About the Project
The three volumes of registers of letters received, July–August 1865 and October 1866–September 1868, 1 (74), 2 (75), and 3 (76), are arranged by time period. The actual letters received are described below. The entries in the volumes are arranged chronologically and numbered in three sequences: July–August 1865; October 1866–April 1868, Volumes 1 (74) and 2 (75); and April–September 1868, Volume 3 (76).
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Series 3.1: Subordinate Field Offices” Local Superintendent for Washington and Georgetown.
Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in the Washington, D.C. area during the Reconstruction Era.
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