An interview of Jacob Elshin conducted by Dorothy Bestor on 1965 April 21-22 for the Archives of American Art.
Elshin speaks of his background in Russia and China; moving to Seattle in 1923; his work as a free-lance commercial artist and working as a greeting card artist; painting for the Public Works of Art Project; working on murals for the WPA Federal Art Project; political problems with the WPA; the destruction of some of the work that was produced by the project; some of the injustices he suffered during his years with the WPA. He recalls Robert Bruce Inverarity, Edward Rowan and Mark Tobey.
Biographical / Historical:
Jacob Alexander Elshin (1892-1976) was a painter in Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 10 min.
Provenance:
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection consists of posters featuring lowrider imagery.
Content Description:
Posters for fundraisers, social actions, and community events for the Latino community of Northern California; all prominently feature lowrider imagery.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Series 1: Posters, 1975-2016
Biographical:
Rudolfo "Rudy" Ojeda Cuellar was born and raised in Roseville, California. Rudy graduated from Roseville High School where he learned about screen printing, linoleum block printing and a deeper understanding of what being an artist was about. He enrolled at Sierra College, three miles from his hometown, where he was exposed to ceramics and cultural sculptural images. A friend helped him transfer to Sacramento State University where he met professors Jose Montoya and Esteban Villa and many other members of the Royal Chicano Artist group. At Sacramento State, he learned mask making, mold making, and silversmithing. From 1971 to 1979 he worked for Centro de Artistas Chicanos teaching at risk kids from the local school district screen printing skills, art and design and how to get along with one another. While working at the Centro de Artistas he taught and helped the other Royal Chicano Art Front members with the silk-screening process, and creating prints, signs and posters for other community events.
In 1980 Cuellar started Centro Screen Print & Associates with Louie "the Foot" Gonzalez (another founding member of RCAF). Rudy taught silk screening at Folsom State Prison and Louie became a rural mail carrier. His work as printer and as artist has been in numerous exhibits and publications such as Triumph of our Communities, Posada's Mexico 1979, CARA Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 Wight Art Gallery – University of California, Los Angeles. Design in California and Mexico 1915 – 1985 and Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now. Cuellar was deeply influenced by his trips to Mexico and especially art teachers, counselors, and friends such as George Lem and Mr. Otis, John Adams, Juan Cervantes, and Stephan Kaltenbach that each taught him to never put boundaries on his quest to create Mexican and pre-Colombian images.
Historical:
The Rebel Chicano Art Front was created in 1969 by art professors José Montoya and Esteban Villa along with many other artists, activists, community organizers, poets, and teachers while at California State University, Sacramento. As artists and art students, they often loosely worked to support community events with creative endeavors. The group eventually came together under Joe Serna and was managed by Ricardo Favela in 1972 to form the Centro de Artistas Chicanos, an organization that provided much needed community space and support for after school arts programs, a library and bookstore, training programs, family and child programs such as Día de Los Muertos festivals, acting classes, and even an auto body repair training program. As part of the after-school arts program (and print shop), RCAF artists came together to teach community children about history and culture through art.
To supplement the meager city and private funds for the Centro, the artists organized art and gallery shows, art auctions, and sale of prints in the bookstore. As this collective of artists started having art shows, they would shorten their name to the "RCAF," often being confused with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Being a creative bunch, they changed their name from the Rebel Chicano Art Front to the Royal Chicano Air Force. They embraced this new identity/confusion, getting Army surplus clothing, and creating "ranks" of general or "creative mechanicos comsimcos" [cosmic mechanics] for everyone. They created a mythical origin story that states that they flew here from the mythical homeland of Aztlán in adobe airplanes. This playfulness broke down many social barriers in the barrio as well as within the larger Sacramento community and helped them tackle serious subjects through their programs and art.
The 1960's and 70's ushered in a wave of political and social awareness for communities of color. Community organizations around the country began advocating and organizing for more political and social empowerment as a counter to the discrimination, oppression, and neglect that many Chicanos (and other Latino communities) encountered. The GI Bill sent many Chicanos to college, opening young Chicano eyes to new ways to fight injustice. Many young social reformers started to take advantage of funds from the War on Poverty programs to establish community service organizations. Chicano and Latino artists were very aware of neglect and lack of representation in mainstream galleries and art institutions and started to rethink and reinvent cultural spaces. The RCAF was formed as a way to creatively instill pride, dignity, and respect for the Chicano community of Sacramento (Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1979 "Chicano Air Force Flies High").
In addition to the RCAF, other Latino groups and organizations formed during the late 1960's and 1970's in the Bay area such as the Mexican American Liberation Art Front, La Raza Graphics Center, and Artist Sies that cultivated artist collectives and artist support networks. Galleria de La Raza, the first Mexican American "museum" in the Bay area opened to encourage Chicano and Latino art within their own community. Throughout the country, Latinx artists and activists formed organizations and galleries such as Self-Help Graphics in Los Angeles. The East coast also saw their share of organizations develop such the Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia in 1972. In New York, the Taller Boriqua and El Museo de Barrio saw the Puerto Rican activist community grow and build their own galleries, arts spaces, and educational spaces to reach Latino communities in ways that traditional art and cultural centers did not.
Art, and the inexpensive silk screen process, became one of the fronts in the fight for community self-empowerment and advocacy. The traditions of mural and poster art in California were already very strong by the time RCAF was formed. In the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, African American and labor organizations had formed art workshops developing poster woodcut technique both as an art form and a way to advance political awareness. Art schools and colleges in California (and New York) organized artistic workshops to help combine art with social movements. The RCAF members also drew artistic and activist inspiration from a long tradition of printmaking in Mexico such as political and cultural artist José Posada in the 1890's and the Taller Grafica Popular in the 1930's. The reliance on silk screen poster art created a whole new movement and vocabulary of artistic forms, colors, and representations that drew from Mexican heritage but was also quick and easy to replicate. Artists like Montoya and Favela used these posters as their canvas to create a body of work that was bought and sold like other traditional art pieces, but was inexpensive to create and could relate and engage with the community not accustomed to gallery shows.
