Middle Peninsula Genealogy Group to Discuss 
Freedmen's Bureau Indexing Project

       Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced on October 26, 2006, that 
Virginia will be the first state in the nation to participate in an historic 
extraction and indexing project focused on the preservation of the Freedmen's 
Bureau records. The Freedmen's Bureau, which operated from 1865 to 1872, was a 
federal agency that provided assistance and relief to newly freed African 
Americans. Governor Kaine said that "The Freedmen's Bureau records are 
effectively the "genesis records" of African-American identity post Civil War. They 
provide the earliest major compilation of information on the African-American 
community, documenting for the period 1865-1872 names, legalized marriages, 
educational pursuits, work contracts, and receipt of rations, healthcare, legal, and 
other services." The Bureau's records, which are housed at the National 
Archives and Records Administration, have now been digitized, and will be extracted 
and indexed to make them accessible to researchers.

       Representatives of the Virginia Freedmen Extraction and Indexing 
Project will speak at the monthly meeting of the Middle Peninsula African-American 
Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia (MPAAGHS) on Saturday, 
February 10, 2007, at 11:00 a.m . at the Essex County Public Library, 117 North 
Church Lane (Rt. 17), Tappahannock, Virginia. They will talk about these promised 
developments in African-American family history research and how persons can 
become personally involved in this historic effort.

       Volunteers are needed for the extraction and indexing of the Virginia 
Freedmen's Bureau records. The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of 
Virginia will coordinate the recruitment of community volunteers for the project 
which will enable historians and descendants of emancipated slaves, freed 
blacks, and Black Union soldiers, to access data, much of which has been 
previously unavailable. 

       Persons who are unable to attend the meeting but would like to obtain 
more information or to volunteer should contact the Black History Museum by 
email at [log in to unmask],visit the museum's website at 
www.blackhistorymuseum.org, or call the Black History Museum and Cultural Center 
at 804-780-9097.

       For further information about Middle Peninsula African-American 
Genealogical and Historical Society, call Gloria Waller Scott at 804-758-3613 or 
Bessida Cauthorne White at 804-321-1206.

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