Endorsements Sent
setName: label: See more items in
content: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for State of Virginia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1869
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAAHC.FB.M1048, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Endorsements sent are characteristics of 19th–century recordkeeping practices. A reply to an incoming letter was frequently written on the letter itself or on a specially prepared wrapper. The reply (known as an endorsement) was then copied into an endorsement book, and the endorsed letter was returned to the sender or forwarded to another office. Endorsement books usually contain a summary of the incoming letters and sometimes the text of previous endorsements that were written on the letter.

The 11 volumes of endorsements sent, June 1, 1865–May 3, 1869, are arranged chronologically. Each volume has a separately bound name index, except for volumes 1 and 2, which are bound with the volumes. The endorsements cover a diversity of subjects, including criminal cases involving freedmen, warrants and arrests for those sought on criminal charges, educational requirements, and reunions of separated members of former slave families. In addition, many endorsements refer to Bureau relations with civil authorities, the operation and maintenance of such Bureau institutions as schools and hospitals, the approval of transportation requisitions, and the rental of property for Bureau use.

Many of the entries are cross–referenced. Cross–references citing a volume and page number refer only to entries in the same volume. Cross–references with the volume and page number preceded by the letters "B," "EB," or "E&M" refer to entries in the other endorsement or memorandum books of this series. Cross–references to entries in the register of letters received include the symbol "LR" followed by a letter of the alphabet, an entry number, volume number, and year. Cross–references usually appear in the margin of the endorsement book page to the left of the pertinent entry.