Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
203745014
label
Letter to Izola Shaw From Dr. Dr. Robert J. Kapsch Research Advice, May 5, 2003
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
203745014
contentType
document
title
Letter to Izola Shaw From Dr. Dr. Robert J. Kapsch Research Advice, May 5, 2003
citationUrl
collections
Dr. Robert Kapsch Collection
Senior Scholar Records
iiifBase
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
203745014
levelOfDescription
item
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
url
mediaId
f75a62c4d8621fe0
ocrText
May 5, 2003
Ms. Izola Shaw
(b) (6)
Washington, D.C. 20011
Dear Ms. Shaw,
I was very pleased to meet you at Great Falls on April 29th. I was particularly pleased
that you were interested in pursing African American History/Women's History/Social
History during your internship at Great Falls Park. These histories are hard to do as there
are few comprehensive repositories of written information that an historian may readily
tap. On the other hand, these areas have been greatly neglected and I believe that they
represent an excellent area to make a substantial contribution to our understanding and
knowledge of the Potomac Company and Great Falls.
I wanted to make a few suggestions for your study. As always, you need to check these
with your supervisor so as to make sure that I am recommending avenues of research that
he/she does not approve.
Newspaper Research The problem with doing historical research on an eighteenth
century subject such as the Potomac Company at Great Falls is that the participants that
you are most interested in (slaves, women, children) have left very few written records.
Therefore you must historically approach these subjects through other means.
Newspapers is one possible means. As we saw when I was at Great Falls, the park has a
few examples of advertisements for runaway slaves. These articles are interesting as they
locate the slave's owner (in the one example we saw, from Dumfries, Virginia, over 60
miles south of Great Falls), the slave's dress, the slave's name and other aspects. The
Alexandria Public Library may be very helpful in locating additional such
advertisements. In addition, newspapers can also assist in identifying other industries at
Great Falls, such as the brickmaking advertisement which I included in my article which
I sent you, "The Untold Story of Blacks in the White House," (American Visions,
1
February/March 1995, pp. 8-15). I did most of my newspaper research in the Library of
Congress Newspaper Reading Room.
Manumission The issue of manumission is crucial to ante-bellum African American
studies. For example, it is very possible that Captain Pointer had to buy his wife's
freedom, perhaps his children's too. The center for African American studies in
Alexandria, which you mentioned, may have records of manumission at Great Falls.
White-Black Relationships at Great Falls The Ramsey letter which I sent you indicates
that there were severe problems in the small Great Falls village. The Sheriff had to arrest
sixteen (16) people. Unfortunately Ramsey's letter doesn't tell us the nature of those
problems. You might be able to approach this from the Fairfax County Records -
although you might want to check first with the Fairfax County Historical Society. There
are other suggestions that there were black-white problems at Great Falls. Take, for
example, the following instructions issued by the Board of Directors:
Resolved that Mr. Harbaugh (Leonard Harbaugh, the Superintendent at Great
Falls at that time) be instructed to pay particular attention to the conduct of the
Black people on the works and prevent as far as possible any disturbance from
taking place between them and the people in the Neighborhood and see that there
be no obstruction to a proper execution of the civil law among them if found
necessary for such to be exercised, & that no white people be permitted to
associate with the Blacks on the work or in their quarters. (Proceedings, 4 October
1797, Record Group 79, Entry 160).
What is this all about? There is little or no other mention of this situation in the
Proceedings. Both this entry and the Ramsey letter suggest that there was a problem
between the local landowners and the workers at Great Falls. Perhaps your research at
Fairfax County Library or Fairfax County Historical Society can shed some light on this
entry.
I'll be back to you with some additional suggestions. Probably we should meet again in
the next several weeks to see how you are doing.
In the meantime, please don't hesitate to call me (202-619-6370) if you have a question.
With best wishes,
Robert J. Kapsch
2