Research Objectives:
LOUISIANA KINDRED
Objective #1: Digitization of Notarial Records of Orleans Parish
What’s the goal?
In Louisiana, enslaved people were legally classified as “real property.” As a result, sales of enslaved people were typically notarized, meaning they were signed before a public notary and two witnesses in a process called an “act of sale.” And, because New Orleans functioned as the epicenter of the domestic slave trade, the Notarial Archives of Orleans Parish likely contain records documenting the sales of more than 100,000 enslaved persons.
In the past three years, Family Search has begun digitization of these records. However, it is only possible to access the digitized (in black and white) records from within official Family Search Research Centers which are located exclusively inside Mormon Churches. The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute seeks, therefore, to produce high-resolution images of Orleans Parish notarial records, and to make these records publicly and freely accessible through the Louisiana Kindred database.
What is needed?
With the help of four to six researchers, each working under the supervision of Dr. Williams for approximately 40 hours per week, the records of Orleans Parish notarial archive could be digitized in approximately two months.
Objective #2: Completion of the Louisiana Kindred database
What’s the goal?
Construction of Louisiana Kindred is already underway, and Dr. Williams has, in the past, successfully trained several researchers (Kinfolkology scholar researchers as well as students at Tulane University) in data entry using a custom researcher interface. THFI seeks to continue the data entry process for all Orleans Parish notarial records of sales of enslaved people.
What is needed?
With the help of four to six researchers, each working under the supervision of Dr. Williams for a minimum of ten hours per week, Louisiana Kindred could be completed in approximately two years. Note: Many notarial records are difficult to read. For this reason, the ideal researchers for this project would be upper level graduate students or postdoctoral scholars.