The silk screen process was eventually replaced by the screen print process, a technologic change that cut reliance on harmful chemicals, but still retained the "look and feel" of a DIY silk screen. However, what was crucial among RCAF were all the commissioned pieces, like these lowrider posters, that showcased how the artistic forms melded with community activism and documentation. While some of the artworks were bought and sold and made for art spaces, most art was primarily displayed in storefronts, restaurants, and community centers. The community and street space became the gallery that advertised United Farm Worker events, social justice gatherings, health initiatives, etc. The Chicano Civil rights movement succeeded and was sustained in part, by posters like these. The poster "transcended" the advertisement of events into a production of art. More importantly, these posters help document the Chicano movement, bridging community activism, art, advertisement, and social formation.
Source
Historical content note courtesy, Steve Velasquez, Curator, Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History, August 13, 2020.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
Archives of American Art
Roberto Sifuentes papers, circa 1988-2006, bulk 1993-2000. The papers document Chicano performance artist and educator Roberto Sifuentes.
Philip Brookman Papers, 1977-1993. The collection documents Brookman's exhibition, writing, and filmmaking projects in the form of artist files, exhibition files, professional files, and subject and research files. Much of the material concerns the production and distribution of Brookman's 1988 video documentary about Chicano art in California, Mi Otro Yo (My Other Self), that grew out of the exhibition and conference "Califas: An Exhibition of Chicano Art and Culture in California," held at University of California, Santa Cruz in 1981 and 1982.
National Museum of American History
Tomas Ybarra-Frausto Calendar Collection, NMAH.AC.0660
Lowrider "Dave's Dream," 1982. See accession: 1990.0567.
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Exhibition Records, circa 1983-1994 and undated. Accession 00-002. INcludes records for the exhibition American Encounters
Exhibition Records, 1970-1995. Accession 01-097. INcludes documentation for American Encounters Lowriders, 1992.
Productions, 1991-1994, 1997-1998. Accession 02-123. Includes Smithsonian Productions video program entitled, ""Spreading Beauty Wherever I Go," on the lowrider cars of New Mexico, 1992.
Productions, 1987, 1989, 1991-1993, 1997. Accession 02-202. Includes video footage for "Spreading Beauty Wherever I Go," on the "lowrider" cars of New Mexico.
Productions, 1991-2000. Accession 05-231. Includes video footage from the exhibit American Encounters Lowrider show, 1978 from the Museum of Fine Arts.
Materials at Other Organizations
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
University of San Diego, San Diego Lowriders Archival Project
The San Diego Lowrider Archival Project documents the history of lowriding in San Diego and the surrounding borderlands, from the 1950s through today. The project includes photographs, car club documents and memorabilia, official records, meeting minutes, dance posters and lowrider art.
University of Southern California, Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies
Lowrider magazine collection 0589
A collection of 56 issues of Lowrider magazine, along with three issues of Q-VO: A National Lowrider's Magazine -- all spanning from 1977 to 2003
UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections
Royal Chicano Air Force Archives, CEMA 8
Extensive collection of slides and silkscreen prints, along with administrative records, news clippings, correspondence, exhibition descriptions and flyers, photographs, creative writings, and miscellaneous publications of the Sacramento-based artists collective. Founding members of the RCAF include José Montoya, Esteban Villa, Juanishi V. Orosco, Ricardo Favela, and Rudy Cuellar.
UCLA Chicano Research Center
Alturas Films Records, CSRC.2018.009
Alturas Films is a film production company based in Emeryville, Californis. Founded by Rick Tejada-Flores, it specializes in documentaries that focus on overlooked topics in Latino and Latin American culture, many of which were broadcast on public television. Among its films are Low 'n Slow, Rivera in America, and Elvia.
Provenance:
Fifteen posters were purchased from Rudy Cuellar in 2021.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The papers document the life and activism of Grayce Uyehara who was a pivotal figure within the Redress Movement and sought reparations for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Content Description:
The papers document the life and activism of Grayce Uyehara who was a pivotal figure within the Redress Movement and sought reparations for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The collection materials span different social justice topics that Uyehara was involved with outside of Japanese American communities. Geographically, the materials are primarily from her time in Stockton, California; Rohwer, Arkansas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington, D.C., as well as other places.
The papers include materials relating to Uyehara's own incarceration; her lobbying work with the Japanese American Citizens League; other activism and grass roots activities; speeches; campaign materials; articles; memos; financial reports; work journals; photographs of the Uyeharas; community newspapers; film slides of redress; personal letters; internal correspondence; leadership conference notes; educational materials; interviews; awards; student theses; pamphlets; booklets; oral histories; maps; meeting minutes; newsletters; directories; and congressional records.
Arrangement:
The collection is unarranged.
Biographical:
Grayce Uyehara was a social worker and pivotal Redress Movement activist who helped lead the reparations campaign for the wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Uyehara was born Ritsuko Kaneda on July 4th, 1919, in Stockton, California. Her parents named her Ritsu, which roughly translates to notions of law and independence, informed by their understanding of the significance of Independence Day. Her father, Tsuyanoshi Kaneda, worked in agriculture and business and performed domestic tasks. Through this, he developed a reliable business working for lawyers, doctors, and school administrators. Her mother, Tome Kaneda, raised their children. Her mother was strict but also encouraged her children to excel at whatever they did. She enrolled them in Japanese and music classes and expected them to help out at church and in the community. Uyehara was the second of seven children, and as the eldest daughter was expected to be a role model for her younger siblings.
