Media — The Shirley-Eustis House

exhibit media

Hover your mouse over each image to see the captions.

Images from “The British Empire”

A building's frieze. The stonework shows an image of an African person's head in caricature wearing a crown. The person is surrounded by stone fruits, leaves, and vuvuzela horns. — The frieze at the top of Liverpool’s town hall building in Liverpool, UK. The city earned much of its wealth as a port in the British slave trade, which can be seen in small ornate details such as this one. The African person shown here is surrounded by depictions of wealth, symbolizing the success enslavement brought to Liverpool. Image via ____.

View from above a ship carrying enslaved people as cargo. The Africans are packed incredibly tightly within the walls of the ship, all lying down and folded around each other from bow to stern. — “Slave Deck of the Ship the Séraphique Marie of Nantes…” 1770. René Lhermitte, France. Rotated detail.

Fighting between indigenous American people and Spanish colonizers. At the foreground, two men fight with swords. In the background, Spaniards in armor march across a green countryside from their ships docked in the harbor. — “Franciscus Monteio Lucatanae provinciae praeficictur,” Unknown artist, 1595. Detail.

Eighteenth-century painting of a woman in a bright pink dress with a tall powdered hairstyle. To her left is a squawking parrot, and to her right is an enslaved child looking up at her. — Portrait of a Woman and an Enslaved Servant, Nicolas de Largilliere, 1696. France. Image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Black and white image of a large eighteenth-century building. People walk up and down the street in the foreground. — The London headquarters of the South Sea Company, a joint-stock trade organization that was given exclusive rights to trade Africans with the Spanish and Portuguese in 1711. When the business collapsed in 1720, the aftermath led to an economic crisis in Britain.

A book frontispiece engraving of an African man well-dressed in 18th century attire. He holds a book in his hand. The accompanying text reads "Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African." — “Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa),” Daniel Orne, 1 March 1789. This engraving was the frontispiece for Equiano’s autobiography, titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

Document describing the stowage of the British slave ship "Brookes." The images show enslaved people packed tightly within the ship, both in cross sections and in segments. — Stowage of the British slave vessel “Brookes,” which was loaded with enslaved people under the “Regulated Slave Trade Act” of 1788. This act limited the number of enslaved people allowed as cargo on a single ship based on the ship’s size and berth. It was the first British law passed to regulate the slave trade.

A wealthy seventeenth century English family sits at a table. Each is holding a glass of liqueur and a long pipe. To their right stands a well-dressed enslaved boy, waiting to be given an order. — “Elihu Yale with Members of His Family and an Enslaved Child,” ca. 1719, attributed to John Verelst. Image courtesy the Yale Center for British Art.

Wooden wagon jack lying flat on a wooden floor. — Wagon jack circa the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Would have been used by an enslaved person or servant to support a wagon or carriage while a wheel was being replaced - a very arduous process.

Black and white drawing of a building with many windows on each of its two floors, and a large cupola on top in the center. Several men and women stroll on the grass in the foreground. — “View of Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts,” March 1789. Samuel Hill, engraver. Image courtesy the Library of Congress.

An eighteenth-century document. The document reads "In obedience to his Majesty's Excellency and house of Representatives, ordered that the Several Town within this Province should send a list of all Negro Slaves male and female..." — 1754 Slave Census count from Walpole, MA. Image courtesy PrimaryResearch.org.

Images from “Slavery in New England”

Woodcut image published in the antislavery newspaper The Liberator, edited by William Lloyd Garrison. This image depicted slave traffickers throwing sick enslaved people overboard prior to docking at a port in Brazil so that they would not have to pay import duties on slaves who may die before they could be sold. It is an incident similar to that of the Zong, a well-known slave trafficking ship. Image via Slavery Images.

An elderly Black man sits for a portrait, dressed in nineteenth century clothing and holding a cane. His portrait is enclosed in a gold frame. — “Daguerrotype of Caesar - A Slave,” 1851.

