New Haven County Superior Court - Black, African American, and Indigenous History - Court Expenses Collection

Version: 6 (current) | Updated: 12/4/2025, 3:26:08 PM

Added description

Description

New Haven County Superior Court – Black, African American, and Indigenous History – Court Expenses Collection

Overview

This is a digitized archival collection held by the Connecticut State Library. It comprises court‑expense documents from the New Haven County Superior Court dated 1790‑1795. The unit is part of the NHSC BAAI (Black, African American, and Indigenous History) project, which preserves court records that involve African‑American and Indigenous litigants and prisoners. The collection is catalogued in English and contains a mix of Shyner Bills, ledgers, and bills for execution and boarding, all rendered as high‑resolution JPEG and TIFF images with accompanying PINAX metadata.

Background

During the late‑18th century the New Haven Superior Court recorded all financial obligations incurred in legal proceedings. The NHSC BAAI project has assembled these records to illuminate the economic and administrative aspects of court work involving marginalized populations. The documents were produced by court clerks and contractors such as Abraham Auger, Caleb Ford, Joseph Peck, Joseph Dickey, and Prince Perkins, and they reflect the fiscal practices of the Connecticut judicial system at that time.

Contents

The collection contains seven sub‑units:
  • Abraham Auger and Negro Tom Shyner Bill (1790‑01‑29) – a single bill of court costs.
  • Caleb Ford bill for Joseph Mountain (1790‑05‑26) – a bill and accounting sheet.
  • Joseph Mountain execution expenses (1790‑10‑20) – a sheriff’s bill and court order.
  • Joseph Peck boarding ledger (1790‑08‑11) – a ledger of prisoner boarding costs.
  • Gadson’s Bible (1790‑08‑11) – an ancillary item linked to the same case.
  • Peck, Dickey, and Perkins ledgers (1795‑08‑06) – boarding and lodging records for litigants identified as Black or Indigenous.
Each unit includes digitized images, metadata, and controlled subject terms such as court expenses, prisoner boarding, executions, legal documents, and Black, African American, and Indigenous history.

Scope

The collection covers a single fiscal year (1790‑1795) in New Haven County, Connecticut. It focuses exclusively on court‑expense documentation and does not include transcripts, pleadings, or other ancillary filings. The material is freely accessible for research and is valuable to scholars of early American legal history, court economics, and African‑American and Indigenous studies.

Entities

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Entity Relationships

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@connecticut_state_library:organization {full_name: "Connecticut State Library"}

@new_haven_county_superior_court:organization {location: @new_haven_county}

@legal_documents:concept {description: "Documents pertaining to legal proceedings"}

@prisoner_boarding:concept {description: "Expenses for lodging and meals of prisoners"}

@indigenous_history:concept {description: "Historical study of Indigenous peoples"}

@sarah_balfour_lewis:person {full_name: "Sarah Balfour Lewis"}

@andrew_rhodes:person {full_name: "Andrew Rhodes"}

@daniel_osborne:person {full_name: "Daniel Osborne"}

@nathan_black:person {full_name: "Nathan Black"}

@john_griffith:person {full_name: "John Griffith"}

@noah_brooks:person {full_name: "Noah Brooks"}

@prine_nigw:person {full_name: "Prine Nigw"}

@alby:person {full_name: "Alby"}

@emma:person {full_name: "Emma"}

@file_pinax -> describes -> @court_expenses_collection

@court_expenses_collection -> created by -> [@state_of_connecticut, @abraham_auger, @caleb_ford, @fitch_jos_m, @mountain_joseph, @joseph_peck, @gadson, @joseph_dickey, @prince_perkins]

@court_expenses_collection -> created {start: @date_1790, end: @date_1795}

@court_expenses_collection -> subject -> [@court_expenses, @prisoners, @prisoner_boarding, @executions, @legal_documents, @black_african_american_and_indigenous_history, @african_american_history, @indigenous_history, @boarding_expenses, @bibles]

@court_expenses_collection -> includes -> [@court_expenses_augur_abraham, @mountain_execution_expenses, @joseph_peck_expenses_1790, @gadsons_bible_collection]

@court_expenses_collection -> indexed by -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@court_expenses_collection -> location -> @new_haven

@court_expenses_collection -> part of -> @new_haven_county_superior_court_files

@abraham_auger -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@negro_tom -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@caleb_ford -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@fitch_jos_m -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@mountain_joseph -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@joseph_peck -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@gadson -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@joseph_dickey -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@prince_perkins -> appears in -> @court_expenses_collection

@new_haven_county_superior_court_files -> has field -> @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject

@new_haven_county_superior_court_files -> part of -> @new_haven_county_superior_court

@new_haven_county_superior_court -> located in -> @new_haven_county

@new_haven_county -> part of -> @connecticut

@connecticut -> part of -> @united_states

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**SYNTHESIS**  
The @court_expenses_collection aggregates expense records from multiple individual cases documented across the subdirectories (e.g., @court_expenses_augur_abraham, @mountain_execution_expenses, @joseph_peck_expenses_1790, @gadsons_bible_collection). It is indexed by the shared subject field @nhsc_baai_cases_papers_subject, linking the collection to the broader New Haven County Superior Court “Black, African American, and Indigenous History” project. All creators—state officials and private individuals such as @abraham_auger, @caleb_ford, @fitch_jos_m, @mountain_joseph, @joseph_peck, @gadson, @joseph_dickey, and @prince_perkins—appear in multiple source files, demonstrating a network of actors involved in court‑related financial transactions between 1790 and 1795. The collection’s subjects span court expenses, prisoner boarding, executions, legal documents, and broader BAAI historical themes, illustrating the interdisciplinary scope of the project.

Metadata

Version History (6 versions)

  • ✓ v6 (current) · 12/4/2025, 3:26:08 PM
    "Added description"
  • v5 · 12/4/2025, 3:07:32 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v4 · 12/4/2025, 6:45:35 AM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v3 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:54 AM · View this version
    "Set parent to 01KBKZZ7VHHY9D5YXJX4400CQW"
  • v2 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:43 AM · View this version
    "Added children"
  • v1 · 12/4/2025, 6:14:26 AM · View this version
    "Initial snapshot"

Parent

01KBKZZ7VHHY9D5YXJX4400CQW

Children (5)