Middle Peninsula Genealogy Group to Discuss Freedmen's Bureau Indexing Project Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced on October 26, 2006, that Virginia will be the first state in the nation to participate in an historic extraction and indexing project focused on the preservation of the Freedmen's Bureau records. The Freedmen's Bureau, which operated from 1865 to 1872, was a federal agency that provided assistance and relief to newly freed African Americans. Governor Kaine said that "The Freedmen's Bureau records are effectively the "genesis records" of African-American identity post Civil War. They provide the earliest major compilation of information on the African- American community, documenting for the period 1865-1872 names, legalized marriages, educational pursuits, work contracts, and receipt of rations, healthcare, legal, and other services." The Bureau's records, which are housed at the National Archives and Records Administration, have now been digitized, and will be extracted and indexed to make them accessible to researchers. Representatives of the Virginia Freedmen Extraction and Indexing Project will speak at the monthly meeting of the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia (MPAAGHS) on Saturday, February 10, 2007, at 11:00 a.m . at the Essex County Public Library, 117 North Church Lane (Rt. 17), Tappahannock, Virginia. They will talk about these promised developments in African-American family history research and how persons can become personally involved in this historic effort. Volunteers are needed for the extraction and indexing of the Virginia Freedmen's Bureau records. The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia will coordinate the recruitment of community volunteers for the project which will enable historians and descendants of emancipated slaves, freed blacks, and Black Union soldiers, to access data, much of which has been previously unavailable. Persons who are unable to attend the meeting but would like to obtain more information or to volunteer should contact the Black History Museum by email at VAFreedmenIndexingProject@comcast.net,visit the museum's website at www.blackhistorymuseum.org, or call the Black History Museum and Cultural Center at 804-780-9097. For further information about Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society, call Gloria Waller Scott at 804-758-3613 or Bessida Cauthorne White at 804-321-1206.