As soon as slavery ended in 1865, family members began to search for one another, in some cases persisting until as late as the 1920s, as many placed “information wanted” advertisements in newspapers and sent letters to the editor. Judith Giesberg, author of Last Seen, draws on the digital archive that she founded—containing almost five thousand letters and advertisements placed by members of the Freedom Generation—to compile these stories in a narrative form for the first time. With this critical context, she recounts the moving stories of the people who placed the advertisements, the loved ones they tried to find, and the outcome of their quests to reunite.
Judith (Judy) Giesberg holds the Robert M. Birmingham Chair in the Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. She earned a PhD in History from Boston College, and is the author of five books on the period. Dr. Giesberg is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Archives and Records Administration. She directs a number of digital projects that make sources available to teachers, scholars, museum professionals, and genealogists, including Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, a project launched in 2017 that collects and digitizes “Information Wanted” ads taken out by ex-slaves looking for family members lost in the domestic slave trade—the basis for her most recent book. Dr. Giesberg formerly served as Associate Editor and Editor in Chief of the Journal of the Civil War Era, and lectures widely to Civil War roundtables and at Historical Societies; regularly addresses audiences of genealogists, teachers, and museum attendees; and consults and collaborates with public history professionals.