filter_framesWilliam Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 2nd Earl of Shelburne Papers, 1665-1885

Volumes 43 and 44 of the William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 2nd Earl of Shelburne Papers are a distinct group of papers within the much larger collection. They are papers of Peter Burrell, Sub-Governor of the South Sea Company, which held the Asiento/Assiento agreement with Spain granting Great Britain exclusive right to trade enslaved persons in the Spanish colonies between 1713 and 1750.

These two volumes of Peter Burrell/South Sea Company papers (from the greater Shelburne papers) were digitized as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant, "Towards a Digital Archive of the Atlantic Slave Trades: Unlocking the Records of the South Sea Company." Led by William Marsh Rice University, and with partners at the British Library, Huntington Library, and William L. Clements Library, this 2022-2025 project aims to democratize access to the archives of the Atlantic slave trades. The project will generate the Digital Archive of the Atlantic Slave Trades (DAAST), a new digital platform. Ultimately, these two volumes at the William L. Clements Library will digitally join the larger body of Great Britain's South Sea Company records currently divided between institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 2nd Earl of Shelburne Papers are comprised of the working papers of British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne. Shelburne served in the Seven Years War, became King George's aide-de-camp, and took over his family's seat in Parliament, representing Chipping Wycombe, in 1760. He entered the House of Lords as Baron Wycombe, 2nd Earl of Shelburne in 1761. During his tenure in the House of Lords, Shelburne served as first lord of the Board of Trade (1763), as secretary of state for the Southern Department, as home secretary under Rockingham (March-July 1782), and as prime minister (1782-1783). As an official dealing with American affairs, a stockholder in the East India Company, and a landowner in Ireland, Shelburne was involved in many of the major issues affecting the British Empire in the mid-late eighteenth century. The papers contain significant content on British foreign, colonial, and domestic affairs with special focus on the periods 1766-1768 and 1782-1783.

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials are in the public domain in the United States.