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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) BOURNE, GEORGE AND THEODORE
BOURNE. ROBERT CAMPBELL, MARTIN R. DELANY, HENRY HIGHLAND
GARNETT, REVEREND CHARLES RAY, THOMAS PAINE, BENJAMIN COATES,
SIR ALFRED CHURCHILL
Archive of the Bourne Family, 1793-1919.
Large
archive of manuscript and printed matter: letters, documents, flyers, broadsides, pamphlets
etc. Hundreds of items, contained in four large ring binders.
SHOULD BE SEEN
.
Vp: England, United States, Canada and Africa, 1790’s-1919
[40,000/60,000]
A rich archive of material from the George Bourne family: George (1780-1845), minister,
journalist and abolitionist; Mary Oland Stibbs Bourne, his wife (1780-1850), his son
Theodore (1822-1886), minister and co-founder of the African Civilization Society, which
fostered the plan to have African Americans settle the Niger Valley, and grow cotton there; plus
writings from elder brother Roland (1811-1886) who preached the gospel to slaves in
Plaquemines parish, Louisiana. Highlights include George Bourne’s original 48 page manu-
script for his “Anti-Slavery Lecture delivered in Newburyport, Massachusetts on July 4th,
1837,” copious correspondence to and from George Bourne and family members, writings by
him; plus two manuscript accounts of Bourne’s meeting with Thomas Paine in 1804; and
some original poetry from James Montgomery sent to Mary Bourne. The correspondence from
Reverend Roland Bourne in Louisiana is of particular interest and includes one long letter, in
which he describes in detail the terrible hurricane of 1856, the “Last Island Hurricane.”
There is a large amount of material relative to Theodore Bourne, African emigration, and the
African Civilization Society, including the original manuscript copies of the Preamble and
Constitution for the Society, possibly written by Henry Highland Garnett. The latter was the
recipient of one of the letters written by Robert Campbell from Abeokuta, Africa. Bourne
worked with Robert Campbell and Martin Delany who traveled to the Niger Valley in 1858
to explore the possibility of settlements there. There is correspondence from Africa from both of
them, including Robert Campbell’s “spread-sheet” showing how the money given him for the
exploring mission was spent. There is also copious correspondence from both British and
American supporters of the plan, such as Lord Alfred Churchill and Benjamin Coates. The
plans for settling in Africa were of course interrupted by the Civil War, but Bourne continued
to work with African Americans who had been disillusioned by Reconstruction, and there is
copious correspondence postwar including a letter to Bourne from Martin Delany. This is a
complex archive, not easily described in the limited space here. An appointment to examine the
material is suggested. A larger, more detailed description of the archive will be made available.
