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This 1773 Réglement Concernant les Gens de Couleur Libres was one of many discriminatory laws that magistrates in the French colony of Saint-Domingue issued against free people of color from the mid-1760s on. Such laws were intended to racially mark free people of African ancestry and prevent the possibility that they could “pass” for white in the colony. Specifically, this law prohibited “mulâtres and other people of color who were born free” from taking the surname of their white fathers, and it likewise proscribed those who were manumitted from using “the surname of the Masters who gave them freedom.” Instead, the law required free people of African descent to baptize their children with an African surname, or one associated with their occupation or color, and compelled slaveholders to ensure that those they freed followed suit. Such laws spurred the ongoing struggle of free people of color for legal equality in Saint-Domingue during the years leading to the Haitian Revolution between 1791-1804. - Kate Ramsey, Associate Professor, University of Miami Department of History, November 25, 2019. - Project funded thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon CREATE Grant.

"Port-au-Prince: chez Guillot, 1773. Quarto. 4pp. Single folded sheet... Rules for Freed Slaves and Free 'Men of Color.' A rare Haitian imprint that enumerates the rules on how mulattos and other 'gens de couleur libres' [free people of color] who were born free can take the last names of their fathers and how freed slaves can take the names of the masters who gave them their freedom. In the complex slave society of colonial St. Domingue, the illegitimate offspring of white masters and their slave mistresses were generally free, sometimes quite wealthy, but with circumscribed civil rights. Likewise, freed slaves (for example, Touissant L'Overture) often had substantial property and slaves. Rare, with only one copy located at the the John Carter Brown Library. The origins of printing in St. Dominigue, now Haiti, are obscure. The best contemporary source, Isaiah Thomas in his History of Printing in America, says that a press was established at Port-au-Prince as early as 1750, but this is uncertain since the earliest imprints do not survive. In American libraries we can locate a 1767 Port-au-Prince imprint at the Library Company of Philadelphia, while the earliest held by the John Carter Brown Library (which has by far the most extensive collection of very early Saint Domingue imprints, with about three dozen prior to 1785) is 1769. Thomas says there was a press at Cap Francois 'as early as 1765, and probably several years preceding,' but we locate a single imprint at the Library Company dated 1752. In the period 1769-1773 a printer named Guillot evidently operated presses in both Port-au-Prince and Cap Francais with the royal patent. Guillot either died or retired the year this was printed and was succeeded by a printer named Donnet. A rare and highly important imprint describing the complex rules that governed free African-Americans in the slave culture of Saint Domingue." -Donald A. Heald Rare Books.

"[ Printed Commission, Completed in manuscript, signed by Légér-Félicité Sonthonax, appointing the Mulatto General Villate as Commander of Cap-Français ]. Cap-Français, Oct. 10, 1793. Broadside, 18 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches, completed in manuscript. During the early years of the French Revolution, Sonthonax was the civil commissioner of Saint Domnigue, which would soon become Haiti. A radical Jacobin, he presided over a chaoiic period of conflicts between royalists and revolutionaries and between whites, free people of color, and slaves in full revolt. He is most remembered for freeing the colony's slaves on Aug. 29, 1793 in an effort to gain the support of Toussaint L'Ouverture's forces against the Spanish. This document appoints the mulatto general, Villate, a rival of Toussaint's, as military commander of the city. It is signed by Sonthonax and countersigned by French military leader Etienne LaVeaux, who later assumed the governorship for himself, but he held power only briefly before deposed by Toussaint. A large woodcut vignette proclaiming 'La Republique Française, Une et Indivisible' heads the document. All early printed material from Saint Domingue is, in and of itself, rare by nature. A handsome and important piece, signed by two important figures in the early Haitian revolution, formalizing the rise to power of a third." -William Reese Company

Flyer advertising the Haitian American Historical Society's embarkment on constructing a statue for General Georges (Jorge) Biassou.

A lengthy and informative letter from S.P. Anderson to United States Navy Captain David Conner, congratulating him on the birth of his son and offering insight on the prospects of finding a winter home in Florida. After some hearty and cheerful words of encouragement and advice to the new parents, Anderson offers a verbal tour of the homes around St. Augustine that might be for sale.

Anderson goes on to provide similar descriptions of several other homes, noting that "Houses are very much in demand" around St. Augustine. The demand for housing in Florida is perhaps surprising given the ongoing Second Seminole War – which at this early point had been progressing rather poorly for the United States military. Anderson alludes to the war briefly at the close of his letter, when he notes that he will "send the latest Herald, for I am always afraid to say anything about the war, one report contradicting another so quickly." The latter part of Anderson's letter discusses the election of Charles Dowling as Florida representative "by a very large majority," which meets with Anderson's approval as he considers Dowling "the only man in this territory worthy of succeeding [Joseph] White....He is employed in almost all the claims for losses in 1812-13 as well as those of the Indian war." Anderson himself appealed for losses sustained in 1812, and expresses a cautious optimism for their redress.

The recipient of this letter, David Conner, was a noteworthy figure in the United States Navy in the early 19th century. During the War of 1812 he served on the HORNET and saw considerable action, eventually suffering grave wounds and capture as a prisoner of war. He returned to service after a prisoner exchange, and in the years between the war and this letter was steadily promoted until becoming a Captain. He is most well known for commanding the Home Squadron during the Mexican-American War, which included the unprecedented landing of 10,000 soldiers during the siege of Veracruz. His wife, whom Anderson affectionately refers to as "Mrs. C," was the daughter of Dr. Philip Syng Physick, known as the "Father of American Surgery." Appropriately enough, a slightly later pencil note on the address panel labels the contents as "Congratulations on my birth – PSPC;" that is, Philip Syng Physick Conner, the very child discussed in the letter. Philip would fight briefly for the Union during the Civil War as part of a Pennsylvania volunteer artillery regiment.

