Readability level
The readability level of The Bondwoman’s Narrative is relatively high. This can be shown by analyzing a rather typical passage (like this one, p. 18, describing the protagonist’s visit to a gallery of ancestral portraits in the mansion of Lindendale):
Though filled with superstitious awe I was in no haste to leave the room; for there surrounded by mysterious associations I seemed suddenly to have grown old, to have entered a new world of thoughts, and feelings and sentiments I was not a slave with these pictured memorials of the past They could not enforce drudgery, or condemn me on account of my color to a life of servitude As their companion I could think and speculate In their presence my mind seemed to run riotous and exult in its freedom as a rattional being, and one destined for something higher and better than this world can afford
I applied a common readability formula (from Bovée and Thill 1989) that is based on the number of polysyllabic words in combination with the average sentence length. The readability level for the above passage is eleventh grade. Although this applies to the potential reader rather than the writer, it does naturally suggest that the latter has achieved at least that level of reading ability.
The readability scale, however, perhaps does not quite do justice to the impressive range of the author’s seeming erudition. She refers to “the laws of the Medes and Persians” (p. 23), suggests appearances that “were enough to have provoked a smile on the lip of Heraclitus” (p. 173), and speaks of “the meaning of nature’s various hieroglyphical symbols” (p. 252). She uses alliteration— “two weak[,] weary [,] wandering women” (p. 70)—and many other literary devices and conventions. If she has indeed become a schoolteacher, as her account says, that would certainly have further motivated her to read historical, literary, and other works.
Fictionalization
A full discussion of the narrative’s content is beyond the scope of this report, but there are many indications that the work is a novel, despite the protestations in the Preface that “Being the truth it makes no pretensions to romance….” There are gothic elements, for example, in the shadowy gloom of the mansion, the “legend of the linden” with its reputed curse, and the suggestion of various supernatural elements. In contrast is the true slave narrative of Frederick Douglass (1845) which, while containing the occasional quotation, lacks the lengthy exchanges of dialogue common to The Bondwoman’s Narrative, as well as the elaborate scene-setting descriptions and other conventions.
However, the novel may be based on actual experiences. There are changes that may be due to fictionalization of real persons or events, such as the change of “Charlotte” to “Susan” (pp. 55 and 56). More telling, perhaps, is the fact that the name “Wheeler” in the narrative was first written cryptically, for example as “Mr Wh— —r” and “Mrs Wh——r,” but then later was overwritten with the missing letters “eele” in each case to complete the name (pp. 184–190).
Beyond the fictionalization, geographical references may be evidential. Such phrases as “educated at the north” (p. 7), “in the southern states” (p. 62), “the North” (p. 184), and “A northern woman” (p. 187) indicate a southern perspective that would be appropriate for the mid-nineteenth century. References to Virginia— notably, mention of “the shores of the Old Dominion” (p. 15) and “the steamboat landing on the James River” (p. 58)—suggest familiarity with that state, as mention of “the public slave market in Wilmington” (p. 259) suggests knowledge of North Carolina.
Date indications
Numerous words and phrases throughout the narrative that seem odd or quaint by today’s usage are in fact quite correct for the mid-nineteenth century (according to the Oxford English Dictionary, 1971). For example, “superscription,” meaning the name and address on a letter (p. 41), was used by Thackeray in 1840; “converse” for conversation (p. 8), was employed by George Eliot in 1863; “apartments” to describe single rooms (pp. 13–15) was used by various writers, e.g. in 1824 and 1879; “Madras handkerchiefs,” describing colorful silk-and-cotton kerchiefs worn by West Indian blacks as headdresses (p. 29), was in common use from at least 1833 to 1881; “the piazza” as used, erroneously, for a colonnade (p. 182), was so employed from 1638 and as late as 1861 and 1864 (the latter source acknowledging it as “a misnomer”); and so on and on.
A reflection of the time period in which Hannah was supposedly in Washington—which she refers to credibly as “the Capital” (p. 246), “the Federal Capital” (p. 254), and “Washington, the Federal City” (p. 195)—comes from the descriptions of talk by office seekers. They “would have a rail-road to the Pacific, and a ship Canal across the Isthmus,” and “would quell the Indians and oust the Mormons …” (p. 247). In fact, railway construction westward from the Mississippi River began in 1851, and transcontinental travel was eventually made possible in 1869 (“Railways” 1860); focus on the Isthmus grew after the discovery of gold in California in 1848 (“Panama Canal” 1960); and the Mormons became especially controversial after their clashes with settlers in Illinois in 1846 (World 1999). Similarly, the mention of “vagabond Irishmen” (p. 248) might well have been prompted by the increased immigration that resulted from the great Irish famine of 1846–1847 (World 1999).
Throughout the narrative, references to slavery are in the present tense (as in the Preface’s mention of “that institution whose curse rests” over the nation). This would make no sense if written after the war. Neither would the author’s claim to being “A Fugitive Slave” who had “Recently Escaped from North Carolina.” Mentions of “a deed of manumission” (p. 53), “a slave state” (p. 104), and “an Abolitionist” (p. 202) are all correct for the pre–Civil War period. To have omitted any mention of secession or the outbreak of the war itself would have been counterproductive if written after 1861. Following the war, the story would have seemed passé, perhaps thus helping to explain why it went unpublished.
