Mississippi, Freedmen's Department (Pre-Bureau Records), 1863-1866

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of scanned images of records from National Archives microfilm publication M1914, Records of the Mississippi Freedmen’s Department (“Pre-Bureau Records”), Office of the Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands which is part of Record Group 105 Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. The images are generally arranged in the order the records were microfilmed starting with the Office of the General Superintendent of Freedmen, Assistant Superintendent of Freedmen ( Provost Marshall of Freedmen), and records of the Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen and by NARA roll number. These documents pre-date the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, but were assumed by the Bureau after its creation in 1865.

Records with Freedmen and Refugee Names

• General Superintendent of Freedmen, Rolls 2-4, Records on Renting and Leasing of Abandoned Property
• General Superintendent of Freedmen, Roll 4, Register of Contracts, Registers of Rations Issued to Freedmen and Planters, Lists of Pupils in Schools at Vicksburg, Register of Freedmen, Register of Rations Issued
• Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen, Roll 5, Register of Patients, Register of Requisitions for Medicines and Supplies

General Information about Freedmen's Bureau Records

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established in the War Department in March of 1865. It was commonly called the Freedman’s Bureau and was responsible for the management and supervision of matters relating to refuges, freedmen, and abandoned lands. The Bureau assisted disenfranchised Americans, primarily African Americans, with temporal, legal and financial matters, with the intent of helping people to become self-sufficient. Matters handled included the distributing of food and clothing; operating temporary medical facilities; acquiring back pay, bounty payments, and pensions; facilitating the creation of schools, including the founding of Howard University; reuniting family members; handling marriages; and providing banking services. Banking services were provided by the establishment of the Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company, or Freedman’s Bank.

The Bureau functioned as an agency of the War Department from approximately June 1865 until December 1868. In 1872, the functions of the Bureau were transferred to the Freedmen’s Branch of the Adjutant General’s Office. The Bureau assisted over one million African Americans, including many of the nearly four million emancipated slaves, which was over 25% of the population of former slaves in America.The records identify those who sought help from the Bureau at the end of the Civil War. Most supplicants were freed slaves, some of which were military veterans. In addition, a few veterans who were not African Americans also sought help from the Bureau. Freedmen’s Bureau records are usually reliable, because the records were supplied through first-person correspondence or the recording of a marriage.

Related Articles

• Dr. Shelly Viola Murphy, Let Freedom Ring Family Tree Magazine 23 # 3 (May-June 2022): 50-56. FS Library 973 D25ft V23. Issue 3
• Sharon Batiste Gillins.A Window into the lives of black and white ancestors: Freedmen's Bureau field office records. NGS Magazine 39 #1 (January-March 2013): 34-38.
• Sharon Batiste Gillins. Navigating Freedmen's Bureau Records for Research Success NGS Magazine 47 #2 (April-June 2021): 27- 35.

National Museum of African American History & Culture

The museum is working with the Smithsonian Transcription Center and volunteers to transcribe the records of the Bureau.

• Freedmen's Bureau Transcription Project.
• About The Freedmen's Bureau Database Records
• FREEDMEN'S BUREAU ABBREVIATIONS, STAFF ROSTERS, AND STYLE SHEETS
• Freedmen's Bureau - Browse Projects

To Browse This Collection

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  Register of Freedmen

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  1864 Employment Roll

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  Rations Book

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  Register of Contracts

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  School Record

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  1865 Building Assignment

NARA select Images from Freedmen's Bureau Records

Record Types

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) created many different record types necessary to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. These records include letters and endorsements sent and received, account books, applications for rations, applications for relief, court records, labor contracts, registers of bounty claimants, registers of complaints, registers of contracts, registers of disbursements, registers of freedmen issued rations, registers of patients, reports, rosters of officers and employees, special and general orders and circulars received, special orders and circulars issued, records relating to claims, court trials, property restoration, and homesteads.

• The following link will provide a description of the record types found in this and other Freedmen's Bureau collections.Freedmen's Bureau Record Types
• Officers' Manual. Washington, 1866

Inventory

The inventory will include for each individual collection the National Archives Identifier Number (NAID) and preliminary inventory entry number. To see the inventory, click on the following link. To see the inventory, click on the following link. Mississippi, Freedmen's Department, Pre-Bureau Records, Inventory