In high school, Uyehara belonged to a Japanese student club, excelled in her schoolwork, and was part of the marching band, playing the bassoon. She also played piano for Sunday school at church, which had both English and Japanese services. She became involved in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), participating in its oratorical contests. Because of her community service, the elders and her peers in the Japanese American community respected Uyehara.
Uyehara majored in music at the University of the Pacific. She believed music would allow her to start a career as a local Japanese American piano teacher and church organist. She worked many jobs to pay for tuition while her parents helped cover her costs. While in college, she became involved in the Japanese American Young People's Christian Conference (YPCC) in Northern California. Uyehara continued to be recognized for her leadership and competence by becoming the chairperson of the Sacramento YPCC as a college senior.
In January 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Uyehara was asked by the university president to become an instructor to teach Japanese to young men in military service at the local army base. Citing her patriotic duty, she accepted the position. She was able to finish school before being incarcerated, partly because her mother pushed her to do well and to stay in school. When the Uyehara family prepared to leave their home in April, one of her professors offered to hold their household belongings. Although she satisfied her graduation requirements, she received her degree in absentia. Two of her siblings were also in college when their academic careers were interrupted. She was very upset that her parents did not get to see her graduate because they had sacrificed so much.
The Kaneda family was forcibly relocated to the Stockton Temporary Detention Center in May 1942. At the Stockton Center, she put her service skills to work and assisted other Nisei inmates in organizing a makeshift school for Japanese American youth. Located on the site of the county fairgrounds, the school was forced to hold classes in the grandstands. Through one of her father's contacts, she was able to secure a donation of books, and she became the supervisor in charge of elementary education. Some of the young soldiers that she taught at the base also came to visit her. She spent four months there, and in September of 1942, her family was notified that they would be forcibly moved to Rohwer, Arkansas. While her family traveled ahead, she stayed behind to help close the Stockton Temporary Detention Center.
At Rohwer, Uyehara remained active and continued to hone her leadership and organizational skills. She helped create church services for young people, played the piano at various events, and taught music in junior high-level classes. During this time, she realized that her previous career path as a piano teacher was not realistic. She discovered that the Minnesota State Teachers College was offering scholarships to eligible camp inmates and decided to pursue the opportunity. She left the camp in January 1943 with three other young Nisei. She lived at a boarding house with another Nisei student from the Tule Lake incarceration camp. She had an active social life but found the classes to be unchallenging. During the summer in St. Paul, she stayed with a woman who was active with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, a liberal group who spoke out against war. Unsure of what to do next, she then returned to Rohwer where she worked at the camp hospital, continually checking for jobs. She found a job listing in Virginia where one of her younger sisters was attending school, and she left Rohwer for the last time. In Virginia, she worked as an editorial secretary. She was grateful that it was not a service job, which was the norm for young Japanese American women. Uyehara's brother, Ben, was attending Temple University in Philadelphia during this time. He assured her that the Quakers would help the Kaneda family with moving from the camp. Convinced, she packed up again and moved further north.
In Philadelphia, Uyehara found an apartment in the Fellowship House, an organization providing workshops on race relations in the city. She began working for Family Services, a social service agency in the Germantown area of Philadelphia as a receptionist and typist, but she also conducted intake interviews with the clients of the agency. She further continued her role as a community leader by becoming involved with the International Institute which assisted immigrants settling in Philadelphia, and became concerned with the needs of the Japanese American population moving in. Working closely with the Institute, she helped form the Philadelphia Nisei Council, which coordinated with the War Relocation Authority. She was the Nikkei representative of the Philadelphia Committee of Social Service Agencies whose role was to assist with relocation problems. Uyehara developed a handbook that detailed practical issues such as the cost of living in the city, how to rent an apartment, and where to find jobs. The Council began a newsletter, so the community could be aware of new people moving in to the area and of community events. She also started youth groups to provide activities and social interaction for high school and college-age youth coming out of the camp experience.
In Philadelphia, Uyehara became re-acquainted with Hiroshi Uyehara, whose mother knew Grayce's mother. They briefly met in Rohwer. He worked at a nearby Westinghouse factory as a draftsman. He had to receive an Army and Navy clearance, and during the wait went on strike. He became a volunteer at the International Institute where they reconnected. They married in 1946. Later, she and her husband were among those who formed the Philadelphia Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) to influence more people on social issues affecting Japanese Americans in a national context. Afterwards, the director of the International Institute arranged for the board to pay her graduate school tuition at the University of Pennsylvania while she worked as a social worker for the agency. She graduated in 1947 with a Masters in Social Work. Within two years of working in the community, she was asked to serve on the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission. She used this opportunity to highlight the perspectives of Japanese Americans.
The Uyehara's first son, Chris, was born in May of 1948. In 1950, they had a second child, Lisa. The International Institute asked her to return as a volunteer, and she started a program to help American servicemen and Japanese brides returning from Japan to adjust to a new life. She worked directly with Japanese women in teaching American customs, including etiquette and cooking lessons. She also provided individual counseling. She was very active with the local Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and became president, creating parent education programs and raising funds for the local school library. Uyehara was also very active in the National Association of Social Workers, the Cub Scouts, the local Presbyterian church, the West Chester Human Relationships Council, and the League of Women Voters. Later, she had two more children, Larry, in 1952, and Paul, in 1955. During this time, she was asked to help in establishing the first day care center for working mothers in West Chester. Despite the low pay, she was instrumental in establishing the center. In addition, she got involved in civil rights issues for African Americans, especially for school desegregation and upgrading placement rates for African American students.
