Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

A. IN-TOWN BLACK PRESENCE SITES

A discussion of the five in-town locations chosen as black presence sites and why they were chosen is an important first step in understanding the furnishing process which followed their selection. As noted above, these sites were picked in 1986 in discussions between Edward Chappell, Rex Ellis, Jay Gaynor, and Kevin Kelly.¹ The locations chosen and the rationales for those choices were as follows:

• 1)Wetherburn's Tavern: Taverns in eighteenth-century Williamsburg were the focus of social life for the city's residents, for travelers who were passing through the city and those for whom it was a destination. Henry Wetherburn's slaves were essential to the operation of the tavern. Their presence, both in the main tavern building and in the laundry, helps Colonial Williamsburg's visitors understand the economic importance of slaves in a small business like a tavern. Their presence also helps visitors understand the important social interactions that took place when Wetherburn's slaves socialized with local 13 blacks and those slaves who accompanied their masters in their travels. Although there is no overt evidence of slave occupation within the tavern itself, the east room of the kitchen/laundry building is furnished as a working/sleeping area for both Mr. Wetherburn's slaves and a hypothetical group of slaves who accompany a tavern patron.
• 2)

  Wythe House and Domestic Complex: George Wythe, wealthy lawyer and prominent townsperson, lived with his wife in relative comfort in Williamsburg. The domestic complex included a stable, laundry, kitchen, and several out-buildings and indicates the upper-class living conditions he enjoyed. It is the only large domestic complex in town open to visitors, and it is an ideal location to illustrate how slaves of various occupations and status lived on one property.

  In the house, the south-west bedchamber is interpreted both as work space for Mrs. Wythe and the living space for a personal servant. The west room of the kitchen, which is also a workroom, is interpreted as the living space of Lydia Broadnax, the Wythe's slave cook, and her male companion who have some privacy, a symbol of her privileged status. The laundry is shown as a less private space, with two family groups in the west room 14 and individuals sharing space in the attic and the east room. A stablehand's living space is indicated in the hayloft above the livestock in the barn.

• 3)Brush-Everard Property: Thomas Everard was a successful civil servant and property owner in Williamsburg. His smaller house and more compact arrangement of outbuildings offer the opportunity to interpret slave-holding on a smaller scale than at the Wythe House. The kitchen shows the occupancy of slaves known to have been here in the eighteenth century and also suggests the varying status which individuals of the same occupation held in different households. A rolled-up pallet interprets a slave's presence in the house to care for Everard's invalid daughter, while Bristol and Cupid, two of his liveried servants, are shown sharing the relatively private north room of the kitchen. The cook's presence, along with that of several other slaves, is indicated by a few objects on the upper floor of the kitchen.
• 4)James Anderson Forge: By the last quarter of the eighteenth-century, skilled slaves were found in most occupations, including blacksmithing. James Anderson's records indicate that he used skilled slaves in his blacksmithing operation, although the forges, as 15 currently set up, offer little indication of this activity. However, it is crucial to find some way to interpret this important aspect of slave life in the eighteenth century at this or other trade sites because so there were so many skilled slaves who lived and worked in Williamsburg.
• 5)Ludwell-Paradise Stable: By 1775, slaves accounted for over half of Williamsburg's population. Many of these slaves lived in stables or outbuildings; almost anywhere there was a roof and a dry place to sleep was considered suitable living space. The Ludwell-Paradise stable is furnished with a few simple objects to indicate the presence of a slave.

Once the choice of these sites were approved in March, 1986, by the Program Planning and Review Committee, and a target date for the actual installation of the furnishings set, the process of furnishing each space in an appropriate manner began. Using the summaries prepared by the Black presence Committee for the Program Planning and Review Committee², more detailed scenarios of each space were prepared under the direction of Rex Ellis. These summaries noted the people who might have lived in each location: sex, ages, skills, relationship to other slaves at the same site, and degree of acculturation. Interpretive goals 16 for each space could thus be more clearly defined. As part of this process, a budget was decided on so that costs could be monitored.

As in any furnishings plan proposed for the exhibition buildings, the plans for these sites were discussed with the curatorial staff. Jay Gaynor, Curator of Mechanical Arts, served as curatorial liaison for the project, discussing the required furnishings with each specialist curator. During these discussions, the curators requested information about black material culture of this period. Unfortunately, there were few references to these items other than in runaway advertisements, from the results of archaeological excavations at Kingsmill, Monticello and Carter's Grove, and in documentary references in most curators' files. Visual evidence was very sparse, consisting primarily of a few drawings done by Benjamin Latrobe. A search of primary and secondary sources, both at Colonial Williamsburg and at other sites, such as Mount Vernon and Monticello, yielded more information about eighteenth-century black material culture. This information was incorporated into the furnishings plans for the various sites.

With this information, the process of specifying actual furnishings began, guided by the lists of proposed objects for the specific sites that appeared in the March 16, 1986, memo to the Program Planning and Review Committee.³ Since the scenarios for each space had been more fully developed since the March 16 17 memo was written, the final furnishings lists were somewhat different than first proposed by Chappell, Ellis, Gaynor and Kelly.⁴ These objects represent a "best guess" in many instances, since there are few surviving eighteenth-century slave-associated objects. The archaeological evidence indicated that slaves lived with a variety of ceramics, those types often regarded as "out-of-date" or of "lower quality" by most slave owners. Runaway advertisements indicated that slaves had access to a variety of clothing and other textiles, tools, musical instruments and food stuffs. These were topics for which the curators had a substantial amount of information, so that knowing what types of textiles and tools belonged at each site was not difficult. Specific examples of clothing known to have been worn by slaves, such as the livery for one of Thomas Everard's slaves,⁵ were supplied using antique examples for prototypes. Because, for the most part, these spaces were located in out-buildings or other secondary spaces, it was assumed that any furniture to be exhibited -- chairs and stools, tables, perhaps even a bed -- could be based on examples for the antique 18 collection which were presumed to be indicative of lower class or rural usage. In short, using the evidence available in 1988, the furnishings for each space were based on available research as well as general knowledge of rural and lower class urban furnishings of this period in Tidewater Virginia.

At the same time that the lists of specific furnishings were drawn up, work began on identifying sources for the materials. Because almost all of these installations were to be in outbuildings, it was necessary to procure reproduction objects. Thus it was important not only to identify the objects themselves but also the prototypes from which reproductions could be made and the sources from which these reproductions could be purchased. These prototypes were: 1) antiques already in the collection; 2) illustrations from eighteenth century prints and English trade catalogs and 3) archaeologically-recovered objects. After each type of object was chosen and the proper prototype identified, available reproductions were purchased from various suppliers, and custom reproductions were ordered. After all of these objects were procured, they were installed in five of the six specified locations⁶.

These five sites were opened to visitors in March 1988. As this phase of the project was completed, the more difficult task -- the furnishing of the still-under-construction Carter's Grove slave quarter -- began.

B. CARTER'S GROVE SLAVE QUARTER

The furnishing plan for the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter began with the definition of the living groups in each of the proposed living spaces at the Quarter. These definitions were proposed by research historian Kevin Kelly in consultation with the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter Planning Team and were based on the various types of slave groupings known to have lived in eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia.⁷ The names of individuals were added by Kevin Kelly, historian in the Research Division, and Vanessa Patrick, research fellow in the Architectural Research Department, using an abstract of Nathaniel Burwell's account books, James City County personal property tax lists for the years 1783-1786, and the Bruton Parish birth/baptismal register.

The groups are as follows:

• 1) House 1, West, is inhabited by Joe, a skilled carpenter, his wife and her child, and two children of a female slave at another quarter.
• 2) House 1, East, is the living space for two single male slaves, Bristol and Manuel. These men are field hands, and their living space is the primary storage 20 space for the agricultural equipment used on the plantation.
• 3) The shed attached to House 1 is the living space for an elderly slave, Paris.
• 4) House 2, West, is inhabited by a female living group including the daughter, grand-daughter and great-granddaughters of Paris.
• 5) House 2, East, was to have been exhibited as the living space for another family grouping, but is now used as a break area for the Quarter's interpretive staff.
• 6) House 3, slightly removed from the other two houses, is inhabited by Daniel, the slave foreman, his wife, Judith, and her children.

Once these groupings and names were agreed upon by members of the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter Interpretive Planning team, Diane Dunkley, Associate Curator of Carter's Grove (and the curatorial member of the planning team) consulted the specialist curators and prepared a furnishings plan, using the information then available to the curators on slave material culture. This 21 plan was presented to Rex Ellis on October 14, 1987.⁸ Although some of the items on the curators' list, notably textiles, were accepted by the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter Interpretive Planning Team members, other items, primarily beds and other furnishings considered unnecessary for basic living or working, were questioned by other committee members because they felt that the lists the curators drew up contained too many objects for slaves at this rural site. A lively discussion between the Collections Division and Architectural Research Department resulted, with the curators insisting that slaves had access to a greater range of material goods than had been previously supposed. The architectural historians maintained that although some slaves might have been fortunate to live in such conditions, most slaves lived in very meager circumstances with minimal amounts of clothing, food, shelter and material possessions.

Although the curators were convinced that their original plan was correct, the architectural historians devised their own furnishing plan, based upon the evidence that they had collected during their research on the slave quarter buildings.⁹ The important differences between the plans, and the ensuing discussion, resulted in a directive from Cary Carson, Vice- 22 President of Research, to combine the evidence gathered by both departments and do further research into the suitability of using probate inventories as the basis for furnishing the quarter.¹⁰ Based on the results of this work the committee would be better prepared to discuss the merits of the furnishing plan and discuss any revisions.

The evidence was compiled by Vanessa Patrick and Alicia Tucker, intern in the Department of Collections.¹¹ Included in this material was information from the Departments of Archaeological Research, Architectural Research, the Research Division, and the Collections Division. Patrick and Tucker decided to organize this information both by subject and by source document. Quotes from each source document dealing with an aspect of slavery were organized by date within the following categories: African life, food, food-related equipment, free blacks, furniture, furnishings, health, housing, illicit behavior, laws and statutes, market economy, plantation life, 23 skills, sleeping accommodations, social life, textiles, and tools. If one quote dealt with several of these subjects, it was duplicated as necessary so that all references to one topic could be found in one place. The source was cited for each quote, and a reference was given to its location in the source notebooks, so that each quote could be read in context. With this data in a standard format, it was then possible to answer questions regarding the types and quantities of objects likely to have been found in a slave quarter. Questions derived from the analysis of these quantities, and considerations such as change over time, geographic differentiation and variability of objects within a given quarter or system of quarters, could also be explored.

During the same period, Jay Gaynor, Curator of Mechanical Arts, Martha Katz-Hyman, Assistant Curator, and Alicia Tucker examined 61 Virginia probate inventories taken between 1700 and 1789 listing the contents of 148 rural slave quarters. Some of these inventories included as many as ten separate quarters owned by one individual. These inventories were all from either York County or from the collection of Virginia room-by-room inventories initially assembled by Harold Gill, historian in the Department of Historic Trades.

Each chosen inventory had specific listings which identified goods as belonging to particular agricultural or slave quarters. Data on the 148 separate quarters was compiled by Gaynor, Katz-Hyman and Tucker using a Lotus spreadsheet for the 24 primary information and separate WordPerfect data sheets to record supplementary information which would not fit on the spreadsheet. The categories used on the spreadsheet included cooking utensils (pots, racks, pans, etc.), eating utensils (plates, dishes, drinking vessels), sleeping accommodations (bed, bed furniture), miscellaneous furniture (desk, chair, chest, etc.), trade tools, firearms, and agricultural tools. Also listed were the total inventory value (if known, as expressed in pounds, shillings and pence and then converted into shillings), the number of Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes on each quarter, and the occupations of skilled slaves (if given). The supplementary information for each quarter included a detailed listing of inventory entries for several of the above categories (agricultural tools, trade tools, miscellaneous bedding, etc.) and noted furnishings assigned to a specific quarter that did not fall into any of the spreadsheet categories.

The analysis of the probate inventories revealed that the objects listed at slave quarters fell into three distinct categories: 1) furnishings either provided for the overseer as part of his agreement with the plantation owner or used by the master during a stay at a particular quarter; 2) tools and equipment provided by the master and necessary for the quarter's operation; and 3) food and clothing intended for slaves but which had not yet been distributed. None of the ceramics, clothing, blankets, or other household goods known from other sources to have been at slave quarters appear in these inventories in the 25 necessary quantities, leading to the conclusion that probate inventories do not reflect the quantities or types of goods actually used by slaves and therefore could not be used as the primary guide in furnishing the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter.

