A letter written by Muhammad Ali to his wife, Khalilah Camacho-Ali. The letter is two pages in length and is written in cursive, in blue ink, on two (2) sheets of partially torn, unlined, white paper. The first page (2018.75a) describes a night in…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.75ab
A handwritten letter by Robert B. Elliott containing his request of a friend for a loan of $100.00 in order to travel, on orders from Washington, to Florida on official business for the Treasury Department. The letter is handwritten in brown ink on one…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.160.152.2
A letter carrying an elder relation's formal consent to the marriage between James Trumbo and Catherine Williams on October 6, 1866. The document is a single page, handwritten in black ink on white paper. The letter reads in full: "Dear Florian: please go…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2012.46.9.2
A pamphlet titled “Letter on colonization : addressed to the Rev. Thornton J. Mills, corresponding secretary of the Kentucky Colonization Society” written by James G. Birney. The document is printed in brown ink on off-white paper. The publisher’s…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2010.1.17
A handwritten letter concerning the actions of the 54th Massachusetts during the Civil War, written on both sides of a single sheet of paper, folded to form four pages. This letter is addressed to "cousin" but remains unsigned. The writer gives a brief…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.37.4
The single–volume (122), dated March–April 1865, contains three items as labeled: a letter sent, a general order, and an instruction. The volume also contains letters and reports sent by Henry Rountree, agent for a Contraband Relief Commission in Vicksburg…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog NMAAHC.FB.M1907, File 3.8.1
A letter written by Frederick Douglass to the Honorable J.A.J. Creswell on Freedmen's Savings Bank letterhead. The letterhead is pre-printed at top center in decorative black font and reads [Principal Office / of the / Freedman's Savings / and / Trust…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2021.58.2
This letter was written in Old Calabar, Nigeria by King Eyo Honesty II to a British captain. Eyo writes about an exchange of oil and empty casks – a trading relationship born out of the banned slave trade. The letter is undated and there is a significant…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.46.8.4
A letter to Bushrod Washington, George Washington's nephew, from James Henderson regarding the business of the Dismal Swamp Company. Letter is written on a single sheet of paper that was folded in a manner as to be its own envelope. Henderson offers to act…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2019.28.6
A letter signed by Toussaint Louverture to Charles Humbert Marie Vincent from Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien), Haiti, on October 21, 1797. The text itself was recorded by a scribe as Louverture's written French was limited, though the content comprises his…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2009.26.2ab
This letter was written in Richmond, Kentucky, on January 14, 1847, by Samuel Fox to Giles Saunders in Richmond, Virginia. The letter details the sale of enslaved people by Fox and his associates, including the recovery of one enslaved man who was loaned…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.3.3
This letter was written in Madison County, Kentucky, on April 17, 1848, by Samuel M. Fox to Giles Saunders in Richmond, Virginia. Fox writes of his success in selling several enslaved people and about concerns of the prices for enslaved people around…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.3.1
This letter was written on February 18, 1861, by Ann Hurst Copeland to her husband John H. Copeland. The letter details the recent betrothals of several friends and Ann, who signed the letter "Annuk," comments she has been ill. She also expresses her…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.7.3
This letter was written in Richmond, Virginia, on December 19, 1840 by T. Heatherly to Doctor M. C. Taylor in Richmond, Kentucky. The letter details Heatherly's trip by ship and rail from Charleston, South Carolina, to Richmond, Virginia. He speaks about…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.3.4
This letter was written in Richmond, Virginia, on December 28, 1840, by T. Heatherly to Doctor M. C. Taylor of Richmond, Kentucky. Heatherly writes of purchasing one enslaved man for $630.00 whom he plans to sell in Kentucky for $800.00. He also lists…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.3.5
A handwritten letter in black ink on white paper. Peter Vanbebber, an enslaved preacher in Missouri, writes a white minister and asks to be bought from his present master for $1,000, and then allowed to emigrate to Liberia to serve the Lord. He says his…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2009.14.5
This letter was written in Freetown, Sierra Leone, May 8th, 1842 by Joseph May to a Mrs. Mary Denham in London, England. From the Wesleyan Mission House, May writes of his sea and land travels to and throughout Western Africa. He recounts the weather, the…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2018.46.9
This letter was written from Charleston, South Carolina, on March 5, 1808, by David Selden to his parents in Chatham, Connecticut. Selden lists several cities he has recently traveled to including New York and Philadelphia, with future destinations…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.2
This letter was written in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 28, 1849, by Giles Saunders to Samuel Fox in Richmond, Kentucky. Saunders describes a recent sale of mules and notes, "I understand negroes is much hyer than last year" in reference to the…
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CultureCatalog 2014.174.3.2
