Slave Children from New Orleans, circa 1864 On reverse: "...The nett proceeds from the sale of these photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major General Banks." Photo by Charles Paxson, New York.

This collection consists primarily of material that documents abolitionist activism from 1791 to 1865. Original source material includes abolitionist publications, annual reports, correspondence, addresses, conference proceedings, essays, newspaper clippings, photographs, and sermons. Individuals represented in the collection include Jonathon Edwards, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, members of the Garrison family, Angelina Grimké, Daniel Webster, Emma Willard, Maria Weston Chapman, and Henry B. Blackwell.

Included in the collection are records of the Providence (R.I.) Anti-Slavery Society, 1833-43; the proceedings of the Anti-slavery Convention of American Women in Philadelphia in 1838; the eighth annual report of the Boston Female Anti-slavery Society from 1841; Jonathan Edwards's 1791 sermon "The Injustice and Impolicy of the Slave Trade and the Slavery of the Africans"; deeds from the sales of female slaves from 1820 and 1858; photographs of emancipated slaves; and numerous articles by W. Edward Farrison on the escaped slave William Wells Brown.

A substantial portion of the collection relates to abolitionist John Brown and his descendents. that document abolitionist John Brown and his descendents. These include articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, and letters from the Garrison family to Brown's widow and sons and various essays examining myths about John Brown and the historical reality of his motivations and actions.