The Pre-Bureau Records for the Freedmen’s Bureau refer to documentation created by early efforts to address the needs of freedpeople before the formal establishment of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen’s Bureau) in March 1865. These records were created by organizations or military authorities tasked with managing the immediate needs of freedpeople during and after the Civil War.
Superintendent of Contrabands
1862-1865
The Union Army occupied parts of Louisiana early in the Civil War. Thousands of enslaved people fled to Union-controlled areas, where they were referred to as "contrabands of war" (a term used for escaped enslaved individuals who sought refuge with Union forces). The Superintendent's office was established to provide relief, organize labor, and manage the influx of freedpeople.
Key Activities:
Descriptive pamphlets are important when researching the Freedmen’s Bureau records because they typically provide detailed indexes and explanations of the contents within a collection of historical records.
| Roll | Year | Description |
| Roll 7: Target 5 Vol. 1 (134) | Nov. 1864-Oct. 1868 | Registers of Proceedings in Freedmen’s Court |
| Rol 7: Target 10 Vol. 1 (138) | Feb.-Mar.1863: Oct.-Dec. 1864 | Complaints |
| Roll 87: Target 2 | May-Dec 1864 | Court Records |
| Roll 87: Target 3 Vol. 343 | Jan.-Mar. 1864 | Register of Rations Received at the Van Buren Hospital for Freedmen |
| Roll | Year | Description |
| Roll 8: Target 5: Vol. 1 (131) | 1864-68 | Register of Conscripts |
| Rol 8: Target 6: Vol. 2 (132) | 1864-66 | Register of Conscripts |
| Roll 8: Target 7: Vol. 3 (133) | 1864-65 | Register of Conscripts |
| Roll 8: Target 8: Vol. 142 | 1864-67 | Register of Refugees (White Southerners) |
| Roll 9: Target 4: Vol. 145 | 1859-66 | Accounts |
| Roll 39: Target 1 | 1864-68 | Registers and Payrolls of Freedmen Employed on Plantations, Terre Bonne – West Feliciana |
| Roll 39: Target 2 | Sept 1863- Dec. 1864 | Registers and Payrolls of Freedmen Employed on Plantations, Terre Bonne – West Feliciana |
| Roll 40: Target 2 | 1864-1868 | Subordinate Office Plantation Department Labor Contracts (Agreements with Freedmen – African Americans – Negroes and Mulattos) Ascension and Assumption |
| Roll 44 | 1864-1868 | Subordinate Office Plantation Department: Labor Contracts (Agreements with Freedmen – African Americans – Negroes and Mulattos) East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Franklin, Iberville |
| Roll 51 | 1864-1868 | Subordinate Office Plantation Department Labor Contracts (Agreements with Freedmen – African Americans – Negroes and Mulattos) Miscellaneous Agreements |
| Roll 52: Target 3: Vol 121 | Nov.-Dec. 1863 | Daily Record of Cotton Picked on the Corondolet Plantation |
| Roll 52: Target 5: Vol. 1 (97) | 1864-65 | Cash Account Books |
| Roll 68: Tax Receipts: Vol. 151 | 1864 | The single volume tax receipts (151) dated 1864 and arranged numerically. |
| Roll 83: Target 10: Vol. 159 | 1864-65 | Register of Arrivals and Departures |
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