While the curators from the Division of Collections analyzed these inventories in depth, Vanessa Patrick used the references compiled by the Department of Architectural Research during their research on slave quarter structures to identify three types of quarters -- 1) "home quarters," the quarters associated with the operation of the plantation owner's household and immediate grounds; 2) "home farm quarters," the quarters associated with agricultural workers who farmed the "home" plantation; and 3) "distant quarters," the quarters located on farms remote from the "home" plantation. The results were listed chronologically and analyzed to determine any differences in goods as a function of location, and to document, if possible, any significant changes over time in slave-associated objects. Patrick's analysis of the literary references concluded that there were differences in goods as a function of location --quarters closer to the house tended to have more goods -- but it was difficult, if not impossible, to see any differences as a function of time. It is important to understand, however, that there were relatively few quarters to which the "home quarters --home farm quarters -- distant quarters" identifiers could be applied and thus this analysis must be treated somewhat 26 carefully.¹²

The Carter's Grove Slave Quarter Planning Team then reviewed the furnishing plan in light of this new information. After many meetings, much discussion and some argument, the committee agreed to the furnishing of the slave quarter in essentially the same way as originally proposed by the curators. Procurement of the necessary reproduction objects, done in much the same way that objects were procured for the in-town sites, began in the fall of 1988, and the furnishings were installed in March 1989, immediately prior to the opening of Carter's Grove for the 1989 season. Items were installed in the quarter as they became available through the beginning of 1991. After the installation of objects in the slave quarter, supervision and maintenance of these spaces was assumed by the Director of Carter's Grove.

A. PROBATE INVENTORIES,

The primary documents used by curators in furnishing any of the exhibition buildings, including craft shops, are probate inventories. Colonial Williamsburg is fortunate that the York County inventories survived the Civil War and are therefore available for use as primary sources for information about eighteenth-century furnishings in Williamsburg. These and other Virginia inventories have been transcribed and are available in typewritten form for easier use.

Probate inventories are lists of a deceased's assets prepared after a person's death to assist the probate court in settlement of the deceased's estate. In eighteenth-century Virginia, only moveable property was listed in a probate inventory, i.e., furniture, clothing, cooking equipment, dining equipment, etc. Slaves were considered moveable property and thus were included in probate inventory listings. Real property, such as houses, outbuildings or storage furniture (shelves, dressers, cupboards) built into real property, was not included in the inventory. It was therefore natural that probate inventories were one of the first sources consulted for information about furnishings at slave sites. Probate 29 inventories of free blacks of that period, although they exist, were very few in number and were not considered in this study of probate inventories because it was difficult to know whether the material goods of free blacks corresponded in any way to the goods used by slaves. They were, however, noted as primary sources when located.

On first inspection, probate inventories seemed to show that slaves lived in the most meager of circumstances with the most basic of furnishings. When slave quarters were included in probate inventories, very little in the way of clothing, furniture, cooking equipment or furnishings was listed. The initial conclusion was that masters provided very little for their slaves and consequently few objects could be exhibited at slave sites besides cooking equipment.

A more intensive analysis revealed that this was not at all the case. This investigation led to one principal conclusion: that although a few inventories listed small amounts of clothing, food and blankets before these items were given to slaves, probate inventories were best used to determine the types and quantities of goods owners kept at their quarters for the operation of those quarters (principally tools of one type or another) and for the accommodation of an overseer or even themselves when they were visiting the quarter.

None of the inventories could be used as guides to furnishing the quarters with the personal goods likely to be found in slave quarters because the items known from other 30 sources to have been at slave quarters for the use of slaves -- ceramics, clothing and food -- were virtually absent from the inventories. For example, the inventory of Landon Carter taken after his death in 1779 listed 181 slaves at his residence at Sabine Hall, and a total of 202 slaves at his other properties. Neither food nor clothing for these slaves were listed in any of the inventories.¹ However, throughout his diary, Carter consistently wrote of the clothing and food that he gave his slaves. In November 1763, Betty, one of Carter's slaves, cut out 50 suits of clothing for other slaves.² The next year, in November 1764, he purchased seventy pair of shoes for his slaves.³ On September 19, 1770, Carter killed a "beef" for his slaves,⁴ and in an entry for May 15, 1776, he noted that he gave his slaves enough cloth for two suits each year.⁵

This evidence argued strongly for the contention (voiced by Harold Gill and others) that, although slaves were legally the property of their owners and technically could not own property themselves, for all practical purposes either 1) both blacks and whites considered slaves' personal goods to 31 belong to the slaves and therefore these items were not subject to inventory or, 2) white owners felt these items were of no value to themselves once given to their slaves, considered these things "beneath notice" and therefore did not include them in probate inventories.

It is in this area of slaves holding property that it is important to understand the ancient Roman principle of the peculium. According to this principle, slaves were allowed to accumulate property but that property was subject to appropriation by the master at any time, although in practice, the appropriation of the goods may have happened infrequently, if ever.

That this concept was understood and used (as customary law) by eighteenth-century Virginia slaveowners and slaves is illustrated by a letter from Thomas Jefferson to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, in 1798. In this letter, Jefferson thanked Randolph "for putting an end to the cultivation of tobacco as the peculium of the negroes. I have ever found it necessary to confine them to such articles as are not raised on the farm. There is no other way of drawing a line between what is theirs & mine." Jefferson thus acknowledged that his slaves were able to grow certain crops and accumulate property (whether it be goods or money), but he also did not hesitate to assert his right to prevent his slaves' acquisition of goods when that acquisition threatened his own livelihood. It is this concept of the peculium which may be the most likely reason why the goods that 32 slaves owned did not appear in their owners' probate inventories: they were indeed not considered the slaveowners' property for purposes of probate.⁶

In any case, whether slaves' goods were considered their "personal property" or whether these goods were "beneath notice," or even a combination of the two, the result is that items issued to slaves or accumulated by them were not recorded in the probate inventories of their white owners. Thus, probate inventories were used to determine those items owned by the white master -- primarily tools and equipment -- which were kept at the quarter for the use of the slaves.

B. OTHER LEGAL/PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

An examination of other legal documents -- wills, trial proceedings, etc. -- shows few specific references to objects owned by slaves. Slaves show up frequently in wills, but usually as property that was given to an heir. Very rarely were slaves listed as legatees. One example is found in the 1779 will of Patrick Mackey of Norfolk County who left "My Blue Rug [a bed covering], Old Sheets and Old Bed . . . to my Negro Wench Pegg, 33 the remainder of my Cloaths to my other Negroes."⁷ Instructions for the maintenance of slaves was also found in wills, but these instructions were of a general nature. Francis Jerdone's will of July 10, 1770, instructed his wife that "she shall be at the expense of ... Clothing and finding Tools for the Negroes on my said estate."⁸ No details were given regarding the types of clothing or tools she was expected to supply. Other documents associated with the settlement of estates, such as executors' accounts, were similarly non-specific.

Trial proceedings, although more specific in that individual slaves were named in them, did not generally deal with objects owned by the slaves themselves. The proceedings were more likely to deal with slaves as criminals and thus the items recorded were usually stolen goods, such as the clothing and tools taken by William Plummer from his master, John Tarpley of Richmond County in 1724/5 (see chapter IV, "How Slaves Obtained Their Goods," for a discussion of stealing as a way of acquiring objects).⁹ These items might be indicative of slaves' abilities 34 and training but not of what might usually be found on a slave quarter because many of the stolen items came from the master's house, store or workshop. Most trial proceedings dealt with more serious criminal behavior -- running away, assault or murder --and do not discuss objects used by slaves on a regular basis.

There are some civil trial proceedings which indirectly dealt with slaves, such as Robert Carter's 1798 suit against one of his lessors, in which Carter accused the lessor of not adhering to the lease agreement that both men signed. Included in the trial records is a copy of the agreements Carter made with his overseers regarding the quantity and type of clothing given to each slave in the spring and the fall. In this particular case, in 1795, each of the nineteen Negroes at Carter's Prince William plantation called "Cancer" was to have two sets of clothes in that year, furnished in June and December.¹⁰

C. RUNAWAY SLAVE ADVERTISEMENTS

Dealing with the problem of runaway slaves was a constant in a slave owner's life. There were very few masters who at one time or another did not have a slave run away. One of the first steps in recovering these slaves was to advertise their 35 disappearance in the newspaper, much as one might have advertised the escape of a runaway horse (both represented considerable capital, and replacing them was expensive). Although these advertisements may have had little influence on the recovery of the runaway, today these advertisements constitute one of the best sources for information about slaves and their appearance, clothing, and skills. It was obviously in the best interest of the master that slaves be described completely and accurately. Most advertisements detailed the time and place of escape, described the slave's physical appearance and the clothing worn at the time of the escape, listed any skills the slave had, specified any items the slave may have taken, suggested a destination to which the slave might have run (if known), and offered a reward for the slave's return. This advertisement, for a slave named Derby, is typical:

RUN AWAY from the Subscriber, a Negro Man named DERBY, about twenty five Years of Age, near six Feet high, a slim black Fellow, and plays on the Fiddle with his left Hand, which he took with him; he had on, when he went away, a Virginia Cloth Jacket, an Osnabrug Shirt, and a Pair of blue Broadcloth Breeches. I have some Reason to think he will make for Pittsylvania [County], as his Wife has been lately sent there to one of Mr. John Baird's Quarters. Whoever brings him to me, or secures him so that I may get him again, shall have THREE POUNDS Reward if he is taken within fifty Miles, and EIGHT POUNDS if above that Distance.
ROBERT HUNNICUTT, Junior¹¹

Many of these advertisements, including ones found in the Virginia Gazette, have been compiled in recent years.¹² A close reading of these advertisements indicates the variety of clothing slaves wore, from the most basic of clothing for field hands, to much more elaborate clothing for household and personal servants. The references in these advertisements to slaves "clothed in the usual manner of labouring Negroes"¹³ or to "the usual negro dress"¹⁴ suggest that there was indeed a generally accepted basic standard for slave clothing. The more elaborate clothing listed in the advertisements ("a pair of shoes with buckles;"¹⁵ "new brown cloth waistcoat, lappelled, lined with white taminy, and yellow gilt buttons;"¹⁶ "white linen shirts...and osnabrug trousers"¹⁷) indicates that many slaves 37 could obtain a much greater variety of clothing than their basic apparel. ¹⁸

Because so many of these advertisements list slaves' skills, they become important sources for figuring out what tools may have been at a slave quarter. The description of a slave as a cooper, for example (see runaway advertisement for Ben, a cooper owned by Joshua Jones in York County, in 1770¹⁹) means that there had to be a specific set of tools necessary to making barrels, pails and other such items at the slave quarter (the advertisement states that Ben "took with him sundry carpenters and coopers tools"). It implies that the slave may have been making such items for himself or for sale to other slaves or even to other masters. Listing reading and writing as among a slave's skills (the advertisement for Ben states that he could "read tolerably well") suggests that there may have been writing implements or a book or two at a quarter. Thus a close inspection of these advertisements provides clues to material goods not previously thought to have been at a slave quarter.

Many of these advertisements mention a former master or a relative to whom the slave is running. Although not directly indicative of material goods, the fact that slaves did run away to be nearer to relatives -- husband, wife or child -- implies 38 that slaves considered their families as important as their masters did their own families. This is borne out by some of the trial proceedings referred to above.

It is not known how effective these advertisements were in recovering runaway slaves. Close study indicates that some slaves ran away again and again. However, these advertisements remain as very good indicators of certain aspects of slaves' material lives.

D. LETTERS AND DIARIES

Unlike the late twentieth century, the primary mode of long-distance communication in the eighteenth century was by letter: parents wrote to children and children wrote to parents; merchants ordered goods from their suppliers; plantation owners wrote to their overseers; friends wrote to each other. Because so many letters were written, many have survived to become the primary sources to which historians look when seeking information about eighteenth-century life. Letters have proved particularly helpful in the study of Virginia's eighteenth-century material culture and have been used at Colonial Williamsburg for many years to aid in the furnishing of exhibition buildings and craft shops.

Looking again at these same letters for data about slaves and their material world reveals a wealth of information. Shopkeepers, local government officials, plantation owners, 39 lawyers, and merchants wrote regularly to their foreign sales agents or local suppliers ordering a great variety of merchandise, including goods for their slaves (primarily bulk textiles, clothing and shoes). For example, on February 10, 1773, Thomas Everard wrote to John Norton in London and ordered "4 Strong Great Coats for Negros 2 for men about the House and 2 for Lads Postillions."²⁰ Plantation owners wrote to their white overseers or agents with instructions about planting schedules, crop rotations, building repairs and replacements, replacement of supplies for the property, and, quite often, detailed instructions on the care of the slaves, including types and quantities of food and clothing. Joseph Ball, a Virginian living in London in the 1740s, wrote often to his nephew and plantation administrator, Joseph Chinn, with detailed instructions regarding the slaves on his plantations. In February 1744, he specified that each adult slave "must have a Good Suit of the Welch Plains [a type of fabric] made as it should be, not too Scanty nor bobtail'd. And Each must have Two Shirts, or Shifts, of the ozenbrigs."²¹ George Washington was similarly concerned with his slaves' clothing, for in 1788 he asked Clement Biddle in 40 Philadelphia to purchase "German and British Oznaburgs of the best quality, suitable for making Negroes shirts and shifts." ²²

Friends and relations wrote to each other about their slaves: problems they might be having with an individual slave, sickness in the slave quarter, income derived from hiring out a skilled slave, or personal remarks about a favored individual. George Washington wrote to John Francis Mercer on November 24, 1786, that it was "not in my power to answer your wishes [regarding the sale of some of his slaves], because it is as much against my inclination as it can be against your's, to hurt the feelings of those unhappy people by a separation of a man and wife, or of families;...."²³

In short, letters, although limited by the fact that they are written from the point of view of one person and therefore reflect just one person's experiences, nevertheless offer valuable insights into slave life and the attitudes of both slaveowners and non-slaveowners toward slaves.

