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Museum object · Slavery and Freedom Objects

Letter to Giles Saunders from Samuel Fox regarding the slave trade

January 14, 1847

Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This letter was written in Richmond, Kentucky, on January 14, 1847, by Samuel Fox to Giles Saunders in Richmond, Virginia. The letter details the sale of enslaved people by Fox and his associates, including the recovery of one enslaved man who was loaned out for the use of a horse. There are also details regarding a customer dissatisfied with the purchase of two enslaved people. The paper is folded in half and the letter is written on the right hand side continuing onto the left side of the reverse. On the left hand side of the front is a list of names of enslaved people with monetary denominations. On the left hand side of the reverse is the address with a postmark dated January 16 from Richmond, Kentucky stamped in blue ink.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2014.174.3.3

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