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Creator
Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938
Call number
Sc Micro R-1520
Physical description
0.06 linear feet (1 box, 1 microfilm reel)
Language
Multiple languages; Most items are in English; some in French.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Slavery and the Abolition of the Slave Trade collection, Sc Micro R-1520, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
Home to Harlem Project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

A collection of bills of sale, deeds, passes, certificates of registry, manumission papers, wills, and speeches. Also, letters relating to slavery-related court cases, including the Amistad slave ship revolt. Also includes letters by prominent abolitionists William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and William Lloyd Garrison with their views and comments on the abolition movement.

Biographical/historical information

This collection was largely assembled by Arthur (Arturo) Schomburg, although some items may have been acquired by the New York Public Library after his death. For a brief historical essay, see Lawrence Reddick's introduction to the Slavery and Abolition Collections in the Calendar of Manuscripts in the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature in the attached PDF.

Scope and arrangement

A collection of bills of sale, deeds, passes, certificates of registry, manumission papers, wills, and speeches. Also, letters relating to slavery-related court cases, including the Amistad slave ship revolt. Also includes letters by prominent abolitionists William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and William Lloyd Garrison with their views and comments on the abolition movement. This collection is largely available on microfilm (see Conditions Governing Access).

Most of the item titles and descriptions are based on those given in the Calendar of Manuscripts in the Schomburg Collection, published in 1942, which contains a numbered chronological inventory of the items present in the collection at that time (see the attached PDF under Additional Resources). Where applicable, items are cross-referenced to their Calendar entries. The manuscript numbers (e.g. MS Slavery A1), correspond to the original filing scheme (see note on Arrangement). Please note that some items described as part of this collection in the Calendar of Manuscripts are not present on the microfilm and are no longer a part of this collection: Calendar #99 and #100 are cataloged together as a rare book (see catalog record: https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b11668629~S1) and Calendar #55 and #102 are missing.

Arrangement

Material is arranged alphabetically, by name of creator, topic (e.g. Abolition), or location (e.g. New York). The folder of material relating to abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, which is not microfilmed, is located at the end of the collection.

Administrative information

Processing information

This collection was originally arranged and cataloged by Arthur (Arturo) Schomburg and Edith R. Dodson of the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Administration in 1937-1938. An inventory was published in 1942 in the Calendar of Manuscripts in the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature. The collection was microfilmed in May 1971 by the New York Public Library, and a guide to the microfilm was published in 1995 by Scholarly Resources, Inc. A finding aid was created by Allison Hughes in 2019.

Separated material

Some items on the microfilm have been physically separated from this collection; their current locations are noted under the relevant items.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor

Access restrictions

Researchers are restricted to microfilm copy, except for the "Abolition--Garrison, William Lloyd" folder and the Robert W. Johnson Deed which are not on microfilm.

Additional resources