Miscellaneous Records
setName: label: See more items in
content: Records of the Superintendent  of Education for the State of Texas Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAAHC.FB.M822, Series 5
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The miscellaneous records relating to schools, teachers, and Bureau educational expenditures consist of unbound teachers' letters of appointment, unbound "Articles of Agreement," and seven record books.

The teachers' letters of appointment, 1867–69, are arranged chronologically. The series consists of retained copies of form letters appointing teachers to their posts. The salary to be paid and the date the appointment was to take effect were specified in the letter.

The series of "Articles of Agreement" (Contracts), February 1867–December 1870, is arranged chronologically by date of transaction. Most of the agreements were made by the Superintendent of Education or subassistant commissioners with private individuals for the construction and repair of Bureau school buildings. Building specifications are frequently available from these documents.

The bound records include a volume entitled "Extracts and Copies of Letters Relative to Schools" (16). These extracts, July 1866–November 1867, are arranged under four subject headings and thereunder chronologically. The subject headings concern the building, repair, organization, and rental of schools. Most, if not all, of the correspondence from which the extracts were made appears to have been entered in Volume 1 (14) of the registers of letters received, and many of the letters themselves may be located among the registered letters received. In contrast to the entries in the registers, which consist of short summaries of incoming correspondence, the extracts are fair copies of all or portions of the letters.

There are three volumes consisting primarily of lists of teachers and schools. A "Record of Teachers" (19), October 1865–February 1868, is arranged by the initial letter of the teacher's surname. Information recorded for each teacher includes the location of his assignment, the date of his appointment, the rate of compensation, the authority that commissioned him, and the date of his resignation. In the front of this volume is an undated list of teachers commissioned by the American Missionary Association showing their duty assignments and indicating the rate of turnover. A "School Record" (21) includes a similar listing of teachers that is largely unarranged in format and covers the period October 1865–November 1867. The volume also contains a list of teachers who had submitted their school reports for May 1867; unarranged abstracts of correspondence and reports received from teachers and subassistant commissioners, June 1866–May 1867; and another listing of teachers, May 1866–April 1867, arranged chronologically by month and thereunder by location. The latter was evidently compiled from the teachers' school reports and contains similar statistical information about student attendance and courses of instruction. A volume entitled "Record of Schools" (22), January 1866–August 1867, is arranged by the counties in which teachers were stationed and thereunder chronologically by month. The teachers' names are listed with the towns in which they taught. There are also attendance statistics for each teacher that were compiled from their school reports.

The three remaining volumes pertain largely to Bureau educational expenditures in Texas. The first volume is entitled "School Houses Rented and Repaired" (17), January 1867–January 1868, and is arranged alphabetically by the counties in which school buildings were located. Information about leased buildings includes the names of owners, the amount of rent paid, the length of leases, and the names of renters. Information about building repairs includes a brief description of the nature of the work, the name of the contracting Bureau official, the date of the contract, and the amount of Bureau funds expended. This volume appears to have been compiled from the unbound series of articles of agreement. The "List of Houses Rented and Teachers Employed" (20), May 1869–June 1870, consists of chronologically arranged lists of vouchers received. The categories covered in these vouchers include house rents, May–December 1869; teachers' salaries, May–December 1869; services of teachers employed by the Bureau, January–June 1870; and houses rented by the Bureau, January–June 1870. There is also an 1869 "Roll of Teachers" specifying their duty stations. The "Record of Schools" (23) January 1866–September 1869, contains the following chronologically arranged lists: school houses rented by the Bureau, January 1867–September 1869, showing locations, rent per month, and date discontinued; school houses repaired by the Bureau, January 1867–April 1869, showing the location, funds expended, and date of payment; teachers paid by the Bureau, January 1867–September 1869, showing teachers' names, location of duty stations, salary, date paid, and date salary ceased to be paid; and teacher transportation furnished by the Bureau, March 1868–February 1869, showing the names of teachers, the date transportation was furnished, the cost, and the departure and destination points of the journey. This volume also includes a listing of Bureau schools, January 1866–November 1868, arranged chronologically by month. Information available includes the location of the school, the date the school was reported, the name of the teacher, and the number of male and female students enrolled.