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 Superintendent of Education for the State of Arkansas, Series 3: Registers of Letters and Telegrams Received.
Additional resources are available on the Freedmen's Bureau Instructions Page.
Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the lives of formerly enslaved men and women in Arkansas during the Reconstruction Era.
There are three volumes of registers of letters and telegrams received, January 1968–July 1870, each containing a name index. The entries in the registers are arranged by year and thereunder are arranged and numbered in order of receipt. Volume 3 (28) also contains copies of endorsements sent; these are found on the odd numbered pages. The index to this volume covers both the entries to letters and telegrams received and endorsements.
A number of documents entered in the registers are no longer to be found among the series of registered letters and telegrams received. NARA has placed an asterisk near the writer's name in the register for each letter that is still in the series of registered letters and telegrams received. School reports from the subordinate officers and the teachers were entered in the registers as correspondence. However, all that was kept with the letters and telegrams received was the letter of transmittal; the reports were filmed in separate series and are available in Series 5: School Reports.