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Researching Slavery In The District Of Columbia

Dear Friends, I'm pleased to share with you an extraordinary list of resources about Federal Records from the National Archives related to Slavery. Walter Hill Jr. Editor of the Summer, 1997 issue of Prologue, the quarterly magazine of the National Archives and Records Administration, has pulled together a research protocol on the Holt house and on slavery in the District of Columbia. Those working on American history during the period of slavery will find it essential documentation.

The INTERNET Pointers to Walter's excellent overview story in Prologue and the index to the sixteen stories in that special issue, can be found at the end of this postings

You can check to see if there are any documents dealing with slavery in the District. Keep in mind historical place because the District of Columbia doesn't come into existence until the post revolutionary period. However slavery existed in the area long before and it is possible that some body from the area wrote the cc.

I would take a look at Record Group 351, Records of the Government of the District. Many of the records series go back to the early 19th Century. Get the preliminary inventory for the records and look at the record series:

    (1) Records Relating to Construction, Engineering, and Land. These records cover land, Washington Canal, building inspection, public works;

    (2) Records of the Metropolitan Police.  These records may have something to say about treatment of free blacks and slaves. There are two other record     series that hold promise for you.

    (3) Records of the City of Georgetown;

    (4) Records of the County of Washington.

I would also check with the DC Archives and the Washingtoniana Rm. at the MLK Library. They have some 19th century DC records.

RG 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census may hold something for you relative to the presence of slaves at Holt House. The first census is 1790 and was taken every ten years. If you can locate Holt House in the Census, there is a chance that the enumerator listed all residents of the house including slaves.

Maps: For the Adams Morgan area, you need to find out what maps exist for the period you are interested in and see if the House is there. Firestone Insurance Maps are excellent for this and many go back to the mid 19th Century. Check Library of Congress and see what they have. They have an excellent collection of these maps. Federal maps of the WDC area extends back to the pre-federal period. There may be some maps that reveal slaveholdings in the states. Maps will reveal considerable information including were burial grounds existed. However, burial records and registers should exist with the DC government records.

Here are two record groups that are worth looking at:

RG 30 Records of the Bureau of Public Roads. They may have documents relative to the location of buildings and other road construction. If there are anything for DC/MD/Va, you may find something relative to the House.

RG 28 Records of the Post Office Department. Post Office records will also help you identify historical place - where things were. You will need to know the PO sites for the WDC. The PO Dept. was created in 1792; however the records extend back to the 1773 with the Continental Congress. There is no telling what you may find in them because they have some very interesting record series

The National Park Service, RG 75 contains records relative to the burial of Indians and their cemeteries records are scattered throughout military records in particular RG 92, Quartermaster Records. I say this because in the early times military and civilian burials are sometimes caught up together. For WDC, the capital, I don't know what you can find. You have to look.

If there is any hint of federal land connection with Holt House, then you have to check RG 49 Records of the Bureau of Land Management. Private land claim files will have an enormous wealth of people getting land, and there are surveyors records among them. There may be records for the WDC area because federal landownership was quite prominent in the DC.

A record group that reveal some surprising data is RG 21, Records of the District Courts of the United States. You want the records series, Records of the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia. Look at the Law, Appellate, and Criminal Records. The Case Papers may surprise you because they contain quite a bit on the legal affairs and property holdings of black in Washington, DC, and these records go back to 1802 and extend through 1863. These records should receive some priority.

For the Civil War years, if there were any forts around the House, more than likely, there will be some information of the surrounding properties. WDC had a ton of forts so look for any in the Adams Morgan area.

Slaveholding in the District was quite extensive and you need to look at RG 217, Records of the U.S. General Accounting Office.

There is a potential record series that must be looked at: Records of the Bd. of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-63. This is a critical series because if there were slaves at the Holt House, the owner would have asked for compensation once slavery ended in the DC.

Slave owners were compensated in DC. Go back to RG 21, District Court records. There is a series, Records of the U.S. District CT for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851-1863. This series will have a great deal to say about who own slaves and how they were treated and how they ended up in the District Courts.

Here again, RG29 Census records are very revealing for the DC during this period also.

RG 105, Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, for WDC will have large quantity of documents on slavery for the period 1867-71, and lot of these records will go back to 1861. Check with the DC Office. to see who is writing and working with the DC Office.

The American Freedmen Inquiry Commission was set up in 1863 to investigate the condition of slavery and hearing were held all over the south including WDC. These records are a part of RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office.

During the war, slaves came under the auspices of the War Department. Check to see if there is anything for WDC; there is a nice index to these records. Explore therecords of the : 1) Slave Claims Commission; and 2) Commission on Colored Refugees, to see if there is anything relative to WDC. They are also a part of RG 94. And be sure to check RG 92, Quartermaster, because if slaves existed at Holt House and the Army used them, then, those records are with Quartermaster records. There are a series of housing records that may be useful, but I will only speak of two. The Land Acquisition Records of RG 328, The National Capital Planning Commission. The Land Acquisition Case Files, 1924-56 may be promising because these flies deal with the acquisition of any properties, between these years, for parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, parkways and the likes. I would also check RG 121, Records of the Public Buildings Service, if the Federal Govt. acquired the property. There are a couple of records series to examine if Holt House came under the purview of the fed. See the preliminary inventory for these record groups.

Now, I know I have overwhelmed you, and these are records from the top of my head. If I were to do a detail search of possible sources, I will have missed several. This is enough for you at this point because this is a lot of work. For Federal sources, I don't think you have scratched the surface. These records will help. Good luck and keep in touch.

wbh. jr.

The Summer 1997, (vol. 29, no. 2) issue of Prologue focuses on the use of federal records in African American historical research. Sixteen articles by NARA staff and other historians explore the depth and breadth of material in the National Archives relative to African Americans. Arranged topically, the issue examines the Civil War and Reconstruction, labor issues, civil rights, pictorial records, and research aids. "Genealogy Notes" features the records of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. Prologue subscriptions are $16 for 1 year. Single issues may be purchased for $4 .

Walter Hill's full text overview of the History of African American History

Index to PROLOGUE