David Fox Nelson scrapbooks

The David Fox Nelson scrapbooks consist of five scrapbooks assembled by Nelson between 1869 and 1890, containing materials that span from 1863 to 1895. The scrapbooks mainly contain newspaper clippings covering a variety of subjects, often related to topics that were of significance to African Americans following the Civil War, such as congressional debates regarding protecting African Americans from discrimination and violence, reflections on newly freed African Americans’ place in society, emigrations to Liberia, and living conditions of African Americans in various states. Clippings also consist of articles about acquaintances of Nelson, such as New York Times editor Henry J. Raymond and politician Roscoe Conkling, and the activities of the New York Post Office, where Nelson worked. Other clippings include poetry and drawings published in newspapers. Nelson labeled many of the clippings contained in the scrapbooks with the name of the newspaper and the date.

The two numbered volumes, Volume 1 and Volume 5, were labeled as such by Nelson himself. The location of the volumes Nelson presumably titled 2-4 is unknown, although there is one unbound volume in the collection that lacks a title page and therefore a title.

One of the scrapbooks in the collection, the Cassie E. Day album, was assembled by Nelson for his future wife eighteen years before their 1896 marriage.

Both Volume 1 and the Cassie E. Day album contain copies of a profile of David Fox Nelson that was published following his promotion to clerkship at the New York Post Office, detailing his escape from slavery and subsequent life in New York. This article also mentions a scrapbook of Nelson’s containing literature clippings and statistics on African Americans in the United States.

The Personal and Private Letters album consists of several letters received by Nelson in addition to some newspaper clippings. The letters are primarily from Nelson’s influential friends and acquaintances, such as Thomas L. James and the Weed family. There is one letter from Blanche K. Bruce, the first African American to serve a full term in the United States Senate. There are also two letters from James M. Baxter, a prominent African American educator in Newark, New Jersey.

Despite many of the volumes being labeled with a date or range of dates on the first page, some of the clippings fall outside of the provided dates in a given album.