| Reginald Washington, Archivist
for the National Archives and Records Administration, 7th and Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20408 gave this excellent presentation
at the 2006 FGS Conference in Boston, Massachusetts
BACKGROUND
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known
as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established in the War Department
by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865. The Bureau was responsible
for the supervision and management of all matters relating to refugees
and freedmen, and lands abandoned or seized during the Civil War.
In May 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Maj. Gen. Oliver
Otis Howard as Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Howard’s
headquarters was in Washington, DC. To conduct the daily operations
of the Bureau, assistant commissioners and subassistant commissioners
were appointed to serve in the former Confederate States, the Border
States, and the District of Columbia.
Although the Bureau was not abolished until 1872, the bulk of its
work covered the period from June 1865 to December 1868. While a
major part of the Bureau’s activities included the supervision
of abandoned and confiscated property, its mission was to provide
relief and help freedmen become self-sufficient. Some of its functions
included issuing rations and clothing, operating hospitals and refugee
camps, and supervising labor contracts between planters and freedmen.
The Bureau also managed apprenticeship agreements and disputes,
assisted benevolent societies in the establishment of schools, helped
freedmen in legalizing marriages entered into during slavery, and
provided transportation to refugees and freedmen who were attempting
to reunite with their family or relocate to other parts of the country.
As Congress extended the life of the Bureau (The Bureau was initially
established to last one year.), other duties were added, such as,
assisting black soldiers in obtaining back pay, bounty payments,
and pensions. When the Bureau was discontinued, its remaining functions
were transferred to the Freedmen’s Branch in the Office of
the Adjutant General. The records of this office are among the Bureau’s
files.
HEADQUARTERS RECORDS
The records of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Washington headquarters
consist of records of the Commissioner Oliver Otis Howard and his
staff. They have been described in Preliminary Inventory 174, Records
of the Bureau of Refugees Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Washington
Headquarters. The inventory descriptions of the Washington
office records are arranged by offices or divisions. Researchers
will generally find less family related information among headquarters
files. However, because Assistant Commissioners and their subordinates
forwarded a variety of reports and other information to the Washington
headquarters, the records can contain and should be searched for
genealogical data.
For example, a series of marriage records among the headquarters’
files includes freedmen’s marriage certificates, licenses,
reports, and other documents relating to marriages, covering the
period 1861-69, with most dated between 1865 and 1868. These records,
for the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia,
and the District of Columbia, have been reproduced on microfilm
(NARA Microfilm M1875, 5 rolls). However, the number
and the type of records found vary for each state. The various marriage
records can provide dates and places of marriages, and the names
of couples, parents, former spouses, children, and the individual
who performed the marriage ceremony.
FIELD OFFICE RECORDS
The records of the Bureau’s field offices consist of records
received and created by the Assistant Commissioners of the states
and their subordinate officers. While the organizational structure
under each Assistant Commissioner varied from State to State, the
work performed by subordinate officials in each State was similar.
Field offices were inconsistent, however, in the kinds of records
they created. As a result, there are certain kinds of records series
available for some states and none for others. It is important to
note, however, that most people came in contact with the Bureau
at the local level. Therefore, the vast majority of records series
that contain genealogical data can be found among these files. There
is, for instance, an estimated sixty feet or more of labor contracts
among field office records. Most of the contracts are from the Deep
South. In the records of the Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi
there are four marriage registers and nine registers in various
field offices in Arkansas. There are also marriage records for the
Assistant Commissioners of the District of Columbia and marriage
registers, list, certificates, and licenses for several field offices
in Kentucky. At least six field offices for the State of Virginia
contain census returns and list. Records of the Assistant Commissioner
for District of Columbia also has census returns for the District,
Alexandria, VA, Freedmen’s Village, and Loudoun and Fairfax
counties.
Other field office records of genealogical value are claims relating
to the back pay, bounty payments, and pensions of black soldiers.
There are claims registers and related records in every State, except
Texas. These records can be used to supplement information found
in military service and pension records of tens of thousands of
African American soldiers who served with the United States Colored
Troops during the Civil War, particularly those who died in combat.
Researchers should also examine files of letters sent and received
by field officers.
The surviving records of the Freedmen’s Bureau field offices
have been described in a three-part unpublished inventory entitled,
Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Field Offices of
the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. The
inventory descriptions of the records are arranged alphabetically
by State and thereunder by field recorders of officers and offices
and thereunder alphabetically by county, town, or village. If there
were no field offices in the area where an ancestor resided, researchers
should examine records for neighboring offices.
IMPORTANCE OF THE RECORDS
Because the Bureau’s records contain a wide range of data
about the African American experience during slavery and freedom,
they are an extremely important source for the African American
family historian. Among the records, for example, are registers
of freedmen that give the names, ages, and former occupation of
freedmen, and in some cases, the name and residence of former owners.
In addition, there are marriage registers that provide the names,
addresses, age, and color of husbands and wives and their children.
For some states there are census lists, details of labor and apprenticeship
agreements, complaint registers, personal data about black soldiers
(including company and regiment), and a variety of documentation
relating to the black family.
ACCESS AND USE OF THE RECORDS
The records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
are a part of Record Group 105. The original Freedmen’s bureau
records and the inventories for both the Washington headquarters
and field offices are available at the National Archives Building
in Washington, DC. For access and inquiries about the use of the
records, researchers should visit or write the Old Military and
Civil Records Branch. Copies of inventories for both the Washington
headquarters of the Bureau and field office records are also available
at the downtown building, and at NARA’s regional records services
facilities. Selected records of the Bureau’s headquarters
and the field offices have been reproduced on microfilm. Filming
of the field office records is ongoing. The records of the field
offices for Florida (NARA Microfilm M1869, 15 rolls)
have been microfilmed through a cooperative arrangement between
NARA and the University of Florida at Gainesville. With the support
of Congress, the National Archives has initiated a multiyear project
to preserve and increase the accessibility of field office records.
To date, NARA has microfilmed the field office records for Alabama
(M1900, 34 rolls), Arkansas (M1901, 21 rolls),
District of Columbia (M1902, 23 rolls), Georgia
(M1903, 90 rolls), Kentucky (M1904, 133
rolls), Louisiana (M1905, 111 rolls),
Maryland/Delaware (M1906, 42 rolls), Mississippi
(M1907, 65 rolls), Mississippi (“Pre-Bureau”),
M1914, 5 rolls, Missouri (M1907, 24 rolls),
North Carolina (M1909, 78 rolls), South Carolina
(M1910, 106 rolls), Tennessee (M1911, 89
rolls), Texas (M1912, 28 rolls), Marriage
records (M1875). The filming of the Freedmen’s
Bureau field office records for Virginia (M1913, 203 rolls)
is expected to be completed by the fall of 2006.
All of the field office records that have been microfilmed are
available in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, and
at each of NARA’s regional facilities. The microfilmed records
are also offered through the National Archives Microfilm Rental
Program. |
