Letters and Endorsements Sent
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 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The two volumes of letters and endorsements sent, May 15–November 29, 1867, and April 27, 1869–December 17, 1870, are generally arranged chronologically, and each volume contains a name index. Since the index to volume 2 (6) is badly water stained and partially illegible, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has prepared a typed copy that has been filmed directly following the original. Illegible entries have been supplied and the arrangement has been perfected.

The arrangement and content of the letters and endorsements vary somewhat in each volume. In volume 1 (15) the first 49 pages are arranged with letters sent on the left–hand pages and endorsements on the right–hand pages. The entries that constitute each type of correspondence are numbered consecutively in separate numbering systems. Sometimes a number is preceded by the initial letter of the recipient's surname. Some of the letters sent in volume 1 (15), appear to be abstracts rather than complete transcriptions of the outgoing documents. The endorsements merely contain the information recorded by the Superintendent of Education in forwarding the letters but no data concerning the nature of the incoming correspondence itself. 

In volume 2 (6), the endorsements are interfiled with the letters sent according to date, and all entries have been numbered consecutively. In addition to letters sent, volume 2 (6) also includes semiannual reports of July 15, 1869, and January 6, 1870, and an annual report of June 30, 1870, to the Superintendent of Education in Washington, D. C. Some of the letters in volume 2 (6) were evidently sent to a number of individuals with few, if any, changes. In these instances only the initial letter was transcribed. However, the additional recipients were listed and deviations from the original text, if any, were noted. The endorsements entered in volume 2 (6) include a brief identification of the incoming letter and related copies of previous endorsements in addition to the endorsement sent by the Superintendent of Education. 

The entries in volume 2 (6) bear frequent marginal reference symbols to related letters sent also found therein and to incoming letters entered in the corresponding register of letters received. Letters sent are referred to as "L. S." followed by the appropriate page number and also by a fractional symbol. The numerator of the fraction refers to previous correspondence and the denominator to subsequent correspondence with the same individual. Incoming correspondence is noted by the symbol "L. R." (Letters Received) followed by the page number in the register or the file number of the letter itself. A number of letters sent to Commissioner Howard bear the marginal notation "Filed in T." This means that the original letter was endorsed back to the Superintendent of Education from the Commissioner's Office and then under "T" for Texas among the unregistered correspondence.