Diaries were used in the eighteenth century not only as vehicles for recording personal reflections on life in general but as a way of recording daily events for future reference. Thus one finds in diaries kept during this time entries about the 41 weather, jobs to be done or in process, people visiting or to be visited, expenses incurred during the course of the day, or notes about the planting and harvesting of crops and the progress of the agricultural year, as well as observations about daily events.

Many diarists, especially slaveowners, also recorded what happened to their slaves during the course of the day: what work the slaves happened to be doing that day, their illnesses and the treatments administered for those illnesses, supplies they were given, or any other information about their "people" or "family" (as many slaveowners called their slaves) which the diarist wished to record. Landon Carter of Sabine Hall in Richmond County kept a diary, and the majority of the entries in the diary speak of his slaves in some way.²⁴ Frances Baylor Hill of Hillsborough, a young girl in 1797 when she kept her diary, noted on June 25th, for example, that she and her mother "went over the river to see Phill who was very ill when we got over he died in about an hour, his pour wife was greatly distress'd I never was sorry'r for a negro in my life."²⁵ Some of these journals also record payments made to slaves for goods and services. Philip Vickers Fithian, tutor to the children of Robert Carter of Nomoni Hall in Westmoreland County, noted in 42 January, 1774, that he "gave Martha who makes my Bed, for a Christmas Box, a Bit,...I gave to John also, who waits at Table & calls me to Supper a Bit."²⁶ That slaves were able to earn money meant that they were able to purchase goods from the local shopkeepers. These transactions show up in the account books kept by the merchants and indicate what slaves, as consumers, were purchasing for themselves (see section F below for details).

The sustained nature of journals and diaries and the attention given by many diarists and journal-keepers to details of everyday life meant that slave-related furnishings mentioned with some regularity in such a source were strong candidates for inclusion at any slave site.

E. TRAVELERS' ACCOUNTS

The New World attracted visitors from the time of its discovery, and many of them wrote accounts of their experiences for friends and family and for publication. In the period before the American Revolution, most of these accounts were botanical or geographical in nature, describing the plants, animals and geography of the newly-settled continent, as well as the Native Americans. Some travelers, however, did talk about slaves and 43 slavery even in the late seventeenth century, as in this account by Huguenot refugee Durand:

Most people grind [Indian corn] in handmills, sift it & use only the choicest for making bread; there remain grains like fine rice, which make an excellent but somewhat indigestible soup. With this soup they feed the slaves, & it costs very little to maintain them, particularly the negroes, for in some places they are given bread & meat only on Christmas day.²⁷

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, after the American Revolution, many more travelers came to America and observed the new American society more closely. For Virginia and the other southern states, this included descriptions of and opinions about slaves and slavery. Englishman J.F.D. Smyth visited the United States in the early 1780s and published the account of his trip in 1784. His narrative included extensive descriptions of slaves and their living conditions. For example, he wrote that a slave's noon meal "consists of homminy and salt, and, if his master be a man of humanity, he has a little fat, skimmed milk, rusty bacon, or salt herring...."²⁸ The Polish traveler Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz visited Mt. Vernon in 1797. He wrote:

We entered one of the huts of the blacks, for one can not call them by the name of houses. They are more miserable than the most miserable of the cottages of our peasants. The husband and wife sleep on a mean 44 pallet, the children on the ground; a very bad fireplace, some utensils for cooking, but in the middle of this poverty some cups and a teapot.

Those people who did come, primarily from England or France (although some were from states in the north that had abolished slavery), came from societies where slavery had never existed or had been recently abolished. They therefore tended to view the slave-based economies of the South with some distaste although some tried to prevent their personal feelings from coloring their reports. This opposition to slavery is very pronounced in many of these accounts, and this bias must be kept in mind when reading these travel descriptions. For example, Massachusetts resident Josiah Quincy, Junior, traveled to North and South Carolina in 1773. He observed the attitude of masters toward their mulatto offspring and wrote:

An African Black labors night and day to collect a small pittance to purchase the freedom of his child: the American or European White man begets his likeness and with much indifference and dignity of soul sees his progeny in bondage and misery, and makes not one effort to redeem his own blood. Choice food for satire --wide field for burlesque -- and noble game for wit! unless the enkindled blood inflame resentment, wrath and rage, and vent itself in execrations.³⁰

The accounts of travelers who went to Africa in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are also instructive in learning about black material culture. For example, the executors of Captain Hugh Crow of Liverpool, England, in 1830 published the memoirs of his travels to the west coast of Africa, and in particular Bonny, the imperial capitol of the Ibo, the area from which many of Virginia's slaves were taken. In these memoirs Captain Crow noted "most of the hard articles such as lead and iron bars, chests of beads, and marcelas (a kind of coin), they bury under the floors of their houses. Much valuable property is secreted in that way."³¹ Here is evidence that the root cellars found archaeologically at so many eighteenth-century slave sites may in fact be an African cultural tradition which was brought to the New World and survived over many years, and it comes from a traveler's account.

F. FINANCIAL RECORDS

The study of eighteenth-century store records, merchants' accounts, craftsmen's accounts and plantation account books is essential for understanding the types of goods available for purchase in Tidewater Virginia during the eighteenth century and the way in which the monetary system functioned in the American colonies. In Virginia, with its tobacco-based economy, planters relied on middlemen in England and Scotland to sell their tobacco at an advantageous price, and then purchase goods for them at reasonable prices. With all such communications relying on the success of a ship's crossing from Virginia to England and then back again, both the colonists and their agents in England were never quite sure just how financially sound they were: a lost cargo could mean ruin for both.

For the Virginia shopkeeper, this tobacco-based economy had its own risks as well. Although many planters as well as urban dwellers used the services of an English agent to buy goods for them in London, many more people relied on the local shopkeeper to supply all manner of goods, from dinnerware to violin strings. Some of the merchants' sales were cash sales; these sales are noted as such in the account books and do not specify either the customer or the items purchased. However, most of the shopkeepers' customers purchased their goods on account, for the planters would not get any money until their crops had been harvested and sold. Accounts were often 47 reconciled yearly, with the shopkeeper hoping for a productive year and safe voyages. Thus it was in everybody's best interest for all concerned to keep accurate and detailed accounts.

The many craftsmen who worked in Virginia also kept account books which detailed their transactions. Depending upon the business of the craftsperson, these books listed the goods he made and sold, detailed repairs which were made to the customer's existing property, and specified any other miscellaneous services that the craftsperson might have performed. Like the merchants', craftsmen could, at best, expect payment every six to nine months at the least, and more likely, every year.

Examining all of these types of account books reveals the types of goods purchased in Tidewater Virginia for slaves' use. Purchases of shoes, stockings, livery, hats, blankets, and tools for the use of slaves are commonly found in these account books, and the frequent use of the same descriptive terms for these goods -- "Negro shoes," "plaid hose for Negroes," "Negro cotton" -- indicates that these were common items whose definition was well-understood by all residents of the region. For example, the account books of William Allason, a merchant in Falmouth, Virginia, record numerous sales of all kinds of goods for the use of slaves.³² Likewise, the plantation account books record purchases for the slaves, such as Robert Carter's purchase 48 of shoes for his slaves at Old Ordinary Quarter in November 1773.³³

What is more surprising is that in the pages of these account books are records of payments made directly to slaves for goods and services and for purchases which they made on account (because of the nature of the transaction, it is impossible to know the details of cash sales to slaves). These purchases, made by individual slaves, are one of the few indications of what goods slaves acquired for themselves and confirm that slaves were eager participants in Virginia's market economy. For example, between 1760 and 1768, Jack, a slave who belonged to a Mr. Linton's estate in Colchester, Virginia, kept a running account with Glassford & Company. He purchased, among other things, textiles, liquor, knives, cooking equipment, and tools.³⁴ Another slave named Jack purchased an iron pot from William Allason in 1776.³⁵ These were only two of the many slaves who utilized their skills to acquire the products they wanted. Thus, a careful reading of these accounts, combined with other 49 information about slave goods, gives important clues about objects that very probably were in slave quarters.

G. SLAVE NARRATIVES

As might be expected, eighteenth-century or early nineteenth-century accounts of slavery written by slaves (or former slaves) are rare. Runaway slave advertisements (see above) indicate that a respectable number of Virginia slaves knew the rudiments of reading and writing, but it appears that not many slaves wrote such pieces, and if they did, few survived. One narrative which did was written by James Carter in 1807 in Alexandria telling about his own experiences as a slave and recalling the death of his brother, who was a runaway.³⁶ It is a poignant description of how a family was split, a brother killed, and how one slave gained his freedom. Other narratives, such as the one written by Olaudah Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa), an Ibo from what is now Nigeria who was made a slave in 1756, describe life in Africa.³⁷

However, most of the surviving slave narratives were either written in the nineteenth century or describe conditions during the nineteenth century. They can be used only with the utmost caution in describing conditions during the eighteenth century. This is because, as one might expect, conditions of slavery changed dramatically during the period from 1800 to 1860. As the black population grew and the South became more urbanized, more and more restrictive laws were passed, regulating everything from the movement of slaves to their hiring and their manumission. Additionally, most of the surviving nineteenth-century slave narratives and the oral histories recorded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s deal with slavery in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina. The experience of slavery in these states was markedly different from the experience of slavery in Virginia, even in the nineteenth century. Descriptions of living conditions, clothing, housing and slave life in these states might indicate slaves' experiences sixty to seventy-five years before, but even Virginia slave narratives from the nineteenth century have to be regarded as suggestive of earlier conditions, not as accurate descriptions.³⁸

Furthermore, it is important to realize that most of these narratives, as well as the oral interviews conducted during 51 the 1930s, were directed to the white reader. The former slaves were often interviewed by whites (although this was not the case in Virginia), and so were acutely conscious of wanting to tell the interviewer what he wanted to hear -- that despite the difficulties, it wasn't so bad to be a slave. In addition, many of informants were young children during the last years of slavery, and so carried a child's perspective of the experience, even though they may have been told stories about events that had happened to parents and relatives years before. These narratives are interesting to read, but they unfortunately are not reliable source materials for the study of eighteenth-century slavery.

H. ILLUSTRATIONS

One of the sources used by curators for planning furnishings for the exhibition buildings is period illustrations -- prints or paintings of people, places, rooms and objects that illustrate eighteenth-century objects in an eighteenth-century context. Illustrations of interiors are especially important for furnishing exhibition buildings, for these visual representations of the eighteenth-century make the job of choosing appropriate objects and placing them in context in an appropriate manner much easier. England was especially rich in skilled artists and printmakers who took delight in exposing the pretensions and foibles of all classes, leaving to future generations not only an 52 insight into political and social questions of the day but also a glimpse of how the eighteenth century may have actually looked. Unfortunately, this did not extend to slave quarters.

To date (1993), eighteenth-century views of the interior of slave dwellings have not been found. There are some late eighteenth-century views of slaves and the exteriors of slave houses available, notably by Benjamin Latrobe,³⁹ but these tell little about the earlier period. The images surviving from this period (e.g., John Singleton Copley's "Watson and the Shark;" John Trumbull's "The Death of Major Pierson;" the anonymous "The Old Plantation) show individual slaves or groups of slaves (giving good indications of slave clothing), or building exteriors. Views of slaves and slave quarters from the nineteenth century exist, many of which show interiors of slave dwellings. However, because these views reflect conditions eighty to one hundred years after the period exhibited at Carter's Grove, they were of little use in this particular project.

I. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECOVERIES

Almost twenty years ago, during the salvage archaeological investigations carried out prior to the building of the modern Kingsmill residential community owned by the Anheuser-Busch Corporation on the site of the eighteenth century Kingsmill plantation owned by the Burwell family, archaeologist William Kelso discovered some very interesting features which he had not previously encountered in his other investigations of eighteenth-century sites. These features were small rectangular pits which appeared to have been dug under the floors of certain buildings -- the purpose of these pits was at that time unknown. The pits were filled with ceramic fragments, broken wine bottles, coins, buttons, and other domestic refuse, including animal bones. ⁴⁰

In the years following this discovery, other archaeologists found similar pits at other sites in the South, and reinterpreted the findings from other sites, including Carter's Grove. William Kelso found more of these pits on the site of Monticello's Mulberry Row, where Jefferson's slaves lived, with remains similar to those found in other pits at other sites.⁴¹ On the basis of the evidence dug from the ground as 54 well as corroborating documentary evidence, it now seems certain that these pits were dug by slaves under the floors of their quarters to store goods of one type or another: food, clothing, tools, or things which a slave might not want a master to see.

