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Collection of Paul Cuffe printed materials
Notifications
Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Paul Cuffe (1759-1817) was an African American Quaker, Pan-Africanist, and entrepreneur who was a leader in the Back-to-Africa movement — a political effort advocating a return of African Americans to the continent of Africa. He was born on January 17, 1759 on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, the son of Coffe (Kofi) Slocum, a formerly enslaved man from the Ashanti Empire, and Ruth Moses, a member of the Wampanoag Nation. In 1783, Cuffe married Alice Abel Pequit, another Wampanoag woman, and the couple settled in Westport, Mass., where they raised their seven children. Lacking a formal education, Cuffe taught himself to read and write, and in 1773, the year after his father's death, he began his time as a mariner on whaling ships. His skill in navigation led him to enter a partnership with his brother-in-law Michael Wainer, to establish a shipping fleet, operating a number of vessels which transported cargo along the Massachusetts coast. As his entrepreneurship grew, Cuffe became one of the wealthiest African Americans in the United States, and consequently, he used his status to promote the well-being of African Americans.
Inspired by British abolitionists who had established the colony of Sierra Leone in an effort to re-settle members of the African diaspora, Cuffe was deeply involved in the movement of Black emigration to Sierra Leone. In contrast to the enslavement, violence, and disenfranchisement Black individuals faced in the United States, he envisioned the colony as a political, social, and economic haven for African Americans.
This collection was assembled by Christopher Lura and purchased by the Friends Historical Library as a lot. The bulk of the collection consists of material from 1811-1817, the height of Cuffe's international fame as he worked across Sierra Leone, England, and the United States to gather support, resources, and funds for the settlement in West Africa. The collection includes memoirs, newspaper notices, and articles detailing his travels, political motivations, and overall comittment to Pan-Africanism.
Most of the materials are in chronological order, except for bound volumes, which are stored in separate boxes.
Purchase, Christopher Lura, 2023 (accession FHL-2023-046)
This collection was processed by an FHL student worker, Bethany Winters, in summer 2024.
People
Subject
- African Americans -- Colonization -- Africa
- Shipping
- African American Quakers
- Abolitionists
- Merchant mariners
Place
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Bethany Winters
- Finding Aid Date
- 2024
- Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Friends Historical Library believes all of the items in this collection to be in the Public Domain in the United States, and is not aware of any restrictions on their use. However, the user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status before reproducing. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/.
Collection Inventory
This document provides a listing of all of the items in the collection, including in-depth descriptions of each item, background notes, and information about the conditions of the materials.
Includes six bounded volumes of the Philanthropist. Voume 2 contains the London printing of Cuffe's memoir, appears on page 32, plus other articles related to Cuffe and Sierra Leone. Volume 5 contains an 1815 map of Freetown/Sierra Leone and a list of Freetown residents and property owners. Other volumes include general information on Sierra Leone and colonization.
American newspaper notice of Paul Cuffe's arrival in Liverpool from Sierra Leone. Notice appears in upper right column on page 2.
American newspaper notice of Paul Cuffe's arrival in Liverpool from Sierra Leone. Notice appears in top left of first column on page 4.
Early 1812 UK magazine printing of Cuffe's Memoir -- (Reference copy only). Almost certainly the true First American printing of Memoir. Memoir appears in Appendix.
1812 Boston printing of Cuffe's Memoir plus other texts with discussion of Cuffe and letters from "Nova Scotian" settlers in Sierra Leone. Memoir appears on page 32, additional discussion of Cuffe on 291, 308.
Four consecutive issues (numbers V-VIII), bound individually in modern plain wrappers. "Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee," plus several related articles on Cuffe, the African Institution, the Cuffe's work in Sierra Leone and America.
Notice of the return of Cuffe's ship to him after meeting with President Madison. Notice appears in the "News and Marine Memoranda" lower part of 3rd column, page 2.
National Intelligencer printing of Cuffe's congressional petition. Petition appears in column 1 and 2 on page 2.
Hartford notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Notice appears near top of column 2.
Baltimore printing of Cuffe's congressional petition, appears on page 338.
Baltimore notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Notice appears at top of legislative report, top of second column page 2.
Boston notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Notice appears in upper part of first column on page 3.
Baltimore notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Notice appears on lower left page 379.
Philadelphia article on Cuffe and his petition's progress, found on 324/325
Boston notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Appears on page 2, upper part of 4th column
Baltimore notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition, appears on page 404.
New York printing of article tracking debates/progress of "Paul Cuffe's Bill". Appears in middle of second column on page 2.
Boston notice tracking the debates/progress of Cuffe's petition. Appears just beneath fold in column 4 on page 2.
Baltimore printing of article tracking debates/progress of "Paul Cuffe's Bill", appears on page 78.
Weekly Messenger printing of Part II of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 4.
Weekly Messeenger printing of Part III of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 2.
New York printing of Part I of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on 1st and 2nd column on page 3.
Weekly Messenger printing of Part IV of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 4.
Weekly Messenger printing of Part V of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 4.
Weekly Messenger printing of Part VI of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 4.
Newport printing of Part II of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone". Essay takes up nearly the whole of column 2, 3, and 4 on the front page.
Weekly Messeenger printing of Part VII of "Paul Cuffee's Mission to Sierra Leone", appears on page 4.
Notice of Cuffe's "safe arrival" in Sierra Leone to set up colony with new settlers. Notice appears in "Shipping List" (third column, page 2) near the top of page under the arrivls for "Monday, May 13".
Notice of Cuffe's return from Sierra Leone in New York [after transporting settlers] with merchandise. Notice appears in center of 4th column on page 2 in section on "New York" with a typo in date reading "May 39" — it should be "May 29".
Notice of Cuffe's arrival in New York with certificates and information from Sierra Leone, appears on page 1.
Printing of minutes of New York African Institution where Cuffe presented success of project, plus letters of Sierra Leone officials. Appears on page 577.
Printing of minutes of New York African Institution where Cuffe presented success of project, plus letters of Sierra Leone officials. Appears on page 296 and 297.
Article on the meeting among Philadelphia's African Americans at Richard Allen's church rejecting colonization, a turning point in the history of the colonization movement. Appears on page 3.
Cuffe letter in response to petition circulating among African American community condemning Cuffe's colonization project. Appears on front page.
Cuffe's obituary, appears on page 4.
Notice of Cuffe's death, appears on page 64.
Printing of biographical/activist obituary "Memoir of Paul Cuffe", appears on page 4.