In 1972, Uyehara served as the governor for the Eastern District Council of the JACL. She was on the National Board, and was the vice-president for General Operations, Chapter President, the National Civil Rights Committee, and the National Scholarship Committee. In 1974, Uyehara was the first woman to hold a JACL elected office. From 1973 to 1974, she was on the National Education Committee. She used her organizational skills to rearrange some existing educational programs so that the history of Japanese Americans could become more well known throughout the country. She also prioritized projects within the committee to make the programs more attractive to potential funders. Her ability to effectively organize with the JACL was influenced by the lessons learned in reading Years of Infamy by Michi Weglyn, and in the organizing lessons within African American communities after Brown v. Board of Education was passed.
In 1978, Uyehara was present at the 1978 Salt Lake City Convention when JACL decided to pursue redress, and was asked to be on the National Committee for Redress. Using her experience in improving school districts for African Americans, she worked hard to generate educational materials, bombard congressional offices and speak at various events and community organizations. She was also effective in gaining support from the Presbyterian Church and Jewish organizations. By 1985 she devised a plan to reach people on the East Coast, since there weren't many JACL chapters in major cities there. She retired from her job as a school social worker in order to help the JACL achieve redress. In the spring, she transferred to the Legislative Education Committee (LEC). Her philosophy was "If you're going to do it, you do it right. You just don't talk about it".
Uyehara did a lot of traveling between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Her husband was very supportive during this time. The leadership in Washington consisted of JACL officials and four Nikkei congressmen, who recognized Uyehara's work in coalition building and developing political relationships. Whenever a new member of Congress signed on to the Civil Liberties Act, she would send out a press statement, and any significant chapter events would be announced through her "Action Alerts." She also led congressional meetings with people like Senator Inouye, Ralph Neas, and Mike Masaoka because she was very familiar with the legislative process.
Uyehara sent information "vernaculars" to newspapers and newsletter organizations in New York and Los Angeles as well as the Pacific Citizen, so that people could see progress taking place within the redress effort. She urged people to initiate contacts in states like Florida and North Carolina to ensure votes were not lost. If an area had lower numbers of Japanese American constituents, she would ask different contacts to support the redress effort and lobby congress to vote for it. She also used her existing relationships with the American Friends Service Committee, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Jewish war veterans, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'irth and the American Jewish Committee. Greatly aided by her efforts, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was passed. It issued a formal apology from the government and $20,000 to each surviving incarceree. This act also required monuments, museums, and classrooms to teach the history of Japanese American incarceration so similar discrimination would never happen again to others.
After redress was passed, Uyehara was still actively involved in community organizing. She chaired the JACL Legacy Fund campaign, which raised over $5 million to support other JACL programs. She engaged with the Japanese House and Garden in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, speaking at educational engagements about redress and organizing efforts for residents in her retirement community through the Diversity Committee and the Mental Health Committee. She was a passionate advocate for Japanese Canadian redress. She also helped coordinate the Philadelphia area fundraising effort for the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation. In addition, she enjoyed spending more time with family, gardening, and playing the piano.
In 2014, Uyehara was honored by Asian Americans United with its Standing Up for Justice Award. Uyehara passed away on June 22, 2014, at Virtual Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Japanese Americans remember Uyehara for her effectiveness and dedication as an activist, community leader, and the mother of Redress. Her experiences of being discriminated against and having to work to support the family at a young age sensitized her to the plight of working women and the economically disadvantaged. This greatly informed her service not only for Japanese Americans, but for all communities in America.
Sources
Susan Nakaoka. "Nisei Political Activists: The Stories of Five Japanese American Women
Master of Arts., (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1999) found in Grayce Uyehara Papers, Box 1, Folder N, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Gammage, Jeff. "Grayce Uyehara, fought for interned Japanese-Americans." The Philadelphia Inquirer, https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20140624_Grayce_Uyehara fought_for_interned_Japanese-Americans.html June 23, 2014. Last Accessed March 18, 2019.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center in 2019 by Paul M. Uyehara.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Eddie Faye Gates, Tulsa OK, author, historian, community activist
Object number:
2014.117.68
Restrictions & Rights:
Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Collection consists of photographic materials taken by Frank Espada, mostly images from the Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, which documents these communities across the Unites States. In addition, there are materials relating to his earlier work documenting civil rights activities and HIV/AIDS awareness, also in the United States during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Scope and Contents:
Photographs and negatives taken by Frank Espada, mostly images from his most well-known body of work, The Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, which consists of several hundred prints and thousands of negatives of Puerto Rican communities across the Unites States. The purpose the project was to establish the national presence of Puerto Ricans in the United States, to celebrate Puerto Rican culture and Latinidad, and to make a political statement.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into five series.
Series 1: Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, 1962-2008, undated
Sub-Series 1.1: Photographic and Digital Prints, 1962-1986, undated
Sub-Series 1.2: Proofs, 1979-1986, undated
Sub-Series 1.3: Contact Sheets and Negatives, 1964-1987, undated
Sub-Series 1.4: Interviews, 1980-1982, undated
Sub-Series 1.5: Site Notebooks, 1981-1985, undated
Series 2: Civil Rights Era Materials, 1963-1974, undated
Sub-Series 2.1: Black and White Prints, 1963-1974, undated
Sub-Series 2.2: Proofs, Negatives, and Contact Sheets, 1963-1968
Sub-Series 2.3: Slides, 1969
Series 3: Personal Papers, 1966-2007, undated
Series 4: Out of School Youth (OSY) Project, 1989
Series 5: Youth Environment Study (YES) Project, 1989-1991
Biographical / Historical:
Francisco Luis Espada Roig, later known as Frank Espada, was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico in December 1930. He and his family migrated to New York City in 1939. He attended public school and after high school, briefly attended City College of New York. In 1949, he joined the Air Force.
In 1952 he married his wife, Marilyn. They had three children, Lisa, Jason, and Martin. Espada began working for an electrical contractor to provide for his family, a job he would hold for ten years.