It is discoveries such as these which point out how important archaeology is to reconstructing the material culture of eighteenth-century Virginia slavery. The types of artifacts recovered by archaeologists are limited to those things which the ground will more or less preserve: objects of wood, metal or ceramic, and remains of plants and animals. Yet these objects are precisely the objects for which documentary references are limited and inconclusive.

If one were to rely solely on documentary evidence, one would think that slaves subsisted on a diet primarily of corn and some pork, with perhaps some chicken or fish. The archaeological evidence reveals a varied diet of meat, including, but not limited to, pork and chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit, and grains other than corn.⁴² Similarly, documentary sources say next to nothing about what slaves used as eating utensils and dishes, but the archaeological evidence from most slave sites invariably reveals a variety of ceramic types and forms which were available to slaves. How these forms were acquired cannot be revealed archaeologically -- this is information that other types of evidence supply -- but the ceramic remains point to an 55 environment that was heavily influenced by the culture around it and individuals who had no hesitation in using the products of that culture.

SUMMARY

What started as a hasty though systematic effort to consolidate sources for the material culture of eighteenth-century Virginia slaves turned into a project which has revealed the complexity and diversity of slave life of the period. Used as a whole, all of the types of sources discussed in this chapter confirm that eighteenth-century slaves lived in a complex culture in which they had access, in one way or another, to many of the products available at that time. Only by using all of these sources, taking into account their weaknesses as well as their strengths, was it possible to develop a plausible furnishing plan for the slave quarters at Carter's Grove.

A. ISSUES AND SUPPLIES

Slaves, whether urban or rural, artisan or field hand, obtained most of their possessions from their owners -- indeed, the best documented slave possessions are those that were given to or provided for them. They were given living quarters and were regularly issued clothing, food, and the tools required to do their assigned tasks.

Most of the documentation associated with slave furnishings pertains to these items and makes clear that slave owners spent a great deal of time and money on procuring furnishings for slaves. Furthermore, the great attention that slaveowners paid to procuring these goods and to ensuring that there were adequate amounts of them for their slaves, leads to some generalizations as to how the slaveowners regarded these items. In fact, there appears to have been a generally accepted minimum level of furnishings that masters supplied to slaves and that slaves, especially those born in Virginia, expected to receive.¹

An enormous amount of time, energy, and money was spent by slave owners, especially those with rural plantations, to make 58 sure that their slaves had proper clothing for each season. Linda Baumgarten, in her articles, "'Clothes for the People': Slave Clothing in Early Virginia," and "Plains, Plaid and Cotton: Woolens for Slave Clothing," thoroughly documents the types of clothing slaves wore, seasonal variations in clothing, special types of clothing given to slaves (such as livery), variations in clothing between house slaves and field hands, and the lengths to which owners went to make sure that this clothing was serviceable but obtained at the best price.² Correspondence between George Washington and one of his plantation overseers went on for months about blankets, blanket prices, differences in materials, and which slave would get which type of blanket.³ He was only one of many owners who paid such close attention to keeping costs down. Yet once this clothing was given to a slave, it disappeared from the slave owner's inventory of goods. Whatever clothing or blankets a slave had at the time of the master's death was not reflected in the probate inventories; once clothing or blankets were given to slaves, these items were no longer perceived as being the master's property.

The same was true for food. Many probate inventories 59 listed "corn for the Negroes,"⁴ and many owners specified in instructions to overseers and managers that slaves were to be given specific types and quantities of food. In 1732, William Hugh Grove, an Englishman, visited Virginia and noted that "[the slaves] are allowed a peck of Indian Corn per Week...."⁵ Joseph Ball, writing from England to his nephew, Joseph Chinn, in Virginia in 1743/4, specified that "[t]he old Ewes and Rams, before they are too old, must be kill'd, & given to the Negroes; and they at the Quarters must have part...."⁶ In 1767, Landon Carter wrote "Note: we took out this day 16 Bushels of eared Corn from the M[angorike] Corn house to make the peoples' allowance."⁷ Even as late as 1842, in Cecil County, Maryland, slaves could expect to receive regular allotments of food: Martha Ogle Forman noted in her diary that "Mr. Nowland gave out the people's meat, he gave each a hog's head and made out the rest of the allowance with beef."⁸ But it is clear from the 60 record that once this food was actually given to the slaves, it, too, ceased to be the master's property.

In contrast, agricultural and trade tools appeared often in probate inventories, indicating that they never ceased to be the property of the slaveowner.⁹ They were supplied to slaves so that they could do their jobs and were never intended to be items that "disappeared" from the slaveowner's control. When slaves ran away, their clothing was described as a means of identification, but when tools were taken by the runaway, the tools were listed with the intention of describing property that was stolen from the master by the slave.¹⁰ When inventories of slave quarters were taken for purposes other than probate (taxes, leases) tools were always listed as part of the property, along with slaves, livestock and buildings, i.e., they were considered an integral part of the property. Food and clothing were not included in the inventories.¹¹

From this evidence, it appears that slaveowners subconsciously divided the items they provided for their slaves into two types: items that were issued to slaves on a regular basis (which we shall call "issues") and items that were supplied to slaves as necessary to do their work ("supplies"). The items that were issued to slaves were, for the most part, consumables - - items that would be worn out or used up relatively quickly and thus had no lasting value. Even though slaves may have saved their worn clothing and blankets, mending and reusing them as necessary, the fact is that these items disappeared from the slaveowners' records, and masters did not seem to care what subsequently happened to them.

The same held true for food. Masters provided the most basic of foodstuffs for daily living, and once it was rationed out, the slaves could do what they wanted with it. And they frequently did -- in 1787 a slave member of Water Lick Baptist Church in Shenandoah County was accused of selling his master's bacon; the slave initially denied the charge but then stated that 62 "what he sold was his own property given him by his master for his own private use [and] [t]hat he sold it in pity to the buyer."¹² Masters were concerned that their slaves be adequately supplied -- but, again, once they had distributed the food, they felt they had fulfilled their duty and what happened to the food itself was no longer their responsibility.

Agricultural and trade tools were different. These were supplied to slaves and represented capital expenses, necessary for the smooth operation of the household and plantation. They were the equivalent of today's tractor or combine -- owned by the farmer and provided to the worker so that the job could be done quickly and efficiently. Overseers, whether slave or free, were responsible for these tools and held accountable for them, even if the slave kept them at his quarters rather than in a central location. Surviving agreements with overseers, and slaveowners' journal entries make it clear that there was a specific set of equipment that overseers and lease-holders expected plantation owners to provide for them. Probate inventories, store accounts, and lease agreements clearly list these tools.¹³ Slave holders kept track of this equipment 63 and expected that it would remain on the property. If a piece of equipment were particularly valuable, it would be closely monitored by the owner or overseer. And if a slave were sold, his clothing might go with him, but his tools would not. In brief, it is clear that Virginia slaveowners regarded "issues" as the personal property of the slaves, despite the fact that private ownership by slaves was legally forbidden - - in other words, these "issues" were considered part of the slaves' peculium.¹⁴ Whether slaveowners thought that these "issues" had any value to themselves is not known; what is known is that these items ceased to be regarded as the slaveowner's property once they were given to the slave. Hence they were never listed as assets even in probate inventories. "Supplies," on the other hand, never became the slaves' property and thus never lost their value to the slaveowner. They therefore can be found in probate inventories and lease agreements where even old and broken equipment is valued.

Of course, the nature of these "issues" and "supplies" varied enormously according to the master's economic status and how the master wished to be perceived in the community, the slave's location, and the slave's particular occupation. But, in general, this division of goods into "consumables" and "capital goods" was a determining factor in how masters regarded these 64 particular types of items.

B. PURCHASES

On May 30, 1788, Col. Francis Taylor, a planter in Orange County, Virginia, recorded in his diary that "Col Taliaferro[']s Ned [a slave] brought Nails, Rolls [fabric] etc from Mr Blairs -- G T [George Taylor, Francis's brother] paid Ned 1/3 for Waggonage, he said his master allowed him such small matters."¹⁵ This short notation, recording the payment of cash to a slave for his personal use, appears, initially, to be an isolated instance of a slave earning money in eighteenth-century Virginia. But in fact, it is one of the anomalies of eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia slavery that even though slaves were regarded as property, bought and sold like livestock, they were also active participants in the region's market economy. Slaveowner after slaveowner recorded in detail -- in diaries, letters and account books -- the payments made to slaves for their crops, their goods, and their labor.¹⁶ And with the money they earned, slaves went to local merchants, fellow slaves, free blacks, poor whites, and other masters to purchase goods for 65 themselves and their families.

If slaves were active participants in the market economy, the question naturally arises as to why slaves were allowed to earn money in the first place. After all, if a slave were the property of someone, was the slave's owner not entitled to the profit of his labor? Yes, slaveowners did derive benefit from the labor of their slaves and expected that they would complete the tasks assigned to them by the master. But once slaves completed their tasks for the day, many (if not most) slaveowners allowed slaves to use the time left over as they wished: to cultivate gardens near their quarters, raise chickens, or make stools, baskets and other goods. In fact, this appears to have been somewhat of an unspoken contractual arrangement: both master and slave knew that the slaveowner was entitled by law to employ his slaves as he wished, to set them to tasks of his choosing, and reap the benefits of their labors. In return, slaves knew that they would receive basic clothing, a minimum amount of rations, and basic shelter. Furthermore, slaves knew that whatever they might make or produce for themselves on their own time was subject to confiscation at any time by the slave owner. But most masters accepted the fact that slaves would work, after the appointed tasks were completed, at tasks they wanted to do -- tasks that would increase their stock of food or clothing, give them merchandise to sell, or enhance their lives in some way. This arrangement appears to have been commonplace throughout most of the eighteenth century.

Food products were the most common items that slaves sold. During their free time slaves raised poultry and pigs, grew vegetables, and caught fish, sometimes for their own use, and sometimes for sale. This practice of slaves using their free time to supplement their diets as well as produce goods for sale was noted fairly early by travelers. Edward Kimber, an English novelist who traveled through Maryland in 1745 and 1746, described a slave quarter as "a Number of Huts or Hovels, built some Distance from the Mansion-House; where the Negroes reside with their wives and Families and cultivate at vacant times the little Spots allow'd them."¹⁷ Dick, a slave owned by Spencer Ball in Spottsylvania County, was allowed to build a log house, grow corn and watermelon, and raise chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese.¹⁸ Nathaniel Burwell's ledger reflects many payments to slaves, some of them for food.¹⁹ William Johnston, Francis Jerdone's predecessor as the eastern Virginia agent for Buchanan & Hamilton of London ca. 1736, kept an account of goods he sold to slaves in exchange for peas. These men and women bought fabric (including lace and silk), liquor, hats, eating utensils 67 and even cheese in exchange for their produce.²⁰ Landon Carter knew that his slaves used their free time to produce items for sale and took advantage of it by forcing them to buy the linen for some of their clothing with the fruits of their labor.²¹ James Mercer, writing in 1779 to a friend in Loudoun County, wrote, "I know allready that Chickens or other fresh meat cant be had but in exchange & Bacon to spare will allow me a preference with the Country people or rather Negroes who are the general Chicken merchants...."²² Francis Taylor wrote in his diary in May, 1795, that his "Negroes [were] planting for themselves,"²³ and he also purchased such items as carp, oysters, cabbages, and potatoes for his own table from his slaves.²⁴ And in one instance traveller Thomas Anburey described a planter near Charlottesville who, instead of providing his slaves with the 68 usual rations, "grant[ed] his negroes an acre of ground, and all Saturday afternoon to raise grain and poultry for themselves."²⁵ There were even instances where plantation owners advised their overseers "to keep the keys of the folks' Cornhouse or else they will sell it, and starve themselves."²⁶ Slaves were apparently ready and willing to sell almost anything to get money for themselves.