Had the author wished to publish it as a retrospective, then surely she would have at least rewritten the title page and preface accordingly. Doubtless the same would be true even if the novel were actually composed after the war (which the evidence anyway strongly argues against).
A very specific date indicator—mention of “the equestrian statue of Jackson” in Washington (p. 246)—provides a date before which the narrative could not have been completed. According to an internet source (http://thatman.homestead.com/jackson. html), that sculpture was done by Clark Mills in 1853.
Considering all this evidence, a date of circa 1853–1861 is indicated, consistent with the evidence from the writing materials.
Authorial indications
The author’s point of view and insights as a woman, a black, and a Christian ring true. As indicated earlier, the handwriting is consistent with that of a relatively young person writing at the middle of the nineteenth century.
If I am correct in identifying the impressions over the wafers (at the corners of the pasteovers) as those of a thimble, and in suggesting that the scissors used were perhaps sewing scissors and that needle and thread were employed in an amateurish earlier binding by the author—if indeed these speculations are correct, they offer further evidence that the writer was a woman.
She seems often to be writing out of her own experience. Interestingly, she tells of an unusual dream (pp. 280–281) following the death of a fellow escaped slave. She relates the characteristics of what is known as a “waking dream”—i.e. a hypnopompic hallucination that occurs in the twilight between being asleep and awake. She experiences the bizarre imagery typical of such waking dreams (people often see ghosts, demons, angels, extraterrestrials, etc.) together with “sleep paralysis” (she specifically says she is “unable to move”). So accurately does she describe such a waking dream that it seems likely she actually experienced one. (For a discussion of the phenomenon, see Baker and Nickell 1992.)
SUMMARY
The Bondwoman’s Narrative, a bound 301-page manuscript about 20 x 25 cm high is ostensib
ly “By Hannah Crafts / A Fugitive Slave / Recently Escaped from North Carolina” according to its title page. Its provenance can be reliably traced back to the 1940s.
Examination by a variety of techniques reveals it was written in modified round-hand script (a style of ca. 1840–1865) in a natural, if not notably elegant or swift fashion. It was written with a quill pen, using an ordinary iron-gall ink, on machine-made rag paper consisting of four types of stationery folios (folded sheets). Two of these bear an embossment of the Southworth paper manufacturing company, one type known in examples of 1856 and 1860.
Extraneous pinholes in the inside margins represent an apparent early attempt at binding, probably with ordinary needle and thread by the author. Originally this amateur binding lacked covers, because the first (title) page and the last are soiled and abraded. Much later the manuscript was professionally bound, not in the usual gatherings but—due to the writing having been done on a stack of folios—these were apparently consolidated with paste and then sewn, with covers affixed consisting of black cloth over pasteboard.
The manuscript was a work in progress and contained many revisions. There are numerous “wipe erasures” (the wet ink having been wiped off with the little finger), erasures made with an ink-eraser knife (occasional resulting blobs being blotted with sand), and pasteovers (scissors-cut slips affixed with halved, vermilion-colored paste wafers, the paper over which was impressed with, apparently, a thimble). As well, a few folios were replaced and there are a few single leaves.
Regarding textual matters, the narrative employs many polysyllabic words, artistic phrasings, and classical allusions, and yields a readability level of eleventh grade (by today’s standards) although there are occasional spelling errors. There is evidence of fictionalization, despite the authorial preface denying any “pretensions to romance.”
Nevertheless, southern geographical and other references seem to ring true, as does the pre–Civil War setting. Mention of “the equestrian statue of Jackson” demonstrates the narrative could not have been completed earlier than 1853, and the omission of any reference to secession or war—together with the preface’s phrase “Fugitive Slave Recently Escaped …”—makes no sense unless written by 1861. Also credible is the author’s point of view and insights as a young, Christian, African-American woman.
CONCLUSIONS
Considerable evidence indicates that The Bondwoman’s Narrative is an authentic manuscript of circa 1853–1861. A specific mention of “the equestrian statue of Jackson” in Washington demonstrates that the work could not have been completed before 1853, and the omission of any reference to secession or the Civil War makes no logical sense unless it was written prior to those events. Other references in the text as well as indications from the language are also consistent with this period. No anachronisms were found to point to a later time of composition.
It was apparently written by a relatively young, African-American woman who was deeply religious and had obvious literary skills, although eccentric punctuation and occasional misspellings suggest someone who struggled to become educated. Her handwriting is a serviceable rendering of a period-style script known as modified round hand (the fashion of ca. 1840–1865). She wrote more for legibility than speed, and was right handed.
