COLLECTION GUIDES

1846-1887

Guide to the Collection

browse digital content

Representative digitized documents from this collection:

Restrictions on Access

Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below).


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists of 9 volumes and 3 folders of loose materials relating to the Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League.

Collection Description

This collection consists of the minutes of meetings, constitutions, lists of members, and miscellaneous papers of the Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League, a secret society founded in 1854 by leading Boston reformers to aid freedom seekers and resist the Fugitive Slave Law. Affiliated with the League of Massachusetts Freemen, the Boston group included such reformers as Samuel Gridley Howe, John A. Andrew, Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, Samuel May, and Henry Ingersoll Bowditch. Bowditch annotated many of the Society's records in the 1880s. Also included are the minutes of the Vigilance Committee, a predecessor of the League, to which many of the same members belonged. Former president John Quincy Adams presided over a public meeting of the Committee at Fanueil Hall in 1846.

Restrictions on Access

Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below).

Other Formats

This collection is available as color digital facsimiles.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Expand all
Box 1Folder 1Digital Content

Description of volumes in the collection

Box 1Folder 2Vol. 1Digital Content

Constitution & Bylaws

Box 1Folder 3Vol. 2Digital Content

Records, 1854-1856

Box 1Folder 4Vol. 3Digital Content

Minutes of Council, 1854-1855

Box 1Folder 5Vol. 4Digital Content

Applicants List, 1854-1856

Box 1Folder 6Vol. 5Digital Content

Members List, 19 July 1854

Box 1Folder 7Vol. 6Digital Content

Manual for Admission

Box 1Folder 8Vol. 7Digital Content

Number Book

Box 1Folder 9Vol. 8Digital Content

Meeting Attendance

Box 1Folder 10Vol. 9Digital Content

Vigilance Committee, 1846-1847

Box 1Folder 11Digital Content

League of Massachusetts Freemen records

Box 1Folder 12Digital Content

Miscellaneous correspondence and notes

Preferred Citation

Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848.
Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888.
Andrew, John A. (John Albion), 1818-1867.
Bowditch, Henry I. (Henry Ingersoll), 1808-1892.
Howe, S. G. (Samuel Gridley), 1801-1876.
May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph), 1797-1871.
Parker, Theodore, 1810-1860.

Organizations:

League of Massachusetts Freemen.
United States. Fugitive slave law (1850).
Vigilance Committee (Boston, Mass.).

Subjects:

Antislavery movements--United States.
Fugitive slaves--Massachusetts.
Secret societies--Massachusetts.

Materials Removed from the Collection

The following materials have been removed from the collection and cataloged separately:

Bowditch, Henry I. Diagram to show the drill the Anti-Man-Hunting League had for the running off of a slave or man-hunter..., ca. 1854-1859. Digitized item

[Boston Anti-Man Hunting League]. Stop thief : Ran away from Norfolk, Virginia, with $125.00! [Boston : s.n., 1855]. Digitized item

Click the description headings to expand their contents, and click the red REQUEST buttons to add items to your request.

Click here to cancel