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Slavery and Dartmouth College

American Colonization Society membership certificate, signed blank. Madison, James. 01 December 1833. MS 001939

Wheelock and the College's Early Relationship to Slavery

MS-1310, Eleazar Wheelock papers

  • Box 1, Folder 735603 Eleazar Wheelock, 1711-1779, to Stephen Williams, 1693-1782, Springfield, Mass. Wheelock's negro girl is likely to die. He doesn't know when he can come for Betty. Money matters. 1735 Nov 3. Lebanon Crank, a.l.s. 1p.
  • Box 2, Folder 743327 Nat'l Cushman to Eleazar Wheelock. Bill of sale of negro “manservant” named “Fortune.” 1743 May 27. Lebanon.
  • Box 3
    • Folder 749669 Testimony re. Samuel and Capt. Smalley and negro girl. 1749 Dec 19. Norwich.
    • Folder 749680 Hez. Huntington to Eleazar Wheelock. Report of investigation of negro woman who had libelled Saml. Smalley. 1749 Dec 30. Norwich.
    • Folder 750117 Hezekiah Huntington. Statement taken by Huntington from Mrs. Elizabeth Waterman, relating to Captain Dean's negro slave, Phyllis. 1749,50 Jan 17. Norwich, a.d.s. 1p.
  • Box 4
    • Folder 757157 Bill of sale, William Clark to Eleazar Wheelock; for “Ishmael, being a servant for life”
    • Folder 760276 Bill of sale, Peter Spenser to Eleazar Wheelock; for “Negro manservant named Brister”
  • Box 5
    • Folder 761477 Bill of sale, Timothy Kimbal to Eleazar Wheelock; for “a certain Negro man named Sippy” [name mis-transcribed, but unclear]
    • Folder 762313 Bill of sale, Ann Morrison to Eleazar Wheelock; for “a Negro man named Exeter…a Negro woman named Chloe…and a Negro male child named Hercules.
  • Box 11, Folder 765554.2 Occom to Wheelock; re: needs use of Negro and oxen
  • Box 12, Folder 765605.2 Eleazar Wheelock, 1711-1779. Recommendation of a negro named Exeter whom Wheelock wishes to sell, with the negro's wife and child, for £60. 1765 Nov 5. Lebanon.
  • Box 17
    • Folder 767674 Noah Baldwin to Eleazar Wheelock. Wants to know if Sayre (?) can go down to Nando's to be taken care of. 1767 Dec 24. Milford.
    • Folder 768168 Cloe's profession & engagement. A profession of faith written in Wheelock's hand. 1768 Feb 18. Lebanon.
  • Box 19
    • Folder 768675 Benjamin Bill to Exeter; re: complaint that Exeter abuses his wife
    • Folder 768675.1 Benjamin Bill to Wheelock; re: complaint against Exeter
    • Folder 769130.1 Col. Alex. Phelps. Bill of sale to Wheelock for a Negro woman named Dinah. 1769 Jan 30. (Hebron).
    • Folder 769240.1 Theodora Phelps to Wheelock; re: lending one of his slaves
  • Box 20
    • Folder 769365 Jacob Johnson to Wheelock; re: death of his Negro
    • Folder 769474.2 Eleazar Wheelock to John Wheelock; is going to Albany for his health and taking Brister along to wait on him
  • Box 21, Folder 770165 David Crosby to Eleazar Wheelock. Billy came with Wheelock's horse. 1770 Feb 15. East Hartford.
  • Box 22, Folder 770505 Jabez Bingham to Eleazar Wheelock. Wheelock's family preparing to set out. Supplies they are bringing: rum, sugar, glass, books, &c Mentions that Exeter will not go without Peggy and his things. 1770 Sep 5. Lebanon.
  • Box 24
    • Folder 771653.1 Gid. Buckingham to Eleazar Wheelock. Regarding hay and keep of Hagar and Nando. 1771 Dec 3. Milford.
    • Folder 772167 Buckingham to Wheelock; re sale of slaves Nando and Hagar
  • Box 27
    • Folder 773156.2 Eleazar Wheelock, 1711-1779. Warrant for the arrest of a negro named Caesar, who has defamed the character of a servant named Mary. 1773 Feb 6. Hanover.
    • Folder 773158.3 David Huntington & others. They go bond for the Negro Caesar's good behavior in the future. Signed by many of the members of the School and College, and by many townspeople. 1773 Feb 8. Hanover.
    • Folder 773306 Wheelock to Captain Moses Little; will buy slave Ceasar for £20
  • Box 31, Folder 775157 Wheelock to John Hubbard; agrees to pay Thomas Devines debt and obtain release from imprisonment. Devine to be indentured to Wheelock. [likely white indentured servant, but not clear]
  • Box 32, Folder 775478 Eleazar Wheelock to Gov. Trumbull. Has heard that the British are trying to get the negroes in the south to rise, and offers the services of a mulatto youth in the School to go among them and quiet them. One of his Indian boys robbed by the regulars. 1775 Aug 28. D. C.
  • Box 33
    • Folder 775673 Wheelock to Gideon Buckingham; Owes the one hundred pounds expected from the addressee and is in difficulty because he cannot pay the money. Offers to give Nando 20 acres of land and his freedom if heirs agree to send him and Hagar to writer who thinks God is displeased at the heirs for allowing Nando to treat his wife as he has.
    • Folder 775680 Capt. Asa Foot to Eleazar Wheelock. Regarding purchase of negro man. 1775 Dec 30. Colchester.
    • Folder 776128 Eleazar Wheelock, 1711-1779, to Capt. Asa Foot. Does not know when he can pay for negro and cheese. Asks addressee's recommendation of Mr. and Mrs. Bigelow as dairymen. Addressee's son does well at studies but applies too closely. 1776 Jan 28. D. C.
    • Folder 776226 Eleazar Wheelock, 1711-1779, to Capt. Asa foot. Offers him £65 for a Negro servant. 1776 Mar 26. D. C.
  • Box 34, Folder 777475.2 Jabez Bingham Jr. to Hezekiah Edgerton. About sending a Negro woman to Hanover to he cook. 1777 Aug 25. Salisbury.
  • Box 36, Folder 779252.6 Wheelock will; which leaves all interest in his servants to his son John; to his servant boy Archilaus his freedom when he reaches the age of 25 years and if he is judged to be of good moral character, and also gives him 50 acres of land in Landaff or some other of his outland
  • Box 38 Book of Accounts
    • Elijah and Fortune (1754), John English account, p. 27
    • Billy killing his hoggs (1746), Benjamin Collins account, p. 109
    • Occom, p. 114
    • To Bill’s and Fortune’s labor (Avery last entry, ref. to John), p. 120
    • Fortune, p. 129

