Mapping Richmond's Slave Market


Sources:
Mapping the Richmond Slave Market uses city directories, deeds, newspapers, advertisements, insurance policies, and images to explore the material culture of Richmond's slave market during an English painter's visit in 1853. Unless otherwise noted, all images are used with the kind permission of our project partner, the Valentine Richmond History Center.

Images presented here and provided by the Valentine Richmond History Center include:

  • Eyre Crowe, "Richmond, Virginia," Illustrated London News, 41.1156 (July 26, 1862), 100.
  • Advertisement for H. K. Ellyson, 147 Main Street, Elliot and Nye's Virginia Directory, and Business Register, for 1852, 144.
  • Advertisement for Keen, Baldwin & Co., 102 Main Street, The Richmond Directory and Business Advertiser, for 1852, 19.
  • Advertisement for Lewis B. Levy, 4 Wall Street, The Richmond Directory and Business Advertiser, for 1852, 27.
  • "Lumpkin's Jail" from Charles Corey, History of Richmond Theological Seminary, (Richmond: J.W. Randolph & Co., 1895) 47.
  • Advertisements for Pulliam & Slade, Wall Street opposite City Hotel, and Benjamin Davis, 4 Wall Street, The Richmond Directory and Business Advertiser, for 1850-51, 175.
  • City of Richmond, Virginia, from the Hill Above the Waterworks, 1834; engraved by W. J. Bennett from a painting by George Cooke.
  • View of Richmond from Church Hill, daguerreotype, 1853-1856.

Images presented here and provided by the Virginia Historical Society include:

  • Old Slave Market (2002.301.55)

Business addresses and uses are gathered from:

  • City of Richmond Deed Book.
  • Moses Ellyson, Richmond Business Directory and Advertiser (Richmond, Va.: H.K. Ellyson, printer, 1856).
  • William L. Montague, Montague's Richmond Directory and Business Advertiser, (Baltimore: J.W. Woods, printer: 1850-1852).
  • Mutual Assurance Policies, Library of Virginia, Richmond.
  • New York Tribune
  • Richmond Daily Dispatch
  • Richmond Enquirer
  • Richmond Whig

Credits:

  • Maurie McInnis, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Virginia (UVA)
  • Heather McMahon, Architectural Historian
  • The Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond (DSL)
  • Robert Nelson, Director, DSL
  • Scott Nesbit, Associate Director, DSL
  • Nathaniel Ayers, Programmer/Analyst, DSL
  • Kathleen Lietzao, Undergraduate Researcher, DSL
  • Valentine Richmond History Center (VHRC)