Finding the 1844 Borrower Log: What Black Children Were Reading in Northern Liberties
- 1838 Black Metropolis
- Jun 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 28
Tucked inside a worn old book in the from 1844 is something incredible: a library catalog from the African Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Zoar has a very similar architecture to the The African Meeting House in Boston, Massachusetts - a building built around the same time. The African Meeting House building was a church and a school, just like Zoar. This video shows a classroom from the school - and this is what we imagine the sabbath school classroom looked like.
Many Black churches had Sabbath schools. These schools didn't just teach the gospel; they often taught basic reading and writing for all ages and adults. Some children worked to support family needs and so sunday (the Sabbath) was often the only schooling working children could get.
What's really special about the Zoar book is that it lists its catalog - almost 200 books - so we can get some idea of what was being read.
You can go see this book for yourself at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Here are a few pictures from the book.
From the Leon Gardiner Collection, Zoar Sabbath School--Catalogue of Books [Ams .34] (1844)
What Were People Reading?
People were borrowing books like Bourne's Pictures of Slavery in the US, Paradise Lost and Thompson's Lectures on British India. And that was reading for the 'juvenile class' . 🔥🤯
The book has a borrower record, so we can see the specific books a person borrowed.
So we can see that Rebecca McCormic was reading Sketches of Moravian Mission.
And Abitilolo Lambsong was reading Youth Friend for 1842.
Philadelphia had over 20 private and public schools for Black children in the 1840s - but finding documents from those schools is extremely rare. Through this catalog, we can see through the portal of time to glimpse a vision of everyday life for Black children in 1844, in a new and beautiful way.
Rebecca and Abitololo's Home and Family
By 1844, the free Black population of Northern Liberties had grown to around 1,200 people, just north of what we now call Old City.
During our research on Northern Liberties, we found families and homes that are still standing today. For example, 124 Apple street was home to Maria McCormic, a washer woman who owned the home, her son Isaac Riggs, a brickmaker, and his wife and children. We believe this is Rebecca McCormic's home and family.
We also found the Lambsong family. Matriarch Rebecca Lamsong was an Underground Railroad leader who lived across the street from the McCormic family. We believe this is Abitololo's family.
The Most Popular Book?
We studied the Zoar Sabbath School’s borrowing ledger from December 1844 and found that book number 48, Primary Dictionary, was one of the top most requested books; as one would expect at a school.
But here’s the most extraordinary thing we found.
✊🏽 A Book About Black People—By a Black Author
On the shelf was a book titled Sketches of the Colored People, written by Joseph Wilson, a Black man in Philadelphia in 1841. Wilson’s book was a cultural reflection on the Black community in the city.
That means in 1844, Black children could borrow and read a book written from a Black voice about their own lives and community. A book that might include people they knew.
See It for Yourself
To learn more about daily Black life in Northern Liberties in the 1840s, see our new guide.
And if you want to see the book up close, visit the Leon Gardiner Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Sources:
Zoar Sabbath School--Catalogue of Books [Ams .34] (1844), Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Leon Gardiner Collection,
Northern Liberties Tour Sources - This is compilation of all the sources we've found on Northern Liberties