Slaves also earned money through selling products of their skilled labor. Robert Carter observed in 1731 that his slaves "surely must depend on a great deal of their Time in making Pails & Piggins & Churns for Merchandizing. Manuel tells me the smith does a great many jobs for neighbours...."²⁷ In 1759 a slave named Jemmy ran away from Middletown, Pennsylvania, and his owner advertised that "he understands making of Corn Baskets, and it is supposed he will go about to sell them...."²⁸ Jack, the slave who belonged to the estate of Mr. Linton near Colchester, Virginia, earned credit of over £100 from Glassford & Co. over the course of ten years (1759-1769) for mending bridges, 69 building furniture and selling poultry, among other things.²⁹ In 1768 William Allason paid John Fitzhugh's "Negro Harry" for "puting up Shelves in Kitchen & making Stairs &c."³⁰ And in 1796 Francis Taylor paid his half-brother's slave, Tom, for "2 days work hooping nest ware & repairs of Porch etc...."³¹

Francis Taylor's hiring of his half-brother's slave points out another way in which slaves earned money. Through the "hiring out" system, slaveowners "loaned" their slaves to friends, neighbors and relatives in return for what was regarded as a fair-market wage. This was especially true when a slave had a specialized skill such as midwifery or blacksmithing that was needed on another plantation. In 1766, Landon Carter charged his son, John, for the hiring of Landon's slave, Jammy, to do some brick work.³² William Allason hired the slaves of several of his customers in 1772 and 1773 to do carpentry.³³ And in 1786, Robert Carter of Nomini Hall wrote to his neighbor, William Benjamin, asking to send his ill slave, Guy, to Benjamin's house to be under the care of his slave, David, who was skilled in 70 medical matters.³⁴ Martha Ogle Forman noted in 1816 that her husband "hired our Black Man Henry Allen to Thomas Stephens for $60 a year."³⁵ Even beyond this, some masters gave slaves permission to hire themselves out and keep most of the money they made for themselves! In 1760, Andrew Burnaby, travelling through the Northern Neck of Virginia, met a slave whose master had "kindly given him a small piece of ground, and the profits of the ferry [over either the Acquia, Quantico or Occoquan Rivers], which were indeed very inconsiderable, for his maintenance;..."³⁶ In 1786, Francis Taylor paid a slave woman for making several articles of clothing, and throughout his diary, Taylor noted the payments made to slaves for all types of work done for him or his relatives.³⁷ It was in reaction to this practice, which became more and more frequent towards the end of the eighteenth century, that laws regulating the hiring out of slaves were passed in the early nineteenth century.³⁸

Slaves also earned money through tips. In 1768, in a letter to his cousin, John Hatley Norton, John Frere of London asked him to send any plant or animal fossils that might be found in the area. Frere wrote "if such Things are to be found, the Negroes I suppose for a small Gratuity would bring them to you."³⁹ On Christmas Day in 1773, Philip Vickers Fithian, tutor to the children of Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, wrote in his diary:

"Nelson the Boy who makes my Fire, blacks my shoes, does errands &c. was early in my Room, drest only in his shirt and Breeches! He made me a vast fire, blacked my Shoes, set my Room in order, and wish'd me a joyful Christmas, for which I gave him half a Bit. --Soon after he left the Room, and before I was Drest, the fellow who makes the Fire in our School Room, drest very neatly in green, but almost drunk, entered my chamber with three or four profound Bows & made me the same salutation, I gave him a Bit, and dismissed him as soon as possible. -- Soon after my Cloths and Linen were sent in with a message for a Christmas Box, as they call it; I sent the poor Slave a Bit, & my thanks. -- I was obliged for want of small change, to put off for some days the Barber who shaves & dresses me....[he recorded several other payments made that day]-- So that the sum of my Donations to the Servants, for this Christmas appears to be five Bits,..."⁴⁰

And George Washington, in 1794, wrote to one of his overseers, William Pearce, "...Remember to give John the Gardener a dollar, the last day of every month, provided he behaves well; letting him know that it is on that express condition he is to receive it."⁴¹

With the money that slaves earned they were able to buy goods of their own choosing, and the goods they bought were as varied as the lower end of the economy offered. In 1737, "Negro Jack" bought fabric, scissors, thread, hose, and penknives from Thomas Partridge.⁴² "Negroe John Belonging to Madam Thorn" bought a looking glass and a linen handkerchief from William Allason in 1761.⁴³ "Negroe Jack," who had made furniture and other wooden articles for Glassford & Co. (see above), bought a wide range of goods, from rum and fabric to a wine glass and a plane iron between 1760 and 1769.⁴⁴ In Bedford County, Virginia, Richard Stith's slave, Sukey, was able to purchase a mirror and some ribbon with money she received for selling "cotton in ye seed."⁴⁵ Robert Carter noted in his diary in 1785 that he "paid old Nat a dollar he wanted, he wanted to buy Brandy to bury his Granddaughter Lucy, but I refused to sell; telling 73 him he might lay out his Annuity as he pleased."⁴⁶ From these few examples, it is clear that Virginia slaves had access to a wide range of goods, that they wanted to have these goods, and that they were able to pay for these goods themselves.

C. THEFT

As might be expected, slaves also obtained some of their goods by theft. Some of this theft was undoubtedly carried out in order to have goods to sell and thus earn money. In 1737, Jacob, a slave belonging to William Fantleroy in Richmond County, stole "two Cloth Jackets...One pair of Britches...one Felt Hatt...Two Woolen Caps...two new Oznabrig Shirts...one New Linen Shirt...One linen Sheet...One Frying pan [and] one Rug."⁴⁷ In 1747, two of Landon Carter's slaves, Manuell and Ralph, were indicted for breaking into Carter's mansion and stealing "two hundred and thirty three Ells of Dreheda Canvas....Four Torinton Rugs...Four suits of Cotton Cloath...Ten yards of Half Thicks...Four Sides of Leather...Five files...[and] Two Dozen Hose."⁴⁸ Goods stolen in such quantities were undoubtedly intended for resale. George Washington, in 1793, acknowledged such trade when he tried to prevent his former carpenter's 74 daughter from going into business as he feared "her shop wd. be no more than a receptacle for stolen produce by the Negroes."⁴⁹ He knew that without this source of cheap goods, poor whites "would be unable to live upon the miserable land they occupy."⁵⁰

Although the available documentation suggests that slaves more often stole goods to sell than to keep themselves, there were instances in which slaves took goods for their own use. In 1770 Landon Carter complained about a butter pot that had been taken from his dairy. After considerable searching, including a search of all of the slaves' "holes and boxes" (a possible reference to the holes that have been found archaeologically at sites at Carter's Grove, Kingsmill and Monticello), the pot was found in the loft of a slave.⁵¹ Carter further wrote in his diary on August 4, 1774, that he

"Cleaned out my Well this day.... Abundance of trash, mud and things tumbled and thrown in, Particularly a Plow gardiner Johnny stole 3 years ago and offered to sell that and another to Robin Smith, who, being a Penitant, Advised him to go and Put it where it might be found; but Johnny being suspected got whipped for them and threw them both into the Well as he told Robin Smith...."⁵²

Michael Nicholls has conjectured that these thefts may have been committed more as a means of escape than as a method of acquiring additional goods.⁵⁷ Slaves stole textiles, leather, small objects, and food that could be used for sustenance, bribery, or disguise during an escape. Sam, "a bright Mulatto 76 Man Slave," used his stolen items in precisely that fashion. His master advertised in the Virginia Gazette that Sam had taken with him "his Bedding, a new spotted Rug which he had stolen, and several Yards of mixed coloured Broadcloth, cut from a whole Piece that he had stolen, the remainder of which he distributed amongst the Sloop's Crew to bribe them to Secrecy."⁵⁸

D. BARTER

Bartering was another way that slaves obtained goods for themselves. This method served both master and slave very well, although slaves might have preferred cash over goods. Landon Carter wrote in 1777 that "My Poor Slaves raise fowls, and eggs in order to exchange with their Master now and then;...."⁵⁹ Francis Taylor often obtained some of his produce from various slaves by means of barter: in August 1788 he "bought some Grass seed of Col Taliaferro's Jack for Pr breeches;" in March 1790 "Reu Taylor's Sam brought some Timothy seed for which I [Francis Taylor] gave him a Jacket;" five years later in July 1795, Taylor "bought 1 doz chickens of Col Willis's Phil he had a pair Breeches & to pay me 1/6 worth more." And in an interesting exchange in August, 1798, Taylor gave "old Joe a quart whisky for 77 a peck onions."⁶⁰

Barter may also have been used between slaves themselves, though little information has survived concerning such exchanges. That slaves had a certain degree of mobility is clear. In February 1772 Landon Carter wrote in his diary of the death (probably by exposure) of his slave Guy, who, he said, "went to Currie's [a neighboring plantation] to see his wife as usual on Monday night last."⁶¹ Nicholas Cresswell, visiting from England in 1774, wrote that on Sundays the blacks "generally meet together and amuse themselves with Dancing to the Banjo."⁶² In 1784, J.F.D. Smyth, another Englishman touring America, described instances where a slave would walk "six or seven miles in the night, be the weather ever so sultry, to a negroe dance...."⁶³ Richard Dozier, writing a history of the Baptist Church in Virginia's Northern Neck, noted an August day in 1786 when "Negro Lewis Belonging to Mr. Brockenbrough in Essex Spake Aug. 12, Sunday, to about 300 people at Mr. Jno. Coates, on Jude."⁶⁴ But what kind of trade, if any, occurred on these occasions is unknown. Landon Carter referred to "night shops" 78 when talking about the death of Guy, but it is unclear who was selling and who was buying at such places;⁶⁵ they may have been unlicensed ordinarys rather than actual shops. In any case, it is very clear that many slaves had the opportunity for intraslave commerce.

E. HAND-ME-DOWNS

There are few documented instances of what was surely a prevalent practice: the handing down of used or out-of-date goods from master to slave. Although it is a long-standing Southern tradition that servants, whether slave or free, were given gifts of old clothing or furniture, what may have been a wide-spread practice in the eighteenth-century is not at all well documented. What documentation exists is primarily in the area of clothing and other textiles, and this documentation is primarily from three sources, in the letters of Joseph Ball from England to his nephew, Joseph Chinn, in Virginia, in the diary of Martha Blodget at Cawsons, Virginia, and in the diary of Martha Ogle Forman, who lived in Cecil County, Maryland.

Joseph Ball was very generous to his slaves and regularly sent his own discarded clothing, as well as that of his slaves in London, to Virginia to be distributed as he directed. In 1749 he wrote to Chinn 79

"The old Cloths must be disposed of, as follows: The Grey Coat Wastecoat & breeches, with brass buttons, and the hat to poor Will: The stuff shirt to Mingo: and the Dimmity Coat & breeches and the knife in the pocket to Harrison: and Aron's Old Livery with one pair of the Leather breeches and one of the Linen frocks to Moses: and the other frock and rags & [illeg.] as you think fit."

Martha Dangerfield Bland Blodget, who lived at "Cawsons" in Prince George County, Virginia, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, provided the expected new clothing for her slaves. But she also, on occasion, gave an individual an article of hand-me-down clothing. Early in 1795, she noted in her diary that she "Gave Peg a callico gown & a mourning ring (for her old Mistress F.B--) for her care & fidelity in managing my Bacon," and in April, 1795, she gave another slave, Paul, "a good cloth coat of his master's a white cloth lined with dove-colored Satten, for his faithful conduct to his mistress." However, the other references to slave clothing which occur in the printed excerpts of her diary appear to be new clothing.⁶⁷

Almost thirty years later, in March 1821, Martha Ogle Forman wrote in her diary that she "Mended three old waistcoats of the General's for Lewis, 1 yellow and 2 white ones, put new backs in his two linsey jackets." Four years later, in 1825, she remade the slaves' clothes to give to other slaves: "Made Henny a frock out of Harriot's blue bombazett, turned it and it looks very smart. Turned Rebecca's bombazett frock given to her by Miss Bryan. Turned Artemesia's for Harriot, and gave Harriot a new red one."⁶⁸ The many entries in Mrs. Forman's diary pertaining to cloth and clothing make it clear that she spent a great deal of time making sure that her slaves were adequately clothed, although it is not known how common it was for a 81 mistress to remake or repair clothing for slaves. It is unclear from many of these entries whether she was providing new clothes or hand-me-downs.

The archaeological recovery of ceramics and other durable goods from slave sites, when coupled with the plantation records of that particular site, can give some indication of whether or not the slaves acquired these objects after they were no longer needed in the master's house. However, most archaeologically recovered ceramics from slave quarters do not cross-mend with ceramics found at the master's home at the same site. This may indicate that such ceramics were deliberate hand-me-downs (after the master had acquired new goods), were discarded items retrieved by slaves, or were ceramics that were specially purchased for slave use. Unfortunately, documentation for any of these sources is virtually non-existent. We will probably never know how widespread were gifts of outmoded furniture and other goods to slaves in the eighteenth century. Even if it happened frequently, the event was likely to go unrecorded.

SUMMARY

Learning how slaves obtained their goods clarifies the complex economic system in which slaves lived and with which they dealt. On the most basic level, slaves relied upon their owners for simple shelter, a minimum of clothing, and for a basic amount 82 of food. There were certainly slaves whose lives reflected this level of existence.⁶⁹ However, as individual slaves gained experience and skills which enabled them to produce marketable goods or services, they were able to acquire the cash needed to purchase goods on the open market. Even more importantly, the informal "understandings" that many masters and slaves had regarding the circumstances under which slaves could work for themselves became an accepted part of the master-slave relationship in eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the informal understanding between master and slave that slaves were free to work for themselves once their assigned tasks had been completed enabled many slaves to accumulate sufficient capital to purchase goods in the open market. The many diary, journal and account entries reviewed for this project70 make clear that slaves expected such an arrangement and that even some masters depended upon it as well. The goods that slaves purchased with their earnings were, by and large, the same types of goods that were available to whites. However, although goods of every quality were available for purchase, it is doubtful that slaves were able to accumulate enough capital to buy goods of higher quality. Furthermore, it is presumed that slaves traded with other slaves and in addition may have carried on some type of trade with poor 83 whites or Native Americans.

