Congress Authorizes $3 Million for Preservation of Freedmen's
Bureau Papers Congress has authorized an appropriation of $3
million for safeguarding the records of the Freedmen's Bureau.
(See the October 2000 Perspectives for the background on this
legislation.) The Freedmen's Bureau records document the
activities of a federal agency that sought to help freedpeople
and war refugees adjust to life after the Civil War and slave
emancipation. After considering a $1.5 million appropriation,
Congress arrived at the $3 million figure because of the
magnitude of the effort required to prepare and microfilm the
bureau's records, which total over 1,100 cubic feet. Rep.
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), a sponsor of the
Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000, reminded her
congressional colleagues that Congress itself had become
"engaged in the overwhelming challenge of moving millions of
slaves from bondage to freedom" when it established the
Freedmen's Bureau in 1865. The bureau's records are now cruc