Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

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. The books record the goods sold in each port, such as slaves, fabric, and sugar, and contain details on seamen's wages and instructions to the captain for the treatment of slaves.

The Thomas Leyland Company account books are two volumes of records for the slave ships Hannah (1789-90) and Jenny (1792-1793), which made trips from Liverpool to Africa, then across the Atlantic to Jamaica and other West Indian Islands. These record the goods (sugar, food, arms, and cloth) and slaves sold in each port, and contain details on seamen's wages and instructions to ship captains for the treatment of slaves.

The first volume documents the 2nd voyage of the Ship Hannah, captained by Charles Wilson (39 pages). The ship sailed from Liverpool on July 3, 1789, to the Calabar River in Africa (present day Nigeria), then to Barbadoes; Dominica; and Kingston, Jamaica; and finally back to Liverpool in December 1790.

The account book opens with directions to the captain, instructing him on the ship's itinerary and what to sell and purchase on the journey. The note also cautioned the captain to treat his crew with humanity and to show the "utmost tenderness to the Negroes" (page 1). The next item is the shipment invoice, which includes food (white barley, corn, rice, peas, beans, beef, salt, and bread), liquor (brandy, port, sherry), china, fabric and clothing (hats, trousers, jackets, silk, cotton, romal and photaes), arms (gunpowder, muskets, French guns, and knives), and purchased items including tobacco, wine, rum, sugar, raisins, cotton, sailcloth, iron, and gunpowder (pages 5-13). Page 15 contains a list of the 30 officers and seamen on board the Hannah, with their names, rank or profession, wages per month, and total pay. Professions included master, mate, carpenter, cooper, steward, surgeon, cook, and seaman. Pages 16-20 contain lists of trader's names along with notes on disbursements and what they purchased. Pages 22-24 cover accounts for the 294 slaves sold at Kingston, Jamaica, with details on the purchasers, prices, and types of slaves sold (privileged men, privileged women, cargo men, cargo women, men boys, women girls, boys, and girls). Finally, pages 25-32 provide information about the total amount of sugar purchased in Jamaica for Thomas Leyland, and the accounts of goods sold to various traders in the West Indies, including William Daggers of Kingston, Jamaica; Barton and Gibbald of Barbados; and Neilson and Heathcote of Dominica.

The second volume documents the first voyage of the Ship Jenny, captained by William Stringer (29 pages). The Jenny left Liverpool on November 27, 1792, and arrived at the Zaire River (Congo) off the coast of Angola on February 18, 1793. They arrived at the port town of Emboma (today Boma, Kongo Central) on February 23, 1793, then at Barbadoes (May 6, 1793), St. Vincent (May 7, 1793), Grenada (May 8, 1793), and finally Kingston, Jamaica (May 18, 1793).

The record keeping for both volumes is similar. The account book opens with an itinerary of the trade mission and instructions for the captain on selling and purchasing cargo (pages 1-3). Following that are the invoice for goods shipped and purchased (page 5-14), a list of the 29 officers and seamen on board (page 15), tradesmen's notes and disbursements (pages 16-20), sales for 250 slaves (pages 21-23), and accounts with Thomas Leyland, who funded the expedition (pages 24-29).

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers consist of documents generated by the society as well as correspondence to and from various members of the society about slavery, the conditions of freemen, and other progressive issues.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers contain only a small portion of what must at one time have been a much larger collection. As a society devoted to the immediate abolition of slavery, the antislavery movement forms the context of most of the correspondence in the collection, but the members of the society were individually and collectively involved in the education of freedmen and in other movements, including women's rights. As a result, the collection offers a broad perspective on the mentality and activity of a small group of progressive northern women involved in the reform of what they saw as the worst inequities in American society.