Mss 786424 “Chloe, Negro of Hanover;” issues a complaint that Andrew Boynton has stolen a shirt off her fence

President Nathan Lord
  • D.C. Hist E449.L654 1860 A letter of inquiry to ministers of the gospel of all denominations on slavery. Nathan Lord. Hanover, Dartmouth Press, 1860.
  • Alumni L884zm Rev. S. McKeen’s review of A letter of inquiry to ministers of the Gospel of all denominations, on slavery, by a Northern Presbyter (Rev. N. Lord, D.D., president of Dartmouth College). Silas McKeen. 1855.
  • D.C. Hist LH1.D3 D282 The Dartmouth Oestrus, July 1855.
  • D.C. Hist E449.L655 A letter to J.M. Conrad, Esq., on slavery. Nathan Lord. Hanover, Dartmouth Press, 1860.
  • Alumni L844L2 A True Picture of Abolition. Nathan Lord. Boston, 1863.
  • MS-510, Lord Family papers Collection primarily documenting Nathan Lord, sixth president of Dartmouth College, his wife, Elizabeth King Lord, their children, and grandchildren. Of note are Nathan Lord’s manuscripts and sermons on slavery as well as correspondence and materials related to his resignation as president of Dartmouth College due to the controversy surrounding his pro-slavery beliefs.
  • Affiliates Files, Lord, Nathan h1821 Summary of slavery compiled by Arthur Hardy Long

See also

The Ties That Bind: Slavery and Dartmouth This exhibit by the students of Prof. Deborah King's Sociology 79.08 “Lest We Forget:  History, Collective Memory and Slavery at Dartmouth” explores the role played by the enslaved people of its first two presidents, and the College and Hanover as a site for the intellectual, moral and political debates surrounding slavery.

Dartmouth & Slavery Project A collaboration between Professor Deborah King and College Archivist Peter Carini critically examining Dartmouth's historical connections to the transatlantic slave trade.

Last updated: October 2021

American Colonization Society membership certificate, signed blank. Madison, James. 01 December 1833. MS 001939

A list of primary sources in Rauner Special Collections Library related to Dartmouth College's relationship with the institution of slavery.

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