Cass County Underground Railroad research collection |
Previous | 1 of 2 | Next |
|
|
|
Cass County Underground Railroad research collection
Special Collections & University Archives, Grand Valley State
University Libraries
Seidman House
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, Michigan 49401
2010
Descriptive Summary | |
| Repository | Special Collections & University Archives, Grand Valley State University Libraries, Allendale, Michigan 49401 |
| Creator | Mose-Ursery, Sondra |
| Title | Cass County Underground Railroad research collection |
| Dates | 1960-2000 |
| Collection Size | .83 linear feet (2 boxes) |
| Abstract | Sondra Mose-Ursery, community historian, founder of the Vandalia Underground Railroad Foundation, and former mayor of Vandalia, Michigan compiled this collection while researching the Underground Railroad in Cass County, Michigan. The collection consists of photocopies of original documents and articles, and newspaper clippings ca. 1841-2008, related to the Underground Railroad, and genealogies of Underground Railroad operatives, free African Americans, and fugitives seeking freedom and their descendents. |
| Accession number | RHC-34 |
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of photocopies of original documents and articles, and newspaper clippings ca. 1841-2008, related to the Underground Railroad, and genealogies of Underground Railroad operatives, free African Americans, and fugitives seeking freedom and their descendents.
Administrative History
Sondra Mose-Ursery, community historian, founder of the Vandalia Underground Railroad Foundation, and former mayor of Vandalia, Michigan compiled this collection while researching the Underground Railroad in Cass County, Michigan. The collection documents Cass County, Michigan as a unique community where a number of Quaker abolitionists provided refuge to free African Americans and African Americans fleeing slavery in the south. Free and enslaved African Americans arrived in Cass County from Quaker settlements in central and northern Indiana. Many were offered tenant residency in Cass County in exchange for their labor. Cass County Underground Railroad conductors escorted freedom-seekers who wished to continue their journey to the next Underground Railroad stations in Schoolcraft, Flowerfield, and Kalamazoo and Calhoun (Battle Creek) Counties and on to stations ending in Detroit and Canada.
This collection and other efforts inspired by Mose-Ursery led to the creation of the Cass County Free Soil Underground Railroad Tour. In 2001 the National Park Service's National Network to Freedom recognized the Cass County Free Soil Underground Railroad Tour as an official Network to Freedom program. Mose-Ursery's collecting also inspired the local community to organize a drive to save the neglected home of one of Cass County's Underground Railroad conspirators, Quaker James E. Bonine.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open for research use.
Publication Rights
For information on copyright or permissions for this collection, contact Grand Valley State University Special Collections.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Cass County Underground Railroad research collection (RHC-34). Special Collections & University Archives, Grand Valley State University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Sondra Mose-Ursury on August 15, 2008.