Andrzej Henryk Wojcik collection of documents relating to slavery in Cuba
Overview
Documents concerning enslaved persons, slavery, black Cubans, and related economic factors, collected by Andrzej Henryk Wojcik.
Documentos sobre personas esclavizadas, la esclavitud, cubanos negros, y factores económicos relacionados, coleccionados por Andrzej Henryk Wojcik.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1826-1899
Language of Materials
Spanish
Español
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
La colección está abierta para investigación.
Extent
1 linear feet (3 boxes)This collection consists of approximately 715 items (587 dossiers, plus individual documents) related to the institution of slavery and emancipation in Cuba over the course of the island's long process of gaining independence from Spain. The documents date from the early to late 19th century and represent a variety of both official and personal records, chiefly in connection with the Cuban system of patronato, or patronage, whereby capitalists, called patrons, would sponsor formerly enslaved individuals (patronados) in paid employment, often at the same sugar mills or plantations where they had previously worked in bondage. These include documents establishing legal identity, such as cedulas and birth, baptism, and marriage records, along with receipts for pay. The collection also contains a number of fatality reports, travel permits (essential for people of color in that era), and a variety of censuses and statistics, including commercial summaries of slave sales.
Esta colección consiste de aproximadamente 715 documentos (587 expedientes, más documentos individuales) relacionados con la institución de la esclavitud y el proceso de emancipación en Cuba durante el movimiento de independencia de España. Los documentos datan de circa 1826-1899 y representan una variedad de anotaciones tanto oficiales como personales, principalmente en relación con el sistema cubano de patronato, a través del cual capitalistas patrocinaban a personas anteriormente esclavizadas en empleo pagado, frecuentemente en las mismas plantaciones y azucareras donde previamente habían trabajado en servidumbre. Estos incluyen documentos confirmando identidad legal, tales como cédulas y registros de nacimiento, bautismo, y matrimonio, junto con recibos de pago. Hay también un número de reportajes de fatalidad, licencias de tránsito (esenciales para gente de color en esa época), y una variedad de censos y estadísticas, incluyendo resúmenes comerciales de venta de esclavos.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2014M-80. Purchased with funds from the Susan A. E. Morse Fund and the Harvard Law School, 2014.
2020M-39. Purchased with funds from the Bennett Hubbard Nash Fund, the Theodore Sedgwick Library Fund, the Peabody Fund, and the Harmand Teplow Class of 1920 Book Fund, 2019.
Processing Information
This finding aid was created in accordance with the guidelines set forth in "Anti-racist Description Resources", by Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia, 2019; "Writing About Slavery'?" was also consulted.* The archivist, in consultation with other colleagues at Houghton Library, consciously avoided the neutral language of the economics that fostered slavery and instead chose to use terminology that highlights the brutality, cruelty, and dehumanization of that institution. For example, instead of "owner", we use "enslaver"; for "slave", we say "enslaved" (except when talking about the system, as opposed to individuals); for "runaway" or "renegade", we say "self-liberated".
In the case of the former Spanish colonies, there existed an involved set of racial taxonomies utilized to describe an individual's perceived "whiteness" or "blackness", e.g., criollo, pardo, moreno, etc. While these terms are unscientific and inherently racist, they were frequently employed as an added means of identification for individuals throughout the documents that make up this collection, especially when last names are lacking. The archivist has, when appropriate, included these descriptors in this finding aid. As recommended in "Writing About 'Slavery'?", they have not been set off with quotation marks or italics, given the native Spanish-speaking environment in which they were generated.
Este instrumento de descripción fue creado según las directices descritas en "Anti-racist Description Resources", por el grupo Archives for Black Lives en Philadelphia, 2019; el documento interno de Google "Writing About Slavery" fue consultado también.* El archivista, con el asesoramiento de colegas en Houghton Library, evitó conscientemente el lenguaje de la economía que fomentó la esclavitud, y en su lugar eligió utilizar la terminología que recalca la brutalidad, la crueldad, y la deshumanización de esa institución. Por ejemplo, en lugar de "dueño" usamos "esclavizador"; para "esclavo" decimos "esclavizado" (excepto cuando hablamos del sistema y no de individuos); para "fugitivo" o "renegado" decimos "autoliberado".
En las antiguas colonias españolas, existió una taxonomía racial compleja utilizada para describir la "blancura" o "negrura" percibida de un individuo, por ejemplo, criollo, pardo, moreno, etc. Aunque estos términos no tengan rigor cientifico y sean intrínsecamente racistas, fueron empleados como un medio de identificación para individuos a través de todos los documentos que constituyen esta colección, especialmente cuando les faltan los apellidos. El archivista ha, cuando apropiado, incluido esos descriptores ("pardo", "moreno", etc.) en este instrumento de descripción. Como aconsejado en "Writing About 'Slavery'?", no han sido demarcado por comillas ni cursiva, dado el entorno español originario en que fueron generado.
*P. Gabrielle Foreman, et al. “Writing about Slavery/Teaching About Slavery: This Might Help” community-sourced document, accessed June 15, 2020.
Processing Information
Accessioned by Melanie Wisner, 2019; cataloged by Michael Austin, 2022.
- Title
- Wojcik, Andrzej Henryk, collector. Andrzej Henryk Wojcik collection of documents relating to slavery in Cuba, circa 1826-1899 (MS Span 171): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2019 October 29
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03275
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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