ST. LOUIS – An important piece of U.S. history is now available online.
Washington University, the St. Louis Circuit Court and the Missouri State Archives have collaborated to publish a Web site – hosted by the University – containing 170 pages of court documents chronicling Dred and Harriet Scott’s unsuccessful fight to gain freedom from slavery.
Web address.
The Web site, www.library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott, is culled from months of preserving, scanning, archiving and transcribing documents from the cases concerning the Scotts that were tried in St. Louis courts between 1846 and 1852. This project is the first undertaking of an ongoing collaboration of Washington University Libraries, the St. Louis Circuit Court and the Missouri State Archives.
Civil court records.
The Scott papers are part of a massive collection of civil court records dating from 1798 to the present. Future projects include the digitization of court documents from Lewis and Clark, and from Henry Shaw, founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Along with the digitization of the Scott papers, the original documents from the civil court will be restored and indexed.
For information call 314-935-5293, or visit the Dred Scott Web site at www.library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott.
