Scope and Content Note
The papers of Robert Carter (1728-1804) of Nomini Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia, contain correspondence, daybooks, account books, and religious writings. Except for two items dated 1685 and 1828, the collection spans the years 1759 to 1805, with the bulk of the material dating from 1774 to 1804. After Carter's death in March 1804, his son George continued the letterbook to February of the next year.
Carter was one of Virginia's landed elite, a great-grandson of Robert "Emigrant" Carter and grandson of Robert "King" Carter. Although known as "Councilor" Carter because of more than a decade's tenure on the colonial Governor's Council, Carter was principally engaged in managing his land holdings, running his estate, Nomini Hall, and directing his interests in the Baltimore Iron Works. His activities as adviser to the governor are not reflected in these papers. Rather, the collection documents his business and financial affairs relating to Carter's numerous commercial and manufacturing interests. Much of the collection is devoted to Carter's extensive use of the tenancy system on farmlands outside Nomini Hall. Included in the papers are copies of rental agreements, communications to and from Carter's land agents, crop and livestock valuations, production records, market listings, complaints by tenants, and daybook entries relating to supervising diverse enterprises. There is also an annual rent roll of tracts in Westmoreland, Richmond, and Northumberland counties, 1791-1793, and an itemized listing of the names, ages, value, and rentable worth of Carter's slaves. Carter's correspondence, which is also heavily business oriented, emphasizes property management and security and interest arrangements with planters who received private loans.
In addition to Carter's business practices, the papers also reflect his other interests. Carter rejected the established church and in 1778 became a convert to the Baptist church. Both the correspondence and a folder on religious writings document Carter's affiliation with the Baptists and ultimately with the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem. These connections brought Carter in contact with religious leaders outside the South and resulted in correspondence which shows the political and social views of some of his dissenting contemporaries. Carter's interest in the abolition of slavery, for instance, is revealed by incoming letters which solicit his aid and opinions on the formation of organizations to end the practice. He devised a program for the manumission of his slaves beginning in 1791, a program which is schematized in these papers. Similarly, his theological beliefs appear indirectly in the critiques of his views sent him by correspondents and in sporadic daybook notations on such subjects as the French Revolution.
Among the correspondents in the papers are Spencer Ball, Daniel Carroll, George Carter (son), Benjamin Dawson, Daniel Dulany, Baron Bryan Fairfax Fairfax, Joseph Jones, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Luther Martin, John James Maund, and Henry Tazewell. With some exceptions, Carter indexed his letterbooks, daybooks, and rent rolls. Three letters, written by Carter in 1793 and referred to as the "Toner Transcript" are copies made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.