Legal Documents Concerning Slavery Collection
name: label: Author
content: Maynard, Thomas
label: Donor
content: Clark, Julie
place: label: Place
content: Maryland
topic: label: Topic
content: Branding (Punishment)
label: Topic
content: Fugitive slaves
label: Topic
content: Slaves -- Emancipation
label: Topic
content: Slave trade -- Maryland
label: Topic
content: Slaveholders -- Maryland
label: Topic
content: Slavery -- United States -- Maryland
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Bill of Sale of "one Negro girl named Nancy, about three years old, from Thomas Maynard to John Stephen Hale, for the sum of 30 pounds, Frederick County, Maryland, June 13, 1796." 2002 acquisition: "Receipt for a slave named Wilson", January 19, 1863, and two carte-de-visite portraits: W.B. Mitchell, July 1880, and Pleasant A. Mitchell, undated. Gifts of Julie Clark, 2008 addendum.
creator: label: Author
content: Maynard, Thomas
setName: label: See more items in
content: Legal Documents Concerning Slavery Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: A collection of a variety of legal documents that relate to slavery and African-Americans.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Up until the Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent victory of the Union forces in the Civil War, slaves were considered chattel, property that could be bought and sold. Slaves were a commodity that could be attached for non-payment of debt, used as collateral, given as bequests in a will, and were considered assets of a deceased's estate.  As such, they engendered legal battles and the need for a variety of legal documents asserting one's freedom or manumission.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (2 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: undated
label: Date
content: 1710-1865
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: This collection originally consisted of a single document, and was entitled, Maryland Slave Bill of Sale. In 2008, the Museum's Division of Music, Sports and Entertainment (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) transferred numerous documents, which were added to the single document entitled Maryland Slave Bill of Sale and re-named as Legal Documents Concerning Slavery, 1710-1865, undated (manumission documents, bills of sale, a deed of title, a deed of trust, estate documents, one document relating to the branding of captured runaway slaves, and other papers relating to slavery).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0786
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Bills of sale
label: Type
content: Deeds
label: Type
content: Land titles
label: Type
content: Slave bills of sale
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Manumission, deeds of
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into 1 series:

Series 1: Legal Documents Concerning Slavery, 1710-1865, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., 2011; supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist.  Additional processing by Walter Hursey and Jakob Dopp, 2015, supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Bills of sale
label: Genre/Form
content: Deeds
label: Genre/Form
content: Land titles
label: Genre/Form
content: Slave bills of sale
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts -- 18th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Manumission, deeds of
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection consists mainly of a wide vareity of court and legal documents such as, bills of sale, warrants, a manumission document, a certificate of free birth, and documents concerning debt, property, and legal obligations.  The documents originated in four states: Alabama, the Carolina colony, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. They span the greatest portion of the era of slavery within what is now the United States. Most of the documents are from Lawrence County, Alabama and may have at one time been created or used as evidence in either an orphans court or civil court case. The documents are arranged in one series in chronological order.