This reference information paper describes three post–Civil War Federal agencies’ records housed at NARA in Washington, DC, and College Park, MD: the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands; the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company; and the Commissioners of Claims. Records of these agencies often provide considerable personal data about the African American family and community, including family relations, marriages, births, deaths, occupations, and places of residence.

They can contain the names of slave owners and information concerning black military service, plantation conditions, manumissions, property ownership, migration, and a host of family related matters. While these records represent a major source for African American genealogical research at NARA, there are other Federal records available to assist the black family researcher as well. For details of these records, researchers should consult the Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives (National Archives Trust Fund Board, 2000); Black Studies: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications (National Archives Trust Fund Board, 2007); and Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives (General Services Administration, 1981).