Categotry Archives: Bensalem

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Bucks County “Negroes” in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1737-1789

Categories: Bedminster, Bensalem, Black History, Bristol, Buckingham, Bucks County, Falls Township, Hilltown, Langhorne, Lower Makefield, Middletown, New Hope, Newtown, Nockamixon, Northampton, Philadelphia, Plumstead, Slavery, Solebury, Southampton, Springfield, Warwick

Back in 2015, I was conducting research for a talk I was slated to give for the New Hope Historical Society, and I came across an incredible resource, Terry McNealy’s index of Bucks County subjects that appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette between 1728 and 1789. Although largely indexed by surname, he selected certain topical items to index by subject. Luckily for me, given my research interests, one of them was “negroes” (using the contemporary terminology as it appeared in the newspaper). Using Terry’s index as a guide, I transcribed the bulk of the entries at that time, but never completed it after I presented that talk. Flash forward to 2026, and I realized that it would only require a little bit of additional work to publish a comprehensive transcription of all notices in the Pennsylvania Gazette regarding people of African descent in the time period covered by Terry’s index. As always, I am indebted to Terry for his work that I am merely building upon. Hopefully this transcription will pay it forward by making this resource available to other researchers.

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Exploring the Archives: African American History in Bucks County

Categories: Archives, Bensalem, Black History, Bristol, Bucks County, Doylestown, Falls Township, Langhorne, Maps, Methodology, Middletown, Slavery, Solebury

This virtual lecture was presented for the Mercer Museum on October 15th, 2020.

Synopsis

This presentation provides an overview of the archival resources available at the Mercer Museum Library, and shows how they can be used to research the African American history of Bucks County. It highlights interesting documents from the collection dating back to the 1680s, and demonstrates how challenging and often fragmentary evidence can be used to piece together the stories of people who have long been marginalized in the historical record.

Note: Some things have changed at the library since this presentation was recorded. Research appointments are no longer required, some of the contact info for research services has changed, and we have expanded our digitization services.

Check the museum’s website for more information about in-person research, research services, photographic rights and reproductions, and our digitization services.