All members of the John Carter Brown Library community join in mourning the tragedy in Haiti.  To help recover Haitian historical resources, the JCB has created a fund called, Saving Haiti’s Libraries.  Checks can be made out to JCB (with the name of the fund written on the line at the bottom of check) and mailed to our address.  100% of all money will go to preservation of the rare books that contain Haiti’s history.  We will also seek verification that all monies raised will be spent according to these guidelines.   

A temporary exhibition, Remember Haiti, has been mounted in the MacMillan Reading Room and the online version may be viewed below. 

HAITI IN 1770

“Carte de St. Domingue ou sont marqués les Paroisses Jurisdictions,” [Saint Domingue, 1770].

This manuscript map in the JCB collection shows the western part of the island of Hispaniola in 1770. The line of demarcation between the French and Spanish parts is clearly shown as are the parishes and jurisdictions. This map (13" by 21") has been reproduced in color and may be purchased for $35 from the John Carter Brown Library. All proceeds from the sales will be donated to Yéle Haiti. Please contact JCBL_Publications to order the map.

PORT AU PRINCE, 1794

“Plan du Port-au-Prince et environs avec un projet de Fortifier la ville en la diminuant du côté du Sud,”  [Port au Prince, 1794].

Plan of Port-au-Prince in present-day Haiti showing a proposed new fortification added in an overlay. England began a series of attacks on the seaports of the western end of Saint Domingue beginning in 1793. Before Haïtian independence, the town was captured by British troops on June 4, 1794, under the command of Brigadier General Richard Whyte, who occupied the town and began making plans for fortifying the defenses. The British remained in Port-au-Prince until 1798 when the island was completely evacuated.

The location of governmental buildings remains the same over the intervening centuries although the present Presidential Palace so severely damaged in the 2010 earthquake was built in 1918 and replaced two previous palaces, one destroyed during a revolt in 1869 and another destroyed in 1912.

VIEW OF PORT AU PRINCE, 1791

“Vue de Port au Prince,” in Nicholas Ponce, Recueil de vues des lieux principaux de la colonie françoise de Saint-Domingue (Paris, 1791).

This view of Port-au-Prince emphasizes the busy harbor and hilly landscape of the area. Numerous ships ply their trade in a sparsely populated town. In 1770 Port-au-Prince replaced Cap-Français (the modern Cap-Haïtien) as the colonial capital of Saint Domingue and became the capital of the newly-independent Haiti in 1804.

ORDINARY TIMES IN HAITI

“Ajoupas du Lagon peinier, appellé le Cirque des Bambous.” M. E. (Michel Etienne) Descourtilz,
Voyages d'un naturaliste, et ses observations, vol. 2, Paris, 1809.

Showing a typical dwelling on Haiti, this illustration shows a lagoon and bamboo huts. Descourtilz, a French naturalist, lived in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) during much of the revolt that led to the independence of Haiti.

HAITI'S GREAT LEADER, TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE

Marcus Rainsford, A  memoir of transactions that took place in St. Domingo in the spring of 1799 (London, 1802).

No mention of Haiti would be complete without including Toussaint Louverture, the legendary revolutionary leader who led the transition of Saint Domingue (a wealthy French colony) to Haiti (the first and only slave revolt in the western hemisphere to be successful). No portrait of Toussaint is known to exist but this representation of the man, drawn by a British military officer who accidentally found his way to the island at the height of Toussaint’s power may be the most accurate–he actually had seen Toussaint. However, this portrait appears to be more an impression than an actual rendition of the man.
Marcus Rainsford wrote an account of his accidental landing on Saint Dominque, his attempt to pass as an American, his capture, and eventual release from prison, as well as his meeting with Toussaint in the city of Cap François (present-day Cap Haïtian). The engravings in Rainford’s book were based on his own sketches or on his oral description.