A well-dressed and groomed woman sits for a portrait. She holds a similarly well-dressed child, and is surrounded by a cocker spaniel, a cockatoo, and an African boy acting as a servant. The African boy is positioned off to the side. — “Lady Grace Carteret, Countess of Dysart with a Child and a Black Servant, Cockatoo, and Spaniel,” John Giles Eccardt, 1779.

Document from the census of enslaved people in Massachusetts in 1754. To read the document aloud, click on the image for a link to the original source. — Letter reporting the results of the 1754 Slave Census in Massachusetts to Royal Governor Shirley. This letter counts “Negro Slaves” in the town of Boston over the age of sixteen. It claims there were 647 men and 342 women, and it is unclear whether this claim was accurate. Image courtesy PrimaryResearch.org.

Advertisement from a newspaper. "Public auction tomorrow, the 2nd instant, will be sold, by David Denoon and Co. at their vendue store, a likely Negro Fellow who is a jobbing cooper, part of a sailor and an exceeding good cook." — City Gazette and Daily Advertiser, Charleston, August 1, 1791.

A young white woman, seated in a chair, pauses while peeling potatoes. She is dressed modestly, slightly dirty, and surrounded by kitchen tools. She stares pensively into the distance. — The Kitchen Maid, Jean Siméon Chardin, 1738. Image courtesy the National Gallery of Art.

An enslaved girl balances a wooden tub on top of her head in this watercolor portrait. The barefoot girl wears a full-length apron over a short-sleeved, reddish-orange checked dress. A note on her apron reads "Topsy." — Enslaved Girl, Mary Randolph Custis Lee, 1830. Image courtesy the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

The text of this document will not fit in this site's alt-text reader. To read the document, click on it and go to the new window. — Indenture contract between Henry Mayer, the indentured, and Abraham Hestant, the indenturer, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This contract dates back to 1738. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

An account book from the eighteenth century with various charges. The one highlighted here is a charge to Eliakim Hutchinson. — Benjamin Eustis’ Account Book, Dr. Benjamin Eustis, 1750. Image courtesy the author.

Pencil sketch. Several women wash laundry in a hazy camp. They use their hands to scrub, and one hauls water. — “Sketch of African-American Women Washing Clothes,” Unknown Artist, 1864. Image courtesy Biblioteca Ambrosiana.

A worn, wooden mortar and pestle set. — Mortar and Pestle, c. 19th century. The Shirley-Eustis House Association Collections, 2014WAT.161a-b. Image courtesy the author.

Wooden wash basin. Its planks are wide, and it is very worn from decades of use. — Wooden laundry basin, c. 19th century. The Shirley-Eustis House Association Collections, 2014WAT.092a. Image courtesy the author.

Building abuzz with activity. Two smokestacks billow, while Black enslaved men feed the flames and move barrels. White, well-dressed eighteenth-century gentlemen watch from afar. — Exterior of the Curing House and Stills, Antigua, William Clark (c.1823). Photo courtesy The British Library.

A Black barber carefully shaves a white man's face as he sits in the barber's chair. Both men are dressed in nineteenth-century clothing, with the barber adorned in an apron. — “A Barber’s Shop at Richmond, VA,” Eyre Crowe, The Illustrated London News, March 9, 1861. Detail. Image courtesy Wellcome Images.

White woman in nineteenth century garb whips a Black woman who is tied to a post. In the background, a serene nature scene and large mansion far away lends a sense of contrast to the image. — “Ladies Whipping Girls.” Illustration in George Bourne’s Pictures of Slavery in the United States of America (Middletown, CT: E. Hunt, 1834), p. 109.

images from “Slavery at the Shirley-Eustis House”

An enslaved man stands in front of a sleek horse, putting on its bridle. The two of them are at the foreground of the drawing, while a massive mansion is in the background. — Illustration titled “Paragon un Barbe,” or Barbe Paragon, a type of horse popular in seventeenth century England. This one belonged to the Duke of Newcastle, whose descendants would eventually help William Shirley secure the position of Royal Governor. Here the horse is pictured with an enslaved man. Image via Yale University Libraries.

