Following on from my colleague Mette’s post on slave narratives I’d like to draw your attention to some of the other resources available within the library. Understandably we have large holdings concerning the British and American slave trades, specifically the triangular trade between Britain, West Africa and the West Indies/American colonies and its subsequent abolition. The correspondence and papers of William Wilberforce, for example, can be consulted within the library, as can the works from other British and American abolitionists.
Beyond the Anglophone world, however, the IHR library has also collected an array of sources highlighting the nature of the trade and institution globally. From an early anti-slavery treatise by the 17th-century Capuchin friar, Francisco José de Jaca, via the accounts of the slaving ship operating between southern Africa and Madagascar, to the Comte de Mirabeau’s refutation of slavery published during the early stages of the French Revolution, sources found within the library’s collections reflect the transnational nature of this grim global trade.
The history of slavery and its abolition in Brazil and Cuba is covered in anumber of items within the library. Besides bibliographic sources to help the researcher find furthermaterial, one can find general anthologies of primary sources for Brazil and Cuba, and the correspondence and diary of the Brazilian writer, statesman and abolitionist, Joaquim Nabuco.
This is just a selection of the growing holdings the library has on this crucial subject.