This collection is part of ProQuest’s History Vault providing primary source materials from digitized archival collections. The Plantation Records in this module documents the far-reaching impact of plantations on both the American South and the nation. As business owners, the commodities produced by plantation owners—rice, cotton, sugar, tobacco, hemp, and others— accounted for more than half of the nation’s exports. The plantation, therefore, played a key role in the development of a nationwide market economy. Plantation records also document the personal lives of plantation owners and their families.