Recognizing that slaves had access, in a variety of ways, to a multiplicity of goods, it therefore follows that the slave sites should reflect, in the differing situations presented, a variety of goods, ranging from the basic items provided by the master to goods purchased by the slaves themselves. A discussion of these goods by type -- ceramics, tools, furniture, etc. -- will then make more clear the reasons why various types and qualities of goods were chosen to furnish individual Colonial Williamsburg sites.

A. TEXTILES

B. FURNITURE

C. FOOD AND FOOD-RELATED EQUIPMENT

D. TOOLS

The efficient and profitable operation of a plantation or business in eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia depended as much upon access to appropriate tools as it did upon proper 122 management and sufficient capital. It was therefore in the best interest of a plantation or business owner to furnish his slaves with sufficient tools of an appropriate nature to do the work which they were assigned. These tools most probably came from two different sources: tools supplied by the master to complete assigned tasks, and tools bought, accumulated, made or stolen by slaves.

Tools supplied by the master included those most often listed in probate inventories and other public records. On rural plantations, these were primarily agricultural tools: hoes of all types (hilling, weeding, broad, grubbing), axes, plows and associated equipment, wagons, and scythes and pitchforks. The type and distribution of these agricultural tools no doubt depended upon the crops grown at an individual location, but the documents studied to date provide no rationale for the groupings found at specific locations, as indicated by probate inventories or other public records. In some cases, agricultural tools were issued to individual slaves, as at the plantations of Edmund Jenings and Thomas Jefferson did.¹¹³ In other cases, the tools were kept in central locations at a quarter, and were controlled by an overseer who supervised their distribution as needed. 123 James Carroll did just this in 1715 when he gave his overseer, Jonathan Bruff, 4 hilling hoes for use at his property.¹¹⁴

Owners of larger plantations provided other tools, such as shoemaking and blacksmithing tools, for slaves who were trained in these specialties. Robert Carter of Nomini Hall did this in 1789, when he included "1 set blacksmiths tools, 1 partial set shoemaking tools" in the equipment listed at Leo Plantation in Loudoun County in 1789.¹¹⁵ In several instances spinning and weaving equipment appears on plantations, especially after 1760, when trade with England became difficult. By 1758, Landon Carter had spinners and weavers, and in 1789, Robert Carter of Nomini Hall counted "1 loom 2 quill weels, 1 flax wheel, [and] 1 cotton wheel" at Leo Plantation.¹¹⁶

Descriptions of runaway slaves who took tools with them indicate the other types of trade tools also found at rural plantations. In 1745, Mary Wilson advertised in the Virginia Gazette that two slaves belonging to her had run away, one of whom, Emanuel, was "by Trade a Cooper, and took with him some Cooper's Tools… ."¹¹⁷ In 1763 Robert Darnall advertised that his slave, James Dyson, had run away and intended to find 124 employment as a shoemaker, for "he took with him some Lasts, and Shoemakers Tools."¹¹⁸ After the Revolutionary War, Josiah Foster advertised for his slave, George, who had run away in September, 1784, and had "carried away several tools with him, to wit, a broad axe, carpenters compasses, gimlets, &c… .¹¹⁹ Although slaves who worked at iron furnaces also had specialized tools for their occupations, these types of items were not normally found at agricultural plantations in any great numbers.

Skilled slaves who lived in urban areas undoubtedly had access to a variety of tools, either their own or, more likely, those of their masters. Slaves could be found in almost every trade, including coopering, shoemaking, joining, cabinet making and blacksmithing, as well as the trades associated with the operation of a household. Their tools were undoubtedly those owned by their masters, but in all likelihood these slaves, like those who lived in the country, were able to acquire some tools of their own.

There is little known about the tools bought, accumulated, made or stolen by slaves. That slaves occasionally bought tools for themselves is indicated by store accounts: in 1767 and 1768 "Negro Jack belonging to Linton's Estate" purchased 125 a plane iron, a gimlet, and two handsaw files.¹²⁰ Although no documentation has been found to substantiate such a practice, it is not inconceivable that some slaves made their own tools. Trained blacksmiths could easily have made their own tools, as well as tools for carpenters or agricultural workers to use, on their own time. Carpenters could have made handles for such tools or fashioned others -- like an awl or gauge -- with little extra effort. Broken tools -- tools written off by their owners -- could have been recycled by experienced slave artisans. The runaway advertisements noted above amply document the theft of tools, but runaways were not the only ones to steal tools. Landon Carter wrote in his diary on August 4, 1774, that he "Cleaned out my Well this day. . . . Abundance of trash, mud and things tumbled and thrown in, Particularly a Plow gardiner Johnny stole 3 years ago. . . ."121 In January 1724/1725, William Plummer, a mulatto slave belonging to John Tarpley, was sentenced to death for stealing, among other things, a lathing hammer which belonged to Tarpley.¹²² Slaves certainly had the opportunity to steal tools and some of them did so.

Whether tools were supplied by the master, purchased or made by the slave, or stolen, they were used daily by slaves during the course of their work. The tools themselves were 126 standard eighteenth-century tool types, examples of which are in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg or are illustrated in various late eighteenth-century English pattern books. The types and numbers of tools varied according to the work performed at a particular location -- certainly spinners and weavers did not use the same tools as field hands -- but slaves needed tools to do their work properly, and they managed to get them in one way or another.

E. PERSONAL ITEMS

Despite their legal status, Tidewater Virginia's slaves were, to a degree, participants in the burgeoning consumer revolution of the late eighteenth century. In a variety of ways -- discussed in Chapter IV -- slaves acquired personal items with which they varied their dress, which aided in food preparation or consumption, made their quarters more livable or eased the difficulties of daily living. Although it is difficult to document in place -- descriptions of slave quarters rarely include these things -- the addition of these personal items to the slave sites was an important aspect of this furnishing project.

Archaeological excavations at Kingsmill, Carter's Grove, Mt. Vernon and Monticello have revealed substantial collections of these personal items in areas associated with slave quarters. The finds at all of these sites included similar 127 types of personal items, including buttons and pipe stems. The explanation for the number of buttons found at each site remains in doubt; William Kelso feels that the buttons were thrown away during the making of quilts from discarded clothing,¹²³ while Linda Baumgarten feels that these buttons were either saved for ornament to replace the beads and shells most Africans used for adornment or are the only surviving parts of clothing that was hidden or stored in the root cellars.¹²⁴ The buttons may have remained for other reasons as well, to be used as toys for children, as game pieces, as objects used in African religious ceremonies, or as decorations on other clothing. The number of clay pipes that have been excavated at slave sites indicates that slaves were tobacco users, but perhaps had relatively infrequent access to new pipes, especially at Carter's Grove, since many of the pipestems excavated there showed signs of reworking. This reworking may have been what Ferdinand-Marie Bayard saw during his travels in America 1791 when he described the personal items he found in a slave quarter: "An old pipe, very short, and a knife blade, which were sticking in the wall were the only effects that I found in this dwelling."¹²⁵

Most sites contained some interesting survivals. At Kingsmill, these included a pharmaceutical weight and handtools 128 such as files, saw blades and knife blades.¹²⁶ The excavation of the slave quarters at Carter's Grove revealed a saddle tree (a metal form around which a leather saddle was built), an iron padlock and key, a possible gridiron handle, and clock parts.¹²⁷ In his report on a root cellar at Mt. Vernon thought to have been part of the House for Families, Virginia state archaeologist Alain C. Outlaw reported that the excavation uncovered some items which probably originated at the main house -- an elegant air-twist wine glass stem being the best evidence for this -- as well as some objects that might be manifestations of slave culture: a bone fan blade "decorated with simple geometric designs" as well as a raccoon bone which had been altered to serve as a pendant.¹²⁸ At Monticello, objects found in the root cellars 129 included toothbrushes, a brass Jew's harp, a writing slate, and a French ointment pot.¹²⁹

Archaeological evidence cited in chapter III, section I, above confirms that slaves ate game and seafood. They must have possessed fishing equipment, traps or snares, and, in some cases, may have had access to firearms. It is likely that the fishing equipment, traps, and snares were inexpensive commercial items, homemade items, or, more likely, a combination of the two. When Julian Niemcewicz observed several Negroes fishing at the Great Falls of the Potomac, he noted that they used "nets attached as a sack at the end of a pole" to catch the shad.¹³⁰

Written accounts also document the possession and use of other personal items. Often these items were purchased by slaves from local merchants, and they offer some evidence that saves tried to add to and improve upon the goods which were given to them by their masters. William Johnston, Francis Jerdone's predecessor as agent for Buchanan & Hamilton of London, had at least nine active accounts with slaves in eastern Virginia in 1736-1737. Among the items he sold them were fabrics 130 (including silk), liquor, cheese, hats, and a knife and fork.¹³¹ "Negro Jack" purchased a pair of scissors, some thread, and two penknives from Thomas Partridge in 1737.¹³² William Allason, the Falmouth, Virginia, merchant, sold slaves a great many personal items. In December 1761, one of Landon Carter's slaves appears to have purchased a necklace, two laces, and a paper of pins from William Allason.¹³³ One month previous to this, in November 1761, "Negroe John Belonging to Madam Thorn," sold Allason two bedsteads in exchange for clothing and "1 Looking Glass."¹³⁴ That John's purchase of a looking glass was not unusual is illustrated by Ann Smart Martin, who, in her studies of eighteenth-century merchants' account books, has convincingly demonstrated that slaves were regular customers of local merchants and purchased personal accessories such as mirrors, ribbons and small domestic wares. These purchases emphasize the fact that slaves, despite their legal status as property, were concerned with comfort, personal appearance, and fashion.

Very rarely, some slaves appear to have purchased their own equipment with which they performed their duties. After Nassau, his personal servant, barber and bleeder, ran away in 1777, Landon Carter wrote a manuscript notice which he evidently intended to use to publicize Nassau's flight. In this notice he wrote that Nassau had "carried off every kind of wearing apparel except a straw hat and a dirty shirt (which might have escap'd his packing up) and has taken with him even a set of raisors which he had purchased: .... "¹³⁵ Since one of Nassau's primary responsibilities was shaving Carter as well as bleeding both the slaves and Carter and his family when they were ill, it is interesting that Nassau had purchased his own razors and was not using razors supplied by Carter, implying that Carter had an enormous degree of confidence in Nassau and trusted that he would not use those same instruments as weapons against Carter and his family.

Some slaves were given what would be considered personal items so that they would be better equipped to do their designated jobs. In May, 1796, George Washington instructed his overseer, William Pearce, to supply Washington's personal servant, Cyrus, with a horn comb, "to keep his head well combed, that the hair, or wool may grow long," so that he would look proper when he entered the ranks of household servant when 132 Washington returned from Philadelphia.¹³⁶ Rarely, slaves were the recipients of totally personal items from their masters. Joseph Ball, for example, supplied his slaves with pipes, knives, a tobacco box, and thread and needles.¹³⁷

A few slaves, like "Negroe Mark," who purchased a violin from William Allason in 1780,¹³⁸ owned musical instruments, but most slaves who played violins or other instruments probably did not own them, although they were able to make free use of them. The presence of slave musicians at dances was noted by many travelers -- for example, Nicholas Cresswell, while on his way to Barbados, observed a dance at a barbecue somewhere near West St. Mary's Manor where the St. Mary's River and the Potomac join:

These Barbecues are Hogs, roasted whole. This was under a large Tree. A great number of young people met together with a Fiddle and Banjo played by two Negroes, with Plenty of Toddy, which both Men and Women seem to be very fond of. I believe they have danced and drunk till there are few sober people amongst them.¹³⁹

Unfortunately, little information has been found concerning toys used by slave children in the eighteenth century, aside from the marbles found at various archaeological sites. Nineteenth-century slave narratives offer some insight on this subject, with one woman noting that, "[m]arbles, 'mumble pegs,'" and other "toys that poor children had" were among the toys she and her siblings and friends had. However, it is probable that 134 slave children also made toys from objects at hand, such as cornstalks, wooden sticks, or scrap pieces of cloth.143 Slaves undoubtedly acquired personal items in ways other than purchase from local storekeepers or from their masters. There no doubt were many opportunities to pick up discarded or broken objects. Second-hand goods appear to have circulated freely in white circles, and based upon the comments about selling or bartering goods, there presumably were "infra-economies" among slaves themselves, their scale and sophistication varying from place to place. If they so desired, many blacks might have been able to avail themselves of these sources of goods, and over the years accumulated substantial quantities of items. The total monetary value of the goods, from a white perspective, would have been insignificant, but for the slaves could have been substantial.

