Two Hundred Years of Collecting at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Abstract: While slaves arrived in Pennsylvania aboard the ship Isabella in 1684, little detail of this venture has been described. We have discovered two English lawsuits detailing the voyage of the slave ship Hopewell to Maryland in 1685. As this ship was managed by the same group of Bristol Quakers responsible for the Isabella , we re-examined the documents pertaining to the Isabella in more detail. The two voyages together provide a better understanding of how the direct trading of slaves was illicitly practiced in the mid-Atlantic colonies by Bristol Quakers who could target specific markets and use designated agents.