My Scrapbook

Underground Railroad Collections
Printable Version

The scrapbook contains collections related to the Underground Railroad and abolition.

Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, Saturday, July 21, 1787, No. 2639

The Northwest Territory was established by ordinance in 1787. Slavery was outlawed.
Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, Ohio University

B. Cardiveau Letter to Arthur St. Clair

Cardiveau's 1789 letter to the governor of the Northwest Territory argues that Southern slaves should be allowed to continue their servitude in the territory, even though slavery was outlawed by the Northwest Ordinance.
Ohio Historical Society

Ohio Constitution

According to the constitution, "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state."
Ohio Historical Society

Quaker Meeting House

The Quakers of Mount Pleasant were well-known for their abolitionist activities. As early as the 1810s, Quakers were assisting escaped slaves.
Quaker Meeting House

Thomas Rotch Letter to Isaac Pierce Regarding Settlement of Freed Slaves in Ohio

Rotch responds to Isaac Pierce's 1816 query as to the possibility of several hundred freed slaves settling in Ohio.
Massillon Public Library

Nathan Guilford Letters to Thomas Rotch Regarding Settlement of Slaves

Guilford, secretary of the Western Emigrant Society, wrote to Thomas Rotch in 1817 regarding settlement of slaves in the Ohio country.
Massillon Public Library

Thomas Rotch Letter to Benjamin Ladd on Slavery

Rotch discusses the evils of slavery and unequal treatment of blacks in Ohio. He also mentions Paul Cuffee and the three to four hundred slaves who were freed in accordance with will of Samuel Gist of Virginia.
Massillon Public Library

John Dillon Letter to Thomas Rotch

This 1818 letter deals with Rotch's work on behalf of the Western Emigrant Aid Society, an organization dedicated to assisting escaped or former slaves.
Massillon Public Library

Horton Howard Letter to Thomas Rotch

In this 1818 letter, Howard asks his friend Thomas Rotch to attend a meeting to draft a statement to Congress encouraging the abolition of the slave trade.
Massillon Public Library

Common Pleas Record of Blacks and Mulatto Persons

From 1804 to 1857, African Americans in Ohio had to register their freedom papers with the clerk of courts of common pleas in the county where they desired to live or work.
Ohio Historical Society

George Duncan Letter to Thomas Rotch

A rare example of writing by a fugitive slave, this letter documents George Duncan's passage on the Underground Railroad.
Massillon Public Library

John Bardwell Home

This Oberlin home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Lorain Public Library System

Spring Hill Home

This home in Massillon belonged to Thomas Rotch, a Quaker and staunch abolitionist. It features a secret staircase.
Massillon Museum Foundation, Inc.

Horton Howard Letter to Thomas Rotch Concerning Free Black Community

Howard mentions 50 African Americans from Virginia who purchased land in the area of Sandusky Plains, but were driven out of their settlement by white inhabitants and returned to Virginia as slaves.
Massillon Public Library

Robbins Burrell Home

Robbins Burrell hid fugitive slaves in his Sheffield home until ships on the Black River could take them to Canada. The house was raided by federal marshals on several occasions.
Lorain Public Library System

Brief Exposition of the Views of the Society for the Colonization of Free Persons of Colour in Africa

This 1827 pamphlet urged Ohioans to support the removal of former slaves to the African nation of Liberia.
Ross County Historical Society

John Rankin House Freedom Stairway Photograph

The one hundred steps lead from the Ohio River to the John Rankin House in Ripley, a station on the Underground Railroad.
Ohio Historical Society

John Rankin Essay on Lane Seminary

Rankin, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Ripley, Ohio, defends students who in 1834 established an anti-slavery society at Lane Seminary, a theological college in Cincinnati.
Ohio Historical Society

Ripley Anti-Slavery Society Minutes

This minute book records the activities of the society in Brown County, Ohio from 1835-1848. Its aim was to "convince their fellow citizens that slaveholding is a heinous sin."
Ohio Historical Society

Letters on American Slavery

Upon learning that one of his brothers had acquired a slave, John Rankin wrote a series of letters denouncing slavery, which were published in 1826.
Ohio Historical Society

David Webster Home

The Wellington, Ohio home was believed to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. A makeshift elevator within a 12-foot fireplace raised and lowered fugitives.
Lorain Public Library System

Quaker Dresses

The Quakers of Mount Pleasant were well-known for their abolitionist activities. As early as the 1810s, Quakers were assisting escaped slaves.
Quaker Meeting House

Monteith Hall

The home of Reverend John Monteith in Elyria had a tunnel extending from the basement to the Black River that was used by fugitive slaves.
Lorain Public Library System

Hadley Abolitionist Quilt

Quaker women of Clinton County, Ohio and Wayne County, Indiana who had been disowned by the mainstream Quaker meetings due to their anti-slavery activities made this quilt in 1842.
Clinton County Historical Society

David Jenkins Photograph

Born in Virginia in 1811, Jenkins moved to Ohio in 1837. In 1844, he established the Palladium of Liberty, a weekly antislavery newspaper. He was active in the abolition movement and the Underground Railroad.
Ohio Historical Society

Hanby House

The Westerville home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Otterbein College

Betsy Mix Cowles Letter Regarding Anti-Slavery Activity

"Abolitionism runs higher than ever," wrote Cowles. She discusses the quarterly meeting of an anti-slavery society and the presence of abolitionist and women's rights leader Abby Kelly Foster.
Kent State University

