author
Wilbur Henry Siebert
1866–1961
A pioneering historian of the Underground Railroad, he helped turn scattered memories and local stories into one of the first major scholarly studies of the network. He also spent decades teaching history at Ohio State University and building a research legacy that later archives preserved.
1 Audiobook
The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom: A comprehensive history
by Wilbur Henry Siebert
About the author
Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1866, Wilbur Henry Siebert studied at Ohio State University and then at Harvard, later continuing his studies in Germany. He returned to Ohio State, where he taught history for many years and became one of the university's notable early scholars.
He is best remembered for his research on the Underground Railroad. His 1898 book The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom is widely described as one of the first full scholarly studies of the subject, drawing on interviews, questionnaires, and local testimony gathered across many communities.
Siebert remained active as a historian well beyond the publication of that book, and his papers and research collections have continued to be useful to later historians. While some modern scholars note that early Underground Railroad histories had limits in perspective, his work still played an important role in preserving evidence that might otherwise have been lost.