Joseph Dickey and Alby & Emma Court‑Expenses Collection

Overview

This is a digitized collection of court‑expense documents from 1795, held by the Connecticut State Library. The materials record financial outlays made by the New Haven County Superior Court for cases involving Joseph Dickey, Alby, and Emma. The collection is part of the library’s New Haven County Superior Court Files (NHSC) and specifically the Black, African American, and Indigenous (BAAI) subset, which focuses on legal records pertaining to people of African and Indigenous descent.

Background

The documents were compiled by Joseph Dickey, Joseph Peck, and Prince Perkins, court clerks and attorneys active in late‑18th‑century New Haven. They were originally produced as receipts and expense ledgers for court proceedings. The Connecticut State Library acquired the originals in the 20th century and has since digitized them for preservation and research. The collection is linked to the NHSC BAAI Cases Papers Subject database, which assigns controlled subject terms such as “Court Expenses,” “Legal Documents,” “African American History,” and “New Haven County.”

Contents

The collection contains a single primary document, reproduced in both JPEG and TIFF formats. The OCR‑extracted text reads: ``` Joseph Dickey Well Coalen Jelly 1795 Alby & Emma Lee ``` The images show a ledger page with line items for expenses incurred in the handling of Alby and Emma’s case. The TIFF file is a high‑resolution scan, while the JPEG provides a more accessible view for quick reference. The metadata records the document’s date (1795), creators, and subject headings.

Scope

The collection covers a narrow slice of New Haven court history: the financial administration of a single case in 1795 involving two individuals of African descent. It is geographically limited to New Haven County, Connecticut, and temporally confined to the year 1795. The materials are relevant to scholars of early American legal history, African American studies, and the economic aspects of court proceedings. Items not included are other court‑expense records from the period, unrelated case files, or documents concerning other parties.