Registers of Letters Received
setName: label: See more items in
content: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of South Carolina, 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.M869, Series 3
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Another recordkeeping practice of the day was that of entering incoming communications into registers of letters received. The entries in the registers include such information as the name or office of the correspondent, the place from which the letter was written, an abstract of the letter, and the register entry number  assigned to the communication. Document numbers for related letters and endorsements sent are also given. Abbreviations used in the registers to denote such correspondence are "LB," "EB," or "EMB".

Entries in the eight registers of letters received, June 1865–October 1870, are arranged alphabetically by initial letter of surname or office of correspondent and thereunder generally by date of receipt of the communication. The letters were assigned entry numbers in the order that they were entered in the volume, with a separate numerical sequence for each alphabetical division.

Because the number of pages allotted to each alphabetical division in the registers often proved insufficient, it became necessary to continue the entries elsewhere in the volume. The National Archives has filmed the registers in correct order; therefore some of the pages are not in the original numerical sequence. Blank numbered pages have not been filmed. There are name indexes for Volumes 1 (1) and 3 (3).

Cross–reference symbols enclosed in brackets have been entered by the National Archives. The notation "F/W" before a cross–reference indicates that the letter is filed with the cited letter. The notation "F/as" indicates that the letter is filed under the designated cross–referenced file number. Not all letters entered in the registers are among the records of the Assistant Commissioner. The National Archives has placed an asterisk (*) in the registers by the entry number of each letter that is still in the series of registered letters received. Others were forwarded to Bureau headquarters at Washington, D. C., or were sent to officers subordinate to the Assistant Commissioner. Some of the letters are filed in the series of applications for restoration of property. The National Archives has stamped a double asterisk (**) by the entry number in the register when a letter was found in that series. The applications are reproduced in Series 6: Records Relating to Restoration of Property.

Stamped explanations of the asterisks and symbols appear in the front of each register.