Research Guides: Enslavement and Sharecropping in Florida: Business Records

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What kind of primary sources are in business records?

Business records typically document the daily affairs of businesses. In them, you may find accounting sheets, professional correspondence, legal records, maps, and receipts.

Examine the records of the plantations and businesses operated by enslavers to see the relationship between enslavement and sharecropping.

Bird and Ulmer Papers
The business records of the Bird and Ulmer families, enslavers and proprietors of the Bunker Hill, Nacossa, and Freelawn Plantations. Their probate records document enslaved people conveyed as inheritance.
El Destino and Chemonie Plantation Papers
The business records of the Nuttall family, enslavers and owners of two plantations in Jefferson County, Florida. Their financial and legal records document the enslaved people that they bought and sold. Some records involve the Gamble and Braden families.
Pine Hill Plantation Papers
The personal and business papers of the Bradford-Eppes family. The personal papers of Susan Bradford Eppes reflect the Lost Cause of the Confederacy narrative while the business records document the now gone plantation.
Rondeau Boyd Laffitte General Store Merchandise Account Books
The business records of R.B. Laffitte's store in Lloyd, Florida where some sharecropping plantation owners also owned country stores. The store records document the sale of cotton seeds.
Sydney V Coxetter Agriculture Collection
The business records of Sydney Coxetter's agricultural and real estate businesses in North Florida. The correspondence and Whitfield Day book document local agriculture and may be of interest regarding sharecropping.
Van Brunt Business Records
The business records of R.F. Van Brunt's store in Iamonia, Florida. Included are sharecropping contracts and store ledgers documenting store payment in labor and cotton.
Whitfield Notebook
The notebook of enslaver George Whitfield of Tallahassee. His notebook documents the family relationships of enslaved people he bought and sold.

Image: Entry of R.F. Van Brunt's 1911 store Day Book documenting sharecropping by showing the payment of store balances in cotton.

"1911 Day Book: Page 228," October 6, 1911, Box OS-1, Van Brunt Business Records, MSS 0-249, Florida State University Special Collections & Archives.