Frederick Douglass papers
Creator: Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Call Number: A.D74
Dates: 1846-2024 ; 1846-1895 [bulk]
Physical Description: 0.69 cubic feet
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation

Table of Contents:

Revision Information
Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Subject(s)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accruals
Access
Use
Citation
Related Materials
Separated Materials
Content List
Series I: Correspondence
Series II: Legal documents
Series III: Images
Series IV: Ephemera
Collection Overview
Title: Frederick Douglass papers
Creator: Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Call Number: A.D74
Dates: 1846-2024 ; 1846-1895 [bulk]
Physical Description: 0.69 cubic feet
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation

Biographical/Historical Note
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a prominent 19th century activist, orator, journalist, author, and diplomat. Born in slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore, he escaped to Massachusetts via New York City in 1838. He began his career as a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. His 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, described his childhood, family, escape North and early abolition work. He would go on to write two more autobiographies, and countless speeches and essays, despite his lack of a formal education. He was an avid correspondent, catching up with family members, discussing politics with other activists, and replying to requests for his speaking skills. Douglass was married twice; first to Anna Murray in 1838. He and Anna had five children, including two sons who fought in the Civil War. Two years after Anna's death in 1882, Douglass married Helen Pitts, a white woman twenty years his junior. The married caused controversy in both families. In 1847, Douglass and his family moved to Rochester, NY where he started his first newspaper, the North Star. The North Star's motto was "Right is of no Sex – Truth is of no Color – God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren." A year later he was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. After the start of the Civil War, he worked to recruit African-American soldiers into the Union army. In 1872, after twenty-five years in Rochester, Douglass's house burned, and he moved to Washington D.C., where he took on a number of government positions, including consul-general to the Republic of Haiti and Chargé d'affaires for Santo Domingo. He continued to crusade for the rights of African-Americans and women until his death in 1895.

Scope and Content
The Frederick Douglass papers, 1846-2019, consists of correspondence and other material by and about Douglass. The bulk of the collection is correspondence written by Douglass, beginning with an 1846 letter written from his first trip to the United Kingdom. The collections contains letters written to correspondents including Theodore Tilton, Amy Post, Samuel J. May, Lewis Tappan, Lydia Maria Child, Johnson Mundy and Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett. Some letters are very detailed and others are cursory responses to requests for Douglass's time or money. Most are written from Rochester or Washington, D.C. The collection also includes a variety of images of Douglass, including photographs and printed images, both contemporary and modern. The bulk of the collection consists of material created during Douglass's lifetime, but there is also a growing amount of material from late 20th century celebrations of his life and work.

Arrangement
The records have been arranged in 5 series, all have subsequent subseries. Material within each series have been arranged in in chronological order.

Series I: Correspondence, undated, 1846-1895

Series II: Legal Documents

Subseries I: Document signed by Douglass as U.S. Marshal

Subseries II: Documents signed by Douglass as Recorder of Deeds

Series III: Images

Subseries I: Photographs

Subseries II: Prints

Subseries III: Oversize Prints

Series IV: Ephemera

Subseries I: Print Ephemera

Subseries II: Oversize Print Ephemera

Subseries III: Three-Dimensional Ephemera

Subject(s):
Antislavery movements
African American press
Abolitionists
Correspondence
Porter, Samuel Drummond, 1808-1881
Parker, Jenny Marsh, 1836-1913
Post, Isaac, 1798-1872
Post, Amy Kirby, 1802-1889
African American journalists
Journalists
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired through the generosity of multiple endowments over multiple years, including the Friends of the University of Rochester Libraries, Robert Metzdorf, and the Special Collections endowment.Accruals
Accruals to the collection are expected throughout the year.Access
The Frederick Douglass papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.Use
Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.eduCitation
[Item title, item date], Frederick Douglass papers, A.D74, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of RochesterRelated Materials
Manuscript material from and about Frederick Douglass is found in a number of other RBSCP collections.

Susan Brownell Anthony papers

James Elwood papers

Ida Husted Harper collection of letters and autographs

Porter Family Papers

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Gilbert H. Reynolds Papers

William Henry Seward Papers

Henry Augustus Ward Papers

Horatio Gates Warner Family Papers

Phebe Post Willis papers

For selected transcriptions, essays and images, please visit the Frederick Douglass Project .

RBSCP holds published material by and about Frederick Douglass, including speeches, books, broadsides, and issues of the North Star and other Douglass newspapers. Researchers can search the library catalog for these titles.

Separated Materials
Two books have been physically removed from this collection and catalogued. The works of Robert Burns: with an account of his life, and criticism on his writings. and Sentiment album by Mary Curtis Fish.


Administrative Information
Author: Autumn Haag
Publisher: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation
Address:
Rush Rhees Library
Second Floor, Room 225
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
rarebks@library.rochester.edu
URL:


Revision Information
2016-12: EAD revision
2023-06: Updated to include substantial accruals to the collection

Content List