News
New Content in the Frederick Douglass Digital Edition
December 2023
The Frederick Douglass Papers is pleased to announce its latest web release. This release features Frederick Douglass to Gerrit Smith, May 1, 1851; Frederick Douglass to Thomas Auld, September 8, 1848; and new documents from Speeches, Volume 2, 3, and 4.
Volumes in the Digital Edition
View all volumes online
Unpublished Documents
Documents that have been calendared, or summarized, in published volumes are included here with full transcriptions but still described as unpublished documents in the digital edition so as to distinguish them from previously published documents.
Explore the unpublished documents
Transcribe Frederick Douglass Papers
In recent years, the Douglass Papers has launched an initiative to add critically-verified transcriptions of the thousands of letters, to and from Douglass, that could not be included in or selective print edition. The project invites volunteers from the public interested in having more of Douglass word available to scholars, students, and general readers to enlist in this effort by visiting our electronic "work site" hosted by the website FromThePage and sign up to transcribe. In the future, texts of Douglass editorials and speeches not found in the print edition will also be added.
Start transcribingFeatured Documents
Browse below to see featured documents from the Frederick Douglass Papers Digital Edition.
About the Frederick Douglass Papers Project
Born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, Frederick Douglass (1818-95) became one of the most influential human rights activist of the nineteenth century, as well as an internationally acclaimed statesmen, orator, editor, and author. The Frederick Douglass Papers collects, edits, and publishes in books and online the speeches, letters, autobiographies, and other writings of Frederick Douglass. The project's primary aim has been to make the surviving works by this African American figure accessible to a broad audience, much as similar projects have done for the papers of notable white historical and literary figures.
Published Volumes
The original heart of the project is the publication by Yale University Press of fifteen volumes of the most historically significant of Douglass’s works; nine of these volumes have been published so far, as well as several ancillary paperback volumes.