"Can a man serve God faithfully & possess slaves?"
We suggest that you begin your exploration of the Jesuit Plantation Project with the writings of Joseph Mobberly, a Jesuit Brother who spent time on many of the Jesuit owned plantations in the Chesapeake area.
- Slavery or Cham - 1823
- Diary of Br. Joseph Mobberly, Vol. I - 1823
- Diary of Br. Joseph Mobberly, Vol. IV - 1824
- Diary of Br. Joseph Mobberly, Vol. V - 1825
Additionally, we have archive material about the Jesuit plantations related to:
- The Sale of 272 Slaves in 1838 - a complete listing of the slaves that boarded ships to Louisiana in 1838, the sale contracts from 1838 and earlier slave transfer documents
- The Society of Jesus in Maryland - information about the adminstration of the Jesuits with regard to plantation conditions and slavery
- Catholicism and Slavery in the Antebellum South - documents detailing the relationship between Catholicism and the larger antebellum slaveholding culture, in particular regarding the welfare and religious needs of the slaves
- Digitized Images of Maryland Province Archive Documents - a complete list of available digitized images including the sale inventory, excerpts of Slavery or Cham, and individual letters
Finally, we have created an index structure for those users who are familiar with the JPP's resources, and/or those who wish to do further research:
- Resource Chronology - lists all of the archive material available on the site in chronological order
- JPP Bibliography - a growing bibliography of secondary source material related to the project
- The Jesuits in America - a link to the Georgetown University Library Special Collections (contains an index of the Maryland Province Archives and other materials)
The Jesuit Plantation Project involves the conversion of the Maryland Province Archive to an electronic format. The archive contains over 200 years of personal, legal, and financial documents produced by the six Jesuit-owned plantations in Maryland. As an electronic archive project, the Jesuit Plantation Project is fully integrated with the American Studies Core Curriculum at Georgetown University. The students and faculty work collaboratively on the ongoing development of this site.