Ballou's Pictorial, printed by M. M. Ballou in Boston, Saturday, October 11, 1856 (Vol. XI, No. 15). The front page article shows a sketch of Tufts College (Ballou Hall) and a short article about the first anniversary of the Universalist Tufts College, quoting Dr. Edwin H. Chapin.
Letter from John Brown written to George L. Stearns from Tabor, Iowa. The letter is dated August 10, 1857. Brown wrote, "I am in immediate want of from Five Hundred to One Thousand Dollars for secret service & no questions asked."
Attribution:
Brown, John
Attribution Statement:
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Advertisement for John Brown medallions sculpted by Edmonia Lewis. This ad was placed in the 25 March 1864 edition of The Liberator, an antislavery magazine based out of Boston. Lewis was able to raise enough money through her sales to fund her relocation to Italy.
Bronze plaque memorializing George Luther Stearns, located in the Doric Hall of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The plaque was purchased by lawmakers under Res. 1897, ch. 72. It reads: "In Memoriam: George Luther Stearns. A merchant of Boston who illustrated in his life and character the nobility and generosity of citizenship. Giving his life and fortune for the overthrow of slavery and the preservation of free institutions. To his unresting devotion and unfailing hope, Massachusetts owes the Fifty-fourth and Fifth-fifth Regiments of colored infantry, and the federal government ten thousand troops, at a critical moment in the great war. In the darkest hour of the republic, his faith in the people never wavered. Of him Whittier wrote: 'No duty could overtax him; no need his will outrun; Or ever our lips could ask him; His hands the work had done. A man who asked not to be great; But as he served and saved the state.' Born in Medford, Massachusetts, January 8, 1809. Died April 9, 1867."
Broadside illustrating key events in the enslavement, escape, arrest, return to slavery, and the later manumittence of Anthony Burns, who was returned to slavery under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 after his arrest in Boston in 1854. Printed in Boston by R.M. Edwards, printer, 129 Congress Street, 1855.
Bronze relief by Augustus Saint-Gaudens commemorating Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first formally recognized black regiment in the Union. The Memorial is borders the Boston Common and Beacon Street across from the front steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The memorial took the artist 13 years to complete. It was dedicated on May 31, 1897. Visible in the upper corner are the Latin words "Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam," which translates to "He relinquished everything to serve the Republic." This photograph was taken in August 2017.
The first page of volume 1, number 1, of the Universalist Magazine (July 3, 1819) published in Boston by Henry Bowen and edited by Hosea Ballou I and Hosea Ballou II.
Reverse of the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial in Boston. The text reads, "To the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry The White Officers taking life and honor in their hands cast in their lot with men of despised race unproved in war and risked death as inciters of servile insurrection if taken prisoners besides encountering all the common perils of camp march and battle. The Black Rank and File volunteered when disaster clouded the union cause served without pay for eighteen months till given that of white troops faced threatened enslave- ment if captured were brave in action patient under heavy and dangerous labors and cheerful among hardships and privations. Together they gave to the nation and the world undying proof that Americans of African descent possess the pride courage and devotion of the patriot soldier. One hundred and eighty thousand such Americans enlisted under the union flag in MDCCCLXIII–MDCCCLXV." This photograph was taken in August 2017.
