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Series I. Manuscripts [series]:
This series consists of notes and commentary by Lafayette and
other prominent people; transcribed extracts from newspapers, books and
letters; drafts of Lafayette's addresses and speeches; newspaper articles about
Lafayette; poems, songs and addresses written as tributes to Lafayette; and
papers dealing with family finances and properties. In "Note relative à ma
fortune personelle," possibly written while he was in prison, Lafayette takes
stock of the financial and property losses he had incurred in the Revolution.
There are copies of the 16 letters, transcribed and bound with pink silk ribbon
by Adrienne, which Lafayette wrote to her from America. Copies of Lafayette's
letters from prison form a 44 page booklet. Papers associated with Lafayette's
domain near Cayenne, French Guiana, provide information about colonial law,
administration, labor and economic production and reflect Lafayette's interest
in the cause of emancipation. Lafayette purchased the property in 1785
intending to make his plantation the site of an experiment in the "gradual
emancipation" of the blacks who worked there. Related items include a list of
the names, ages and families of the black people brought in to work on the
plantation, a description of slave ships, a "Plan for the Gradual Abolition of
Slavery in the U.S.", a proposal for a model settlement in French Guiana which
was submitted to the National Assembly, and an ambitious and idealistic
prospectus for La Societe de Grandes Cultures
Coloniales , which outlines in detail the establishment of large
plantations for coffee, cocoa, indigo and cotton. In contrast to prospecti, an
1815 "expose" by Geneste, Lafayette's agent in French Guiana, criticizes in
detail the actual operations and productivity of plantations in Cayenne. Other
topics covered include: the abdication of Napoleon; the 1824 American Tour;
membership of the Society of the Cincinnati, etc.
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