The Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, 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 Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina, Series 1: Letters Sent. Have questions about how to transcribe tables in these documents? View special directions here.
The four volumes of letters sent, July 4, 1865-April 13, 1869, consist of fair copies of letters sent by the Assistant Commissioner and his Assistant Adjutant General and some of the monthly, quarterly, and annual reports that the Assistant Commissioner sent to the Commissioner. They are arranged chronologically and numbered consecutively, with the exception of the first volume. In that volume only the communications in the first quarter of the volume are numbered and the annual, monthly, and quarterly reports of the Assistant Commissioner are in the back of the volume rather than in chronological order. There are name indexes to addressees and persons mentioned in the communications in the last three volumes. In these indexes the number after the name is the file number of the letter. A name index book (addressee only) for the first volume consists of two parts. In the first part, pages 1-160 are only partially indexed, and pages 161-179 are not indexed. The National Archives has prepared the name index for the first 179 pages, which is filmed before the index book for the first volume of letters sent. The second part of the index book indexes both the addressees and the names mentioned. There is a subject index book for part of the first volume. It is merely an incomplete chronological listing of some of the subjects of the letters in the volume. Frequently in the letters sent volumes there are cross references to related records of the Assistant Commissioner's office. These are written in the form of abbreviations to other series of records and list either the page number or the file number of the related document. The abbreviations "LS" and "LB" refer to the letters sent volumes, "LR" refers to the registers of letters received, and "EB" refers to the endorsement and memorandum books. Have questions? Please contact the Freedmen's Bureau Papers team. These images were provided to the National Museum of African American History and Culture courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration and FamilySearch International. The original records are located in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, National Archives Record Group 105.