E. L. Bernard ledgers, 1815-1857
Navigate the Collection
Summary
- Creator:
- Bernard, E. L., 1785-1859
- Abstract:
- E. L. Bernard (1785-1859) was a New Orleans commission merchant who operated a commercial house connecting American and French markets of enslaved people and slave-made colonial goods from 1815 through 1857. Collection consists of five French-language ledgers that document Bernard's business and related investments, including the trafficking of enslaved people, trade in slave-produced goods such as cotton and sugar, and financial transactions.
- Extent:
- 2 Linear Feet (1 oversize box, 3 volumes)
- Language:
- Materials in French.
- Collection ID:
- RL.13172
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection conists of five French-language ledgers that document Bernard's merchant business: a general ledger (1815-1826) and an account book (1821) depicting its beginnings, a grand ledger (1835-1839) and an expense account book (1838-1842) at the business' height, and an account book (1854-1857) once the business had stabilized. In the ledgers, Bernard appears most often as E. L. Bernard, or as ELB in the margins. The general ledger (1815-1826) documents the firm's foundational investments in fractional partnerships in trafficking enslaved people across the Atlantic and the internal trafficking of enslaved people to Natchez, Mississippi. A partial account book from 1821 records the importation of sugar and copper during the Bourbon Restoration and illustrates the logistics of supplying the post-colonial plantation system. The grand ledger (1835-1839) documents the export and import of slave-produced goods such as cotton, coffee, and indigo. An expense book (1838-1842) documents the height of Bernard's business and its development into a financialized credit system involving promissory notes and bank stocks. The account book (1854-1857) records daily cash transactions and details the hiring of enslaved women named Armantine and Marthe for shipping and domestic labor.
- Biographical / historical:
-
E. L. Bernard (full name: Elisée Léon Bernard) was a New Orleans-based merchant born April 26, 1785 in Voiron, Isère, France. He was living in New Orleans by the 1810 U.S. census, and he served in the Louisiana militia during the War of 1812. By 1814 Bernard owned and engaged in the sale of enslaved people in New Orleans. Bernard married Adelaide Edesie Tricou on August 26, 1815, and he began his merchant business around the same time. Bernard and his wife had at least six children together, five of whom survived to adulthood: three sons and two daughters. Between 1830 and 1850, Bernard enslaved, at a minimum, between four and seven people. He died in New Orleans on June 18, 1859.
Bernard's sons, Pierre Amedee, Louis Leon, and Pierre Victor, worked for his business, as well as other Bernards whose relation to E. L. Bernard is unknown. He operated as a "factor" or commission merchant and participated in complex, fractional ownership of enslaved individuals where, as the middle man, Bernard's share was one-third of the profits from sales. He maintained trade connections with Bordeaux and Le Havre in France; New York; Natchez in Mississippi, Houston in Texas; and throughout the Caribbean.
Sources accessed via Ancestry.com, December 2025: Isère, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1540-1900; U.S. Federal Census records; Louisiana, Soldiers in the War of 1812; New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Historical Notaries' Indexes, 1770-1966.
Sources accessed via Familysearch.org, December 2025: Elisée Léon Bernard (ID: KZZQ-BJL); Louisiana, Civil District Court (Orleans Parish), Civil District Court case papers, no. 99699-98823; New Orleans marriage contracts, 1804-1820 by Charles R. Maduell.
Source: Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Volume 11, 1813-1815.
- Acquisition information:
- The E. L. Bernard ledgers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library in 1946.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Reina Henderson and Leah Tams, December 2025.
Accessions described in this collection guide: Unknown 1946 accession.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged chronologically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Subjects
Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.
Contents
Using These Materials
- Using These Materials Links:
-
Using These Materials
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.
- Before you visit:
- Please consult our up-to-date information for visitors page, as our services and guidelines periodically change.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], E. L. Bernard Ledgers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
- Permalink:
- https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1mf23