]
]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 31.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 25,000 items) |
| Abstract | Harriet Jacobs was an escaped slave and abolitionist who wrote about her experiences in her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). Jean Fagan Yellin, head of the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers Project, is Distinguished Professor Emerita of English at Pace University in New York, N.Y., and author of The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers (2008), a two-volume collection of primary source material related to Jacobs and her family. The collection consists chiefly of materials collected by Jean Fagan Yellin in her work as the head of the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers Project. Included are several original letters by or about members of the Jacobs family; Yellin's administrative files; email print-outs and correspondence with archives and research centers; photocopied primary source materials, including letters, newspaper clippings, and other documents; indexes of collected and consulted items; and background subject files compiled to supplement the research effort. Topics include the Jacobs family and the related Knox family; slavery and runaway slaves; abolition; Harriet Jacobs's life in North Carolina, New York (with the Willis family), and Boston; her antislavery work during the Civil War; and other topics. |
| Language | English |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Expand/collapse
Biographical
Information
Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813-1897) was born a slave in Edenton, N.C., in 1813. Following mistreatment and sexual predations at the hand of Dr. James Norcom, Jacobs managed to escape in 1835, hiding nearby in the home of her grandmother. After seven years in hiding, Jacobs fled north to Philadelphia, Penn., in 1842, and then to New York, N.Y. There, she worked for the family of Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867), travelling with the family to England in 1845. It was while working for Willis that Jacobs penned Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). Jacobs later moved to Boston and lived with her brother, John S. Jacobs (1815-1875), and her two children, Louisa Matilda Jacobs (1833-1913) and Joseph Jacobs (b. 1829). She also became increasingly involved in efforts for the abolition of slavery. During the Civil War, she participated in a variety of different causes: raising funds to assist escaped slaves who travelled north; speaking at various society meetings and conventions; organizing schools and relief work on behalf of those displaced by the war; and working at refugee camps and first aid stations across New England, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Later in life, Jacobs struggled with unemployment and illness. She died in 1897.
Jean Fagan Yellin is Distinguished Professor Emerita of English at Pace University in New York, N.Y., and author of The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers (2008), a two-volume collection of primary source material related to Harriet Jacobs and her family. Yellin has written extensively on issues of race and gender in nineteenth-century America and has also edited an edition of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". In 2004, she published a biography of Jacobs entitled Harriet Jacobs: A Life.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
The collection consists chiefly of materials collected by Jean Fagan Yellin in her work as the head of the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers Project. Included are several original letters by or about members of the Jacobs family; Yellin's administrative files; email print-outs and correspondence with archives and research centers; photocopied primary source materials, including letters, newspaper clippings, and other documents; indexes of collected and consulted items; and background subject files compiled to supplement the research effort. Topics include the Jacobs family and the related Knox family; slavery and runaway slaves; abolition; Harriet Jacobs's life in North Carolina, New York (with the Willis family), and Boston; her antislavery work during the Civil War; and other topics.
Note that the original arrangment as received has, for the most part, been retained.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Series Quick Links
Expand/collapse
Series 1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s.
| Folder 1 |
Letter from Joseph Pierce to Francis Grimke, 19 August 1893 #05464, Series: "1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s." Folder 1Letter describes Joseph Pierce's conversion to Christianity, his employment situation, and his church affiliation. |
Letter from Joseph Pierce to Louisa M. Jacobs, 28 February 1897 #05464, Series: "1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s." Folder 1Pierce wrote from a Salvation Army food and shelter depot in Chicago, Ill., to Louisa M. Jacobs about his work for the organization and to apologize for not being able to afford a ticket to visit her in Washington, D.C. |
|
Letter from Lillian Willis to Cornelia Willis, 26 December 1862 #05464, Series: "1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s." Folder 1Lillian Willis wrote from New Bedford, Mass., to her mother Cornelia Willis about her Christmas presents. |
|
Letter from Wilbur P. Thirkield, president of Howard University, to Louisa M. Jacobs, 17 June 1908 #05464, Series: "1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s." Folder 1Wilber P. Thirkfield wrote to Louisa M. Jacobs to accept her letter of resignation as Preceptress of Miner Hall at Howard University in Washington, D.C. |
|
| Folder 2 |
Knox family Bible pages, circa 1890s-1960s #05464, Series: "1. Original Documents, circa 1890s-1960s." Folder 2Includes scattered biographical information on members of the Knox family, with entries dating from the 1890s to the 1960s. The Elijah Knox (b. 1824) listed in the family Bible is not Harriet Jacobs's father, but is actually her half-brother from her father's later remarriage. |
Expand/collapse
Series 2. Administrative Files, 1989-2005.
Arrangement: Unfiled research materials, followed by indexes to document files (see series 3) and accession records for research documents.
