Letter written to Robert Bell from the Freedmen's Bureau: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The one-page handwritten letter to Robert Bell from the Freedmen's bureau includes a dispute with a woman identified as "Eliza." The top proper left side of the front of the letter has black decorative text which reads [Headquarters Office Assistant Superintendent, / BUREAU OF REGUEES FREEDMAN AND A. L. / Salisbury, N. C., Nov 15 1865.]. The date “Nov 15” is handwritten on a blank line. The letter is signed by the agent at the bottom center. There are mathematic calculations handwritten in graphite on the back of the letter.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: November 15, 1865
• Written by: Freedmen's Bureau, American, 1865 - 1872
• Received by: Robert Bell
• Type: documents
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 9 3/4 × 7 1/2 × 1/4 in. (24.8 × 19.1 × 0.6 cm)
• Place made: Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Correspondence
• Topic: Emancipation
• Topic: Freedom
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
• Topic: Slavery
• Object number: 2012.160.93
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Stanley Turkel's Collection of Reconstruction Era Materials
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.