Images(2)

Document Box

Dateca.1843

OriginAmerica, Maryland, Baltimore (possibly)

MediumWood (possibly basswood), calfskin, leather, brass, iron, paper

DimensionsOH: 6"; OW: 12"; OD: 7"

Credit LineGift of Catherine H. Latane

Object number2011-26

DescriptionRectangular wooden box with domed lid and centered brass bail and rosette handle; covered in calfskin with hair, cross-banded in narrow red and brown leather strips with brass nails; leather apron around lid overhangs sides of box when closed; iron lock set into center of box front; originally hinged with leather or linen tape and calfskin outer cover. Interior lined with a Baltimore newspaper including BULL AND TUTTLE'S NEW MONTHLY BALTIMORE CLIPPER AND GENERAL ADVERTISER from 1843-1845.
Label TextThis document box was owned by "Aunt Letty," a former slave in Williamsburg, Virginia at the end of the 19th century. Aunt Letty lived with the Edwin and Isabel Beale family on Duke of Gloucester Street (on the site of the Orlando Jones House), where the family operated a hardware store. Aunt Letty lived with the family beginning sometime in the 1890s when she was hired to be a baby nurse for twins George Edwin and John Daniel Beale until her death in 1896. Aunt Letty used this box to store all her most treasured possessions and then left the box to the Beale children after her death. One of the Beale children, Grace Beale Moncure wrote her memoirs and described the history and her personal memories of Aunt Letty and her trunk.
ProvenanceOwned by former enslaved woman, "Aunt Letty," in Williamsburg, Virginia in the late 19th century. Left as a bequest in 1896 to George Edwin Beale (1890-1853) of Williamsburg, Virginia; sold to sister Grace Beale Moncure (1887-1984) of Williamsburg, Virginia and Florida; possibly descended through daughter Isabel Moncure Hillman (1918-2006) of Minneapolis, MN to granddaughter Catherine Hillman Latané, of Pepin, WI; gift to Colonial Williamsburg in 2011.