NEWS AND TIPS FROM THE ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT VOL. 7, No. 2—FEBRUARY 2014 The Underground Railroad Who, growing up in the United States, hasn’t heard of the Underground Railroad? This covert organization helped en- slaved people travel out of the South, first to the northern free states, and ultimately, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, all the way to safety and freedom in Canada. The exact number of people who escaped to freedom on the Underground Railroad is unknown, but the figure may have been as high as 100,000, a small number compared to the overall slave population. The psychological impact on the slave holders was enormous, however. The awareness of a secret escape network fed into a general fear of slave revolt. In this regard, the Underground Railroad’s impact was even greater than the numbers of escapees would indicate. Have you ever wondered if you have ancestors who escaped the bonds of slavery on the Underground Railroad? Were your forbears conductors or station masters helping the en- slaved people find freedom? Tracing ancestors who partici- pated in a secret organization may seem like a daunting task, Image from “The Escape of Henry Stevenson from Odrain but there are a number of resources in the Special Collec- Co. Mo. Through Illinois” from the Wilbert H. Siebert Collec- tions Department that may help. tion on microfilm in the Special Collections Department. One of our most significant resources is the Wilbur H. • 6 Photographs and Ephemera (Film 16, Box 76, Folder Siebert Collection (the Special Collections Department only 3 – Film 16, Box 76, Folder 6) has the part of the collection relating to the Underground Railroad). This collection consists of 16 rolls of microfilm It is not clear how this separation works. Although part 1 separated into three series, specifically: only contains correspondence, and part 6 contains many • 1 Correspondence (Roll 1, Box 1, Folder 1 – Roll 1, Box 1, Folder 11) • 4 Underground Railroad ( Roll 1, Box 40, Folder 1– Film 16, Box 67, Vol 03 CAN) FEBRUARY 2014 | PAGE 2 photographs, additional letters and photographs are inter- searching the series is worth the effort, because the results mingled in series 4. (It is also unclear why they are num- can be amazing. Consider the following two examples. bered 1, 4, and 6.) “The Escape of Henry Stevenson from Odrain [Audrain] The Ohio Historical Society maintains a searchable online Co. Mo. Through Illinois” is an excellent example. Mr. collection guide (PDF) < http://ww2.ohiohistory.org/ Stevenson was about 104 years old when he provided in- undergroundrr/siebert.pdf > that describes items in the col- formation to Dr. Siebert about his experiences on the Un- lection in the order they appear by roll number, box num- derground Railroad. He tells of his first slave owner, his ber, and folder number. The file has been printed and marriage, several incidents in his life and ultimately, his bound as a book in the Special Collections Department, escape to freedom. “MIC 192, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection (1840-1954), Microfilm Edition,” call no. R 977.1 S571M. Equally interesting is the story “Prof J B Turner Responds to an Appeal and Helps Three Slave Girls.” Professor Unfortunately, the box and folder numbers are not obvious Turner became a reluctant conductor on the Underground on the film, so you will be forced to follow item by item Railroad when he discovered the plight of three young through the film to find the one you want. To complicate women trying to escape from the horrors of slavery. matters further, there is no index of names in the PDF file, so if you are unable to search the online file, your only The Special Collections Department also has books related choice is to look page by page through the book in the hope to the Underground Railroad. A bibliography follows this of finding the name. Even with the difficulties of the index, article, but a few of them are worth a closer look here. The first of these is William Still’s “The Underground PastPorts is published monthly by the St. Louis Railroad.” Mr. Still was the head of the Pennsylvania Anti- County Library Special Collections Department, located Slavery Society, and was active in helping people escape on Tier 5 of the Headquarters location. northward out of bondage. He kept notes about the various Current and past issues can be downloaded from the Underground Railroad Passengers that passed through web at http://www.slcl.org/pastports. Philadelphia. He drew extensively on these notes, along with letters from operators, former slaves, newspaper arti- Contact the Special Collections Department cles and excerpts, reproductions of slave advertisements, Special Collections Department legal papers, and the minutes of the Anti-Slavery Society in St. Louis County Library compiling his book. 