Costa to discuss runaway slave research during Dec. 3 colloquium

Tom Costa, professor of history at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, will offer an overview of the Geography of Slavery project during a presentation at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 3.

Part of the UVa-Wise Faculty Colloquia series, the lecture is free and open to the public. The event will be held in the College’s Chapel of All Faiths.

Costa’s internet-based Geography of Slavery project presents full transcriptions and images of all runaway and captured ads for slaves and servants placed in Virginia newspapers from 1736 to 1790, and is in the process of compiling advertisements well into the nineteenth century. In addition, the project offers a number of other documents related to slaves, servants, and slaveholders, including court records, plantation letters, accounts, diaries, and assorted literature about slavery and indentured servitude.

A member of the UVa-Wise faculty since 1992, Costa received his Ph.D. from The College of William and Mary. A former fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and a current fellow of the Virginia Center for Digital History, Costa has been working on his project since 1999. In 2001, he received a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that allowed him, among other things, to employ UVa-Wise students to help with the Geography of Slavery project.