The data used in this search portal was created by two different crowdsourcing efforts. The location, first name, last name, and date fields and the data that appears on the record page under “Indexed Rows” comes from data created from FamilySearch International’s Freedmen’s Bureau Indexing project.

The Text Search field and data that appears on the record page under “Transcription” comes from the ongoing transcriptions created via the Freedmen’s Bureau project in the Smithsonian Transcription Center.

Over 400,000 of almost 1.7 million pages of Freedmen’s Bureau records have been transcribed. Transcription is ongoing via the Freedmen’s Bureau project in the Smithsonian Transcription Center and is added to this search portal as transcriptions are completed.

The information in both sets of data may be subject to inaccuracies including but not limited to typos, misspellings, and inaccurate dates. Additionally, not all of the names, dates, and locations on a single document were indexed and due to the legibility of some records, some words will never be transcribed.

Learn more about the history of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project on our website at the Freedmen’s Bureau Records Initiative.

Exact or phrase search: Add quotation marks (“ ”) around a string of words to search them as a phrase. For example, “Green Plantation”.

Truncation or Wildcard: Adding to or replacing the end of a keyword with the asterisk (*) broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. For example, Librar* will return results that include, library, libraries, librarian, librarians.

Use a question mark (?) for a single character wildcard search. Wom?n will return results that include woman and women.

Boolean Operators: Using the words OR, NOT or AND allows you to narrow or broaden your search.

Use OR to help gather synonyms, NOT helps to eliminate, AND to require all keywords.

Examples, Smith OR Smithson, Smith NOT Smithson, Smith AND Smithson.

CTRL+F(or Command-F) lets you look for – or find – a word somewhere on a page. This keyboard shortcut works in all modern web browsers including, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

When you use Ctrl+F, a small “find” box will pop up in your web browser where you can type in exactly what you are looking for. The word or phrase will then be highlighted on the page you are viewing.

CTRL+P (or Command+P) lets you print the current page in all modern web browsers.

Searches are field specific. The best strategy for using the Freedmen's Bureau Search is to enter your keyword(s) into the search boxes. You can search Freedmen’s Bureau records by the following:

• Text Search: Use Text Search to search for any word or phrase. Text searches include both indexed and transcribed data and are not case sensitive. See "General Search Tips” for search tips. Note: Transcription is ongoing, some records have not been transcribed. 
• Location (city, county, state): Enter a city, county, or state to search the indexed data or use filters on search results page to  refine your location search. Note: State names must be spelled out (Virginia not VA). For place names that are not a city, county, or state, use the Text Search feature.
• First and/or Last Name: Search by first name in the indexed data and/or Search by last name in the indexed data. Tip: Spell the first or last name with alternate spellings. Shorten or lengthen names like William to Wm and vice versa. Use nicknames like Jim for James or Betty for Elizabeth; or try spelling phonetically, for example, try Fillis for the name Phillis.

More Search Options include:

• Date: Search the indexed data for records on a specific date or enter beginning and / or end date of date range in this field. Dates must be entered using the mm/dd/yyyy format. Note: The Bureau operated primarily between 1865 and 1872.
• NARA Publication: Freedmen’s Bureau records are grouped by microfilm publications created by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Filter your search of the indexed data by publication title. Note: This will limit your results to only those with indexed data.
• Transcription: Select Has transcription data to only receive results with transcriptions. Note: Transcription is ongoing, some records have not been transcribed.
• Date: Search the indexed data for records on a specific date or enter beginning and/or end date of date range in this field. Dates must be entered using the mm/dd/yyyy format. Note: The Bureau operated primarily between 1865 and 1872.
• NARA Publication: Freedmen’s Bureau records are grouped by microfilm publications created by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Filter your search of the indexed data by publication title. Note: This will limit your results to only those with indexed data.
• Transcription: Select Has transcription data to only receive results with transcriptions. Note: Transcription is ongoing, some records have not been transcribed.

You can choose to view your search results in either List or Gallery View by selecting the corresponding icon found near the top right-hand corner of the search results page.

On the left side of the search results page you will find a search form followed by a series of filters to further refine your search. Above your search results the current applied filters will be listed, followed by how many results are displayed out of the total number of results.
Visit, "Refining Search Filters” for more tips on using filters.

For each record matching your search you will find the Title of the Record and how many indexed rows in that record matched your search criterion.

If a record has been transcribed there is an option to Quick View the transcription without clicking into the record for more details.

Words matching your search are highlighted in the Transcription.

To view the Full Record, select View Full Record or the Title of the record. The Full Record will include a thumbnail image of the document, a title with the source of the document, and a link to the online finding aid.

