Freedmen's Bureau records: where to search free
Search Freedmen's Bureau records free through the Smithsonian's Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal or on FamilySearch. The Bureau ran from 1865 to 1872.
The records include labor contracts, marriage registers, ration lists, hospital lists and letters. They often name people who appear in no earlier record.
How to search them
- Start with the 1870 census. It is the first federal census that names formerly enslaved people. Find the family there first and note the county.
- Search the Smithsonian portal by name and state. The portal holds volunteer transcriptions of the Bureau's papers. Try spelling variants and first names alone.
- Browse the field office for the county. Many pages are not indexed by name. On FamilySearch, browse the images for the field office nearest the family.
- Check the Freedman's Savings Bank records. Depositors often listed parents, children, siblings and former enslavers. These are a separate set, also free on FamilySearch.
- Attach the page image to the fact. Save the image and the citation. With the image attached, the fact is PROVEN in RootsFree.
Questions
Are Freedmen's Bureau records free?
Yes. The Smithsonian portal and FamilySearch both let you search them free.
Go to the records
- Freedmen's Bureau Search PortalSmithsonian. Free name search of transcribed records.si.edu
- National Archives guideWhat the Bureau records are and how they are arranged.archives.gov
- FamilySearchFree account. Page images by field office, and Freedman's Bank records.familysearch.org
- Search free records hereRootsFree searches free record sets for you./records/
- Start or import a treePrivate, in your browser. Free, no card./tree/