Her writing accoutrements are also consistent with the 1850s. They included quill pens and a pen knife, iron-gall ink, stationery folios (i.e. folded sheets, including those with embossments from the Southworth paper company), an ink-eraser knife (unless she did double duty with her pen knife), a sander or sand-box (filled with common sand) used to blot ink, a box of vermilion wafers (paste discs) used to attach correction slips, that were usually cut from discarded leaves with small scissors. She probably had a paper knife (to slit an occasional folded sheet into two leaves). Apparently lacking a seal (to impress the paper over wafers to make a better bond), she seems to have employed a thimble for the purpose (leaving a distinctive pattern of raised dots). Finally, she seems to have used an ordinary needle and thread to sew the pages together (the volume’s current professional binding having been done much later).
The combination of writing materials and apparent sewing tools used in the manuscript suggests they were kept in close proximity, as at the desk or sewing table or possibly in a portable writing box. These became popular to Victorian ladies in the 1850–1860 period. The common type of the latter, known as a lap desk, opened to provide a sloped writing surface and compartments for matching inkwell and sander, pens, etc. (See photograph in Nickell 1990, p. 149). There were even combined writing and sewing boxes for ladies, as well as multipurpose “trinket” and “work” boxes (Jenkins 1963).
RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings in this report should be viewed in light of additional historical investigation that is being conducted externally by Professor Gates. Although I am confident of the 1853–1861 date estimate, should documentary evidence seem to conflict with it then both should subsequently be reevaluated to determine the true facts.
If a document should come to light that is thought to bear the signature or other handwriting of “Hannah Crafts,” it should be compared with the writing of the narrative to determine whether they are indeed by the same person. This comparison must be done by an expert familiar with the handwriting of the period, since lay persons typically mistake class characteristics for individual ones (Nickell 1996, pp. 25–29).
The Bondwoman’s Narrative is a valuable manuscript and should be preserved. Subject to the expert opinion of a professional conservationist, I recommend placing a loose sheet of acid-buffering paper inside both the front and back of the volume, inserted between the flyleaf and title page in the first place and between the last page of the original manuscript and flyleaf in the second instance. This would be to prevent the flyleaves—which are probably wood-pulp paper and quite acidic—from further degrading the historic manuscript.
APPENDIX
Recovered Text from the Underside of a Pasteover Slip
On the verso of a pasted-over slip on page 138 are the following seven lines (with unreadable portions indicated by ellipsis points):
1. Their misfortunes are nothing to me except I can take
2. advantage of them to promote my own views[.] I have
3. not [ma]de the laws under the operation of which …
4. -ful men may be sold like sheep[.] I only con … to …
5. the … duce them to practice[.] If such women …
6. sold is rather the fault of the law that permits
7. than of me who may perchance buy or even sell …
Note the similarity to text on pp. 122–123.
REFERENCES
Baker, Robert A., and Joe Nickell. 1992. Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, & Other Mysteries. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 226–227.
Bowen, Craigen W. 2001. Letter report (from Straus Center for Conservation, Harvard University Art Museum) to Henry L. Gates, April 5.
Bovée, Courtland L., and John V. Thill. 1989. Business Communication Today, second ed. New York: Random House, pp. 125–126.
Cahoon, Herbert, Thomas V. Lange, and Charles Ryskamp. 1977. American Literary Autographs from Washington Irving to Henry James. New York: Dover.
The Chicago Manual of Style, fourteenth ed. 1993. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p. 325ff.
Feigen, Michelle. 2001. “African-Americana Sales a Stunner at Swann’s and Other Dealers,” The Manuscript Society News, Vol. XXII, No. 2, pp. 56–59.
Douglass, Frederick. 1845. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave Written by Himself. Reprinted and edited by Benjamin Quarles, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1979.
Jenkins, Dorothy H. 1963. A Fortune in the Junk Pile: A Guide to Valuable Antiques that May Be Found in Attics, Cellars, etc. New York: Crown Publishers, pp. 343–346.
Kennedy, Ed. 2001. Southworth Paper representative, interviewed by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., April 30
.
Nickell, Joe. 1990. Pen, Ink & Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective. Reprinted New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2000.
———. 1991. “Erasures and Corrections in Historic Documents: An Overview,” paper presented to 49th Annual Conference of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., August 3–8.
———. 1993. “Stationers’ Crests: A Catalog of More than 200 Embossed Paper Marks 1835–1901,” Manuscripts, vol. XLV, No. 3, Summer, pp. 199–216.
———. 1996. Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky.
The Oxford English Dictionary, The Compact Edition of. 1971. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Panama Canal.” 1960. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
“Railways.” 1960. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Rendell, Kenneth W. 2001. Letter report to Laurence Kirshbaum, Chairman, Time Warner Trade Publishing, April 26.
Shurr, William H. 1983. The Marriage of Emily Dickinson. Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky, pp. 1–2.
The World Almanac and Book of Facts. 1999. Mahwah, New Jersey: World Almanac Books, p. 516.
APPENDIX B
Testimony of Jane Johnson
Version I
“I can’t tell my exact age; I guess I am about 25; I was born in Washington City; lived there this New-Year’s, if I shall live to see it, two years; I came to Philadelphia about two months ago.
I came with Col. Wheeler; I brought my two children, one aged 10, and the other a year or so younger; we went to Mr. Sully’s and got something to eat; we then went to the wharf, then into the hotel.
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