The Overachieving Archivist: Greene County Records Center and Archives and "The Book of Negroes"

On March 30, I visited the Greene County Records and Archives in Xenia, Ohio to tour the facility, meet with archivist, Robin Heise and look up some of the early deed records for Payne Theological Seminary and Wilberforce University.

According to the dates I shared with Robin, the Articles of Incorporation 1894 should have been the jackpot for us, unfortunately there was no record. All the Greene County staff was able to find were deeds for Wilberforce purchasing various lots of land. It didn't appear that any of the deeds that are attached, have anything to do with Payne Theological Seminary.

Holding the Emancipation of Free Blacks 1805-1845

Though my quest for original deed records for Payne were fruitless, Robin shared an amazing document that is top five on my list of "Most Amazing Things I've Ever Held". I asked Robin what her favorite record in the archive was and her eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree. She opened up one of the compact shelves behind us in the clerk of courts room and carefully unboxed a nondescript blue hardcover book. She placed it carefully on the table and let me read the cover, The Greene County Clerk of Courts Emancipation Record of Free Blacks 1805-1845. Absolutely incredible! Within the first few pages I read the handwritten names, ages, physical descriptions, places of origin, and anecdotal accounts of Free Blacks who found a home in Ohio (Ohio was admitted into the union as a free state in 1803). As I read a short paragraph about a young boy around the age of 8 named John, I immediately thought of the BET miniseries The Book of Negroes that I binge watched the previous weekend.

The Book of Negroes is a miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Hill. The six-part miniseries derives its origins from the historical document Book of Negroes and tells the story of a woman forcefully brought to South Carolina from West Africa at the time of the American Revolution. Clement Virgo and Hill collaborated on writing the miniseries, with Virgo also directing. It premiered on BET in the United States on February 16, 2015.

The main character Aminata Diallo is recruited by Sir John Clarkson to help register names of Black British Loyalists in a ledger known as The Book of Negroes, granting them freedom and passage to Nova Scotia. Aminata is an archivist, a keeper of the record. In the one of the final episodes of the miniseries we see Aminata reunite with a baby she delivered (she was trained in midwifery by her mother prior to capture, a profession which sustained her and offered special privileges throughout servitude) as she is taking names and stories in the book. The presidential theme of Society of American Archivist Kathleen Roe is "Year of Living Dangerously for Archives." Archivists across the world were challenged by Roe via social media to think about why we are archivists. Colleen McFarland Rademaker's reflection resonates deeply with me as I think of Aminata and the Emancipation of Free Blacks 1805-1845, "I am an archivist because I love facilitating relationships across time, between the living and the dead. I find archival work to be deeply spiritual because of the sense of connectedness that permeates the archives."

In addition to the Emancipation of Free Blacks 1805-1845, following records are available for research at the Greene County Archives: Tax Records 1806-1930, Common Pleas Court Records 1804-1957, Naturalizations (incomplete) 1822-1958, Engineer Maps, 1870-1970, Survey Records, 1792-1995, Birth/Deaths, 1869-1909, Marriages, 1803-2009, Wills and Estate Cases, 1803-1997