The Society maintained contact with several national-level leaders of the antislavery movements, and provided important financial support to Frederick Douglass, in particular. The nine letters from Douglass in the collection all relate to the assistance provided for publication of his newspaper or are requests from him for direct aid to fugitive slaves en route to Canada. A particularly affecting letter is one that he wrote from England in 1860, while on an antislavery tour. Harriet Tubman, Beriah Green, Lewis Tappan, George B. Cheever, and Gerrit Smith also appear in the collection, either as correspondents or subjects of letters. Among the more interesting of these letters is one from John Stewart, probably a free black man, addressed to Harriet Tubman; a letter from Moses Anderson, also African-American, writing about the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin in shaping his political consciousness; Jacob Gibb's letter of introduction for a fugitive slave; and William Watkins' report on the number of fugitive slaves that have passed through Rochester into Canada in the year 1857.

British support for the Society was crucial in keeping it viable in the late 1850s, and is documented through the letters of Julia Griffiths Crofts (Leeds, England); Sarah Plummer (Dalkeith, Scotland), and Maria Webb (Dublin, Ireland). The fund-raising efforts of the society can be tracked partly through the list of goods donated for a Festival (1:77), a small collection of ephemera relating to British antislavery societies (1:82), and a list of donations from those British societies (1:28). The most significant item for tracking finances, however, is the account book for the Society (2:20), which covers its entire history. The secretaries of the Society recorded the complete finances of the organization, and provided lists of speakers at their annual events, and carefully delineated money remitted to individual fugitive slaves. Included at the end of the collection are a set of photocopies of the manuscripts (2:21) and supplemental information about the Society and its members, provided by the University of Rochester (2:22).

Freedmen's education was a major concern of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and is discussed extensively by several correspondents. The single most frequent correspondent in the collection is Julia A. Wilbur, writing while working with freedmen in Alexandria, Va., 1862-1865. Wilbur writes long and vivid letters describing the miserable living conditions found among the freedmen, their want of clothing and shelter, and she describes several individual cases. Wilbur also met and became familiar with the renowned ex-slave and author, Harriet Jacobs. The situation that Wilbur describes in Virginia verges on the chaotic, with corruption at the highest levels, dissension among those in charge of contraband matters, and many in the military reluctant or unwilling to take any responsibility. She was a perceptive observer of the progress of the war, Southern citizenry, and of the destruction that the war had inflicted upon Virginia. Her official reports to the Society, which are more general and less pointed than her private correspondence, were published in the Society's published annual reports (2:1-13).

In addition to Wilbur's letters, there are six other items pertaining to freedmen's education. Three letters from G. W. Gardiner and one document signed by Lewis Overton, 1862-63, relate to the work of the Colored School, founded for freedmen at Leavenworth, Kansas, and both letters from Daniel Breed, 1863-64, include discussions of the Rochester School for Freedmen in Washington, D.C., named for the Society whose money founded it.

The printed items in the collection include fourteen of the seventeen known annual reports of the Society, a report from the Toronto Ladies' Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored fugitives (2:14), and circulars from two British societies (2:15-16). Three issues of Frederick Douglass' Paper (October 2, 1851, February 19 1858, and July 1, 1859) and one issue of The North Star (April 14, 1848) are included in Oversize Manuscripts. An issue of the Christian Inquirer (New York, July 24, 1858), having no direct relation to the Rochester Society, was transferred to the Newspapers Division. Finally, in two letters written in 1859 and 1861, Rebecca Bailey discusses her father William Bailey's newspaper, The Free South.

The Dewey papers consist of more than 500 items that concern the Dewey family's business and family life. The collection tracks the movements of Dwight Dewey, physician and land owner, from Iowa, to Washington, and to New York.

The Dewey papers consist of 545 items relating to the Dewey family including 436 letters, 46 financial records, 9 accounts, 12 school exercises, 17 medical books, and 20 miscellaneous items. The bulk of the collection is comprised of letters written to Dwight by his brother Duane; his business partner, E.B. Holden; his uncle, Anson Hart, a banker and realtor in Iowa City; his Keokuk pastor, Reverend John H. Day; and many nieces and cousins. Only a few letters were written by Dwight Dewey. Though almost no mention is made of the Civil War, the letters help to provide insight into civilian life during the war. The letters concern business and family life and track his movements from Iowa to Washington, and to New York.

