1846-1887
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below).
Abstract
This collection consists of 9 volumes and 3 folders of loose materials relating to the Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League.
Collection Description
This collection consists of the minutes of meetings, constitutions, lists of members, and miscellaneous papers of the Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League, a secret society founded in 1854 by leading Boston reformers to aid freedom seekers and resist the Fugitive Slave Law. Affiliated with the League of Massachusetts Freemen, the Boston group included such reformers as Samuel Gridley Howe, John A. Andrew, Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, Samuel May, and Henry Ingersoll Bowditch. Bowditch annotated many of the Society's records in the 1880s. Also included are the minutes of the Vigilance Committee, a predecessor of the League, to which many of the same members belonged. Former president John Quincy Adams presided over a public meeting of the Committee at Fanueil Hall in 1846.
Restrictions on Access
Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below).
Other Formats
This collection is available as color digital facsimiles.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Description of volumes in the collection
Constitution & Bylaws
Records, 1854-1856
Minutes of Council, 1854-1855
Applicants List, 1854-1856
Members List, 19 July 1854
Manual for Admission
Number Book
Meeting Attendance
Vigilance Committee, 1846-1847
League of Massachusetts Freemen records
Miscellaneous correspondence and notes
Preferred Citation
Boston Anti-Man-Hunting League records, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Organizations:
Subjects:
Materials Removed from the Collection
The following materials have been removed from the collection and cataloged separately:
Bowditch, Henry I. Diagram to show the drill the Anti-Man-Hunting League had for the running off of a slave or man-hunter..., ca. 1854-1859. Digitized item
[Boston Anti-Man Hunting League]. Stop thief : Ran away from Norfolk, Virginia, with $125.00! [Boston : s.n., 1855]. Digitized item