Jane H. and William H. Pease Papers

 

 

                                          Avery Manuscript #1019

 

 

 

 

 

Biographical note:

 

 

Jane H. Pease (b. 1929) and William H. Pease (b. 1924), professors emeritus from the

 

 

the University of Maine, Orono, and former associate professors at the College of

 

 

Charleston, wrote numerous books and articles on abolition, slavery, the history of

 

 

Charleston, and many other topics.

 

 

 

 

 

Scope and Content:  Approx 6 linear feet;  15 reels microfilm; 6 fiche

 

 

         (ca. 1970s - 1992)

 

 

 

 

 

The collection consists of research notes, computer print outs, photocopies, and micro-

 

 

forms amassed and created by the Peases in working on numerous projects, some

 

 

completed (Bound With Them in Chains, 1972; and They Who Would be Free,1974)

 

and some unfinished.  Photocopied primary and printed materials document slaves

 

 

and free blacks in Charleston, SC, national abolition societies, disunion addresses

 

 

and pamphlets and writings from figures prominent in the abolition movement, including.

 

a memoir and other materials re abolitionist Samuel J. May, materials by and about

 

 

 Joshua R. Giddings, an antislavery congressman,  and abolitionist Stephen S. Foster.

 

 

Collection contains several feet of 4 inch by 6 inch paper cards abstracting information

 

 

on Charleston slaves and free blacks, and abolitionists and their societies; with many

 

 

bibliographic entries on these and other subjects as well.  With a lengthy computer

 

 

print out of a statistical database of Charleston free people of color (ca. 1830-40),

 

 

with a code partially explaining the database and what various columns report. The

 

 

microfilm reels include information re abolition societies and their activities (ca.1820s-

 

 

1860s), newspapers (ca.1826-ca.1868), correspondence of important abolitionist figures

 

and various records from government and private sources re black labor and education

 

during the Civil War, especially in the Port Royal region of SC.  Of note is the minute

 

 

 book of  Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia (1839-1844), arm of  the Vigilant 

 

 

Association that provided aid for runaway slaves. Also worthy of mention is the

 

 

William  F. Allen diary (1863-1865); Allen, a southern agent for the Freedmen's Aid

 

 

Commission, describes his trip from New York to Port Royal, commenting on

 

 

freedmen, the Union Army, and the War. With the partial papers of William F. King

 

 

(ca.1830s-1850s) an abolitionist minister and founder of Elgin Society and settlement

 

 

in Canada. for free blacks and slaves..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box #/

I.

Scholarly articles

  Folder #

 

 

 

1

Photocopies of eleven journal articles by various scholars re slavery and free blacks.

1-1

 

 

 

2

Photocopies of  eleven journal articles re abolition, Reconstruction and Civil Rights by

1-2

 

scholars, other than the Peases.

 

 

 

 

II.

Primary documents ( photocopied) re slavery, free people of color and abolition

 

 

 

 

2

Photocopied materials re slavery and free blacks includes a list of those involved in 

1-3

 

Denmark Vesey conspiracy, burial records (1831-1845) and marriage records (1824-

 

 

1844) including some African Americans at St. Stephens Chapel and broadside (1819)

 

"Rules and Regulations of the Coloured Ministers, Elders and Members of the Baptist

 

 

Church, in Charleston, SC."

 

 

 

 

3

Photocopies of  "Charleston, SC, Free Negro Book"s  (1828, 1838, 1841) that list

1-4

 

the names of Charleston's free blacks and their addresses.

 

 

 

 

4

Photocopied court and legislative materials re slaves, slavery and free blacks includes

1-5

 

a portion of  Magistrate's court register (1829-1831) with some references to slaves;

 

 

court case of SC v. Edward Smith (1830) a sailor who distributed abolitionist material

 

 

to Charleston blacks; "Petition for Change of Trustee and Relief" for William & Laura

 

 

Decoster (1850) and copies of  Charleston laws (1820-1835) pertaining to slaves.

 

 

 

 

5

Photocopied selections from B.C. Pressley, The Law of Magistrates and Constables

1-6

 

[n.d.] for Charleston, SC re laws and regulations for the city.

 

 

 

 

6

Photocopied antislavery/abolition materials include an "Address of the American

1-7

 

Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery" (1804); "Declaration of Sentiments"

 

and the constitution (1833) of the American Antislavery Society; an "Address to the

 

 

Abolitionists of Massachusetts" (1835) from the Massachusetts Antislavery Society; 

 

 

random pages from the Antislavery Advocate (1859-1863); "To the People of  the

 

 

United States…" (1836) from the Antislavery Examiner; the "Last Speech of John

 

 

Brown" (1860); proceedings of  "National Emigration Convention of Colored People,"

 

 

(1854) re abolition, Fugitive Slave Act, the settlement of African Americans in Canada

 

 

and their emigration to such places as the West Indies, Central and South America, etc.

 

With photocopies of addresses from the American Antislavery Society (1845), the

 

 

Cleveland Disunion Convention (1857) and the Worcester, Massachusetts Disunion

 

 

Convention (1857) explaining their desire to separate politically, economically and

 

 

socially from slaveholders.

 

 

 

 

8

Materials by Joshua R Giddings includes copy of 1842 pamphlet published under his

1-8

 

pseudonym "Pacificus" titled "The Rights and Privileges of the Several States in Regard

 

 

to Slavery, By a Whig of Ohio," re abolition and politics;  and photocopy of pamphlet

 

 

entitled, "A Letter From Hon. J.R. Giddings, Upon the Duty of Anti-Slavery Men in the

 

Present Crisis" (1844), portions of which were drawn from the 1842 pamphlet.

 

 

 

 

9

Photocopied pamphlets from noted abolitionist Stephen S. Foster entitled, "Letter to

1-9

 

Nathaniel Barney and Peter May of Nantucket" (1851) in which he discusses the views

 

 

of American churches in respect to slavery and abolition and "Revolution the Only

 

 

Remedy for Slavery" (1855) wherein he advocates immediate abolition. Foster worked

 

to infuse abolitionist principles into northern churches and was involved in many reform

 

 

movements.

 

 

 

 

10

Photocopied autobiographical sermon delivered by the abolitionist Unitarian Samuel

1-10

 

J. May entitled, "A Brief Account of His Ministry Given in a Discourse…" (1867).

 

 

 

 

11

Photocopy of "Memoir of Samuel Joseph May" (1873) re life, ministry, educational

1-11

 

and anti-slavery work

 

 

 

 

12

Printouts from microfilm reels listing contents of reels, as summarized in series V

 1-- 12

 

below

 

 

 

 

III

Statistical data re Charleston Free People of Color

 

 

 

 

1

Various versions of "Code Book" of Charleston Free Blacks, providing a key to

   2 - 1

 

explain numerical codes used in compiling a statistical analysis of Charleston's free

 

 

black population, ca. 1830-40.With lists of numerical codes given to street address,

 

 

occupations, etc. With a note (1992) of Jane Pease about the computer program used,

 

the abandonment of the project, and the indecipherability of some of the data.

 

 

 

 

2

Bound computer print out (ca. 1980) of statistical data re Charleston's free people of

  2 - 2

 

color. Contains alphabetical lists of free blacks, followed by columns of numbers, some

 

 

columns matching to the code book values noted above.  With sections on Heads of

 

 

Household (HH)  household composition, gender,  city directory (CD),  Free Negro