New Haven County Superior Court Inquests and Wills Collection – Black, African American, and Indigenous Cases

Overview

This is a digitized collection of legal documents from the New Haven County Superior Court, curated by the Connecticut State Library. It contains high‑resolution scans of inquest reports and wills that involve Black, African American, and Indigenous individuals. The collection is part of the library’s “Black, African American, and Indigenous History” (BAAI) project and is indexed in the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject database. Materials are presented in English and accompanied by detailed metadata that links each item to controlled subject terms such as “Inquest,” “Wills,” and “Death Investigation.”

Background

The New Haven County Superior Court has maintained court records since the early 19th century. In recent years, the Connecticut State Library has undertaken a digitization effort to preserve and make accessible records that illuminate the legal experiences of marginalized communities. The BAAI project focuses on cases involving Black, African American, and Indigenous people, providing scholars with a searchable, subject‑based framework for these documents.

Contents

• Inquest Reports – Official investigations into deaths, including the 1741 inquest into the death of the Negro slave “Will,” which lists twelve jurors and records the cause of death as “excessive cold.”
• Will Documents – Testaments detailing the distribution of assets after death.
• Metadata – Each file is accompanied by a Pinax JSON file that records creator, date, place, and subject headings, and links the item to the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject index.
• Digital Files – High‑resolution TIFF or JPEG scans (e.g., RG003NHSCBAAIPSInquestsWill001.tif) that preserve fine detail for scholarly use.

Scope

The collection covers all inquest and will documents from the New Haven County Superior Court that involve Black, African American, or Indigenous individuals. The holdings span from the early 18th century (e.g., the 1741 Will inquest) through the present, and are geographically confined to New Haven County, Connecticut. Non‑legal documents and records unrelated to the specified demographic groups are excluded. This collection is a valuable resource for researchers of colonial and early‑modern law, African‑American and Indigenous history, and the lived experiences of enslaved and marginalized people in New England.