HC 3
Anti-Slavery Collection
Records Dates: 1769-1881; 1916
.5 linear feet, 1 Manuscript Box
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview
Series Description
Series I - Publications
Series II - Bills of Sale
Series III - Correspondence
Series IV - Miscellaneous Documents
Series V - Speeches

Access and Use

Provenance: Collected by Berea College librarians through donation and purchase.

Access: There are no restrictions on the collection other than federal copyright regulations.

Preferred Citation: The Anti-Slavery Collection, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, Ky.

Related Archives

• HC 04 William Goodell Family Collection, 1780 - 1892
• RG 1 Founders & Founding, BCA
• RG 3.01, E.H. Fairchild Papers

Overview

The Anti-Slavery Collection consists primarily of publications, letters, bills of sale and reports; they date from 1769- 1865, although one retrospective account was recorded in 1916. Most of the materials in the collection relate to slavery and support Berea College’s open opposition to the institution of slavery.

Of particular note in the collection is a letter and separate autograph of Levi Coffin, President of the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati, and letters from James Birney and Thomas Garrett. Also in the collection is an anti-slavery publication of 1856 written by William Goodell, a compatriot of Berea founder John G. Fee. The slave deeds in the collection remain a testament to the stark reality of slavery.

Series Description

Broadsides, polemics, organizational statements, and periodicals all denouncing the institution of slavery.

Box 1

1. The Anti-Slavery Record, 1:6, June 1835 and 2:1, January1836
2. The Anti-Slavery Examiner, 1:2, September 1836 [consists of 3rd edition of “Appeal to the Christian Women of the South,” by Angelina Grimke.
3. Harriet Martineau, “The Martyr Age in the United States of America.” Rpt, New York: SW Benedict, 1839, from The London and Westminster Review.
4. Dr. Channing’s Last Address: Delivered at Lenox, on the 1st of August, 1842, The Anniversary of Emancipation in the British West Indies.” Boston, Oliver Johnson, 1842.
5. Constitution of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1845.
6. A Friendly Address from British Christians to the Ministers and Elders of the American Presbyterian Church, Who Bore a Faithful Testimony Against Slavery in the Late General Assembly at Philadelphia.” 1846 [on back, end of letter from Anna W. Richardson]
7. Mr. Adams on the Amistad Case,” from The National Intelligencer, House of Representatives, March 2, 1847.
8. Speeches of Hon. Charles Sumner, on the Boston Memorial for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and in Reply to Messrs. Jones of Tennessee, Butler of South Carolina, and Mason of Virginia.” Senate of the United States, June 26 and 28, 1854. Washington D.C.: Buell & Blanchard, 1854.
9. Appeal to the People of Maine, by a Citizen.” August 1, 1855.
10. The Constitutional Duty of the Federal Government to Abolish American Slavery: An Expose of the Position of the American Abolition Society.” New York, 1856
11. The African Repository, 57:5, May, 1881, Washington DC.
12. Arthur Tappan,” #677, New York, The American Tract Society, 1865[?]
13. The Constitution of the Emancipation League in the City of New York.
    

Deeds or bills of sale which served as legal documents in slave trade. Some bills from the Lexington, Kentucky area. One manumission.

Box 1, continued

1. Wm Daniel, Bill of Sale for 7-year old Girl to Wm. Hamer, North Carolina 1769
2. Bill of sale for 40-yr-old woman Nancy by A. Saunders to David Sayre, Lexington, Ky 1823
3. Will of Wm Bentley, 1833, executed 1835, naming four slaves as bequests, Madison County, Kentucky
4. Manumission of John Mallory, 1841, by Wm. Lyle of Bourbon County, Kentucky
5. James Frierson, receipt of 13-yr-old Sarah purchased from James C. Reilly, Tennessee, 1834
6. Listing of slaves in lots sold in order to divide the estate of Beverly Daniel for the heirs, 1828
7. Receipt from J Daniel for printing at the office of the ? Whig, 1824
8. List of goods sold to Beverly Daniel by Wm. Allen, 1826-1828
9. List of goods sold to Beverly Daniel by Robt. Ware, 1825-1826
10. Deed, Georgia, April 1846, executor L Scarlett sells five slaves purchased at auction by M. Jones
11. Benjamin Wood, Lexington, KY, 1842 bill of sale to Cornelius Nevius of Garrard County for Jane, 5, and Caroline, 12
12. William Nelson, 1833, hires John from Reuben Franklin
13. Joseph Ramsey, bill of sale to William Nelson for Octava, 39, and Alexander, age 3, in 1848
14. Bill of sale by E Broaddus et al. to Wm Nelson for Ellick, 52 years old, in 1849

The letters of various correspondents involved in abolitionist work and some family letters, including one from a Union prison camp.