An interesting and informative letter to an important American figure, with much content on Florida real estate and politics at the start of the Second Seminole War.

A Victorian scrapbook filled with illustrations of flowers made from cut paper. The stamp on front pastedown is attributed to "Acton Griffith, S. Baker Street."

"Manuscript daily diaries kept during the calendar years 1871, 1872, 1873, with financial accounts and letter calendars, by the French diplomat Comte Joseph Anne Amédée François Ripert de Monclar, at first in Lima, Peru, then back in France during this difficult period from September 28, 1971, to February 24, 1872, when he departed for Chile to exercise his duties as Chargé d'Affaires there. As detailed here day-by-day, he remained in Chile, visiting many parts of the country, until September 1873, when he returned to France by way of Lima, Panama, and Caracas. Included are countless matter-of-fact entries tracing the comte's travels in South America, his expenses, notes of major events (e.g., openings of congress, receptions, 'Le mort de l'Emp'. Napoléon III est confirmée...'), occasional troubles (e.g., 'forte migraine,' bad railroad cars, earthquakes, 'Tristes nouvelles. Alice est morte...'), visits to the theater, and specified meals, parties, meetings, and other encounters with named friends, associates, and officials, as on August 26, 1871, for instance, when he noted, 'Guayaquil-Visites à O'Higgins, à qui j'ai laisse ma caisse de graines [see below] pour Dulcat, à D. Pedro Pablo Garcia Moreno, Mr. Gault, & c. vagué pas mal embarqué à 4 heures...' The comte's letter calendars note the dates of exchanges with Roland Gosselin, Germaine Fortier, Alphonse d'Estienne, Melchior Daniels, Georges de Fabry, Drummond Hay, Joaquin Dorado, Mr. Malinowski, W. J. Jerningham, Amiral Cloué, Flury Hérard, and many others." --Description from Carmen D. Valentino

"Sala & Co., J[uan].: [Copy book from J. Sala & Co., New York, with letters relating to shipping in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba]. [Various places, as described below]. [28]pp. manuscript index, followed by 499 onionskin leaves comprising 402 letters. Five leaves laid in between leaves 195-96. Quarto. Three-quarter leather and cloth boards...A comprehensive look at the operations of a major import/export company in the Caribbean for the first part of 1893.

J. Sala & Co. was a large international firm headquartered in New York that did business of all kinds throughout the Caribbean, in particular Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, but also Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Curacao. In Delmar's...trades directory (1889-90) they are listed in San Juan, Puerto Rico as 'Ship Brokers and Commission Merchants.' In the port of New York... (1893-94), their entry describes them as 'General Commission Merchants,' Juan Sala and Cosme Battle are listed as agents. They also provided banking and finance services, in particular in partnership with Batlle, a Spanish merchant and banker, one of the wealthiest men in the Dominican Republic, and a chief creditor Ulises Heureaux. As this book only covers only January through part of March, 1893, one gets a sense of the extent of the firms activities.

The copy book begins with an alphabetical directory of recipients listed along with their location and the numbers of relevant letters in the copybook. 171 recipients are listed, representing over forty cities in the Caribbean, along with several in England, France, Germany, and Spain. Letters are primarily in Spanish, but also appear in French (for letters to Haiti and France) and English (for letters to England, Germany, Jamaica, and some clients in St. Thomas and St. Croix). Several leaves have a mimeographed memorandum form with the company name and address (144). Almost every letter is annotated in blue pencil with the number(s) of related letters in the copybook, providing a further index; some letters have additional annotations in black pencil.

All letters are signed 'J. Sala & Co.' and deal with a wide variety of business issues, including notices about payments received and credits processed (along with inquiries about late payments) (for example, leaf 112); credit references (leaf 90); consignments of turtle shells (leaves 330 and 464); and shipments of lumber (leaves 127, 355), iron pipes (328, 461), and whisky (463), among other things, although most often the material in question is listed as "sundries." In letters to Enrique Nebot of Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, a Sala agent discusses the schooner 'Annie R. Kemp' (144-146), which they have chartered on his behalf, and introduce the letter's bearer the ship's captain - who is not named. The letter is in English, which is presumably for the captain's benefit, since other letters to Nebot are in Spanish. The letter goes on to note that Nebot's 'sundries...do not appear on the vessel's manifest, and we have assured him [the captain] in your name that he will have no trouble whatsoever with your Custom House on that or other account...' The Dominican Republic had a notoriously corrupt customs system at this time, and no doubt J. Sala & Co. made sure they took advantage of every available loophole.

A densely-informative and very interesting record of an active business engaged in a variety of endeavors in the Caribbean.

The port of New York: a souvenir of the new York Custom House, and index of the imports and shipping facilities of this port (New York, 1893-94).

Delmar's new, revised, and complete classified trades directly and mercantile manual of Mexico, Central America, and the West India Islands (Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1889-90)" -- Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America

Album presented to actor Paulino Delgado by his friends Jose Góngora, Ricardo Machado, Juan de Viera and Pedro de Vaca y Guzmán in Puerto Príncipe. 1895 Feb 21.

A collection of images, clippings, and advertisements in an album reserved for personal and business greeting cards. There is no writing nor author attributed to this scrapbook.

List of hotels and general information

Scrapbook consists of: postcards, dance cards, newspaper articles, menus, playbills, calling cards, personal notes, dry flower, party invitations, invitation from the Philadelphia Corinthian Yacht Club, Flagship Aloha, Commodore James.

Some of the photographs were taken by Ernest L. Crandal of Washington, DC.