Table of Contents

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Information for Researchers

Administrative Information

Collection Inventory

Subject Headings

Inventory of the Rosalind Wiggins Papers

In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library

Biographical Note

Born in 1917, Rosalind Cobb Wiggins was an artist, author, historian, and passionate advocate for social justice and women's rights. During her professional career, Wiggins taught at Moses Brown and was curator of the New England Yearly Meeting Archives. She also served on the boards of The Interfaith Call for Racial Justice, The Providence Shelter for Colored Children, and The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society as well as holding the position of assistant editor of Crone's Nest, Wisdom of the Elderwoman. In addition to Captain Paul Cuffe's Logs and Letters (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1996), Wiggins also transcribed the Journals of Stephen Gould, a noted Rhode Island abolitionist, and reedited the Autobiography of William J. Brown, the Life of a Freeman (Durham, N.H.: University of New Hampshire Press, 2006). Wiggins died at the age of 88 in 2005.

Paul Cuffe was born in 1759 on the island of Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts, and later became a resident of Westport, Mass. He was the son of a black slave who had purchased his own freedom. Despite racial prejudice, Cuffe became a successful whaleman, merchant, and ship's captain as well as a respected citizen of Westport, joining the Society of Friends and establishing the first free school in the town. Although he was accepted in white society, he was acutely aware of the poor social conditions of slave and free blacks in America. This concern led to his first voyage to Sierra Leone, Africa, in 1811, to assess the British colony as a resettlement area for freed American slaves. Before his death in 1817, Cuffe managed to transport thirty-eight free blacks to Africa and establish several abolitionist and colonization societies in America.

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Scope and Content Note

Papers in this collection reflect Rosalind Cobb Wiggins’ work on her book Captain Paul Cuffe's Logs and Letters (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1996) and consist of her research notes and drafts. Her research materials principally consist of transcriptions of Paul Cuffe’s outgoing and incoming correspondence during the years 1787 to 1817. Wiggins created her typescript transcriptions from original documents held in the collections of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society / New Bedford Whaling Museum, the New Bedford Free Public Library, and the Newport Historical Society. The correspondence that has been transcribed as part of this collection relates to Cuffe planning and executing his trip to Sierra Leone in 1816. Wiggins’ transcriptions include letters from William Rotch Jr. of New Bedford (Massachusetts), John James, a Quaker merchant of Philadelphia, and Peter Williams Jr., who was instrumental in starting the New York African Institute. Of particular note is the personal correspondence that includes requests from freed slaves for passage to Africa, letters from William Allen of London regarding Cuffe's safe passage to Sierra Leone, and several letters from settlers of Sierra Leone describing conditions in their new home. Wiggins also includes a typed index to her transcriptions of both Cuffe’s outgoing and incoming correspondence in addition to a photocopy of the last letter Cuffe wrote in 1817.

Also included in this collection are several typed drafts Wiggins wrote of her book around the year 1995. One draft is unedited and contains only the contents for the first half of her book (300 pages). Another complete 485 page draft in this collection contains several of Wiggins’ corrections and editorial notes. This collection also contains Wiggins’ 493 page final draft and a formatted final draft. Although these drafts are typed, all annotations made to them were done in Wiggins’ hand. Also included with these materials is a one page typed document titled “Supporters” listing the names of those who provided for the book’s publication with several handwritten annotations added by Wiggins.

Arrangement of Collection

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Information for Researchers

Access to Collections

Unrestricted. Consult librarian for an appointment.

Preferred Citation

New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library Mss 178, [sub-group, series, sub-series, folder/volume as appropriate], [item]

Copyright Notice

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 United States Code 552a) governs the use of materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction if the document does not infringe the privacy rights of an individual, group, or corporation. These specified conditions of authorized use include:

If the researcher later uses a copy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," the researcher is personally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement and agrees to indemnify the New Bedford Whaling Museum from any legal action as a result of the error. Permission to obtain a photographic, xerographic, digital, or other copy of a document does not indicate permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, sell, distribute, or prepare derivative works from the document without permission from the copyright holder and from any private individual, group, or corporation shown or otherwise recorded.

Permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, prepare derivative works from, sell, or otherwise distribute the item must be obtained separately in writing from the holder of the original copyright (or if the creator is dead, from his/her heirs) as well as from any individual(s), groups, or corporations whose name, image, recorded words, or private information (e.g. employment information) may be reproduced in the source material. The holder of the original copyright is not necessarily the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is not legally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for "fair use."

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy law. This institution also places restrictions on the use of cameras, photocopiers, and scanners in the research room.

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Administrative Information

Provenance

Materials in this collection were donated to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in 1997 by Rosalind C. Wiggins as part of Accession B97-2.

Processing Information

Processed by: Mark Procknik, 2020

Encoded by: Kristi Mukk, 18 October 2020

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Collection Inventory

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Subject Headings

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