There followed a second stint in the Air Force, during the Korean War, and then, in 1954, Espada began attending the New York Institute of Photography on the GI Bill. In the late 50s and early 1960s, influenced by mentors such as important New York-based photographers Dave Heath and the legendary W. Eugene Smith, Espada became intent on pursuing what he called his "first love," documentary photography, but this dream had to be delayed.
From the early 60s on, he became heavily involved in the New York community and the Civil Rights Movement, organizing voter registration drives, rent strikes, and marches for civil rights. He photographed many subjects in New York throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including the civil rights era. Because he was close to Puerto Rican activists and communities, he photographed these as well.
In the 1970s, he was a Ford Foundation Fellow working with the Drug Abuse Council. In 1979, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he was finally able to receive income from photography. This fellowship allowed him to pursue his "life-long dream of shooting a major documentary" on the Puerto Rican diaspora. He documented Puerto Rican communities and the Puerto Rican experience around the United States, including Hawaii and Guam.
In 1985, Espada moved to San Francisco and was given the opportunity to teach at the UC Berkeley Extension Program. He discovered that he loved to teach, which resulted in what he referred to as "eighteen of the best years of my life," and he was revered by his students.
In 1989 he joined forces with the Youth Environment Studies (YES), documenting the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2005 he retired from teaching and continued working on his book, encompassing his documentation of Puerto Rican communities. The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People, reproducing many of his photographs with his incisive, poignant text was published in 2007, twenty-eight years after the Diaspora project had begun.
Frank Espada was an activist for justice and an important documentary photographer in the "socially conscious" tradition, who wrote: 'The purpose of showing my work is to get young people thinking, to stimulate their minds and hearts, to make conditions known, and to attack injustices wherever they exist."
In his later years, he turned to color photography and landscapes for personal artistic expression. He passed away in February of 2014 from a heart problem.
Materials at Other Organizations:
Duke University Libraries
Frank Espada papers and photographs, 1946-2010 and undated, bulk 1975-2010
The Frank Espada Papers and Photographs collection consists largely of photographic prints, contact sheets, proofs, and negatives, chiefly dating from the mid-1970s through 2010, relating to Espada's Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project, his project work on indigenous Chamorro communities in Micronesia, primarily in Guam, Tinian, and Saipan, and his work documenting HIV/AIDS outreach and education in San Francisco. The largest body of materials, which includes photographs as well as manuscripts and recorded interviews, derives from Espada's work with the Puerto Rican communities which spanned several decades. A smaller group of materials, nineteen prints, associated contacts and negatives and several folders of documents, were created through Espada's activism in the Civil Rights Movement for voter registration and school desegregation in New York City from 1962-1970.
Other materials include research files on documentary topics he was currently investigating; materials used in preparation for his many photography project exhibits, large and small; teaching syllabi and notes from his photography courses; awards and memorabilia; and other manuscript and printed materials from his career in photography.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
The Puerto Rican diaspora, between 1979 and 1981
83 photographic prints
Detroit Institute of Arts Research Library and Archives
[Frank Espada: artist file]
1 folder. Folder may contain clippings, press releases, brochures, reviews, small exhibition catalogs, resumés, other ephemera.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Collection was purchased from Frank Espada's son Jason Espada with funds from the Latino Initiatives Pool.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some ethnographic materials in this collection are restricted because participants did not sign release forms. Restricted materials are part of series 4 and housed in boxes 57 and 59. Material may not be accessed or used until 2064.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Frank Espada Photographs, circa 1962-2008, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
This collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, and the funds were used to purchase the collection from Jason Espada.
Records of the Field Offices for the State of Louisiana, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1863–1872
Extent:
111 Reels
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reels
Date:
1863–1872
Summary:
The collection is comprised of digital surrogates previously available on the 111 rolls of microfilm described in the NARA publication M1905. These digital surrogates reproduced the records of the staff officers of the Assistant Commissioner and the subordinate field offices of the Louisiana headquarters of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
Lands, 1863–1872. These records consist of bound volumes and unbound records containing materials that include letters sent and received, monthly reports, registers of complaints, labor contracts, and other records relating to freedmen's claims and bounty payments.
Records Description:
These records consist of volumes and unbound records. The volumes reproduced in this microfilm publication were originally arranged by type of record and thereunder by volume number. All volumes were assigned numbers by the Adjutant General's Office (AGO) of the War Department after the records came into its custody. In this microfilm publication, AGO numbers are shown in parentheses to aid in identifying the volumes. The National Archives assigned the volume numbers that are not in parentheses. No numbers were assigned to series consisting of single volumes. In some volumes, particularly in indexes and alphabetical headings of registers, there are blank numbered pages that have not been filmed.
The volumes consist of letters and endorsements sent and received, press copies of letters sent, registers of letters received, letters and orders received, registers of freedmen court cases, special orders and circulars issued, registers of claimants, registers of complaints, marriage certificates, and monthly reports forwarded to the Assistant Commissioner. The unbound documents consist of letters and orders received, unregistered letters and narrative reports received, special orders and circulars issued, and general orders and circulars received. The unbound records also contain monthly reports, labor contracts, marriage certificates, and records relating to claims.
Some of the volumes contain more than one type of record, reflecting a common recording practice of clerks and staff officers of that period. On Roll 67, for example, the volume of applications for laborers for Bragg Home Colony also contains a register of complaints. Some other examples of additional series within volumes can be found in records on Rolls 72, 78, and others. Researchers should read carefully the records descriptions and arrangements in the table of contents to make full use of these documents.
Historical Note:
[The following is reproduced from the original NARA descriptive pamphlet for M1905.]
HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865 (13 Stat. 507). The life of the Bureau was extended twice by acts of July 16, 1866 (14 Stat. 173), and July 6, 1868 (15 Stat. 83). The Bureau was responsible for the supervision and management of all matters relating to refugees and freedmen, and of lands abandoned or seized during the Civil War. In May 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard as Commissioner of the Bureau, and Howard served in that position until June 30, 1872, when activities of the Bureau were terminated in accordance with an act of June 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 366). While a major part of the Bureau's early activities involved the supervision of abandoned and confiscated property, its mission was to provide relief and help freedmen become self–sufficient. Bureau officials issued rations and clothing, operated hospitals and refugee camps, and supervised labor contracts. In addition, the Bureau managed apprenticeship disputes and complaints, assisted benevolent societies in the establishment of schools, helped freedmen in legalizing marriages entered into during slavery, and provided transportation to refugees and freedmen who were attempting to reunite with their family or relocate to other parts of the country. The Bureau also helped black soldiers, sailors, and their heirs collect bounty claims, pensions, and back pay.
The act of March 3, 1865, authorized the appointment of Assistant Commissioners to aid the Commissioner in supervising the work of the Bureau in the former Confederate states, the border states, and the District of Columbia. While the work performed by Assistant Commissioners in each state was similar, the organizational structure of staff officers varied from state to state. At various times, the staff could consist of a superintendent of education, an assistant adjutant general, an assistant inspector general, a disbursing officer, a chief medical officer, a chief quartermaster, and a commissary of subsistence. Subordinate to these officers were the assistant superintendents, or subassistant commissioners as they later became known, who commanded the subdistricts.
The Assistant Commissioner corresponded extensively with both his superior in the Washington Bureau headquarters and his subordinate officers in the subdistricts. Based upon reports submitted to him by the subassistant commissioners and other subordinate staff officers, he prepared reports that he sent to the Commissioner concerning Bureau activities in areas under his jurisdiction. The Assistant Commissioner also received letters from freedmen, local white citizens, state officials, and other non-Bureau personnel. These letters varied in nature from complaints to applications for jobs in the Bureau. Because the assistant adjutant general handled much of the mail for the Assistant Commissioner's office, it was often addressed to him instead of to the Assistant Commissioner.
In a circular issued by Commissioner Howard in July 1865, the Assistant Commissioners were instructed to designate one officer in each state to serve as "General Superintendents of Schools." These officials were to "take cognizance of all that is being done to educate refugees and freedmen, secure proper protection to schools and teachers, promote method and efficiency, correspond with the benevolent agencies which are supplying his field, and aid the Assistant Commissioner in making his required reports." In October 1865, a degree of centralized control was established over Bureau educational activities in the states when Rev. John W. Alvord was appointed Inspector of Finances and Schools. In January 1867, Alvord was divested of his financial responsibilities, and he was appointed General Superintendent of Education.
An act of Congress, approved July 25, 1868 (15 Stat. 193), ordered that the Commissioner of the Bureau "shall, on the first day of January next, cause the said bureau to be withdrawn from the several States within which said bureau has acted and its operation shall be discontinued." Consequently, in early 1869, with the exception of the superintendents of education and the claims agents, the Assistant Commissioners and their subordinate officers were withdrawn from the states.
For the next year and a half the Bureau continued to pursue its education work and to process claims. In the summer of 1870, the superintendents of education were withdrawn from the states, and the headquarters staff was greatly reduced. From that time until the Bureau was abolished by an act of Congress approved June 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 366), effective June 30, 1872, the Bureau's functions related almost exclusively to the disposition of claims. The Bureau's records and remaining functions were then transferred to the Freedmen's Branch in the office of the Adjutant General. The records of this branch are among the Bureau's files.
THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU IN LOUISIANA
ORGANIZATION
On June 13, 1865, Commissioner Oliver Otis Howard appointed Chaplain Thomas W. Conway as the Assistant Commissioner for Louisiana. At the time of his appointment, Conway headed the military's Louisiana Bureau of Free Labor, which managed the affairs of freedmen employed on "Abandoned" plantations. Conway transferred the Bureau of Free Labor to the newly established Freedmen's Bureau Louisiana headquarters at New Orleans. The parishes of Madison, Carroll, Concordia, and Tenasas in northeastern Louisiana were reassigned in January 1866 from the jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner for Mississippi to that of the Assistant Commissioner for Louisiana. The other Assistant Commissioners or Acting Assistant Commissioners in Louisiana and their terms of office were Gen. James S. Fullerton, October 4 – 18, 1865; Gen. Absalom Baird, October 19, 1865–September 1866; Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, October 5–November 27, 1866; Gen. Joseph A. Mower, November 28, 1866–December 4, 1867; Lt. Col. William H. Wood, December 5, 1867–January 2, 1868; Gen. R. C. Buchanan, January 3–August 24, 1868; and Gen. Edward Hatch, August 25, 1868–January 1, 1869.
When Conway took over as Assistant Commissioner, the state was divided into districts that were composed of one to three parishes and commanded by either an agent or superintendent. In April 1867, the state was reorganized into seven subdistricts headed by subassistant commissioners. Subassistant commissioners were required to file monthly inspection reports of their respective jurisdictions with the Assistant Commissioner. Agents or assistant subassistant commissioners, who were responsible for one to two parishes, received their instructions from and reported to subassistant commissioners. The major subordinate field offices for the Bureau in Louisiana included those with headquarters at Baton Rouge, Franklin, Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, Shreveport, and Vidalia. For a list of known Louisiana subordinate field office personnel and their dates of service, see the appendix.
ACTIVITIES
The major activities of the Freedmen's Bureau field office in Louisiana generally resembled those conducted in other states. The Bureau provided various forms of relief to both freedmen and white refugees, supervised labor contracts, assisted freedmen in the establishment of schools, administered justice, helped freedmen locate land, and assisted blacks with military claims for back pay, bounty payments, and pensions.
