James G. Birney collection of anti-slavery pamphlets

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0378

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists chiefly of the original anti-slavery pamphlets assembled by the American abolitionist, James G. Birney. The collection also includes a few newspapers, offprints, and newspaper clippings. The collection spans the years 1784-1909. Later items were added by Birney's son, William, to include the subjects of pro-slavery, African colonization, politics and campaign literature.

Dates

Creation: 1784-1909

Creator

Birney, James Gillespie, 1792-1857 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is housed off-site and requires 48-hours' notice for retrieval. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Collection is open for use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions. It is not necessary to seek our permission as the owner of the physical work to publish or otherwise use public domain materials that we have made available for use, unless Johns Hopkins University holds the copyright.

Biographical / Historical

James G. Birney was an attorney, abolitionist writer and publisher. He was born in Kentucky in 1784 to a wealthy, slaveholding family, but he abandoned a successful law practice to become an agent for abolitionism. Birney hoped to accomplish the abolition of slavery through political means and through the publication of books, pamphlets, and newspapers. He was the Liberty Party's unanimous presidential nominee in 1840 and 1844. James G. Birney died in 1853.

Extent

11.25 Cubic Feet (9 record center boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists of the original anti-slavery pamphlets assembled by the American abolitionist, James G. Birney. The collection spans the years 1784-1909. It contains only the items duplicated by those that were processed as books with individual call numbers and items that were deemed too fragile. In the case of fragility, photocopies were made as use copies.

Arrangement

The original pamphlets which form this collection are filed in call number order to correspond to duplicate originals and photocopies of the pamphlets that have been photocopied, cataloged individually, and filed in Special Collections.

Other Finding Aids

An offline inventory is available. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

A published bibliography of the collection is also available: The Birney Anti-Slavery Collection of the Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Md: M.S. Eisenhower Library, Special Collections Division, 1985. Print. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Copies and duplicates of all items in the Birney collection have been cataloged. To browse a list of available titles, please visit our library catalog and search for "Birney Anti-Slavery Collection": https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_field=all_fields&q=%22birney+anti-slavery+collection%22

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was given to the University by William Birney in 1890. Special Collections added additional accruals to the collection into the 1990s, which reflects why the date span of the collection extends beyond the date of the original donation.

Existence and Location of Copies

Digitized portions of the book collection are available here: https://archive.org/details/birney. THe contents of the manuscript collection were not digitized.

Related Materials

The Alice W. Reins Correspondence collection, MS.0054, consists of correspondence relating to a bibliography of the James G. Birney collection of anti-slavery materials, which Reins had been preparing.