United States, Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contracts, Indenture and Apprenticeship Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection contains employment-related records for the years 1865 to 1872. It includes labor contracts, indentures and apprenticeship records from the following field offices: • 3 This collection is from multiple NARA microfilm publications. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War 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.

To locate additional information on the indexed collections in this publication see both the digital folder number list and coverage table sections and related digital folder number list and coverage table  links located in this article under the heading Collection Content. The links in the state column will direct you to the browse collection landing page.

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.

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

What Can These Records Tell Me?
These records include: • 3 These records may contain the following information: • 2

Coverage Table
The search results in this collection will identify the National Archives microfilm publication (NARA Publication) that the indexed image is from along with the film number, DGS and image numbers. The coverage table will help you determine the specific locality and provide the film notes which should identify the record type. Additional images of bureau records for the locality identified in the table will be found by searching in the browse collection.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate age of your ancestor
 * The place where your ancestor lived
 * The name of the former slave owner
 * Locate your ancestor in the 1870 Census. Most local Bureau activities ended (except from claims and education) in December 1868.
 * Check the records of the local field office in the area(s) where you believe your ancestor lived between June 1865 and December 1868.
 * Determine, if possible, the name of the former owner. The 1860 Slave Schedule may be helpful. Also consider searching the 1860 and 1870 Agricultural Schedules.
 * The Bureau created many different types of records. Review the record types in the Collection Content section in this article.
 * While searching Bureau records remember to search other records of the local government, including marriage and court records and especially the 1867 or later voter registrations.
 * Consider ancestors who may have been employed as a civilian agent or served as local agent while still in the military. Look for statewide rosters of bureau personnel in the records of Assistant Commissioners and the Field Office Personnel Coverage Table for this state.  Others may have worked with aid associations or taught school supported by aid associations in the north.
 * Freedmen would have determined what their name would be and may have changed it multiple times.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the information found to search for the family in census records, church records, land and probate records, and in additional state and county records

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name
 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor
 * Former slaves may have had used multiple names or changed their names until they decided upon one particular name. Search all possible names along with variations or spellings of their known names

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the United States.
 * Researching African American Genealogy
 * Quick Guide to African American Records
 * United States Guided Research
 * United States Record Finder
 * United States Research Tips and Strategies

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Paula K. Byers, ed. African American genealogical sourcebook. New York, New York : Gale Research, c1995 FHL 973 F27afg See pages 68-98 The Freedmen's Bureau
 * Dee Parmer Woodtor, Finding a place called home : a guide to African-American genealogy and historical identity, New York, New York : Random House, c1999 FHL 973 F2wd See chapter 8
 * Mississippi Labor Contract Index: Freedmen Listing Index. Mississippi Archives and History FHL fiche 6334622-25
 * Mabel Green Crushshon, comp., An index to Hinds County, Mississippi Freedmen's Bureau labor contracts. Carrollton, Mississippi : Pioneer Pub. Co., c1999. FHL 976.251 F22c
 * Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith. Freedmen's labor contracts, Madison County, Tennessee, 1866-1867. Jackson, Tennessee : J.K.T. Smith, c1996. FHL 976.827 H6s
 * Ira Berlin, ed. The war time genesis of free labor : the upper south. New York, New York : Cambridge University Press, c1993. FHL 973 B4fr ser. 1 v. 2
 * Ira Berlin, ed. The war time genesis of free labor : the lower South. New York, New York : Cambridge University Press, c1990, 1991. FHL 973 B4fr ser. 1 v. 3
 * edited by Steven Hahn ... et al., Land and labor, 1865. 2 volumes. Chapel Hill, North Carolina : University of North Carolina Press, c2008 FHL 973 B4fr Series: Freedom : a documentary history of emancipation, 1861-1867 : selected from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States; ser. 3

Related FamilySearch History Record Collections

 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Commissioner, 1865-1872
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Assistant Commissioner, 1865-1872
 * North Carolina, Freedmen's Bureau Assistant Commissioner Records, 1862-1870
 * United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education, 1865-1872

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Elaine Everly, Willna Pacheli, comp. Preliminary inventory of the records of the field offices of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands : record group 105. 3 volumes. Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1973.
 * Officers' manual : Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. (Washington, 1866)

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Estados Unidos, Registros de Contratos de Trabalho, Escritura e Aprendizagem da Agência de Libertos (Registros Históricos do FamilySearch)