Lists location of school, name of teacher, supporting aid society, number of pupils, number of buildings, and owner of school building. There are six Harford County schools on the list.
Churchville trustee Nathaniel Cooper confirms receipt of shipment of furniture from Quartermaster Samuel J. Wright. He tells Wright that they hope to start school on January 1, 1868, and asks for information regarding when a teacher might be sent.
Churchville trustee Nathaniel Cooper answers a letter of Dec. 5, 1867, from Quartermaster Samuel J. Wright, in which Wright asked for the dimensions of the school room. Cooper responds that the room is 16 x 16 feet, and asks to be informed when desks and a teacher will be sent.
In November 1861, Union forces occupied the sea islands of South Carolina in the vicinity of Port Royal, freeing thousands of slaves on the rice and cotton plantations there. In what became known as the Port Royal Experiment, northern abolitionists and others interested in reconstructing southern society rapidly organized in order to send material relief and set up schools for the betterment of the formerly enslaved. One of the organizations formed for this purpose was the Boston Educational Relief Society, established in February 1862. They soon changed their name to the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society (hereafter referred to as NEFAS). Both the leadership and general membership of the NEFAS included many old-line abolitionists. The membership was predominantly female, with many of these women active in both the abolition and women’s rights movements, which they viewed as intertwined. Around four-fifths of the teachers employed by the society were female.
Teacher Ida S. Marshall writes from Newport, R.I., sending a bill for travel expenses. She reports that the Baltimore Association wants her to teach at Churchville another year. She is "much pleased with the place, as the people, black & white, are excellent."
Teacher Mary J. C. Anderson writes to see if the Society will lend her money for transportation to a job she has secured in Shreveport, Louisiana. Another entry a few lines down from Anderson's details a letter written to Ida Marshall asking her to write to the Society and Miss Gardner "and to say frankly if she fears she is not gaining strength enough to justify going on to Elizabeth City."
A letter from Ida S. Marshall indicates that she is feeling better but found the holidays "dreary." An entry on the next page summarizes a letter from Mary J. C. Anderson who stated that, while on her way to Maryland, she received a letter from Louisiana Superintendent of Schools offering her a position there, as well as offering to pay her travel expenses. "She feels that her circumstances justify her accepting [the] offer."
Teacher Ida S. Marshall writes from Newport, R.I., stating that she has been ill and that the people of Chestertown (Kent Co.) wish her to teach there the following year. The entry immediately below Marshall's records a letter received from Mary J. C. Anderson seeking testimonials to help her obtain a teaching position in Washington.
Baltimore Association actuary John Core has written to ask about the prospects of continued assistance from the NEFAS in the coming school year. He expects that there will soon be a state school system for both black and white students, and wishes to conform to its requirements, including textbooks used.
Mary J. C. Anderson sends a report on her school in Chestertown in Kent County, Md. She asks that $3.78 be deducted from her salary for the cost of books and inquires about employment for the following year. Her address is 360 Fulton Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. The entry immediately below Anderson's details a letter received from Ida S. Marshall explaining that "attendance was smaller as many of the children were obliged to leave to pick berries."
Notes that a letter has been forwarded to the Society from teacher Ida S. Marshall, reporting that she is $20 in debt for board and much distressed about it. Her letter was referred to the Baltimore Association, which the writer of the entry believes is responsible for teacher board.
Mr. Janney of the Baltimore Association responds to NEFAS regarding their inquiry into Ida S. Marshall's boarding debt. Janney states that the Baltimore Association has nothing to do with teacher board. Board is the responsibility of the school trustees.
Teacher Elizabeth V. Dixon writes from Havre de Grace, Md., that her school is flourishing, the children are organizing a fair to raise funds for the school, and the schoolhouse is pleasant and comfortable.
Teacher Mary J. C. Anderson asks if the Society will employ her again. The entry immediately below Anderson's details a letter received from Ida S. Marshall stating that she has decided to go to Elizabeth City.
A message has been received from teacher Ida S. Marshall, recommending Miss Florence Francis for a teaching position. Marshall hopes her own teaching services will be desired again.
Records that a response was sent to Ida S. Marshall regarding her recommendation of Florence Francis for a teaching position. Informs Marshall that if Francis is a first-rate and experienced teacher, she may submit testimonials to the Society.
Teacher Ida S. Marshall writes from Newport, R.I. As John Core of the Baltimore Association wants her to stop and see him in Baltimore on her way through, she will have to leave early and will incur $1 in additional travel expenses.
Like several other freedmen’s aid societies, the National Freedmen’s Relief Association of New York (hereafter NFRA) began in response to the Union occupation of Port Royal, South Carolina in late 1861. Originally founded by members of the American Missionary Association, the NFRA would retain a strong religious agenda during the first three years of its operations. While all of the northern freedmen’s aid societies were to some extent paternalistic and racist in their view of African Americans, the NFRA was particularly open in their intention to keep blacks in an inferior position. The NFRA’s general program “subordinated general, common school education to specific emphases on religious training, a racial division of labor, white control over agricultural production, and training in wage labor and rules of private property. After the Civil War, the NFRA transformed into a secular organization. In August 1865, the NFRA became a component part of the American Freedmen’s Aid Commission, which reorganized in early 1866 as the American Freedmen’s Union Commission. It was thereafter often referred to as the “New York Branch” of that Commission.
The Pennsylvania Freedmen’s Relief Association (NFRA) was founded in 1862 by several prominent citizens, including railroad director Stephen Colwell and white abolitionist and Presbyterian minister J. Miller McKim. McKim had been an agent of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. He had resigned from that organization due to the existential crisis facing abolitionists around the North as slavery died. McKim and others believed that the various abolitionist organizations should transform into aid societies for the material benefit of the newly freed. The leadership of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society disagreed, maintaining that abolitionists should continue their focus on influencing public opinion through speeches and publications, so that emancipation would be accepted as a moral good rather than a wartime expediency.