Quickstart to Freedmen's Bureau Records

Recent guest speaker Shamele Jordan laid out a five-step process for finding ancestors in the Freedmen's Bureau Records:

STEP 1: Determine an ancestor and 1870 location

• Find the location on a present-day map. https://www.google.com/maps
• Find the nearest field offices using Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau https://mappingthefreedmensbureau.com/maps/map/

STEP 2: Learn about the Bureau

• Download and print the descriptive pamphlet (DP)or your State Field Office records using the National Archives Freedmen’s Bureau site
• Read  the intro, and history in the DP. 
• https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau

STEP 3: Learn about the records

• Read the rest of your state descriptive pamphlet 
• https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau

STEP 4: Create a research plan

• Use the roll list in the descriptive pamphlet to list rolls, targets/titles to research. 
• https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau

STEP 5: Research using the tools

• Smithsonian’s Online Virtual Archives
• https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAAHC.FB

Essential to accessing and understanding these records are the Descriptive Pamphlets. Links to each state are: 

STATE FIELD OFFICE Descriptive Pamphlets

 

Alabama 

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1900.pdf

 

Arkansas

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1901.pdf

 

District of Columbia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1902.pdf

 

Florida

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1869.pdf

 

Georgia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1903.pdf

 

Kentucky

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1904.pdf

 

Louisiana

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1905.pdf

 

Maryland/Delaware

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1906.pdf

 

Mississippi

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1907.pdf

 

Missouri

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1908.pdf

 

North Carolina

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1909.pdf

 

South Carolina

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1910.pdf

 

Tennessee

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1911.pdf

Texas

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1912.pdf

 

Virginia

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1913.pdf

 JO