James M. Folger Letter to Arvine C. Wales Regarding Slavery

In this 1848 letter, Folger discusses anti-slavery lectures in Portage County, the evils of slavery, news of personal friends, and local and Ohio politics.
Massillon Public Library

Wilson Bruce Evans Home

Evans was an African American cabinetmaker and undertaker. His home in Oberlin may have harbored fugitive slaves.
Lorain Public Library System

Henry E. Peck Photograph

Peck was one of the participants in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of John Price, a fugitive slave who was captured in Oberlin.
Oberlin College Archives

Henry E. Peck Residence

The Oberlin, Ohio home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Lorain Public Library System

Wadsworth Hotel Photograph

The hotel was the site of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue.
Oberlin College Archives

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Stowe's novel was inspired in part by a visit to abolitionist John Rankin at his home in Ripley.
Ohio Historical Society

Lee Henry Dobbins Headstone

Four-year-old Lee Howard Dobbins was a fugitive slave who escaped from the South but died of consumption before making it to freedom in Canada.
Oberlin College Archives

John Brown Letters

Four letters written from the Kansas Territory address how Ohioans dealt with the volatile situation in "Bleeding Kansas."
Hudson Library and Historical Society

Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers Photograph

Participants in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of John Price, a fugitive slave who was captured in Oberlin.
Oberlin College Archives

History of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue

Jacob R. Shipherd participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue and wrote this account of it.
Oberlin College Archives

Manumission Papers of America and Sam Barnett

These papers freed America, a 47-year-old woman, and Sam, a 10-year-old boy from Kentucky.
National Afro American Museum and Cultural Center

Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers Victory Celebration Poster

This poster announces a victory celebration to be held in the honor of the Oberlin Rescuers, who were released from the Cuyahoga County Jail after charges against them were dropped.
Oberlin College Archives

Daniel Howell Hise Photograph

Hise, of Salem, Ohio was pasionately opposed to slavery and helped fugitive slaves through the Underground Railroad.
Salem Historical Society

First Church in Oberlin Stereoscope Card

The church served as a meeting place for the Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society. In 1860, a memorial service was held there for John Copeland and Shields Green, two Oberlin men who were hanged for their participation with John Brown in the raid on Harper's Ferry.
Oberlin College Archives

John Rankin and Jean Lowry Rankin Photograph

Rankin, a Presbyterian minister and educator, devoted much of his life to the antislavery movement.
Ohio Historical Society

Emancipation Proclamation Anniversary Celebration Broadside

This 1881 broadside announces that "the Colored people of Preble County, recognizing the blessings of Liberty, will celebrate the 18th anniversary of their deliverance from bondage."
Ohio Historical Society

Darling Nelly Gray Sheet Music

A fugitive slave who took refuge in the Hanby household told the story of his sweetheart Nelly Gray, who had been sold into slavery in Georgia, ispiring the song.
Otterbein College

Martha Hartway Photograph

Martha Hartway was born a slave in Virginia. She escaped and was taken in by the family of a prominent Columbus merchant in 1864.
Kelton House Museum and Garden

Elias Tetirick Interview

Tetirick, a Wesleyan Methodist with strong abolition convictions, was involved in the Underground Railroad in Jefferson Township, Guernsey County from 1847 until 1865.
Ohio Historical Society

Charles T. Webber Letters to Wilbur H. Siebert

Webber responded to inquires made by Siebert, an Ohio State University history professor who requested a photograph of Webber's painting The Underground Railroad.
Ohio Historical Society

Underground Railroad Painting

Charles T. Webber painted The Underground Railroad for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It celebrates abolitionists' efforts to end slavery.
Cincinnati Art Museum

Felicity, Ohio Underground Railroad Newspaper Article

This article, titled "Its Tracks Were Clouded Yet Collisions and Derailments Were Unknown: Recollections of the 'Underground Railroad' of Antebellum Days," appeared in the Felicity Times in 1893.
Ohio Historical Society

Kelso House Photograph

The home of William Kelso in Brimfield may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Brimfield Memorial House Association

Miami House Inn Photograph

Joshua Ward built the Waynesville, Ohio inn in 1826. There was a hidden room in the attic that could be reached by pressing a board in the wall, believed to be used to hide fugitive slaves.
Mary L. Cook Public Library

John P. Parker Obituary

Between 1845 and 1865, Parker aided approximately 400 slaves passing through Ripley on the Underground Railroad.
Union Township Public Library

Charles A. Garlick Pamphlet

Garlick, an Ashtabula County resident for 50 years, was born into slavery in Virginia and escaped to Ohio in 1843.
Henderson Memorial Public Library

Charles A. Garlick Postcards

The portraits of Garlick date from 1902.
Henderson Memorial Public Library

David Adams Obituary

Adams, the first African American barber in Hancock County, reportedly conducted fugitive slaves between Urbana and Findlay on the Underground Railroad.
Findlay-Hancock County Public Library

Virginia Washington Ex-Slave Narrative

During the Civil War, Washington ran away from the Tennessee plantation and was assisted by Union soldiers. She went to Cincinnati, where she worked as a cook.
Ohio Historical Society

John Rankin House Photograph

This image of the house dates from the 1960s.
Ohio Historical Society