.

GLC05146

1859 circa

Object

Title: [Twenty Star American "Abolitionist Flag"]

Large American cotton flag with only 20 stars. Fragile. The flag consists of 9 alternating red or white cloth strips sewn together with 20 somewhat irregular stars. The blue field is mottled and the flag has staining. The flag is identified as an "Abolitionist Flag" because it drops the slave states from the star field. (Measurements are approximate.) Discovered in Andover, Ohio, and may have been made there. Thought to show support for abolitionists like Brown.

GLC05762

1854/02/26

Phelps, Anson, fl. 1854

Document signed

Title: New York Colonization Society certificate of membership for Alexander Fraser

Certificate of membership for life for Alexander Fraser of Fowlerville. The certificate has a large engraving at top showing a white man shaking the hands of thankful naked Africans while a ship rides at anchor in the background. Two scriptural quotations appear at bottom. Signed Anson Phelps as President (or possibly corresponding secretary).

GLC05781

1749/07/29

Livingston, Robert III, 1708-1790

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Peter DeWitt re: slave trade

Robert Livingston, Jr. describes the multiple deaths of enslaved people on a trading vessel, and expresses disappointment at the financial loss.

GLC03107.04449

1749/10/04

Livingston, John, 1714-1786

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Peter DeWitt re: orders for trade

John Livingston asks DeWitt to sell the remainder of his enslaved people, and also orders some cattle and pigs. Docketed on address leaf.

GLC03107.04451

1859 ca.

Platt, A.C., 1828-1884

Photograph

Title: Sepia head and shoulders image of John Brown, with lock of hair

GLC04463.02

1885/03/19

Bailey, Joseph, fl. 1885

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Bailey re: the 13th Amendment and end of slavery

Written to his son. With pencil underlining. In part: "I cast my last vote...for the 13th Amendment." Accompanied by 3 collateral items: 1) Joseph Bailey, ALS to unknown, 6/4/1885; 2) Sarah? ALS to Joseph Bailey, 12/16/1874 [possibly a Quaker: use of "thy" and "12 mo"]; and 3) ALS to Joseph Bailey, 6/10/1865, request for an autograph. Written from Bailey Station in Downington, Pennsylvania.

GLC07404

1852/08/23

Broadside

Title: $2,500 Reward! Mississippi Co., Missouri broadside advertising runaway slaves

Broadside advertising four runaway slaves and their characteristics, offering more compensation if captured in a free state. (With losses to text.)

GLC07238

1856/12/10

Brown, John, 1800-1859

Autograph letter signed

Title: to brother and sister Adair re: concern for his son Owen

Written while on the run from authorities after Pottawatomie massacre: "Owen (my son) is I trust somewhere on the way from Iowa; but I have a good deal of anxiety about him, as I learn that I was hotly pursued even in Iowa. I can only say that God has miraculously preserved and spared us." Docketed.

GLC07229

1735/05/19

Zenger, John P., 1697-1746

Newspaper

Title: New-York weekly journal. [Vol. 933, no. 80 (May 19, 1735)]

Argues for the education of "women of quality." States several reasons why education should be more available to women: a woman's domestic lifestyle is better suited learning than a man's lifestyle and women's natural gift of speech can be put to better use in education than in bitter gossip. Also includes a section on foreign affairs with news from Warsaw, the Hague, and London. Section on local New York news and entries and departures from the New York Customs House. An advertisement section includes an announcement for the sale of a young woman slave by the name of Mary Kippin.

GLC07336

February 7, 1882

Pamphlet

Title: Catalogue of the library of the late David Porter Harmon

Includes over seven hundred titles and hand-written notes on individual prices for each book. A tally of the overall sale can be found on the rear fly leaf.

GLC06143.20

1829/04/15

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Bayley re: plan to liberate his slaves, colonization, personal matters

Written to Mr. Bayley in England. Discusses his plans for colonizing his freed slaves in Haiti or Liberia. Lafayette also mentions the Catholic emancipation bill, etc.

GLC06721

1857/07/14

Langford, Liberty, fl. 1857

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Craig Langford re: negotiating sale of family to former slave

"I would give you more time... but I do not know at what time James may be here and run some of them off and sell them..."

GLC06733.02

1858/02/21

Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877

Autograph letter signed

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

GLC06733.04

1858/10/04

Manuscript document

Title: [Petition of a free black to become a slave of W.C. Lewis]

Ann Jackson's petition to become the property of W. C. Lewis, signed by her with an "X". The document was based on an Act of the Texas Legislature "Free persons of African descent [may] select their own master and become slaves...." With stamp of Company seal. For related documents see GLC08955, GLC03840, and GLC09123.

GLC06375

1837/04/05

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Gerrit Smith

Political situation, Gag Rule, opposition to slavery. "The condition of the African race in this Union has ever been to me subject of deep concern... I have felt an anxious wish that slavery might be abolished... throughout the Union and throughout the world... [but] the people of the free states are spell-bound by the talisman of ambition to sustain the slavery of the south."

GLC06315

1858/07 ca.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph manuscript

Title: Speech fragment concerning the abolition of slavery [from 1858 Senate race?]

Manuscript, probably the concluding portion of speech, possibly from the 1858 Senate campaign, concerning his expectation that slavery would eventually be abolished. Lincoln acknowledge his ambition for higher office but continues, "[i]n the Republican cause there is a higher aim than that of mere office. I have not allowed myself to forget that the abolition of the Slave-trade by Great Brittain [sic], was agitated a hundred years before it was a final success;... School-boys know that Wilbe[r]force, and Granville Sharp helped that cause forward; but who can now name a single man who…

GLC05302

1850/04/27

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

Letter signed

Title: to Thomas Hazard re: suppression of the slave trade & colonization efforts

Accompanied by FF envelope. Clay writes that that the subjects Hazard wrote about will receive little attention until the slave trade question is settled. Clay argues that the best way to stop the slave trade is by creating strong colonies on the African coast: "I believe that they [the colonies] may be instrumental not only to abolish the slave trade, but ultimately, after the lapse of a great length of time, to separate the two races of the United States."

GLC05495.01

1859/11/17

Brown, John, 1800-1859

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas B. Musgrave re: imprisonment

"I do not feel myself the least degraded by my imprisonment, my chain, or the near prospect of the gallows. Men cannot imprison, or chain, or hang the soul." With engraving, photograph, and collateral paperwork. Per Lee Shepard, Asst. Director for Manuscript and Archives at the Virginia Historical Society, the recipient of John Brown's letter is Thomas B. Musgrave rather than "F.B." Musgrave. Shepard writes (May 2001) that Musgrave "is identified as the son of a New England merchant and industrialist with whom Brown had dealings earlier in his life."

GLC07638.01

1889 ca.

Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: Brief autobiographical sketch: "A slave in 1837. Free man 1838..."

Includes envelope addressed to Charles Peirce, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

GLC07762

[n.d.]

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph

Title: Carte de visite of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

From negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. Anthony imprint on verso. Three quarter length standing portrait of a middle aged man in civilian dress. White mount with gold border.

GLC06391.12