A. IN-TOWN LOCATIONS

B. CARTER'S GROVE SLAVE QUARTER

The furnishing of the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter proceeded on somewhat different lines than the furnishing of the in-town spaces. Once approval was granted for the reconstruction of the slave quarter in [date] 1986, the immediate focus became the actual work of reconstruction itself, which was done by the Historic Trades housewrights using the plans developed by the Department of Architectural Research. Planning for the furnishing of the buildings began in July 1987 when Diane Dunkley, then associate curator for Carter's Grove, asked each curator to propose appropriate furnishings for the living spaces at the slave quarter. This list was given to Rex Ellis in October 1987. By January 1988 the Carter's Grove Quarter Design Group from the Department of Architectural Research had drawn up its own list of quarter furnishings, based on sources that it had used while planning the buildings for the quarter. The differences in these furnishings plans -- differences which manifested themselves in the types of articles chosen, the distribution of those articles among the various living locations, specificity of placement of the objects within each space, and the standard of living of each residential group as reflected by the quantity and type of furnishings -- resulted in a lengthy discussion, over a six-month period, between the Division of Collections and the Department of Architectural 161 Research as to what constituted the most reasonable and accurate level of furnishings for the slave quarter.

The final furnishings list for the slave quarter, as included here, reflects the decisions and opinions of the Division of Collections, based on the findings discussed in earlier sections of this report and the useful criticism given by the Department of Architectural Research and the Division of Research. The same procedures of object acquisition and installation discussed above for the in-town sites was followed for the slave quarter. The furnishings for the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter were installed on March 8-9, 1989, and the quarter opened to the public on March 11, 1989. On-going maintenance of the Quarter and its furnishings is now the responsibility of the Director of Carter's Grove.

Detailed below are the furnishings which were planned for installation in each interpreted area and those which were actually installed at the Carter's Grove Slave Quarter. Included for each living space is the list of occupants and their place in the quarter, along with the objects in place as of August 1989 and the source of supply for these articles. More detailed information about these objects are available at the Division of Collections office.

Attached is the report of the subcommittee on the interpretation of the black experience at Colonial Williamsburg.

The committee consisted of Reginald Butler, Cary Carson, John Moon, Phil Morgan, Earl Soles, Bill Tramposch, and myself as chairman. Ed Chappel and Shomer Zwelling joined our discussions at different points, and Graham Hood read and commented upon an early draft of the report.

Our meetings were stimulating and productive. The committee developed a firm consensus supporting the recommendations made in the report and has high hopes that a new effort in the area of interpreting the history of Williamsburg's black residents and the realities of slavery will now be made.

So it is with a sense of accomplishment as well as with optimism for its future that I convey this report to you.

REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE AT COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

Introduction

Until quite recently, Colonial Williamsburg said very little about the town's eighteenth-century black residents and the system of slavery and racial subordination within which they lived. Indeed, interpreters were advised to avoid introducing these difficult topics into their presentations and instructed to parry questions about slaves and slavery should an inquisitive visitor raise them. Places of exhibition were virtually devoid of any material evidence of the presence of blacks who, by 1775, had become the town's majority. Thad Tate's The Negro In Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg, published in 1965, was the exception that proved the rule that the Foundation's research effort ignored Williamsburg's black population and the matter of slavery as completely as did interpretation in the Historic Area and at Carter's Grove.

Film was the only medium during these years by which Colonial Williamsburg depicted at least the fact of a substantial black presence in the colonial capital. There are black faces aplenty in "Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot;" "The Music of Williamsburg" even explores, although neither thoroughly nor per-suasively, an important aspect of Afro-American culture. But even these noteworthy efforts fall far short of offering the public a coherent picture and interpretation of the black experience and the practice of slavery in eighteenth-century Williamsburg.

Efforts to redress those serious omissions in Colonial Williamsburg's educational program got underway in the mid-1970's. Many people have contributed to these efforts. Some especially noteworthy milestones were the discussions held with invited black educators and museum professionals during and after the bicentennial year, the report of the curriculum committee, the creation of a living history program and the Company of Colonial Performers and the several history programs generated thereby, the York County project, the conference on black history, a series of training programs for interpreters on black history topics, the compilation of recordings of traditional Afro-American music, and, bringing us up to work in progress, a revision of the official guidebook that will introduce a number of Afro-Americans into its pages, the hiring of a re-search historian and the support of an Institute fellow, each conducting research on the topic of black life and slavery in colonial Virginia, field research on slave quarters, and an 187 -2- interpretive and agricultural experiment in the garden and fields of Carter's Grove.

Yet these efforts, important as they are, have had, in the subcommittee's estimation, only a limited impact on Colonial Williamsburg's interpretation of the black experience for its visitors. Most interpretations one encounters make no reference to blacks, and very few buildings and sites suggest their presence. There are still too few blacks among our interpretive staffs and too few blacks among our visitors.

The members of the subcommittee are unanimous in the belief that a sustained effort to extend and upgrade the quality of Colonial Williamsburg's presentation and interpretation of the black experience must now be launched. Failure to do so, we feel, will result in a loss of the momentum we so far have gained and the atrophying of the programs we now offer the public.

The subcommittee was formed to address this problem and to make recommendations as to what the next steps should be to insure that the story of Williamsburg's black residents and of slavery in eighteenth-century Virginia and its capital, an essential element in the broader story of "Becoming Americans", will be told at Colonial Williamsburg as fully and as accurately as possible. To this end, we make the following recommendations to the Educational Policy Committee, to the Program Planning and Review Committee, and to whichever other officers, directors, and committees of the Foundation are deemed appropriate.

Recommendations

The following represents recommendations from Denny, Conny, and me concerning a plan of action for representing the Black Presence in Williamsburg:

• I. Wythe Property
  • A.Laundry - In addition to making the space appear more "lived in", some evidence of Wythe's teaching of blacks (i.e. latin books, Bible, etc.) and also supplies listed from the inventory of the Brey school.
    • 1.Some indication of living space upstairs, and evidence of laundry activity in the East room.
    • 2.Upstairs could also be used for special programs with the edition ,,f a false partition to indicate the actual space as it would have been.
  • B.Stable - We should show the presence of a stable hand.
    • 1.Clothes on nails, utilization of existing hay as beds, and other indications that show the different status of slaves living in a building such as the laundry as opposed to one living in the stable.
  • C. Kitchen - This area should be used as a combination work area and living space.
    • 1.Use bedding (rolled up tick) and personal belongings_to show evidence of a dual purpose room.
  • D. Office - This building should be able to show a hired out or free black living with an indentured servant.
    • 1.Bedding upstairs and downstairs.
• 2 197
• II.Brush Everard
  • A.Kitchen - We should add objects within the kitchen itself that depict slave presence, and install a visitor well.
    • 1.Laundering, grinding, or some other activity could be put outside in the yard.
  • B.Second Floor - Show evidence of living space upstairs. The visitor may peek from third step of stairway.
• III.Ludwell-Paradise Stable
  Evidence of a living space downstairs and upstairs can be represented. Bedding, blankets, musical instruments, stool, harness, boots, clothes, and tools are all possibilities.
• IV.Wetherburn's
  • A. Kitchen - Room needs to look as if it is being used; a pot of corn meal, pork, vegetables, poultry, or similar items that illustrate black eating habits.
  • B.Room adjoining kitchen - This room can be used to show black domestic space. Bedstead, stools, chairs, boxes, traveling bags, clothing, etc., could be used to show the diverse blacks that might have frequented this space.
  • C. Backyard - Evidence of yard work being done, carting, firewood cutting, clothing or sheets being mended, meat being salted down, salting barrels, etc.

Priority of sites would be: A) Wythe property, B) Wetherburn's, C) Brush, and D) Ludwell-Paradise stable.

Denny has asked that Jay, Kevin, Ed, and I get together to create a list of materials to be used along with projected costs.

The other buildings looked at (Palace, Powell-Waller, Carpenter's Yard, and Anderson Forge) have either been designated as low priorities or have plans that include exhibition of the black experience already.

I have also enclosed a copy of Pat Gibb's report on the Powell-Waller property for your information. Of special note is the "furniture and accessories" section.

Minutes of the Committee on Black Presence in Williamsburg
Meeting #1, April 25, 1985

Members present: Dennis O'Toole, Rex Ellis, Ed Chappell, Jay Gaynor, Kevin Kelly, Conny Graft, Bill Cole

Meeting #2, May 16, 1985

Members Present: Dennis O'Toole, Rex Ellis, Ed Chappell, Jay Gaynor, Kevin Kelly, Conny Graft, Bill Cole

Meeting #3, May 30, 1985

Members Present: Dennis O'Toole, Rex Ellis, Ed Chappell, Kevin Kelly, Canny Graft, Bill Cole

The attached work sheets represent in draft form possible activities (daily-regular and seasonal) and ideas (main discussion topics and optional topics) to be included in interpreting rooms in the house and outbuildings and areas in the gardens and yards.

Please view this as a document to work from. I welcome your general comments, concerns, and suggestions for additions, changes, and deletions.

The 90-minute tour to be implemented next fall allows for up to 4 groups of 20 students or adults per hour to enter the property every 15 minutes beginning at 9:00 am. Assuming the last group will enter at 3:30 pm, a maximum of 26 groups can visit the property each day.

At our last meeting we agreed groups should enter the house through the rear door and go up the back stairs to the Lumber Room (northwest room--2nd floor). Minutes given below include time to get to the next area.

Reminder: We are interpreting the Powell family in Williamsburg, about 1770.

I look forward to hearing from you in and out of committee. Feel free to call me with comments or return annotated charts. Thanks.

[illegible]prepare meals and process foods

Characteristics: Well lit east room in kitchen outbuilding door an door into laundry

[illegible]

[illegible]and some laundry activities; also storage area
Characteristics: Well lit west room of kitchen outbuilding with outside door, door into kitchen

Background

Prompted by a memorandum from Bill Cole, a meeting of-the Program Planning and Review Committee was called to discuss the representation of black presence in the Historic Area. Mr. Cole's memo stressed a need to establish (in all possible haste) sites that exhibit black material culture, and that such an exhibit would aid Historical Interpreters in their discussion of the black experience in Colonial Virginia. After some discussion, Denny O'Toole was asked to organize a committee that would present recommendations on possible sites, and articles (clothing, tools, furniture, etc.) that could be used in such an interpretation.

A core committee was formed consisting of Ed Chappell (Architectural Research), Kevin Kelly (Research), Jay Gaynor (Collections), and Rex Ellis (Black Programming).

After arriving at a consensus on which sites would be most appropriate and accessible for the exhibits, the actual articles to be displayed were discussed.

Throughout the process of selection, the committee has solicited the aid of those departments and individuals deemed necessary to make the selection of materials as accurate as possible.

Purpose

Sites chosen and articles selected were decided upon because they help to represent the diversity that existed in Colonial Williamsburg's black population. By showing the range of experiences, greater accuracy (in the presence of so many unknowns) will be facilitated.

The purpose then, is to show material evidence of the black presence in Colonial Williamsburg. This in turn will increase and enhance the interpretation of the black experience.

Mechanics

Articles will be acquired from various sources.

Outside vendors will be contracted for articles that are either unavailable within the Foundation, or can be purchased at a lower price.

Colonial Williamsburg craftsmen will be used whenever possible.

There are some articles (i.e. stools, benches, simple boxes) that can be made by interpreters within the Black Programs Department. It is felt that such a project would not only add to the interpreters' skills, but would also add to the authentic of the article, since many articles used by the black community were homemade.

Site Explanations

As requested, we have developed a list of furnishings for use in the development of an initial group of Historic Area sites at which black life will be interpreted or visually indicated. We have attempted to include a range of living conditions. The artifact groups are hypothetical, but we believe that if implemented, they will represent a solid beginning. The groups are based on a variety of evidences, including archaeological excavations at quarters, runaway ads,. Latrobe drawings, and very fragmentary inventories.

Several of the small vignettes, such as those at the Ludwell-Paradise Stable and Anderson Forges, will largely be static exhibits. We all feel, however, that most of the groups should be used as settings in which to interpret the lives of blacks and the relationships among and between blacks and whites.

• 1.

  Wetherburn's Tavern. This complex offers an opportunity to introduce the lives of some resident blacks, including people who worked in the tavern and its service building, and blacks who were passing through town, primarily in the company of white tavern patrons but not necessarily confined to that. Thus a range of activities and types of people can be suggested.

  Laundry Room. The chief exhibit in this complex is the laundry room, which would have been a principal domestic space for Wetherburn's slaves. Cooking for workers' meals as well as temporary housing for travelers is implied, but sleeping areas for residents would have been elsewhere, in the attic and in other subsidiary buildings.

