MG-296. THOMAS KRAMER COLLECTION, 1780-1889 (bulk 1835-1882).
Thomas Kramer was a justice of the peace in Palmyra, Lebanon County, from 1844 to 1880. The collection consists primarily of legal papers as well as some genealogical materials pertaining to the Kramer and Segner families. Included in the collection is a handwritten manuscript entitled "A History of Pennsylvania From Its First Settlements by the Swedes and the Dutch Down to the Year 1872" by John F. Wolfinger of Milton, Pennsylvania. This manuscript contains several references to African Americans. In an appendix to chapter 3, the "rebellion of blacks" in the West Indies, Haiti, and St. Dominique is noted. Chapter 10 mentions William Penn’s "black servant." References to "blacks" as a group of people among the general population are found in chapters 13, 21, 22, and 24. Chapter 30 discusses the role of Pennsylvania in the Civil War as well as slavery, the Missouri Compromise, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.