About · Freedmen's Bureau Project · Harford County Freedmen's Bureau Project

About

The Harford County Freedmen’s Bureau Project, organized by the Hosanna School Museum, makes available the rich and varied body of evidence related to African American education in the years following emancipation. Prior to this project, historical research on this topic had been limited to a handful of schools. Concentrated reviews of Freedmen's Bureau records in association with this project revealed a total of 13 educational sites. We hope this resource will be useful not only to historians, but to anyone seeking to learn more about this vital period and the challenges faced by Harford’s African American citizens.

What types of records can be found in this digital archive?

Most of the documents in this database have been drawn from the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau), authorized by Congress in 1865 in part to safeguard the newfound rights of African Americans in the South after the demise of slavery. Housed today in the collections of the National Archives, these documents include correspondence to and from teachers, school trustees, and other citizens interested in black education in the county; monthly reports from school teachers; and receipts and other documents relating to school construction materials, textbooks, and other classroom supplies.

In addition to Freedmen’s Bureau material, the database includes documents from the files of the American Missionary Association and the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society. These documents include correspondence and other material related to the several Harford County teachers employed by these organizations. The database also includes education-related material from local newspapers, such as The Aegis, of Bel Air, and The Whig, of Cecil County. Photographs of school buildings and teachers have been included in the database whenever possible.