A family sits at a well-furnished table, eating dinner. Two young Black girls serve them dinner. The caption reads "Family Amalgamation Among the Men-Stealers." — “Family Amalgamation Among the Men-Stealers,” Unknown author, 1834. Originally published in George Bourne, Picture of Slavery in the United States of America (Middletown, CT: E. Hunt). Image courtesy the Library of Congress.

A stone church with pillars surrounding its exterior sits at the corner of a busy intersection. Modern cars and people are in the foreground. — King’s Chapel, where several of the people William Shirley enslaved were baptized. Photo courtesy Jackie Ricciardi of Boston University.

Clip from a 1766 inventory of a wealthy British woman's belongings. They include 3 powdering tubs, 1 fronbound pail, a parcel of Books, wearing apparell, 1 negro man named Caesar, his apparell, Bed and Beding, 1 negro woman named Hannah... — A clip from Elizabeth Shirley Hutchinson’s 1766 inventory of her belongings. Note that among her personal items are listed two enslaved people, Ceasar and Hannah, as well as their clothing and bedding. This does not tell us much about Ceasar and Hannah, but it informs us that they lived and worked as part of the Shirley and Hutchinson families.

Runaway slave advertisement placed by a Mr. Shirley seeking a "Molatto Negro Boy" named Jack. For proper alt-text, download image. — Runaway slave advertisement placed in the Boston News-Letter on February 17, 1732. Image courtesy Aabid Allibhai’s “Working Report on Slavey at Shirley Place.”

A large yellow and green mansion fills much of the frame, and a cupola sits on top. In front of it is a gravel loop with greenery in the center. — The Shirley-Eustis House in Roxbury, MA. Photo courtesy the Shirley-Eustis House Association.

Overhead image of a grand mansion and carriage house, surrounded by lush landscape and a distant harbor. Captioned "Shirley Place c. 1825 as it appeared at the time of Lafayette's visit to Governor Eustis." — 1820 image of the “Eustis Mansion,” now the Shirley-Eustis House Association. Image courtesy the Shirley-Eustis House Association.

A wide brick hearth on the center of a wall. Surrounding it are many kitchen tools including ladles, pots, and pans. — The restored “winter kitchen” at the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. This kitchen was originally constructed, along with the house, in 1690, but was renovated after Isaac Royall, Sr. purchased the land on which it was situated in 1737. Photo courtesy the Royall House and Slave Quarters.

Five kitchen tools lying on the ground. The first is made up of two tongs on a stick, the second is a flat square plate on a long stick, the third is a small paddle with holes in it, the fourth is a large spoon, and the fifth is a long, slender spoon — Several kitchen and household tools found in the Shirley-Eustis House’s collections. From left to right: toasting fork, bread peel, butter paddle, wooden ladle, and laundry spoon. Photo taken by the author.

A colorful and well-furnished bedroom in the Georgian style. The carpet has a blue honeycomb pattern, the bed is a four poster with a canopy, and the walls are painted a bright yellow. — This fully furnished reproduction of a Georgian-era bedroom is from The Georgian House in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo courtesy Carly Brown on carlyjbrown.com.

A tan two-story home sits at the center of the picture. A path leads to the front door through the overgrown lawn. — The building at 42-44 Shirley Street today. It sits across the street from the Shirley-Eustis House Mansion. Photo courtesy Redfin Realty.

A four-wheeled coach covered in red drapes and gold. It is driven by a white servant and pulled by six horses. — “Lord Mayor’s Show,” Unknown artist, 1805. Image courtesy the London Picture Archive.

A young Black servant assists a white gentleman in hunting in the countryside. The servant pats the gentleman on the back. Several dogs run around the landscape. — Unknown Man and Servant, unknown artist, ca. eighteenth century. Image courtesy the Center for British Art at Yale University.

A landscape painting in black and white showing a very lush vision of Boston in 1776. The Boston harbor is in the distance, and the Shirley-Eustis House is in the distant left — A View of Boston Taken on the Road to Dorchester, James Newton, 1776. Image courtesy the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library.

A Black man sits for a portrait dressed in brightly colored blue and red late eighteenth-century clothing, including a cravat, jacket, and turban. He looks to the left pensively. — “Baron Nagell’s Running Footman,” Ozias Humphry, c.1795.