Consists of a group of around forty documents, primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, that were assembled by collector William H. Scheide on the topic of slavery. Most materials were created by European colonists in regions of North America that were or later became part of the United States, but there is also one document pertaining to a plantation in Antigua. States represented include New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Documents consist of financial and legal documents pertaining to enslaved and formerly enslaved people, and to a lesser extent, to free people of color. Bills of sale, estate appraisals and inventories, tax receipts, advertisements, legal complaints, an insurance policy, a ship manifest, and other materials document the enslavement of African American and Afro-descendent people. There are also several manumissions or deeds of emancipation, as well as legal documents certifying the free status of two Black men living in New York City in the early 19th century. Of note is a document pertaining to Lilpha, a free Black woman living in Connecticut who purchased her own daughter from her former enslaver as a means of extracting her family from slavery. Also present are manuscript copies of the Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's "An Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery" (1780) and a 1788 amendment.

Materials were acquired by collector William H. Scheide from various sources. Many original documents are accompanied by description cards created by manuscript dealers. This collection was formerly referred to within the Scheide Library as "Slavery Documents" (Scheide 68.7).