DOI: 10.7910/dvn/sx2nne
title: Digital Library on American Slavery

description: The Digital Library on American Slavery (DLAS) is an expanding resource compiling independent collections focused upon race and slavery in the American South, made searchable through a single, simple interface. DLAS houses tens of thousands of records relating to all 15 slave states and Washington, D.C. as well as a number of northern states. DLAS contains detailed personal information about over 100 thousand individuals, including enslaved people, enslavers, free people of color, and more.

The goal of the Digital Library on American Slavery is to bring together and make freely accessible public records related to enslavement, with an emphasis upon the names and stories of the enslaved. DLAS strives to be a documentation project, not an interpretive effort. The team works with researchers to make data sets available for personal research.

Each project housed within DLAS includes a data dictionary/user guide tailored to that dataset or type of record. 

Court petitions (The Race and Slavery Petitions Project)
The Race and Slavery Petitions Project is based upon the research data of Dr. Loren Schweninger and offers data extracted from eighteenth and nineteenth-century documents and processed over a period of eighteen years. The project contains detailed information on about 150,000 individuals extracted from 2,975 legislative petitions and 14,512 county court petitions, as well as from a wide range of related documents, including wills, inventories, deeds, bills of sale, depositions, court proceedings, and amended petitions among others. Buried in these documents are the names and other data on roughly 80,000 enslaved people, 8,000 free people of color, and 62,000 whites, both enslavers and not.

Runaway slave notices (The N.C. Runaway Slave Advertisements Project) [forthcoming]
This project provides online access to all known runaway slave advertisements (more than 5000 items) published in North Carolina newspapers from 1751 to 1865. These brief ads provide a glimpse into the social, economic, and cultural world of the American slave system and the specific experience within North Carolina. The project includes digital images, full-text transcripts, and descriptive metadata, as well as contextual essays and an annotated bibliography.

