Houghton Library collection on the North American slave trade
Overview
Documents concerning sale of enslaved people and other materials related to slavery in North America, particularly the United States.
Dates
- Creation: 1803-1863 and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English and French.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.2 linear feet (1 box)Primarily manuscript bills of sale for enslaved people in Charleston (S.C.) and New Orleans (La.), with a few printed and other documents pertaining to slavery in the United States.
Biographical / Historical
Interstate domestic slave trading in the United States was well established by 1808 when the importation of slaves from other countries was abolished. It was controlled erratically by the states and, by 1850, completely unregulated. Traders in the Upper South maintained agencies and representatives in the Lower South. The seaboard and border states exported an estimated 25,000 slaves a year, with Virginia the largest source. Water transport was occasionally used, but more often slaves were marched overland to markets such as New Orleans and Natchez (the two largest markets), where they commanded prices that at least quadrupled between 1800 and 1860.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts and purchases from various sources at various times. Acquisition information is given with items.
Processing Information
Processed by: Melanie Wisner. Edited in 2021 by Dorothy Berry.
Processing Information
This finding aid was revised in 2021 to address racist and harmful descriptive language. During that revision, description was changed in all file-level titles, with contextual notes added for most. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Houghton Library, collector. Houghton Library collection on the North American slave trade, 1803-1863 (MS Am 1278): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou02075
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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