Scope and Content Note
The papers of James Gillespie Birney (1792-1857) span the years 1830-circa 1895, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1830-1850. They contain four types of material arranged in the following order: diaries, a notebook, correspondence, and newspaper clippings.
The diaries, consisting of three volumes, 1830-1850, were written by Birney while he traveled throughout the United States and abroad on antislavery lecture tours. They describe his travels on behalf of the abolitionist movement; his association with abolitionist leaders, such as Benjamin Lundy, Gerrit Smith, and Theodore Weld; his opposition to the followers of William Lloyd Garrison, who believed that slavery could not be abolished through legal and constitutional means; and his support for the colonization of slaves in Africa and for the American Colonization Society.
The notebook, circa 1895, may have been written by Birney's son, William, and contains biographical information on his father's activities as an abolitionist.
The correspondence, 1834-1844, contains mainly letters James Birney wrote to Gerrit Smith and Theodore Weld discussing antislavery activities. Included are a letter of 1844 to B. F. Mudge regarding the Liberty party's convention in Lynn, Massachusetts, and a photocopy of an 1839 letter to Myron Holley describing political agitation to end slavery.
The newspaper clippings consist of an obituary of Benjamin Lundy and a letter D. D. Barnard wrote to the United States House of Representatives in 1842 regarding a resolution of censure proposed by Congressman Joshua Giddings.