News Flash

Anyone interested in American slave research, whether for personal genealogical information or for the real story of plantation life, will find a wealth of information in the Slave Narrative series of books. In the 1930’s the Federal Writers' Project sought out surviving former slaves and asked them about their lives and experiences. The detailed testimonies of hundreds of former slaves were transcribed verbatim as they told their stories. You will find the following books in the new book section in the department:

• Arkansas Slave Narratives Parts 1 & 2
• Arkansas Slave Narratives Parts 3 & 4
• Arkansas Slave Narratives Parts 5 & 6
• Arkansas Slave Narratives Part 7
• Alabama Slave Narratives
• Florida Slave Narratives
• Georgia Slave Narratives Parts 1 & 2
• Georgia Slave Narratives Parts 3 & 4
• Indiana Slave Narratives
• Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee & Virginia Slave Narratives
• Mississippi & Ohio Slave Narratives
• Missouri Slave Narratives
• North Carolina Slave Narratives Parts 1 & 2
• North Carolina Slave Narratives Parts 3 & 4
• Oklahoma Slave Narratives
• South Carolina Slave Narratives Parts 1 & 2
• South Carolina Slave Narratives Parts 3 & 4
• Texas Slave Narratives Parts 1 & 2
• Texas Slave Narratives Parts 3 & 4

You might wonder why there is not a book of slave narratives from the state of Louisiana in the list. We did. Joe Slattery checked into this and discovered that the state of Louisiana did not participate in the Federal Writer’s Project to record slave interviews. Efforts were made to record the stories of former slaves in Louisiana independently, however. There is a book that has been published that includes transcripts of these Louisiana slave accounts. We are currently trying to see if we can get a copy of this book for our collection.

Louisiana’s Jewish Immigrants from the Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France is a new book that traces many French Jewish families from a part of Alsace to many parts of Louisiana. It is very well documented and includes many names that are familiar in New Orleans and Shreveport.

Rounding out the list of new items, we also have several new books of abstracted county courthouse records from Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Virginia:

• Henrico County Virginia Deed Book 1, Deeds Recorded between 1 October 1781 and 7 April 1785
• Henrico County Virginia Deed Book 2, Deeds Recorded between 2 May 1785 and 1 December 1788
• Henrico County Virginia Deed Book 3, Deeds Recorded between 5 January 1789 and 11 May 1792
• Henrico County Virginia Deed Book 4, Deeds Recorded between 11 November 1792 and 3 October 1795
• Henrico County Virginia Deed Book 5, Deeds Recorded between 4 April 1796 and 8 May 1800
• Grayson County, Virginia Marriage Book 1 1793 – 1852

North Carolina:

• Warren County North Carolina marriage abstracts 1780 – 1867
• Johnston County North Carolina marriage abstracts 1767 -1867
• Richmond County North Carolina marriage abstracts 1783 - 1867
• Robeson County North Carolina marriage abstracts 1799 – 1867

Tennessee:

• Crockett County, Tennessee Marriages 1872 – 1875
• Crockett County, Tennessee Marriages 1875– 1877
• Coffee County, Tennessee Marriage Records Volume 1 Book A 1853 – 1862
• Coffee County, Tennessee Marriage Records Book 2 1863 – 1870
• Van Buren County, Tennessee Marriage Vol. A 1840 – 1861
• Grundy County, Tennessee Estate Settlement Book 1852 -1895
• Campbell County, Tennessee Deeds & Grants 1806 – 1810
• McMinn County, Tennessee Marriage Records 1838 – 1848
• Claiborne County, Tennessee Marriage Records No. 2 1838 – 1850
• Grainger County, Tennessee Loose Wills 1793 – 1834
• Carter County, Tennessee Minutes of Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions 1804 -1805