Slave deeds (People Not Property) [forthcoming]
People Not Property is a unique, centralized database of bills of sales from across over 20 North Carolina counties, Washington DC, and other states. The project indexes the names of enslaved people from across the state, and includes robust metadata, images, and searchable indexes. This is an ongoing effort, and the project will continue to expand to other counties across North Carolina as well as into other states and districts.
description: Adams County Courthouse, Natchez, Mississippi
Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama
Alachua County Courthouse, Gainesville, Florida
Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee
Arkansas History Commission, Little Rock, Arkansas
Ascension Parish Courthouse, Donaldsonville, Louisiana
Autauga County Courthouse, Prattville, Alabama
Baldwin County Courthouse, Hardwick, Georgia
Barbour County Clerk's Office, Clayton, Alabama
Barbour County Courthouse, Clayton, Alabama
Bastrop County Courthouse, Bastrop, Texas
Bedford County Courthouse, Shelbyville, Tennessee
Bibb County Courthouse, Centreville, Alabama
Bibb County Courthouse, Macon, Georgia
Billups-Garth Archives, Lowndes County Public Library, Columbus, Mississippi
Bourbon County Courthouse, Paris, Kentucky
Bradley County Courthouse, Warren, Arkansas
Brazoria County Courthouse, Angleton, Texas
Bryan County Courthouse, Pembroke, Georgia
Bulloch County Courthouse, Statesboro, Georgia
Camden County Courthouse, Woodbine, Georgia
Cape Girardeau County Courthouse, Jackson, Missouri
Catahoula Parish Courthouse, Harrisonburg, Louisiana
Center for American History, the University of Texas, Austin, Texas
Chambers County Courthouse, Lafayette, Alabama
Chatham County Courthouse, Savannah, Georgia
Circuit Court Building, Rustburg, Virginia
Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Clayton, Alabama
Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Petersburg, Virginia
Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
Claiborne County Courthouse, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Clark County Historical Association Archives, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Clarke County Courthouse, Grove Hill, Alabama
Comal County Courthouse, New Braunfels, Texas
Coosa County Courthouse, Rockford, Alabama
County Administrative Building, Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida
County Clerk's Office, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
County Court House, Grove Hill, Alabama
County Courthouse, Columbiana, Alabama
County Courthouse, Dadeville, Alabama
Coweta County Courthouse, Newnan, Georgia
Dallas County Courthouse Annex, Selma, Alabama
Dallas County Courthouse, Selma, Alabama
Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware
Dickson County Courthouse Annex, Charlotte, Tennessee
East Baton Rouge Parish, Clerk of Court Archives, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
East Feliciana Parish Courthouse, Clinton, Louisiana
East Texas Research Center, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas
Effingham County Courthouse, Springfield, Georgia
Elbert County Courthouse, Elberton, Georgia
Emanuel County Courthouse, Swainsboro, Georgia
Escambia Circuit Court, Pensacola, Florida 
Escambia County Courthouse, Pensacola, Florida
Florida State Archives, Tallahassee, Florida
Floyd County Courthouse, Rome, Georgia
Gadsden County Courthouse, Quincy, Florida
Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Georgia
Glynn County Courthouse, Brunswick, Georgia
Grayson County Courthouse, Sherman, Texas
Greene County Courthouse, Greensboro, Georgia
Greene County Records Retention Center, Greensboro, Georgia
Guadalupe County Courthouse, Seguin, Texas
Halifax Circuit Court Building, Halifax, Virginia
Hamilton County Courthouse, Jasper, Florida
Hancock County Courthouse, Sparta, Georgia
Harrison County Courthouse, Cynthiana, Kentucky
Henry County Courthouse, Abbeville, Alabama
Hinds County Courthouse, Raymond, Mississippi
Historic Natchez Foundation Archives
Huntsville Madison County Public Library Archives
Iberville Parish Courthouse, Plaquemine, Louisiana
Jackson County Courthouse, Marianna, Florida
Jefferson County Courthouse, Beaumont, Texas
Jefferson County Courthouse, Fayette, Mississippi
Jefferson County Courthouse, Hillsboro, Missouri
Jefferson County Courthouse, Louisville, Georgia
Jefferson County History Center, Jefferson College, Hillsboro, Missouri
Jones County Courthouse, Gray, Georgia
Judicial Building, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Judicial Building, Talladega
Kentucky Division of Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky
Knox County Archives, Knoxville, Tennessee
Lauderdale County Archives, Meridian, Mississippi
Lauderdale County Courthouse, Florence, Alabama
Laurens County Courthouse, Dublin, Georgia
Lawrence County Historical Commission Archives, Moulton, Alabama
Liberty County Courthouse, Hinesville, Georgia
Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
Limestone County Archives, Athens, Alabama
Lincoln County Courthouse, Fayetteville, Tennessee
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Lowndes County Courthouse, Hayneville, Alabama
Macon County Courthouse, Tuskegee, Alabama
Madison County Courthouse, Fredericktown, Missouri
Madison County Public Library Archives, Huntsville, Alabama
Marion County Courthouse, Ocala, Florida
Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
Maury County Courthouse, Columbia, Tennessee
Maury County Historical Society Loose Records Project, Columbia, Tennessee
Memphis and Shelby County Archives, Memphis, Tennessee
Meriwether County Courthouse, Greenville, Georgia
Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Archives
Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Mississippi
Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
Monroe County Courthouse, Aberdeen, Mississippi
Montgomery County Courthouse, Montgomery, Alabama
Muscogee County Courthouse, Columbia, Georgia
Nacogdoches County Courthouse, Nacogdoches, Texas
Natchitoches Parish Courthouse, Natchitoches, Louisiana
National Archives, Washington, D. C.
New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, Louisiana
North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
Noxubee County Courthouse, Macon, Mississippi
Oglethorpe County Courthouse, Lexington, Georgia
Perry County Courthouse
Phillips County Courthouse, Helena, Arkansas
Pickens County Courthouse, Carrollton, Alabama
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, New York
Pike County Courthouse, Troy, Alabama
Pointe Coupee Parish Courthouse, New Roads, Louisiana
Pulaski County Courthouse, Hawkinsville, Georgia
Putnam County Courthouse, Palatka, Florida
Putnam Parish Courthouse Archives
Records of the County Court
Richmond County Courthouse, Augusta, Georgia
Richmond County Records Retention Center, Augusta, Georgia
Russell County Courthouse, Phenix City, Alabama
Saline County Courthouse, Benton, Arkansas
Screven County Courthouse, Sylvania, Georgia
Shelby County Archives, Columbiana, Alabama
Shelby County Courthouse, Shelby, Alabama
South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
South Caroliniana Library, Columbia, South Carolina
St. James Parish Courthouse, Convent, Louisiana
St. John the Baptist Parish Courthouse, Edgard, Louisiana
St. Johns County Historical Society, St. Augustine, Florida
St. Landry Parish Courthouse, Opelousas, Louisiana
State Records Building, National Archives, Washington, D. C.
Ste. Genevieve County Courthouse, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Sumter County Courthouse, Livingston, Alabama
Sussex County Courthouse, Sussex, Virginia
Talladega County Judicial Building, Talladega, Alabama
Tallapoosa County Courthouse, Dadeville, Alabama
Tennessee Department of Archives and History
Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
Texas State Library-Archives Division, Austin, Texas
Thomaston-Upson Archives
Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas
Troup County Archives, LaGrange, Georgia
Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, School of Law, Little Rock, Arkansas
University of New Orleans
University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile, Alabama
University of Texas Archives, Austin, Texas
Virginia State Library
Washington County Courthouse, Chipley, Florida
Washington County Courthouse, Greenville, Mississippi
Washington County Courthouse, Sandersville, Georgia
West Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse, Port Allen, Louisiana
West Feliciana Parish Courthouse, St. Francisville, Louisiana
Wilcox County Courthouse, Camden, Alabama
Wilkes County Courthouse, Washington, Georgia
Wilkinson County Courthouse, Irwinton, Georgia
Wilkinson County Courthouse, Woodville, Mississippi
Williamson County Courthouse, Franklin, Tennessee
Williamson County Preservation of Records and Archives, Franklin, Tennessee
Yalobusha County Courthouse, Coffeeville, Mississippi
Yazoo County Courthouse, Yazoo City, Mississippi