The "Runaway Slaves" Records, include accounts, correspondence, receipts, and reports
concerning expenses incurred by localities related to the capture of enslaved people attempting to escape to freedom. Localities were reimbursed for the expenses of confining, feeding, and selling of self-emancipated enslaved people. Once the enslaved person was sold, the money was used to pay off the expenses, and the net
proceeds were sent to the Auditor of Public Accounts and deposited into the commonwealth's Literary Fund for public education. The collection also includes records that contain information related to enslaved people from multiple localities who escaped to United States military forces during the Civil War.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands was a federal agency created by the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, passed on March 3, 1865. Also known as the "Freedmen's Bureau," this agency was responsible for aiding refugees of the Civil War, especially the formerly enslaved, in the areas of education, employment, and health care. Meant to last for only one year after the war, the Bureau was operational from June 1865 to
December 1868. Contracts usually specify the dates of the expected employment, the occupation of the employee, expected wages and housing arrangements, and any rent that is to be paid to the employer.
Though the federal government generated these records, a few localities retained possession of these records in their courthouses after the dissolution of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Bills of sale are written agreements which convey title of property, such as, in this case, an enslaved person, from seller/trafficker to buyer/enslaver. Bills of sale record the name of the seller, the names of enslaved persons being sold and their price, and the name of the buyer. Given that they involved a property transaction, bills of sale were commonly recorded and filed with deeds in the local court.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

Data compiled from Virginia county deeds involving the manumission and emancipation of formerly enslaved individuals from 1751 to 1864. Deeds of emancipation and manumission state the name of the enslaver, the name of the enslaved individual to be
freed, the date of freedom, the date the manumission was proved or certified, and sometimes a reason why the enslaver decided to emancipate the enslaved individual. The two methods of relinquishing ownership of an individual differ only in that the enslaver directly freed their enslaved property by manumission. Deeds of emancipation could be generated after the enslaver’s death by those executing a last will and testament. This collection also includes court orders that record the date or age when enslaved persons were to be emancipated by deed as stipulated in an enslaver's will.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

Acts passed by the Virginia Legislature in 1793 and 1803 required every “free negro” or “mulatto” to be registered and numbered in a book to be kept by the county clerk. This collection contains records involved in the registration process. The registration language and process varied across localities, thus the information and type of records may differ. Registration records found in this collection include numbered certificates that recorded the free person’s name, sometimes age, a brief physical description, and the circumstances of the person’s freedom or emancipation. If born free, a reference is sometimes made to the parents. If emancipated, the emancipating enslaver, place, and date may be mentioned. There are affidavits that were given by individuals affirming a free person’s status, as well as written descriptions of free persons. In addition, there are registrations that are loose papers matching information found in the bound volumes of registered “free negroes” kept in the court house.

Descriptions included in this dataset are drawn directly from the original documents and may contain language which is now deemed offensive.

In 1806, the General Assembly passed a law to suppress the manumissions of enslaved people by tying emancipation with deportation. The law stated that all emancipated enslaved individuals, freed after May 1, 1806, who remained in the
Commonwealth more than a year could be put on trial by the state, and if found guilty, would forfeit their right to freedom and be sold with the proceeds from the sale going to the state treasury. Individuals wishing to stay were to petition the legislature through the local county court. Beginning in 1837, formerly enslaved individuals could petition the local courts for permission to remain in the Commonwealth. Often included in the petitions are he name of the petitioner, the circumstances of free status, and a request to remain in the county often with accompanying names of citizens who can testify to the free status or who support the request of the petitioner to remain.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

A public claim is a record remitted to the Auditor of Public Accounts by a locality or individual in order to obtain payment for services rendered to the state. The Auditor of Public Accounts is the chief auditor and accountant of the General Assembly Auditing Committee and is responsible for conducting audits on all state entities that handle state funds. The Auditor of Public Accounts is also responsible for ensuring proper payments to localities and that those payments are issued in accordance with stablished rules and procedures.
The public claims found in Virginia Untold involve pre‐1865 enslaved people and free African Americans. During the antebellum period, the General Assembly passed increasingly restrictive laws in response to white fears of crime and insurrection by enslaved individuals. Procedures were established to compensate slaveholders for the loss of their property when enslaved people ran away or were imprisoned or executed. Some condemned enslaved people were transported beyond the state's boundaries to Africa. The American Colonization Society chartered ships to transport free African Americans and condemned enslaved people to Liberia.
The records contain affidavits, bonds, correspondence, local court records, death warrants, estate files, powers of attorney, receipts, sheriff certificates, and valuations of enslaved people and free African Americans convicted for capital crimes and sentenced to be executed or transported from the United States.

The data in this collection is drawn directly from the historical documents and may contain language that is now deemed offensive.

Beginning in 1778, enslavers who brought enslaved individuals into Virginia were required to register the enslaved individuals with the county court and sign an oath agreeing not to bring enslaved individuals into the Commonwealth with the intent of selling them. Certificates of importation, sometimes entitled certificates of nonimportation, contain information whereby an enslaver swears that (s)he has not trafficked the enslaved individual directly from Africa and that (s)he has not brought the enslaved individual into Virginia with the purpose of selling the enslaved individual. The enslaved individual is sometimes named, but not always, and occasionally information is given as to age, birthdate, and the state the individuals are moving from.

Date on this spreadsheet is drawn directly from historical documents and may contain language that is now considered offensive.