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd St. Louis, MO 63131 The book, vaguely chronological, includes a table of con- Phone: 314-994-3300, ext. 2070 tents but does not have a name index. An interesting read, Email: [email protected] it tells the stories of a great number of people involved with Website: http://www.slcl.org the railroad. An example is the story, on page 556, of Jerry Tours Mills, his wife and three of their children escaping from slavery in Maryland. Tours of the Special Collections Department are con- ducted on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of the month at 10:30 a.m. No registration is required. Group “Reminiscences of Levi Coffin,” is the personal memories tours are gladly arranged with advance notice by calling of the man sometimes known as the “President of the Un- the Special Collections Department at 314-994-3300, derground Railroad.” Many of these reminiscences concern ext. 2070. the stories of people escaping from slavery. Others are about individuals helping the escapees in their travels FEBRUARY 2014 | PAGE 3 “The Long Walk to Freedom,” a compilation of first- person accounts of runaway slaves, includes twelve narra- tives. Many of these had been long out of print before the editors found them and compiled the book. The table of contents lists many of the names. An example from this book, beginning on page 173, is the story of Harriet Jacobs, a woman who hid out in an attic for several years before making her escape with her children. “Forbidden Fruit” and “Freedom by Any Means” provide historical examples of enslaved people using extraordinary means to escape to freedom. Both books include a table of contents that lists the chapter title, but the titles typically do not name individuals. Neither has a name index. Neverthe- less, both books contain engaging stories and make inter- esting reads. This article only highlights some of the resources relating to the Underground Railroad in the Special Collections De- partment. A bibliography of resources follows. Perhaps one of these items will tell the story of your ancestor. Bibliography Titles available in the Special Collections Department Call numbers beginning with “R” are for in-library use only. Some titles may be available for checkout elsewhere Image from “Prof J B Turner Responds to an Appeal and in the library system. Check the library’s online catalog Helps Three Slave Girls” from the Wilbur H. Siebert <http://webpac.slcl.org> for availability and location. Collection Berry, Bertice. The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory, and Redemption. New York: Broadway Books, 2009. R 929.20973 B534T northward. The story of Louisa Picquet is typical of Cof- fin’s accounts. Picquet was born to an enslaved mother in Blockson, Charles L, Hippocrene Guide to the Under- South Carolina, then sold with her mother to a man from ground Railroad. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1994. Georgia, who then sold the mother and daughter separately, R 917.304 B651H one to New Orleans and the other to Texas. Although there is a table of contents, this book also lacks an index, which Bradford, Sarah Hopkins, Harriet Tubman: the Moses of makes researching difficult. Fortunately, the stories are suf- Her People. New York: G.R. Lockwood & Sons, 1886; ficiently engrossing that reading all 732 pages would not be reprint: Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2004. too taxing of an undertaking. R 973.7115 B799H. FEBRUARY 2014 | PAGE 4 Carbado, Devon W., and Weise, Donald, eds. The Long Hagedorn, Ann. Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Walk to Freedom: Runaway Slave Narratives. Boston, Heroes of the Underground Railroad. New York: Mass.: Beacon Press, 2012. R 306.362 L848 Simon & Schuster, 2002. R 973.7115 H141B Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Hodges, Graham Russell. David Ruggles: A Radical Black New York: Little, Brown, 2004. RB T8857C Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin. New York: Press, 2010. RB Ruggles David Arno Press, 1968. 973.7115 C675R Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Har- DeRamus, Betty. Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories From the riet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York: Underground Railroad. New York: Atria Books, 2005. Ballantine, 2004. RB T8857L R 973.7115 D427F Lowry, Beverly. Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life. New ________. Freedom By Any Means: Con Games, Voodoo York: Doubleday, 2007. R 973.7115 L921H Schemes, True Love and Lawsuits on the Underground Railroad. New York: Atria Books, 2009. R 973.7115 McGowan, James A. Station Master on the Underground D427F Railroad: The Life and Letters of Thomas Garrett. Jef- ferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2005. Frazier, Harriet C. Runaway and Freed Missouri Slaves R 973.7115 M146S and Those Who Helped Them, 1763-1865.