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Find a Commonwealth ResourceLibrary of Virginia
Documents in this collection differ from the loose documents in the “Free Negro” Registrations collection. Documents in this collection represent pages from bound registers recording free Black and multiracial people of…
Updated Sep 1, 2026
Library of Virginia
In 1801, the Virginia Legislature passed an act requiring commissioners of the revenue to annually return a complete list of all free Black Virginians within their districts, with their names, sex, place of abode, and…
Updated Aug 7, 2026
Library of Virginia
Certificates of Importation (sometimes entitled a certificate of non-importation) are primarily oaths by enslavers agreeing that they have not imported enslaved people from Africa and that they have not brought the…
Updated Aug 7, 2026
Library of Virginia
Historical Context The second volume of three Evergreen Interment Ledgers, this ledger covers burials from 1926 to 1962. The conservation and digitization of the Evergreen Interment Ledger, 1926-1962 (Volume Two) was…
Updated Jul 8, 2026
Library of Virginia
A “runaway slave record,” or as it is officially titled, “Runaway and Escaped Slaves Records, 1794, 1806-1863,” include accounts, correspondence, receipts, and reports concerning expenses incurred by localities related…
Updated Jul 6, 2026
Library of Virginia
Bills of sale are written agreements which convey title of property, including enslaved people, from seller to buyer. Under the system of chattel slavery, laws permitted enslavers to treat enslaved people as personal…
Updated Jun 12, 2026
Library of Virginia
Documents in this collection differ from the bound volumes referred to as “registers.” They are registration records typically appearing in the form of certificates or handwritten statements recording the free status of…
Updated Jun 12, 2026
Library of Virginia
Petitions to the General Assembly were the primary catalyst for legislation in the commonwealth from 1776 until 1865. Public improvements, military claims, divorce, manumission of enslaved people, petitions for free…
Updated Jun 12, 2026
Library of Virginia
Deeds of emancipation and manumission record an enslavers’ intent to emancipate enslaved people from bondage. In 1726, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law allowing enslavers to emancipate enslaved people “by last…
Updated Apr 7, 2026
Library of Virginia
Freedom suits are lawsuits initiated by enslaved people seeking to gain their freedom. This collection includes petitions, records of suits, depositions, affidavits, and wills. They record enslaved peoples’ arguments…
Updated Mar 25, 2026
Library of Virginia
Colonization records include documents from two government agencies that raised money and support for the removal of formerly enslaved people to Liberia. As early as 1691, the Virginia General Assembly began passing…
Updated Mar 25, 2026
Library of Virginia
This collection consists of work contracts between formerly enslaved individuals and employers enacted during the operation of the Freedmen’s Bureau. On March 3, 1865, the federal government created The Bureau of…
Updated Mar 25, 2026
Library of Virginia
Indentures of apprenticeship within Virginia Untold are composed of agreements binding out free Black and multiracial individuals, often children, to learn a particular trade or craft. These indentures may be written…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
Coroner’s Inquisitions are investigations into the deaths of individuals who died by a sudden, violent, unnatural, or suspicious manner, or who died without medical attendance. The coroner would summon a jury of twelve…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
The records found in this collection include requisition lists filed in local courts and payroll records of the Virginia Engineer Department. Information found in these records include names of enslaved and free Black…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
Localities and individuals submitted public claims to the Auditor of Public Accounts to obtain payment for services rendered to the state. The Auditor of Public Accounts was the chief auditor and accountant of the…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
The Executive Papers in Virginia Untold consist of letters, petitions, trial papers, and other documents related to the pardoning and reprieving of sentences of free Black and enslaved people for various crimes in…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
This collection contains petitions of free Black individuals choosing to be re-enslaved. An act passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1806 required formerly enslaved people to leave the commonwealth within twelve…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
Judgments contain civil suits that relate mainly to recovering debt owed to the plaintiff by the defendant. Should the defendant not have funds to repay the debt, the court ordered their property (including enslaved…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
Library of Virginia
Commonwealth causes are criminal court cases filed by the state government that consist primarily of warrants, summons, subpoenas, indictments, recognizances, and verdicts handed down by juries and other legal…
Updated Mar 24, 2026
