Guide to the Land Indenture Document 1753


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Table of Contents

• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Historical Note
• Scope Note
• Subject Headings
• INVENTORY

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research with no restrictions.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Land Indenture Document, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Historical Note

An indenture, formerly known as an “indenture of retainer,” is a legal contract between two parties. Quite often an indenture was drawn up for land transactions. Typically, identical copies of the legal contract were handwritten on the same sheet of paper or vellum with the copies separated by cutting along a jagged line (toothed, hence the term "indenture") so that the "teeth" of the two parts could later be refitted to confirm authenticity. Sometimes the cut was made in a wavy instead of a toothed pattern such as the document in this collection.

Scope Note

This document is a land indenture between Samuel Woods and John Ham dated April 26, 1753 and executed in the county of Southampton, Great Britain .The document is handwritten in ink on an approximately 75cm x 56cm sheet of vellum. The initial text reading "This Indenture" is highly decorated and includes a miniature printed portrait of King George II, the royal coat of arms of Great Britain, and a cupid/herald figure blowing a trumpet. The top edge of the vellum sheet, including the initial decoration, is cut in an irregular wavy manner. Follow-up notes and pieces of brief filing information are handwritten in ink on the reverse. The bottom of the deed has a red wax seal and a fragment of the fabric binding tape. A strip of three blue embossed six-pence tax stamps is affixed near the top of the document.

Subject Headings

• Deeds
• Real property -- England

INVENTORY