M.E. Griffin Letter

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

The collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

M.E. Griffin Letter, Special Collections Research Center, William and Mary Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet One legal sized folder.
Creator:
Griffin, M.E.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

M.E. Griffin Letter, Special Collections Research Center, William and Mary Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

A letter from M. (possibly Margaret) E. Griffin to her cousin John Davis. In the letter, Griffin asks Davis to hire out or sell all of the enslaved people working on the plantation she inherited. She mentions that an enslaved man by the name of Henry struck her son Jordan, and left the plantation to go to Lynchburg without permission. Griffin states that Henry has been "increasing in insolence, till his presence can no longer be endured."

Content warning for derogatory language directed at enslaved people, as well as discussions of the sale of human beings.