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Digitized Archival Collections

The archival collections listed below have been fully digitized and made available online. The digital versions are complete and presented in a manner that reflects their physical/intellectual arrangement. Select a collection to see more information.

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Estate and business documents of Adams, a free man of African descent living and working in Trenton, New Jersey, in the late 18th century.

Samson Adams Papers, 1767-1794

Transcription in Progress
The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items from the William L. Clements Library relating to slavery, abolition movements, and various aspects of African American life …

African American and African Diaspora Collection, 1729-1970 (bulk 1770-1865)

Fully Transcribed
The Assiento Papers comprise Volumes 43 and 44 of the William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 2nd Earl of Shelburne Papers, related to the South Sea Company and Great Britain’s involvement in the Atlantic slave trade.

Assiento Papers, 1719-1748: A selection from the papers of Lord Shelburne

Journals documenting her time spent with the Mahicans at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, as a schoolteacher and unofficial Congregationalist missionary.

Elizabeth Camp Journals, 1819-1825

Fully Transcribed
Letters and documents relating to the services of Colonel Jonathan Chase, of the 13th and 15th New Hampshire Militia regiments, during the Revolutionary War.

Jonathan Chase Papers, 1775-1797

Fully Transcribed
The Lydia Maria Child Papers consist of ninety mostly personal and at times provocative letters dating largely from 1831 to 1894. The bulk is letters from Lydia Maria Child to her wealthy Boston abolitionist and philanthropic friends, the Lorings.

Lydia Maria Child Papers, 1831-1894

Fully Transcribed
The Loftus Cliffe papers include items dating from Cliffe’s service in William Howe’s 46th Regiment of Foot between 1776 and 1778.

Loftus Cliffe Papers, 1769-1784

The Fort Wayne Indian Agency collection consists of a letterbook kept by Indian agents John Johnston and Benjamin Franklin Stickney; an English-to-Ottawa dictionary, likely written by Stickney; and a memorandum book kept by Johnston during his time a …

Fort Wayne Indian Agency Collection, 1801-1815

The Harriet DeGarmo Fuller papers consist of four bound volumes of records and eight miscellaneous receipts of the Michigan Anti-Slavery Society, kept between 1852 and 1857, when Harriet DeGarmo Fuller was a member of the executive committee of the S …

Harriet DeGarmo Fuller Papers, 1852-1857

Transcription in Progress
The Thomas Gage papers consist of the military and governmental correspondence and headquarters papers of General Thomas Gage, military officer in the Seven Years’ War, governor of Montreal (1760-1763), commander in chief of the British Army in North …

Thomas Gage Papers, 1738-1807

The Gardner family papers document the management of Joseph Gardner’s sugar plantation, Estate Mount Tirzah at Savanalamar, Jamaica, particularly after his death in 1780.

Gardner Family Papers, 1776-1789

Comprised of 70 muster rolls and 15 additional letters and documents of the German regiments employed by the British to fight in the American Revolutionary War.

German Auxiliaries Muster Rolls, 1776-1786 (bulk 1781-1783)

Transcription in Progress
The Louise Gilman papers consist of letters written by Louise Gilman while serving as a teacher at the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, a school established to educate freed slaves. The letters describe Gilman’s activities as a teacher and her …

Louise Gilman Papers, 1866-1869

Fully Transcribed
The Great Britain Indian Department Collection, 1753-1795, documents British interactions with Native Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, with some material relating to South Carolina, Michigan, and Virginia.

Great Britain Indian Department Collection, 1753-1795

Transcription in Progress
This volume contains financial records, copied poetry and prayers, and colored illustrations/illuminations compiled by members of the Pennsylvania Dutch Holstein family of in the mid- to late 18th century.

Holstein Family Account and Commonplace Book, 1753-1831

The William Howe orderly book contains copies of orders for a brigade under British Commander-in-Chief Sir William Howe, from March 9, 1776, to May 1, 1778.

William Howe Orderly Book, 1776-1778

The Irving collection consists of three volumes of outgoing correspondence written from Liverpool, England, and Jamaica, 1809-1816. These volumes are a resource for understanding the mentality of a Jamaican sugar planter during the years following th …

Jacob Aemilius Irving Letterbooks, 1809-1816

This collection is made up primarily of incoming correspondence to Gilbert and Adeline James of Cherry Creek, New York. Gilbert’s brother Henry James sent 18 letters, most written while serving in the 7th Michigan Cavalry during the Civil War.

Henry James Family Correspondence, 1855-1865

Transcription in Progress
This collection of six Japanese manuscripts from the 19th century provide insight into important cultural encounters between Japan and the West.

Japanese Manuscript Collection, 1832-1861

The King family papers document the business activities of the King brothers. Three of these men worked as traders with Russell and Company in China.

King Family Papers, 1844-1901

The Humphry and Moses Marshall papers primarily document the careers of botanist Humphry Marshall (1722-1801) and his nephew and business associate, Moses Marshall (1758-1813).

Humphry and Moses Marshall Papers, 1721-1863

The Samuel Latham Mitchill Papers touch on a wide variety of topics, including domestic politics and foreign affairs; relations with European powers; the Barbary Wars and other naval matters; the Aaron Burr conspiracy; and Washington, D. C., society.

Samuel Latham Mitchill Papers, 1801-1829 (bulk 1801-1813)

Fully Transcribed
The Richard Pohrt, Jr. Collection of Native American photography contains approximately 1,470 photographs pertaining to Native Americans and Native American history from the 1850s into the 1920s.

Richard Pohrt, Jr. Collection of Native American Photography

The Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society papers consist of materials collected by the society, including correspondence to and from various members about slavery, fugitive slaves, the conditions of freemen, and other progressive issues; printed ann …

Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society Papers, 1851-1868

Fully Transcribed
The James Sterling letter book contains 175 letters written by Sterling, a fur trader, while at Fort Detroit, providing insight on the fur trade with Native Americans, French civilians, and the British military, and accounts of events during Pontiac’ …

James Sterling Letter Book, 1761-1765

Transcription in Progress
The James Stothert Papers consist primarily of reports from plantation overseers in Saint James Parish, Jamaica, to their absentee landlord, James Stothert of Edinburgh.

James Stothert Papers, 1784-1807

The Thomas Leyland Company account books are two volumes of records for the slave ships Hannah (1789-90) and Jenny (1792-1793), traveling from Liverpool to Africa, then across the Atlantic to Jamaica and other West Indian Islands.

Thomas Leyland Company Account Books, 1789-1793

The minute book of the United Sons of Salem Benevolent Society describes the business proceedings of a mid-19th century African American self-help organization.

United Sons of Salem Benevolent Society Minute Book, 1839-1867

Fully Transcribed
Dr. Vine Utley compiled his Observations on Old People 80 Years of Age while interviewing octogenarians and older individuals in New London County, Connecticut, from 1809-1818. He reported on their ages, families, dietary habits, and physical and men …

Vine Utley Manuscript, “Observations…”, 1809-1827

Fully Transcribed
The Weld-Grimké family papers document the lives and activities of abolitionists, women’s rights advocates, and social reformers Sarah Moore Grimké, Angelina Emily Grimké Weld, and Theodore Dwight Weld, as well as their family members.

Weld-Grimké Family Papers, 1740-1930

Fully Transcribed