African-American Studies Resources in the Special Collections Research Center

The Austin Twyman papers include numerous letters relating to those enslaved by the family. Topics include permissions to join a Baptist church, occupations and work activities of the enslaved, health, resistance to enslavement, and the sale of enslaved people. Collection includes letters written by enslaved individuals.

The Barker-Cooke Papers include letters about the hiring out of enslaved individuals.

This Wythe County furnace used some slave labor to supply pig iron to the Tredegar Ironworks during the CIvil War.

The Blackwell papers include letters about hiring out of those enslaved.

The Bright account books include a list of those who were enslaved, noting their ages, prices, and medical treatment they received.

The Brown papers include more than thirty letters dealing with the illnesses of those who were enslaved, mostly from owners writing to Brown, who was a doctor.

This Bucktrout material has been digitized and is available online. Bucktrout was an undertaker and buried numerous people, including free African Americans and those enslaved, whose burials are recorded in this volume. In addition, he recorded hiring out of William Waller (the individual that he enslaved), for work around Williamsburg.

This collection includes a poem, ca. 1830, about the love between Kate and Mingo, both enslaved. Also included is a letter by Elizabeth Keckley, an enslaved woman and later a published author, dated 25 April 1844.

From the Collection: The Campbell Family Papers is a collection of business records, personal documents and photographs belonging to the Campbell and Sampson families of Albemarle County, Virginia dating from 1795 to 1945. The great majority of the documents are the business records of Joseph Watson Campbell (1795-1875). These include tax bills and receipts, accounts between Campbell and various merchants, receipts for goods and services received and rendered, promissory notes and papers relating to other family matters including the execution of the estate of Campbell's father-in-law, John Rogers and the practice of enslavement. The collection includes personal correspondence between the children and grandchildren of the Sampson family. Photographs, mostly unidentified, are among the documents included. The remaining documents are those pertaining to his children and grandchildren.

The papers of the Carter family of Sabine Hall has much material about slavery, including a copy of a letter written by an enslaved person. The bulk of the papers date from the 1800s.

This artificial collection includes a few items relating to slavery, such as a receipt for an enslaved person working on fortifications and pension applications by freed Blacks for their work for the Confederacy.

The ledger of this Augusta County doctor includes a register of births of enslaved individuals, free African Americans, and white people, 1857-1897.

This Shenandoah Valley minister wrote about Civil War battles and enslavement in his diary, including the marriage of one of his enslaved men to a free Black woman.

This Nelson County miller's account book includes a list of enslaved people that were hired out, 1853-1859.

This Fauquier County merchant's ledger includes lists of enslaved persons, with their ages noted.

This Fluvanna County planter's diary includes lists of clothing distributed to the enslaved, and includes an account (entry for 18 January 1839) of the alleged poisoning of enslaved individuals.

This is a 4-page memoir dictated by a runaway enslaved person. Originally from Virginia (the Robert Carter Nicholas family of Williamsburg), he fled from the Nicholas plantation in Louisiana. His reminiscences focus on religious meetings and an enslaved preacher, also originally from Virginia.

Shenandoah Valley store's records include the hiring of and tasks performed by numerous people, including free Blacks. It also documents store accounts.

The Jerdone papers contain dozens of letters, financial accounts, and diaries relating to enslavement in the antebellum period.

This Gloucester County woman's farm and household accounts include the names of those enslaved and the clothing purchased for them.

This Gloucester County merchant's ledgers include information about the use of enslaved labor on behalf of the 26th Virginia Regiment (of which he was quartermaster).

Business papers include lists of those enslaved and hired out.

This journal of work on an unknown plantation includes a record of enslaved births and deaths, 1857-1861; enslaved marriages, 1857; an inventory of those enslaved, 1864, with some birth dates; and visits of a physician to treat enslaved individuals.

Record kept by Andrew Reid, clerk of Rockbridge County, Virginia, entitled "For the Registering of Free Negroes [of Rockbridge County] according to the Act . . . of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed 25 January 1803," which includes physical descriptions, ages, information on former owners, and records of emancipation.

This volume contains information concerning the names, ages, and value of those enslaved at a farm possibly located near Richmond.

This journal includes lists of enslaved people and the tasks they were assigned.

This huge family collection for the Skipwiths of Prestwould Farm includes many items about those enslaved by the family.

Journal of a Leesburg merchant, includes a list of those enslaved with a record of provisions and shoes.

Papers of U.S. President John Tyler and his family, of Sherwood Forest in Charles City County, Virginia. Papers include numerous references to those enslaved by the family.

This Surry County doctor's ledger records visits to patients, including those enslaved.

The correspondence of this Granville, North Carolina family is full of references to the people they enslaved, and their health and activities before and during the Civil War.

This diary mentions exchanging letters with African-American friends, sending a package to Liberia, and having a visitor from Liberia come to town to encourage Blacks to emigrate. Murdoch also records the death of African-American servants.