A substantial number of items relate to the Dewey family's business dealings. The Financial Records series contains receipts for property transactions, commissions and services, real estate taxes, and ledgers from the family store. The Accounts series holds R. Dwight Dewey's physician account books from 1806-1820, 1815-1842, and for 1838; and Dwight C. Dewey's account books for 1848-1851. These books document a doctor's business practices in the first half of the 19th century.

The School Exercises series consists of Dwight Dewey's student essays and penmanship exercises. The Medical Notes series contains detailed notes from some his coursework in medical school. The Medical Books and Journals are notebooks kept by Royal Dwight Dewey while practicing medicine in Turin, New York. He made notes on treatments for colds, syphilis, colic, epilepsy, burns, dysentery, and other ailments, and listed medicinal recipes such as "Pectoral Syrup," "Rheumatic Liniment," and others. There are no accounts of Dwight's medical practice.

Miscellaneous items include wedding invitations; printed materials for the Keokuk Female Seminary, the state University of Iowa, and the Iowa Medical Society; and two lists of medical instruments, one with drawings of scalpel types.

The Bird family papers are made up of correspondence, documents, ephemera, and other materials related to members of the Bird family of East Smithfield, Pennsylvania.

The Bird family papers are made up of correspondence, documents, ephemera, and other materials related to members of the Bird family of East Smithfield, Pennsylvania. A number of letters written between George Niles Bird and Frances Rowe depict their lengthy, occasionally difficult, courtship in the late 19th century. Letters from other friends and family members are interspersed, including a letter from Hope Rowe recounting the funeral of President James A. Garfield (October 9, 1881).

Nancy N. Bird's correspondence consists primarily of incoming personal letters. Nancy's cousins wrote many of the letters, with the family's religiosity influencing much of their writing. The Bird family papers include many of Nancy N. Bird's speeches, including a series of talks delivered to fellow members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) between 1886 and 1912. She discussed temperance, religion, and topics of local interest, including the history of Smithfield, Pennsylvania. Nancy N. Bird's printed materials consist primarily of ephemera, programs, and newspaper clippings, largely related to her work with the WCTU and to the Bradford Baptist Association. Also present are three items written by Nancy: a short book entitled A History of the Sunday Schools in East Smithfield, PA. Since 1822, and two copies of The History of the Baptist Church of East Smithfield, PA. Other materials related to Nancy include journal pages, a photograph, and Sunday School papers.

Helen Bird's letters, written to her mother, chronicle her year at the West Chester Normal School, 1912-1913, and include frequent complaints about the atmosphere, the people, and the food.

Materials relating to George Bird consist primarily of incoming correspondence from friends and from his cousin Geraldine ("Jerry"). Jerry, who financially supported George during his time at Pennsylvania State University, also offered advice and updates on her academic life at Cornell University, while George's friend Eugene Edgar Doll discussed his experiences at the University of Chicago and his patronage of the arts. The collection also includes reports from George Bird's early studies and from his time at Pennsylvania State.

Personal letters from other members of the Niles and Bird families include early letters from Hannah Niles to her husband Samuel, and letters addressed to George N. Bird, his wife Frances, and their daughter-in-law Carrie. Two printed letters from "Robert and Bernie" in Impur, India, describe the country and their educational and missionary work; on January 7, 1921, they mentioned Gandhi's non-cooperation movement.

The collection contains diaries and journals, account books, and albums. The diaries include an 1844 unsigned journal, Hannah Minor Niles' 1866 diary, Nancy Niles Bird's 1851 diary, and Carrie M. Bird's 1921 diary. An account books tracks John Bird's expenses between 1846 and 1858, and a record book kept by Nancy Niles Bird includes the meeting minutes from the Soldiers Aid Society during the Civil War and household accounts. George Bird's autograph album covers the years 1879-1881 and Nancy Niles Bird's scrapbook, kept between 1850 and 1925, contains newspaper articles about her mother Hannah, members of the Bird family, and acquaintances from Pennsylvania and Kansas.

Other miscellaneous items include a printed map, a document related to the military chapel at Ellington Field, Texas, genealogical items, and manuscript poems.