Includes unfiled research materials about the Jacobs family collected by Jean Fagan Yellin. There are print-outs of the Harriet Jacobs Papers Project website and transcripts of archival documents, including letters, articles, and other materials collected by Yellin. There are also print-outs of databases that serve as an index to the document files in Series 3 that are listed both by date and by document number. The database indexes are arranged as follows: single Os are for documents by Harriet Jacobs or her daughter, Louisa M. Jacobs; double Os are documents addressed to Harriet Jacobs or Louisa M. Jacobs; triple Os are about members of the Jacobs family. Note that most unfiled documents in this series are also numbered according to this arrangement and that there are accession records for documents that were not used in The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
| Folder 3-11 |
Administrative files, 1989-2005 #05464, Series: "2. Administrative Files, 1989-2005." Folder 3-11Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11 |
Expand/collapse
Series 3. Document Files, 1989-2005.
Files keyed to Joan Yellin's document numbering scheme. Single Os are for documents by Harriet Jacobs or her daughter, Louisa M. Jacobs; double Os are documents addressed to Harriet Jacobs or Louisa M. Jacobs; triple Os are about members of the Jacobs family. Document files include a "control-file report": a printout of a database record that contains information about the document, transcript, facsimile, correspondence, and an abstract of the document. Note that there are files for documents included in The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers and for documents that were not included in the book.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
| Folder 12-26 |
Documents by Harriet Jacobs or Louisa M. Jacobs: 01-042 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 12-26Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26 |
| Folder 27-40 |
Documents by Harriet Jacobs or Louisa M. Jacobs: 043-0103 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 27-40Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40 |
Documents addressed to Harriet Jacobs or Louisa M. Jacobs: 001-008 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 27-40Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40 |
|
| Folder 41-54 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 0001-000113 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 41-54Folder 41Folder 42Folder 43Folder 44Folder 45Folder 46Folder 47Folder 48Folder 49Folder 50Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54 |
| Folder 55-68 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 000114-000199 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 55-68Folder 55Folder 56Folder 57Folder 58Folder 59Folder 60Folder 61Folder 62Folder 63Folder 64Folder 65Folder 66Folder 67Folder 68 |
| Folder 69-82 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 000200-000403 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 69-82Folder 69Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72Folder 73Folder 74Folder 75Folder 76Folder 77Folder 78Folder 79Folder 80Folder 81Folder 82 |
| Folder 83-96 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 000404-000547 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 83-96Folder 83Folder 84Folder 85Folder 86Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89Folder 90Folder 91Folder 92Folder 93Folder 94Folder 95Folder 96 |
| Folder 97-111 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 000548-000839 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 97-111Folder 97Folder 98Folder 99Folder 100Folder 101Folder 102Folder 103Folder 104Folder 105Folder 106Folder 107Folder 108Folder 109Folder 110Folder 111 |
| Folder 112-119 |
Documents about members of the Jacobs family: 000840-000958 #05464, Series: "3. Document Files, 1989-2005." Folder 112-119Folder 112Folder 113Folder 114Folder 115Folder 116Folder 117Folder 118Folder 119 |
Expand/collapse
Series 4. Footnote Files, 1989-2005.
Arrangement: Footnote Files are organized into three subseries: people, places, and topics. Within each subseries, files are arranged alphabetically.
Research files compiled by Jean Fagan Yellin on people, places, and topics researched for the footnotes of The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers. Footnote files contain photocopies of original documents, trancriptions of handwritten items, query statements, drafts of research reports, printouts of emails and other correspondence from archival institutions and libraries, and other materials related to Yellin's research.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 4.1. Footnote Files: People, 1989-2005.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 4.2. Footnote Files: Places, 1989-2005.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 4.3. Footnote Files: Topics, 1989-2005.
Expand/collapse
Series 5. Background Subject Files, 1989-2005.
Arrangement: Arrangement is for the most part alphabetical by folder title. Following the primary alphabetical run, there are smaller alphabetized runs of files.
Files containing research materials on a wide variety of people, places, and topics, including Harriet Jacobs's brother, John S. Jacobs (1815-1875); her speaking engagements and related activities across England, Australia, and the northern United States; and many other areas explored by Jean Fagan Yellin in the course of her work.
Following the primary alphabetical run, there are smaller alphabetized runs of files. The first of these contains information about members of the Edenton, N.C., community contemporary to Harriet Jacobs; the significance of other groupings is unclear. There are also files relating to the diary of Julia A. Wilbur, excerpts from which were included in The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers.
Note that original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
Processed by: Ashley Honeycutt and Jackie Dean, November 2011; Martin Gengenbach, January 2012
Encoded by: Jackie Dean, November 2011; Martin Gengenbach, January 2012
Back to Top