Dunmore's Proclamation of Emancipation; With an Invitation to the McGregor Library & AN Account by Francis Berkeley of the Publication of the Proclamation
Charlottesville: The University of Virginia, The Tracy W. McGregor Library, 1941. Limited edition of 1100. Wraps. Unpaginated (26 pages). Covers worn, torn, chipped, and soiled. Inside rear cover and adjoining page discolored. Scarce surviving copy. Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775 by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British Colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law and promised freedom for slaves of American revolutionaries who left their owners and joined the royal forces, becoming Black Loyalists. According to historians, the proclamation was designed for practical and militaristic reasons rather than moral reasons or humanitarianism. Formally proclaimed on November 15, its publication prompted between 800 and 2000 slaves (from both patriot and loyalist owners) to run away and enlist with Dunmore. It also raised a furor among Virginia's slave-owning elites (again of both political persuasions), to whom the possibility of a slave rebellion was a major fear. The proclamation ultimately failed in meeting Dunmore's objectives; he was forced out of the colony in 1776, taking about 300 former slaves with him. This work contains a brief history about proclamation published by John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, granting slaves freedom if they fought for the British army. The frontispiece is a facsimile from Dunmore's publication. One of the cornerstones of the University of Virginia special collections is the American history library of Tracy W. McGregor(1869-1936). In his later years, McGregor had become interested in Virginia and had visited the Charlottesville area from his Detroit home. In 1925, he and his wife had established the McGregor Fund to support charitable works in their areas of particular interest. In his will, he bequeathed the notable collection of books and manuscripts that he had assembled to the McGregor Fund with instructions that his collection be donated to an institution “having fine ideals of higher education and reasonable likelihood of achieving those ideals.” The trustees of the McGregor Fund decided in 1938 to donate the collection to the University of Virginia, knowing of Mr. McGregor’s interest in the University. The Alderman Library building was nearing completion, but space was set aside for a special room. It was furnished with a gift for that purpose from the trustees of the McGregor Fund as a memorial to Mr. McGregor, and was opened for use on April 14, 1939. The gift of the McGregor Library was one of major importance to the library and the University as Harry Clemons wrote in his 1950 history of the library: “This collection came to a small library at the moment when that library was attempting a new role. The significance of the collection was therefore much greater than it would have been in a library rich in such collections, or in a library not committed to an ambitious programme.” The trustees generously provided funds each year for many years to enable the library to purchase materials for the McGregor Library. They renewed this support in 1994 with a gift of $250,000 to establish an endowment for the Library. The original McGregor Library collection included about 5,000 volumes of rare books, a research collection of some 12,500 volumes, and a number of manuscripts. Mr. McGregor in his own collecting “specialized in English and American literature, and more particularly, in American history.” William H. Runge described holdings of the library in a 1963 issue of the University of Virginia News Letter, noting that “successive curators of the McGregor Library . . . have concentrated on the development of the portion of the collection relating to southeastern American history (from Maryland south, and from the Mississippi River east). In this field it is now preeminent.”. Condition: Good.
Keywords: American Revolution, Slavery, Emancipation, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Proclamations, Military Recruitment, Loyalists, Virginia
[Book #81588]
Price: $150.00