Between June and September 1865, the Bureau in Louisiana issued some 455,290 rations to destitute freedmen and 157,691 to white refugees. With no appropriated funds from Congress, the Bureau relied on several sources to carry out these activities: income from confiscated property, requisitioned supplies from the army, aid from benevolent societies, and a three–dollar tax on black adult laborers. Despite the Bureau's efforts, however, tens of thousands of freedmen and refugees remained in dire straits throughout the state. The lack of available funds, continuous flooding, crop failures, and disease severely hampered the Bureau's relief programs. On March 30, 1867, Congress appropriated monies for a "Special Relief Fund" (15 Stat. 28). The fund authorized the Secretary of War, through the Freedmen's Bureau, to issue provisions and rations to destitute persons in Southern states, including Louisiana.
In response to the act, Commissioner Howard issued a circular on April 3, 1867 (Circular Number 11), that set aside $500,000 for the purpose.1 The agency maintained homes for refugees and orphans. Hundreds of refugees were housed in two hotels in New Orleans (the Commercial and the Western Verandah) and later the Marine Hospital. While most of the residents were from Louisiana, some were from Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Beginning in 1865, the Bureau provided assistance to several privately run orphan asylums in New Orleans and other areas of the state until its work for orphans was discontinued in September 1865. The Bureau also provided medical aid to freedmen and white refugees. In 1866, to help combat such diseases as cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox, seven doctors, on average, served under the Bureau in Louisiana: five at the New Orleans hospital and one at both the Shreveport hospital and the Rost Home Colony. The Bureau also maintained numerous dispensaries throughout the state. In spite of the closure of the Rost Home Colony hospital and most of the Bureau's dispensaries by the end of 1867, the agency in 1868 treated more than 8,500 freedmen for various infectious diseases. At the Rost Home Colony—one of the most successful of the four "Home Colonies" established in Louisiana—Bureau officials also issued rations and clothing, established a school, provided employment, and compiled a variety of personal data about individuals who arrived and departed from the Colony. Both the New Orleans and the Shreveport hospitals maintained registers of patients and the sick and wounded.2
The regulation of written labor agreements between planters and freedmen was a major concern of the Freedmen's Bureau. In a circular issued on December 4, 1865 (Circular Number 29), Bureau officials in Louisiana outlined the rules governing the free labor system in the state. Freedmen could choose their employers, and all contracts were to be approved by a Bureau agent. Wages were not set, but the circular declared that it was the freedmen's "Duty" to "obtain the best terms they can for their labor." Freedmen were required to work 26 days per month, consisting of 10–hour days in the summer and 9–hour days in the winter. Any work time exceeding 6 hours beyond the normal workday would constitute an additional day's work. In addition to wages, freedmen were also entitled to receive rations, clothing, "Comfortable" living quarters, and medical attention, and each family was to receive a half–acre plot to maintain a garden. Five percent of the freedman's monthly wages was to be retained by the employer for the purpose of sustaining schools for the freedman's children. In cases where freedmen desired to work for a share of the crop, employers were required to have sufficient amounts of provisions available for freedmen and their families each month. Also, employers who entered into share agreements were obligated to pay Bureau agents 1/20 of the amount of the freedmen's share of the crop each month for the benefit of freedmen schools.3
In the two years following the April 1862 occupation of New Orleans by Union troops, various civilian and military organizations established schools to educate freedmen in Louisiana. Gen. Nathaniel Banks's order of March 22, 1864 (Department of the Gulf General Order 38), established a board of education to govern the organization of freedmen's schools. B. Rush Plumly was appointed head of the board, and Lt. Edwin M. Wheelock became supervisor. Schools under the board's jurisdiction were supported mainly by a tax on citizens recently disloyal to the Union. On June 29, 1865, Assistant Commissioner Conway took charge of the schools, and on July 5, 1865, replaced Plumly and Wheelock with Capt. H. R. Pease as superintendent of education. Pease's successors included Bvt. Maj. A. G. Studer, Lt. F. R. Chase, J. M. Lee, L. O. Parker, H. H. Pierce, and E. W. Mason.
Pease divided the state into seven school districts, placing military and civilian personnel in charge. Under these officers were school directors responsible for each parish and "Canvassers" who collected the school tax for each district. At the time of his arrival, there were some 126 freedmen schools, with 230 teachers and approximately 19,000 students. However, with limited funds and intense opposition to the school tax, Circular Number 34, dated December 27, 1865, directed that all schools be "suspended until such time as it may be found practicable to re-establish them on a permanent and self–supporting basis."4
In February 1866, then–Assistant Commissioner Baird sought to make schools self–supporting through a tuition plan. Despite Baird's new plan and congressional appropriations of 1866 and 1867 for freedmen education in the South, the Freedmen's Bureau's educational programs in Louisiana continued to face financial difficulties. In June 1868, Congress authorized the Bureau to sell school buildings to private groups that were willing to maintain freedmen schools, and the Bureau entered into cooperative agreements with such groups as the American Missionary Society, the Methodist Freedmen's Aid Society, and the Free Mission Baptists. Under the agreements, the Bureau provided monies for construction of the school buildings, and the religious organizations maintained the schools. In 1870, the cooperation between the Bureau and religious groups led to significant progress in the establishment of numerous freedmen schools in Louisiana. Despite their efforts however, freedmen schools continued to suffer from the effects of limited resources, lack of competent teachers, and a segregated school system.5
