Berry Slave Value Database, 10 U.S. States, 1797-1865 (ICPSR 37099)
Version Date: Jul 3, 2018 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Daina Ramey Berry, University of Texas at Austin
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37099.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study uses historical records from 36 archives in the United States to analyze 8,437 enslaved people's sale and/or appraisal prices from 1797 to 1865.
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
State
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how enslaved people were valued and appraised.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Enslaved individuals in the United States (specifically in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) during the late eighteenth and early to mid-nineteenth century.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
All the data comes from manuscript archival collections at various historical repositories.
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables include demographic information (name, year, age/age group, gender, state, and trade/skill), and appraisal and sales prices, which are given in 1860 and 2014 dollars.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2018-07-03
Version History View help for Version History
2018-07-03 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?

This study is provided by Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD).