Scope and Contents
A collection of manuscript deeds, wills, leases, letters, and other legal and financial documents concerning eighteenth- and nineteenth-century estates and plantations on fourteen islands in the British West Indies: Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Carriacou, Haiti, Jamaica, Nevis, New Providence, Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts), Saint Vincent, Tobago, Tortola, and Trinidad. Prominent among the landowners represented in the collection are Clotworthy Upton, Lord Templetown, who owned estates on Grenada, and Christopher Bethell Codrington of, who owned Clare Hall on Antigua. Several of the documents in the collection include references to, or contain schedules of, slaves on the estates. Most of the manuscripts are listed in Volumes II and III of Caribbeana, edited by Vere Langford Oliver, and have printed descriptions clipped from a sales catalogue attached to their versos.
Dates
- 1664 - 1857
- Majority of material found within 1765 - 1825
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The British Caribbean Documents is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source unknown. Possibly formerly owned by James Coleman, genealogical and antiquarian manuscripts vendor, London.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by island and chronologically thereunder.
Extent
5.54 Linear Feet (7 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
A collection of manuscript deeds, wills, leases, letters, and other legal and financial documents concerning eighteenth- and nineteenth-century estates and plantations on islands in the British West Indies.
Custodial History
Most of the manuscripts are listed in Volumes II and III of Vere Langford Oliver's six-volume compendium Caribbeana, being Miscellaneous Papers Related to the History, Genealogy, Topography, and Antiquities of the British West Indies (London: Mitchell Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919). Footnotes in those volumes associate the documents with James Coleman, a dealer who specialized in genealogical and antiquarian manuscripts active in London and Tottenham from 1862 to 1905; most of the documents have printed descriptions clipped from a sales catalogue attached to their versos.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
Former call numbers: Z117 00198 and ZZ117 5
- Administration of estates -- West Indies
- Angerstein, John Julius, 1735-1823
- Antigua -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Barbados -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Carriacou Island (Grenada) -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Codrington, Christopher Bethell, 1764-1843
- Coleman, James, active 1862-1887 -- Ownership
- Deeds -- West Indies -- 18th century
- Dominica -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Financial records -- West Indies -- 18th century
- Financial records -- West Indies -- 19th century
- Gambier, James, 1772-1844
- Great Britain -- Colonies -- Administration
- Grenada -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Haiti -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Hankey, Thomson, 1773-1855
- Jamaica -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Mason, John Thomson, 1765-1824
- Nevis -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- New Providence Island (Bahamas) -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Parchment (animal material) -- England -- 18th century
- Picton, Thomas, Sir, 1758-1815
- Plantation owners -- West Indies
- Saint Kitts and Nevis -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Saint Vincent -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Slaveholders -- West Indies
- Slavery -- West Indies
- Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago) -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Tortola (British Virgin Islands) -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Trinidad -- Economic conditions -- 18th century
- Upton, Clotworthy, Baron Templetown, 1721-1785
- Title
- British Caribbean Documents
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Beinecke Staff
- Date
- 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.