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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Yard, Benjamin, 1757-1787 [Affadavit of sales agreement for a slave named Hannibal in St. Croix]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06148 Author/Creator: Yard, Benjamin, 1757-1787 Place Written: Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands Type: Document signed Date: 4 April 1787 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 20.6 cm, Width: 18.5 cm Order a Copy

Marked "Copy." Certifies that he purchased Hannibal in October 1780 from Captain John Earl. He was informed that Thomas Wright, a sailor on board Earl's ship, owned one half of Hannibal. Payment was twenty half "Joes" - ten to the captain and ten to Wright in Havana. Payment also included a certain amount of rum. The rum was worth £50.17.7 1/4 Philadelphia currency and was shipped to Earl on Captain Harr's vessel on 31 October 1781. Says "I do not recollect any other circumstances attending the Sale of this Negro."

Yard, Benjamin, 1757-1787

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