"Frederick Douglass' Ancestry." John G. Challice, 1p., 1900

The Frederick Douglass collection fills one box and contains four folders with 11 original documents and 6 copies. The collection spans the years 1845 – 1900. Included are Douglass’ bill of sale, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and additional copies of correspondence transcribed and scanned from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

The legal document section is arranged chronologically and contains Douglass’ bill of sale, detailing the transfer of his ownership from Thomas Auld to his brother Hugh Auld in 1845. The typed transcript accompanies the bill of sale.

Correspondence is arranged chronologically and contains documents dated from 1846 to 1897. This section includes records sent to Hugh Auld, Douglass’ last enslaver, concerning the purchase of Douglass’ freedom, and correspondence from Douglass to Hugh and Benjamin Auld This section also includes letters from Douglass’ second wife, Helen Douglass; Quaker abolitionist, Anna Richardson; and newspaper publisher, J.C. Shaffer.

The newspaper clippings section is arranged chronologically and contains clippings from 1895 and 1900. The articles detail Frederick Douglass’ last travels to Europe in 1887 and 1888 and discuss his racial identity.

The copies of additional correspondence are arranged chronologically with any undated material placed at the back. The correspondence in this section includes letters between Anna Richardson and Hugh Auld concerning the purchase of Douglass’ freedom and a receipt issued by J. Meredith of Baltimore, related to the manumission of Douglass. Also included are letters between Douglass and his former enslaver Hugh Auld, and a letter between Douglass and Benjamin F. Auld, the son of Hugh Auld. Some of the copies in this section are duplicates and appear in other sections of the collection in different forms. Each scan and transcript in this section comes from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.