Black History

This index is invaluable for Black History because it contains many names of individuals, previously scattered throughout the documents: loyalist soldiers, and freed or enslaved civilian refugees. The index also includes the so-called "Book of Negroes" which is a register of refugees of colour giving references to 2,831 people many of whom went to Nova Scotia. There is extensive information about them such as their names, sex, health, distinguishing marks, status (free or slave), origins, names of their white associates, and the ships used to carry them.

Documentation for Carleton's Book of Negroes

• Introduction - describes in detail what each field in the Book of Negroes database contains.
• Additional Notes - contains notes made when reading the Book of Negroes in order to make the index.
• The Book of Negroes – database example

To see the original, hand-written page with the information, note the name of the person of interest and visit the Nova Scotia Archives website – enter the name in the search box and the original page will be displayed.

• Index to Carleton's Book of Negroes

Instructions for Searching the Book of Negroes

Please read the Instructions below before beginning your search of the Book of Negroes. This will make your search easier and help you to get the most out of it.

To find your ancestor:

• Click the link "Book of Negroes". A document will appear, similar to the Example, for the first record in the file.
• To find the specific record for your ancestor, hold the "Control" key down and type "F". A search box will appear on your screen. Enter a name, of a person or ship, and click "Next". NOTE: The search function does not support wild cards such as * or ?, as in Ostr*m.
• If you are unable to search the document, right-click on it and save it to your computer as a PDF file. Search the saved document as described above.
• To open a PDF file, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from Adobe.

To get the most out of your search:

• Consult "Introduction" to learn what the contents of each field mean.
• Consult "Additional Notes". These are notes from the British Headquarters Papers concerning the instructions issued by Sir Guy Carleton and comments regarding the terms in the preliminary articles of peace, signed by Great Britain and the United States in November 1782. The notes give the document number and microfilm reel on which they are found.

To find the original document:

• The Nova Scotia Archives has posted scanned images of the original document from which this Index was taken.
• The records were all taken from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) microfilm reel M-369. The last line of the record gives the page.
• Visit LAC at 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4, to view the microfilm.
• Contact LAC to request a copy of the document, providing the microfilm, document and page numbers. A scanned image may be e-mailed to you for a small fee. LAC does not lend microfilm or microfiche copies of archival documents.