Billy's Books: Property and Slavery

I'm reading Laura Edwards recent paper on "Trunks, Legal Texts, and the Materiality of Law in the Nineteenth Century." The Journal of the Civil War Era 15, no. 2 (2025): 157-183. The paper examines the ways in which trunks enabled people, including married women and enslaved people, to make claims to ownership even when legal texts did not seem to support those claims.

The paper reminded me of an advertisement in the Virginia Herald that I ran across while doing some research on Fredericksburg in the 1820s.

What struck me about the ad was the line that he took with him "a variety of clothing and his books." I was struck by the fact that in fleeing slavery one of the things he chose to carry with him were books and by the fact that the slaveowner referred to them as "his books" when he could have just said "a variety of clothing and books."

I wish I knew more of this story. Of course there is the big question of what happened to Billy, but would also love to know what books he took with him. 

Development of the American Economy

 The NBER  Development of the American Economy Summer Institute is currently taking place. 

There are links to some of the papers here

and you can watch on YouTube

Robert Allen on Arabian Economic History

 Sean Kenny has a new episode of The Economic History Podcast with Robert Allen. 

From the Sand Up: How the Natural Environment shaped the Arabian Economy

Prof. Robert Allen discusses how the desert environment led to a unique economic structure-"from the sand up". Bob takes us through the economic implication of communal lands and describes the differences between the nomadic (Bedouin) and oasis economies. He suggests that religious structures were convenient in eventually consolidating various regions/tribes in the form of states. We also consider the incentives for a unique type of slavery, that arose from the nature of date farming/pearl diving in contrast to the Caribbean sugar plantation experience. 

They also talk about how Allen go into economic history and his advice on doing economic history.