Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from Freedmen's Bureau Special Order must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Freedmen's Bureau Special Order, Ms2018-022, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Freedmen's Bureau Special Order was purchased by Special Collections in April 2017.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Freedmen's Bureau Special Order was completed in September, 2018.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of an order issued by Colonel Orlando Brown, superintendent of the 8th District of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) September 14, 1865 written from Christiansburg, Virginia. Special Order No. 12 requested the assistant superintendent of the bureau to report on the condition of freedmen in their districts in terms of whether they were willing to work for their former masters, how they were working, how their former masters treated them, whether they were willing to rent their former masters land. It also inquired if those who refused to work were doing so because of wages or "because they are disposed to be idle?"

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Christiansburg (Va.)
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands