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The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865.

The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865. Topics addressed in the letters and documents include the experiences and work of enslaved persons in the North and South; the buying and selling of enslaved men, women, and children; participation in the French and Indian War, American Revolution, and Civil War of African descended persons; abolitionists and abolition societies; the American Colonization Society; the lives of formerly enslaved persons; African American education; and many other subjects. For details on each document, see the inventory located under "Detailed Box and Folder Listing"

The Arabella Chapman carte-de-visite albums primarily contain carte-de-visite and tintype photographic portraits of members of the Chapman family, middle-class African Americans from Albany, New York. Also pictured are friends, neighbors, and a few prominent abolitionists and public figures.

The Arabella Chapman carte-de-visite albums (16cm x 13cm) contain 95 carte-de-visite and tintype photographic studio portraits of the family, friends, and associates of Arabella Chapman, along with public figures and role models. The photos were taken from the 1860s to the turn of the century, with the bulk from the 1870s and 1880s. An inscription indicates that "Bella" Chapman received the second album from R. H. Bundy on October 3, 1878. The albums' covers are bound in blue leather, with designs carved in relief and metal clasps.

The first volume has 32 cartes-de-visite and 17 tintypes, including commercially produced photographs of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown. Also included is an autographed carte de visite by New York State Representative and Underground Railroad organizer William Henry Johnson (1833-1918). The second volume has 24 cartes-de-visite and card photographs, as well as 22 tintypes. Each volume has a partially completed index, with some manuscript captions written directly on some mounts and album pages. The sequence of photographs does not correspond to the indices.

Many of the photographs were taken by photographers in Albany, New York, along with a few images taken during visits to Pleasure Island Park; Saratoga, New York; and other locations. Arabella Chapman appears in six photographs taken at different times in her life.

Portraits of Arabella Chapman's immediate and extended family make up the largest portion of the photographs, including repeated photographs of her parents, future husband, siblings, cousins and nieces, daughter, and in-laws. The majority of the remaining images show Chapman's school friends, family friends, and neighbors from Albany. These include William Brent, a hotel waiter born in Washington, D.C.; Jim Goines, a porter; Charlie Butler, the son of a billiard hall owner and also employed as a waiter; and Anna Latour, the Chapmans' next-door neighbor, whose brother William was a waiter. Some portraits show Arabella's female peers, such as Elizabeth Myers, the daughter of Stephen Myers; Anna Bolden, listed both as a student and as a servant in a white household; and Mary Crosby, who with Chapman formed the only recitation team from Wilberforce in Albany's 1868 annual public school exhibition. A photograph pasted into the last page of the second volume shows Arabella's children and their neighbors, the Spragues.

The first portion of this volume dates from 1816 to 1854 and contains records on African Americans registering with the Jackson County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, in accordance with the state's restrictive Black Laws. The bulk of the entries are copies of evidence used to prove free status with brief notes about the officials who attested to the information in the originating state and recorded the information in Ohio. Occasionally the entries provide physical descriptions of the registrants, including general age, skin tone, height, hair, and scars or marks on their bodies. The second portion of the volume primarily contains copies of the commissions for Jackson County justices of the peace from 1816 to 1842. Occasional justices' resignations appear as well as documentation of ministers authorized to solemnize marriages.

The first portion of this volume dates from 1816 to 1854 and records information on African Americans registering with the Jackson County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, in accordance with the state's restrictive Black Laws. The first entry is apparently a copy of an 1816 document (Wm Sterett was county clerk in Mason, West Virginia) that was recorded by the Jackson clerk in 1818. The bulk of the entries are copies of evidence used to prove free status, with brief notes about the officials who attested to the information in the originating state and recorded the information in Ohio. Evidence provided includes manumission deeds, brief notes about manumission papers, portions of wills, oaths, court certificates, registration records from other states, and statements made in open court. Occasionally entries also provide physical descriptions of the registrants. Such descriptions often include the registrants' general age, skin tone, height, hair, and scars or marks on their bodies. Registrants in the volume appear to have migrated from Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina or have already been residents of Ohio.

• Benjamin Johnston, enslaved and manumitted by Lawrence Augustine Washington "because of the solemn and entire conviction that I feel of the justice and propriety of the act"
• Lewis and Jinsey Burchett, enslaved and manumitted by John Burchett
• A number people enslaved and manumitted by John Poindexter, including Charles; Edy and her son Tarlton; and Jack
• Charles, husband to Edy named above, manumitted by her "in consideration of the natural love and affection which I bear to my husband Charles whom I purchased of David Shepherd"
• Walter, enslaved by Alexander Catlett and manumitted by his children Alexander Catlett, Jr., and Horatio Catlett
• Children of Lucy Morris (alias Yancy), born free: William Henry Yancy, Martha Jane Yancy, Charles Alexander Yancy, Lucy Ann Yancy
• Ann Carter, daughter of Hannah Grant, "a free woman of colour"
• Sam Cale, son of Sam Cale, "a free man of Colour"
• William Mitchel, "a Coulered man about to travel to the northwestern Country . . . born of free parents"
• Various men, women, and children enslaved by John Skurry and emancipated by his will, including Mack Skurry; the children of Eliza Skurry (William, Giles, Richard, Jane, Betsy Ann, Nancy); and Sally Ann
• Various men, women, and children enslaved by Joseph Perkins and emancipated by his will, including Isham; Milly, mother of five children, Ann, Martha, Jacob, John, and Isham; and Polly and her child Dick. Notably Polly appears to have registered in Jackson four years after Isham and Milly.
• Charles Roberts, born free
• Various men, women, and children enslaved by William Morrow and emancipated by his wife Elizabeth Morrow: Samuel Cale, his children Sam and Ester, and his grandchild Susan; Hannah Grant and her children Ann Carter, Jonathan, Reuben, Sam and Mary, and her grandchildren Frances or Sally; Sina and her child Fayette; Rachel and her five children, Betty, Sam, Agnes, Patton, and James
• Milly, enslaved by Richard Hawks and emancipated by his will
• Julius, enslaved by Thomas Whittington and emancipated by his will. Over fifty other additional men, women, and children were also named as being manumitted in the will.
• Richard Grant (alias Dick), enslaved and manumitted by James Withrow
• Ison McGhee, enslaved and manumitted by James Stephenson
• Jesse Artist, "of free Parentage"

The second portion of the volume primarily contains copies of the commissions for Jackson County justices of the peace from 1816 to 1842, while occasional justices' resignations also appear as well as documentation of ministers authorized to solemnize marriages. Denominations represented include Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and the United Brethren in Christ.

The collection also includes a single disbound page of financial accounts relating to court fees, ca. 1841.

Ann Arbor, Michigan chapter of an African American women's organization. Minutes, correspondence, and subject files; also minutes and newsletters of Detroit area district of the organization.

The records of The Top Ladies Of Distinction, Ann Arbor Chapter comprise 0.3 linear feet of materials spanning the years 1982-1986. The collection is organized into three series: Ann Arbor Chapter, Area V (Detroit), and National Office. The collection documents the founding, development and operation of an important Black women organization. Included are such materials as minutes of meetings, correspondence, press releases and clippings, and other materials documenting the administration of the organization and its various outreach activities.