Freely available Accessible Archives databases
The following books and databases are made freely available on the Accessible Archives platform. They will be migrated to the History Commons platform in 2024.
Twelve years a slave. Narrative of Solomon Northum, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana" (1856)
Fugitive slave laws allowed African Americans who could not prove their free status to be taken into slavery. Solomon Northup’s story brought this issue to a wider audience when it was released as a book in 1853, and is the basis for the Oscar Award nominated film. The book contains the original illustrations and the appendix of sworn statements that helped free Mr. Northup.
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman,
Sarah H. Bradford, W.J. Moses, Printer, Auburn, New York. (1869)
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Harriet Ross to slave parents in 1820. She married around 1844 and changed her name to Harriet Tubman. In 1849, she escaped from her owners, was captured but quickly escaped again, making it to Philadelphia where she found work. She went on to become a leading abolitionist.
By 1860, she had made over a dozen trips back to the south making use of the Underground Railroad to bring more than 70 slaves to freedom. She became friends with John Brown, conferring with him about his plans for Harpers Ferry.
Frederick Douglass wrote of her: “Excepting John Brown–of sacred memory–I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have.” During the Civil War, she worked as a cook, nurse and spy, and in the post-war era struggled for women’s suffrage. Harriet Tubman died in 1913 in Auburn, New York.
Reconstruction of Southern States: Pamphlets
This assortment of pamphlets was collected by the Department of State Library and comprises speeches, debates, political statements, legislative bills, and more pertaining to reconstruction. These pamphlets range in date from 1865 to 1869 and 1877. There are no materials pertaining to the 1870-1876 period.
The 1865 items provide a discussion on the occupation of the South and the program for “restoration of the Union.” Other pamphlets present the Northern view of the establishment of Reconstruction, particularly the states’ rights sovereignty issue, “redress of issues that brought about the conflict,” and the amnesty issue.
There are a few pamphlets that provide perspectives on the economic situation in the South and the unconstitutionality of the Reconstruction Acts. Other topics include the relationship between the new Freedmen and landowners, the position of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and political conditions in the occupied states.
The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue
This database primarily is a listing of marriages, deaths and obituaries from The Village Record, published in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Users will also find information about emigration patterns, customs and traditions, important events, medical history, biographical data, and more within this collection. The collection also includes records from The American Republican, Chester & Delaware Federalist, Eden Star, Literary Magazine, and the West Chester Gazette.