  209 Page 3
  • Iron pot
  • Table
  • Five salt-glaze plates
  • One pewter and three wooden spoons
  • Banjar
  • Two small butcher knives
  • Three tin cups
  • Two bottles
  • Blanket roll
  • Pair of shoes or boots
  • Harness hardware
  • Bucket Stool
  • Three packing boxes
  • Two simple bone handled eating forks
  • "Wallet"
  • Portmanteau
  • Outer clothing and coat
  • quilt combs
  • low bench
  • chamber pot
  • ceramic bowls
  • children's games
  • shell necklace

  Front and Rear Work Yards. It is felt that exterior work areas were an important part of black people's lives. These yards offer an opportunity to indicate a variety of types of work associated with a large tavern.

  • Sizeable trash pile
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Two large barrels
  • Cart with firewood
  • Old bucket
• 2.

  Wythe Property. Because of the variety of appropriate spaces on the Wythe property, the complex can be especially useful for illustrating housing for a range of black people with different degrees of status.

  Kitchen, West Room. The fireplace and relatively fine finish suggest the quarters of a favored slave, perhaps the cook. This theme can be developed with a bed raised off the floor, a small amount of furniture, and a Bible. The availability of small consumer items to this person should be indicated by the presence of ceramics and clothes. A quilt can indicate that African culture links have not necessarily been entirely lost, even for a seemingly acculturated person.

  210 Page 4
  • Ladder-back chair
  • Bedstead with old feather mattress
  • New table
  • Chest of drawers
  • Creamware and salt-glaze bowls
  • Bible
  • Three suits of clothing
  • Two pairs of women's shoes
  • Quilt
  • Collection of buttons
  • Comb
  • tobacco (chewing)
  • beads large pot

  Laundry, Inner Room. We would interpret this room as the residence of a considerably larger family. Family members would have work responsibilities in the main house, and they share some of the superior status given to the person in the kitchen. However, they have less consumer goods, their space is more crowded by the number of people, and there would be less privacy because people living in the attic would have to pass through the room.

  • Small bedstead with a small mattress
  • Two straw mattresses
  • Old ladder-back chair
  • Simple rectangular chest
  • One stool
  • Two crates
  • Delft drug pot and two salt-glazed or tin mugs
  • Ax and a weeding hoe
  • Bucket Clothing
  • Razor File
  • Pile of refuse cloth
  • Broom
  • Wine bottles
  • clay pipe
  • herbs beads
  • children's games

  Laundry, Outer Room. A small amount of clothing, rolled-up bedding, and a chest would indicate the presence here of two adults who, while resident on the Wythe property, had a less stable and complex domestic environment. In essence, they are camping out in a room primarily intended for other functions.

  211 Page 5
  • Two pallets
  • Six-board chest with wooden hinges Two shirts
  • Two pairs of long pants
  • A hat and wool cap
  • Shovel

  Stable This area would represent the very bottom of the social scale. Items would be mostly discarded on handed down.

  • Two old blankets
  • manure shovel
  • wooden box
  • wooden pitchfork two pairs of pants
  • felt hat
• 3. Brush-Everard Kitchen. Here we suggest that the most accessible space be used to suggest the occupancy of two people known to have been on the property in the appropriate period. Other artifacts should be arranged in the less accessible attic to indicate that the cook lived here.

  Inner First-Floor Room. This sizeable but unheated room would be occupied by Bristol and Cupid. Both have articles indicating their relatively high status with the white household, but also goods they could have purchased themselves. Both Bristol and Cupid would have some access to capital.

  • Candle
  • Salt-glaze cup
  • Wine bottle
  • Livery coat and associated clothing
  • Worn coat
  • Pants and shirt
  • Two blankets
  • One pair worn shoes
  • Two pair new shoes
  • Pocket knife and razor
  • Gaming equipment
  • Small cache
  • Wood box
  • Two stools
  • Crate
  • Two mattresses
  • Creamware bowl
  • Pewter cup and pewter bowl
  • Two combs
  • coiled baskets
  212 Page 6

  Attic, Partly Visible from Below. Less of this cook's possessions will be visible, but we offer indications that she had somewhat less than her counterpart on the Wythe property.

  • Straw mattress
  • Crate Blanket
  • Shoes Osnabrig
  • Stoneware bottle
  • Head wrap
  • Bag of cloth
• 4.

  Anderson Forge, Attic Visible From Shop A-1. The Anderson. complex is a crucial area for dealing with skilled and unskilled blacks working in an industrial setting and their potential relationships with blacks who have domestic jobs. Much of this awaits further physical development of the complex, but slight indications of workmen's presence in the attic can provide a beginning.

  • Shirt and pants
  • Stoneware jar
  • Case bottle
• 5.

  Ludwell-Paradise Stable. The stable offers another opportunity to indicate the presence of someone working and living in a rather undifferentiated setting. It is suggested that he or she would be working near the stalls and sleeping in the attic.

  • Old shirt
  • Gourd dipper Ladder
  • Stool
  • Workbench
  • Harnesses
  • Wooden pitchfork
  • Manure fork Wooden shovel
  • Wool blanket
  • Bucket
  • Wooden box

Procedure

Because there is some disagreement about designating certain articles as belonging to "blacks only," the list of materials we have chosen primarily represents articles that could have been used by blacks or whites within the same socio-economic level (i.e. indentured servants, poor whites, and like).

We recommend that upon approval by Program Planning and Review the following take place:

• 1.That an implementation committee be chosen to oversee the furnishing of each site.
• 2.That the implementation committee be chosen from the departments of collections, architecture, and research.
• 3.That the budget officer (or a representative) for the AT&T funding be a member of the implementation committee.
• 4.That a time line be established to include priority of sites to be furnished, articles to be acquired, and — approximate dates of completion.
• 5.That upon completion of all sites the Department of Interpretive Education be solicited to discuss how the sites will be included in their training program.

Recommendations for the Future

The installation of these exhibits will be a major first step toward a responsible black interpretation by Colonial Williamsburg. We see it as both a means and an incentive toward active interpretation of the black experience.

In addition, we recommend consideration of the following steps that would place the Foundation in a better position to deal with black social history.

• 1. Recreation of a slave quarter at Carter's Grove, where eighteenth century rural life can be interpreted from. a black perspective.
• 2. Reconstruction of the Peyton Randolph buildings as a setting for dealing with urban black life and work. As at Anderson, there should be an emphasis on the complete environment rather than on isolated components.
• 3. Reconstruction of the Anderson Kitchen to help interpret the lives of skilled and unskilled blacks.
• 4. Excavation of possible slave housing on the southern part of the Anderson property and the northern part of the Brush-Everard property.
• 5. Study of free black housing and work areas in the town.
• 214 Page 8
• 6. Study of white tenant housing, possibly shared by slaves.
• 7. Consideration of the impact of black presence on whites, and identification of sites where this will be interpreted. (For example, fear of black uprising seems to have a role worthy of discussion at the Magazine.)
• 8. Development of interpretive strategies for dealing with the legal position of blacks. Examples include the judicial treatment of blacks at the Courthouse, the passage of slave codes at the Capitol, and the presence or absence of blacks at the Public Hospital.
• 9. Identification of the degree of black participation in various trades, and interpretation of this participation in craft areas and possibly at the Powell House.

March 16, 1987

PRIMARY SOURCES

Manuscripts

• Allason, William, c. 1720 - after 1775. Papers, 1757-1804. Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond; Colonial Williamsburg Microfilm M-1144-1-14.
• Ball, Joseph, d. 1759. "Letterbook, 1750-1759." Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-21.
• Burwell, Nathaniel, 1750-1814. "Ledger, 1736-1746; 1764-1776; 1779-1786, and Day Books, 1773-1779; 1779-1786." Special Collections, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg.
• Carroll, James, d. 1729 (7). "Daybook, 1714-1721; Liber CC." Jesuit Provincial Archives, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1680.
• Carter, James. "Journal, July 16, 1807" AMs [photocopy]. Alexandria, Virginia. Parrish Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 216
• Carter, Landon, 1710-1778. "An Inventory of the Estate of Landon Carter Esq. Dec'd. Taken Feb. 1779." Landon Carter Papers, Sabine Hall Collection, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
• ___________. Notice outlawing his slave, Nassau, October 19, 1777, DS. Carter Papers [39.1/C24], Folder 3, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
• Carter, Robert, of Corotoman. "Diary, 1722-1727." Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-113.
• ____________. "Letterbook, 1727-1728." Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Colonial Williamsburg Microfilm M-113.
• Carter, Robert Wormley, 1734-1794. "Diary, 1764." William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Part of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation typescript (TR 08), Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 42.
• Carter, Robert, III, 1728-1804. "Daybook, January 13, 1787 - February 20, 1788. Library of Congress, Washington, 217 D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1439-2.
• _______________."Nomini Hall Waste Book [Day Book], 1773-1783. Special Collections, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-50.
• ______________. "2nd Book of Miscellanies, 1787-1790." Robert Carter Papers, 1759-1805. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Microfilm M-1439-2.
• Carter v. Berkley. "Records at Large in the Dumfries District Court Commencing May 1798," 23-33 & 631-634. Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-50.
• Corbin, Francis Porteus. "Papers, 1662-1734; Inventories of the Quarters of Edmund Jenings, 1712." Duke University Library, Duke University, Durham; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-36-3.
• Dixon, Edward, ca. 1702-1799. "Papers, 1743-1808, Ledger B, 1768-1771." Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1310-9. 218
• Downman, Rawleigh. "Letterbook, 1760-1780. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-21.
• Fanning, William. "Dr. Henry Tazewell Orphan of Littleton Tazewell decd in Account with William Fanning his Guardian." Brunswick County Orphans' Book No. 1, 1740-1781. Microfilm, Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond.
• Gilliat, Simon. "Inventory of the Estate of Simon Gilliat, free black musician, dated 20 December, 1820." Richmond City Hustinqs Court, Wills, No. 3, 45-46.
  Transcription made by Gregg D. Kimball, Valentine Museum, from microfilm at the Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond.
• Glassford, John & Co. "Records for Virginia, 1758 - [1776] 1817." Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1442-1-20.
• Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826), to Richard Richardson, February 10, 1800. Copy. Monticello Archives, "Monticello," Charlottesville, VA. 219
• ______________. , to Thomas Mann Randolph, Philadelphia, June 14, 1798. Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
• John Norton and Sons. "Papers, 1750-1902." Special Collections, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg.
• [Johnston, William]. "Account and Letter Book, 1736-1737, 1738-1744." Francis Jerdone Papers, Lot 1, Bound Volumes. Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, The College of William and Mary; Colonial Williamsburg Microfilm M-152-1.
• Mercer, James, to Battaile Muse, at Col. Peyton's, Loudon County, Virginia, April 3, 1779. Battaile Muse Papers, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC.
• Norfolk County Wills and Inventories, 1772-1778. Microfilm, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg.
• Partridge, Thomas. "Ledger, 1735-1740." Southern Historical Collection, Frederick Hall Plantation Books, Louisa County, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-24-4. 220
• Skipwith, Abraham. "Summary of the Will of Abraham Skipwith," made by Gregg D. Kimball, Valentine Museum, Richmond, Virginia. Original will in Henrico County Will Book No. 2, 585-587. Microfilm, Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond.
• Stratton, Edward. "Inventory of the Estate of Edward Stratton," Henrico County Deeds, Wills, Etc., 1697-1704, 138. Microfilm, Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond.
• Tayloe, John. "Inventory of John Tayloe, Richmond County property only," Richmond County Will Book 5 (1725-1753), 547-549; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1366-12.
• Taylor, Francis. "Diary, 1786-1799." AMs. Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Microfilm M-1759.
• Vance, Elizabeth. "Last Will and Testament" and "Inventory," Frederick County Will Book No. 5 (1783-1794), 110, 116. Microfilm, Virginia State Library and Archives, Richmond. 221
• Washington, George, 1732-1799. "Mt. Vernon Store Book, January 1 - December 31, 1787." Mt. Vernon Library, Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association, Mt. Vernon, Virginia.
• York County. Wills and Inventories, 1700-1789. Microfilm, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg.

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• Bayard, Ferdinand-Marie. Travels of a Frenchman in Maryland and Virginia With a Description of Philadelphia and Baltimore in 1791.... Translated and edited by Ben C. McCary. Williamsburg, Va.: Ben C. McCary, 1950. 222
• Brown, John. Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, a Fugitive Slave. Edited by F.N. Boney. Savannah: The Beehive Press, 1972.
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• Corbin, Richard. "The Richard Corbin Letterbook." Edited by Jeffrey L. Scheib. Master's thesis, The College of William and Mary in Virginia, 1982.
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• Rawick, George, ed. The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. Vol. 16, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, and Tennessee Narratives. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Co., 1972.
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SECONDARY SOURCES

• Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. American Folk Paintings. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, published in association with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.
• Atmore, Anthony and Gillian Stacey. Black Kingdoms Black Peoples: The West African Heritage. London: Orbis, 1979.
• Baumgarten, Linda. " 'Clothes for the People' -- Slave Clothing in Early Virginia." Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 14, no. 2 (1988): 27-70.
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