Box 1, continued

1. Letter to Mary Freude[?] from Rebecca, London, Apr 24, 1825, 3rd day of antislavery meeting: women’s meeting described.
2. Letter from Robert Daniel, Independence, Missouri, to Major Jesse Daniel, Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, Dec. 10, 1839, regarding deed and money transfer
3. Letter from James G. Birney for the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, New York, to a separate party in favor of questioning candidates re: views on slavery. July 1838
4. Letter to Mr. Jehu Wells, Spartanburg, S. C., from Benjamin Barnes or Barner, Smithland, KY, Oct. 10, 1844, re sale of tobacco from “your negro man Georges,” plus comments on weather and politics. A printed transcript with information on provenance accompanies this letter.
5. Letter from Levi Coffin, “President of the Underground Railroad,” Cincinnati, July 18, 1853, to M. M. Robinson, responding to questions about the split in the Quaker meeting of Indiana over antislavery activities.
6. Letter from James Nelson, Pleasant Hill, Clarke Co, Kentucky, Sept. 12, 1857, to his son in Missouri. Discusses price of crops, stock, drought, activities of friends and neighbors. The “Matt and Lizzie” in the postscript may be slaves.
7. Letter from Thomas Garrett, “Stationmaster on the Underground Railroad,” Wilmington, DE, May 22, 1861, to Abby H. Patten, discussing hardships and hope for abolition of slavery.
8. Letter from J. D. Nelson, Camp Douglas, Chicago, IL [a Union prison camp], to his parents, Mar. 22, 1863. His company was the 5th Kentucky Cavalry. [Probably the same James mentioned in the 1854 letter from James Nelson, above.]

Clippings (John Brown’s execution), a 19th c. bibliography, three articles by Matilda Fee, and minutes transcribed from the New York Manumission Society records.

Box 1, continued

1. Extracts from “Minutes of the Society for the Manumission of Slaves from 1785-1797, ” “Minutes of the Manumission Society of New York, Vol 1,” John Jay, President. Membership list included. A final note by William Goodell, dated 1857, indicates he copied much of the document.
2. Bibliography of books and pamphlets on slavery and anti-slavery in the Oberlin College Library, up to 1874.
3. Typescript of article by Matilda Hamilton Fee, for the American Missionary Society, January 1858, describing the two small blond slaves and mulatto mother who rode in the stage with her from Lexington to Richmond.
4. Typescript of article by Matilda Hamilton Fee, for the American Missionary Society, January 1858, May 1858, describing a conversation with the only colored member of Union church in Berea at that time.
5. Typescript of article by Matilda Hamilton Fee, for the American Missionary Society, January 1858, April 1859, describing her visit to a freed black woman in prison for attempting to free 5 of her descendants.
6. Copy of typed account by Andrew Hill, born a slave with the Dunson family, who enlisted in the US army in 1864. He names the leaders of the mob that pulled down Fee’s first schoolhouse. His recollections are dated June 5, 1916, and he gives his birthdate as Dec. 16, 1813, making him 103 at the time of this account.
7. Clippings from the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Dec. 3, 1859, reporting the execution of John Brown.
8. Copy of the Kentucky legislature's March 1861 Resolution to invite representatives of other states to a convention for the purpose of resolving the differences between the states of the Union and the secessionists.

Box 1, continued

1. 1854, Feb 8. "Speech of Mr. Everett of Massachusetts on the Nebraska and Kansas Territorial Bill."
2. 1856, May 19. "Speech of Charles Sumner: The Crime against Kansas."
3. 1860, May 15. "Speech of Hon. S.A. Douglas of Illinois : Non-Interference by congress with slavery in the territories."
4. 1860, June 4. "Speech of Charles Sumner: The Barbarism of Slavery."
5. 1860, May 21. "Letter from Hon. W.H. Seward."
6. 1862, Oct 6. "Speech of Charles Sumner: Emancipation!"
7. 1862. "Union for the Sake of the Union: To the People of Michigan."

1. 1865. "A discourse preached on the Sabbath following the Assassination of the President."
2. 1865, Dec 20. "Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner: Protection of Freedmen."
3. 1865. "Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Grand National Council, Union League of America."
4. 1866, Nov 3. "Rooms of 'The National Union Boys in Blue.' "
5. 1866, Aug 14. "Proceedings of the national union convention."
6. 1866. "The Freedman's Bureau: Reports of Generals Steedman and Fullerton."
7. 1866. "National Union Club Documents: Speeches."
8. 1866, April 4. "Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull: The Civil Rights Bill - Veto Message."
9. 1866, Feb 28. "Speech of Hon. James W. Nye."
10. 1866, Jan 31. "Speech of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens: Basis of Representation."
11. 1866, Feb 24. "Speech of F.C. Beaman: Representation of the Rebellious States."
12. 1866, Jan 18. "Speech of Hon. B.F. Wade: Against the immediate restoration of the seceded states."

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