Additional content including a transcription, if the image has been transcribed, and / or the NARA Publication Title, Publication Number, Roll Number and indexed names, dates, and locations may also be available if the image has been indexed.

View Transcription takes you to the transcription portion of your record if the record has been transcribed. View Finding Aid takes you to the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) record(s) related to the record being viewed. If the record is connected with other NARA records in the same publication, use Next Record in Roll and Previous Record in Roll to navigate between pages in that publication. These other pages may or may not contain data that matches your search.

To enlarge the record thumbnail, select the enlarge icon found below the image.

The full image will allow you to zoom in and zoom out, as well as access the Metadata for the record for citation purposes.

A filter represents a particular data field and displays all the values contained in that field. Using filters, located on the left-hand side of the search results page, helps you to refine your search results by selecting additional search criteria from among those available in your initial result set.

You can refine your Freedmen’s Bureau records search results using a Basic or Advanced filter view.

Using the Basic Filter

Has transcription data showing  the number of transcribed records in which your search term(s) appear.

Search results for State, County, City, and NARA Publication are listed in order of how many times your search results are found in a specific indexed category. Some results are hidden by default on search form results. Click on Show More to display more results. Only top 100 most frequently appearing filters for your results will appear. To see all available filters for a particular category you will need to use the Advanced Filter view.

Select a filter value to limit your search results to only records containing that value.

Using the Advanced Filter

Has Transcription Data shows the number of transcribed records in which your search term(s) appear.

Search results for State, County, City, and NARA Publication are listed, by default, in order of how many times your search perimeters are found (Most Frequent). You have the option to sort your results by Alphabetical. If there are more than 100 matching filters for a particular category, then a search box will appear to help you find filters that are not displayed.

Select a filter value or the + sign next to it to limit your search results to only records containing that value. Select the – icon next to each filter to exclude records that match those term(s) from the list. Select a filter value to limit your search results to only items containing that value.

For example, select the Charleston filter under City or the + icon next to it to limit your results to Charleston only OR use the – icon to exclude records with Charleston from your search.

You can include or exclude as many filter values as you would like in your search.

Finding Aid: Archival finding aids, also sometimes called collection guides, are the key to unlocking information in SOVA. Each unique archival collection has a finding aid that provides the user with varying levels of descriptive detail about the collection, such as creator, biographical or historical note, content, subjects, names, forms of materials, how the collection is arranged, the context in which the collection was created, related collections in individual repositories and across the Smithsonian, provenance, where the collection is housed, and how to access the collection. Digitized content from each collection is also accessed via links provided in the collection's finding aid.

Finding aids are essential research and discovery tools that will help you understand the content and context of an individual collection and whether that collection will satisfy your research needs.
Citation: SOVA: Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (si.edu)

Freedmen’s Bureau: The United States Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was created by Congress in 1865 to assist in the political and social reconstruction of post-war Southern states and to help formerly enslaved people make the transition from slavery to freedom and citizenship. In the process, the Bureau created millions of records that contain the names of hundreds of thousands of formerly enslaved individuals and Southern white refugees.

Indexed Data: Searchable names, dates, and locations created through FamilySearch’s crowdsourcing project.

Indexed Rows Indexed data is separated into multiple rows within a record. Your search criteria are compared to each indexed row in a record to determine if that row matches. The more rows that match, the higher that record appears in your search results.           

Location: The city, county, or state referenced in the indexed data. Note: State names must be spelled out (example: Virginia not VA). Location does not include place names outside of city, county, and state (example: Green Plantation).

Metadata: Metadata consists of information about the content and context of your data. Examples: title, creator, subject keywords, and description.

NARA Publication: Freedmen’s Bureau records are grouped by microfilm publications created by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Filter your search of the indexed data by publication title. Note: This will limit your results to only those with indexed data.

The Smithsonian Transcription Center: A crowdsourcing transcription project that aims to assist with the preservation and digitization of handwritten material in the Smithsonian Institution.
Citation: About | Smithsonian Digital Volunteers (si.edu)

SOVA: The Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) provides integrated access to descriptions and detailed inventories of thousands of primary resource collections maintained by archival units across the Smithsonian. Finding aids for each of the 43 Freedmen’s Bureau publications are available on SOVA.
Citation: SOVA: Tutorial -- How Do I Search? (si.edu)

Text Search: Any word or phrase located in the indexed or transcribed data in a record. Place quotation marks (“ ”) around multiple words to search for an exact phrase. Note: Transcription is ongoing, some records have not been transcribed. 

Transcribed Data: Searchable data created by crowdsourcing efforts in the Smithsonian Transcription Center.