Freedmen’s Bureau Indexing Campaign

Freedmen’s Bureau Indexing Campaign

Last Friday, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center hosted the Freedmen’s Bureau Indexing Campaign announcement. FamilySearch, the largest genealogy organization in the world, announced the digital release of over 4 million Freedmen’s Bureau historical records and the launch a nationwide volunteer indexing effort. The event was held in the Harriet Tubman Theater and a livestream was broadcast from the main press event that took place at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. There were several speakers at the event in Los Angeles, including Todd Christofferson, senior-level leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Sherri Camp, vice president for geneaology of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society.

Following the live stream, visitors in the Harriet Tubman Theater had the opportunity to discuss their efforts with FamilySearch and hear from:

• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center vice president and provost, Dr. Michael Battle
• Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society vice president for history, Gene Stephenson
• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center John Parker Library director, Darrell Wolff
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cincinnati East Ohio Stake president, Joseph W. Bradley

It took nearly ten years for the records to be digitized and now the hope is to have all the names indexed in the next six to nine months. If you would like to help with this nationwide indexing campaign or learn more about your family history, you can right here at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center! The John Parker Library offers free family history resources and is located on the fourth floor of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Volunteers working in the library can help you join the indexing campaign and help you learn more about your ancestry.

The John Parker Library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. -  4 p.m. To learn more about the Freedmen's Bureau Indexing Campaign, visit discoverfreedmen.org.