- Creator
- Nautilus Insurance Company
- Call number
- Sc MG 715
- Physical description
- 12 linear feet (6 flat boxes)
- Preferred Citation
- [Item], Nautilus Insurance Company Slavery Era Ledgers, Sc MG 715, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Access to materials
- Some collections held by the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. To request access to materials in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, please visit: http://archives.nypl.org/divisions/scm/request_access Request access to this collection.
The Nautilus Insurance Company (predecessor of the New York Life Insurance Company) was one of several insurance companies that sold policies to slaveholders to insure their slaves against damages or death. The company sold these policies for approximately two and a half years from 1845 until 1848, at which time the board of trustees voted to end the sale of such policies. The Nautilus Insurance Company slavery era ledgers consist of a total of eight volumes: four policy registers; a death claim book; a volume listing losses for death benefits paid; as well as two indices containing names of all insurance applicants. The policy registers contain names of persons, including slaves, who were insured between 1845 and 1848. There are also lists prepared in 2001 and 2002, one of which is a printout from a database developed by the California Department of Insurance entitled "Slavery Era Insurance Policies Registry," that contains information from documents submitted by the New York Life Insurance company as well as other insurance companies that had insured slaves.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Gift, New York Life Insurance Company
Key terms
Names
Subjects
- African Americans -- Reparations
- Insurance companies -- New York (State) -- New York -- History
- Insurance companies -- United States -- History
- Slave records -- United States
- Slaveholders -- United States -- Registers
- Slavery -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Slaves -- United States -- Registers
Material types
Using the collection
Location
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor
Access to materials
Some collections held by the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. To request access to materials in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, please visit: http://archives.nypl.org/divisions/scm/request_access Request access to this collection.Conditions Governing Use
Photocopying of ledgers not permitted