Presented here is a deed signed by James Trotter, a Civil War veteran, music historian, and Recorder of Deeds in the Grover Cleveland administration. Trotter, who began his life an enslaved person, became the second African-American man to achieve the rank of lieutenant in the American army. Later in life, he wrote a book titled Music and Some Highly Musical People, a definitive treatise on the history of American music that is still in use today. In 1887, Trotter was appointed Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C., succeeding Frederick Douglass. He signed this deed on December 23rd, 1887, in black pen. This item comes with a LOA from University Archives.

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