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Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation at Lauinger Library

This guide highlights the primary source documents at Lauinger Library that supports the goals of Georgetown University's Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative.

Contact Us

The Booth Family Center for Special Collections is located on the 5th floor Lauinger. Its staff are available to discuss research projects and help users find materials relevant to their needs. 

Reference inquiries may be made

Lauinger Library is following University guidance to protect members of its community from COVID. The Booth Family Center for Special Collections is open by appointment only. Hours are limited to promote social distancing. We cannot accommodate drop ins.

Rare Books - Introduction

Georgetown University's Rare Books collection originated with the founding of Georgetown College and includes books that influenced the early Jesuit missionaries, the administrators and instructors of the College, and its students. The Library has also collected some of well-known examples of slave narratives, antislavery literature, Civil War pamphlets, and ecclesiastical texts pertaining to race.  A more complete bibliography is available upon request, of these wide-ranging printed materials. 

  • Researchers can also discover materials by title, author, keyword or subject search in HoyaSearch (making sure to limit results by location to "GU Only").

Anti-Slavery and Pro-Slavery Books

Anti-Slavery

Pro-Slavery

Slave Trade

Abolitionist Narratives

Civil War Pamphlet Collection

This collection contains both anti-slavery and pro-slavery tracts, speeches and treatises regarding emancipation and Reconstruction, sermons, and battlefield remembrances. 

  • To identify materials from this collection via HoyaSearch, type "Civil War Pamphlet Collection" (in quotation marks) in the search bar, and limit the results to "GU Only."

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