Safeguarding rights and securing justice for freedmen was of paramount concern to the Freedmen's Bureau. Following the Civil War, several Southern states enacted a series of laws, commonly known as "Black Codes," that restricted the rights and legal status of freedmen. Freedmen were often given harsh sentences for petty crimes, and in some instances were unable to get their cases heard in state courts. Assistant Commissioners were directed to "adjudicate, either themselves or through officers of their appointment, all difficulties arising between Negroes themselves, or between Negroes and whites or Indians."6 Assistant Commissioner Conway issued Circular Number 15 (September 15, 1865), authorizing his subordinates to establish freedmen courts in cases where freedmen were not receiving just treatment. Conway's successors—Fullerton, Baird, and Sheridan—believed that civil officers in most parishes administered justice impartially in freedmen cases, and so abolished the special tribunals as unnecessary. Nevertheless, Bureau officers were still required to represent freedmen in court cases and refer the most extreme cases of injustice to United States courts. In the latter part of 1866, fearing that freedmen's rights were not being adequately protected, Assistant Commissioner Joseph Mower re–instituted some Bureau judicial functions that had been previously suspended by his predecessors. William H. Wood, who succeeded Mower, told Bureau agents during his tenure that only in cases where the evidence clearly showed the civil court's failure to administer justice, were they to become involved. Wood's replacement, Gen. Robert C. Buchanan, like Fullerton, Baird, and Sheridan, continued the policy of leaving matters of justice to civil authorities. By the time Gen. Edward Hatch assumed office as Assistant Commissioner in 1868, Louisiana had restored its constitutional relations with the Federal Government, and matters concerning justice were returned to the state.7
The Southern Homestead Act (14 Stat. 66), approved by Congress on June 21, 1866, made available for public settlement 46 million acres of public lands in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Six million acres of this Federal land was located in Louisiana. The act specifically prohibited discrimination against applicants due to race, and thus offered Louisiana freedmen and others an opportunity to become landowners. Only persons who headed households or were former United States soldiers were eligible to apply. A five–dollar application fee was required of all applicants, which allowed them to settle on an 80–acre tract and gain permanent possession after five years of cultivation. Generally, the Freedmen's Bureau, through "Locating Agents," assisted interested freedmen in finding plots, and provided them with one-month subsistence, free transportation to their prospective tracts of land, and seeds for initial planting. By January 1867, J. J. Saville, as locating agent, found homesteads for 87 freedmen, 73 whites, and 14 soldiers. However, because the New Orleans land office was closed, only 7 were able to file applications. While limited resources and the lack of suitable lands for settlement hindered freedmen in their effort to acquire land, freedmen also faced intense opposition from whites who opposed black land ownership. Freedmen were thus encouraged by Bureau officials in Louisiana to settle on land in large numbers in order to protect themselves from intense opposition by whites.8
An act of Congress on June 14, 1864, authorized the payment of bounties, not to exceed $100, to black soldiers who had entered the military after June 15, 1864, and who were free on April 19, 1861 (14 Stat. 126). Amendments in 1866 dropped the requirement of freedom at enlistment and offered additional bounties of $100 for those blacks who had signed on for three years, and $50 for individuals who enlisted for two years. To assist black soldiers and their heirs in filing bounty and other military claims against the Federal Government, a claims agency was initially established in the United States Sanitary Commission. On July 14, 1865, Commissioner Howard authorized Freedmen's Bureau officials to act as agents of the Commission and to assist it in filing for black military claims. However, freedmen often rejected the free services of the agency and paid fees to private claims agents, believing that they would receive their money quicker. In 1867, concerned about abuse and fraud in the settlement of black military claims, Congress passed a law making the Freedmen's Bureau the sole agent for payment of claims of black veterans (15 Stat. 26). From October 31, 1866, through September 30, 1867, the Bureau in Louisiana settled claims amounting to just $1,489.73. However, one year later, 240 veterans' claims amounting to $52,058 were settled, with 484 remaining to be resolved.9
ENDNOTES
1 Howard A. White, The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1970), 64 – 76.
2 Ibid., 76 – 85; For a discussion of the establishment and activities at Rost Home Colony, see Michael F. Knight, "The Rost Home Colony: St. Charles Parish, Louisiana," Prologue 33, No. 1 (Fall 2001): 214 – 220; Records relating to the Freedmen's hospital at New Orleans have been reproduced on Records of the New Orleans Field Offices, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1869 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1483, Rolls 1 – 7); For Shreveport hospital records, see Roll 101 in this publication.
3 House Ex. Doc. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. Serial Vol. 1256, pp. 30 – 33.
4 White, The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana, pp. 166 – 175; See also House Ex. Doc. 70, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., Serial Vol. 1256, pp. 35 – 36.
5 White, The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana, 176 – 200.
6 House Ex. Doc. 11, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., Serial Vol. 1255, pp. 45 – 46.
7 White, The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana, 134 – 165.
8 Ibid., 59 – 63.
9 Howard A. White, The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana, pp. 160 – 162; See also, Annual Reports of the Assistant Commissioners, Louisiana, October 5, 1868 [pp. 19 – 20], Records of the Office of the Commissioner, Record Group 105, National Archives Building, Washington, DC.
Freedmen's Bureau Personnel in Louisiana:
This list provides the names and dates of service of known Freedmen's Bureau personnel at the Plantation Department and selected subordinate field offices in Louisiana. Where noted, officers served at two locations. Additional information regarding persons assigned to various field offices might be found among the Bureau's Washington headquarters station books and rosters of military officers and civilians on duty in the states and other appointment–related records.
PLANTATION DEPARTMENT
July 1865–May 1866 -- Superintendent Capt. Frank Bagley
May–Sept. 1866 -- Superintendent C. R. Stickney
Oct. 1866–June 1867 -- Assistant Quartermaster W. B. Armstrong
ABBEVILLE
Apr. 1867–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner A. N. Murtagh
ALEXANDRIA
June 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Assistant Superintendent S. G. Williams
May–Nov. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner S. G. Williams
Nov. 1867–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George Buttrick
June–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner H. P. Hathaway
ALGIERS
May 1865–Apr. 1866 -- Provost Marshal of Freedmen William E. Dougherty
May 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent Richard Folles
Apr. 1867–Oct. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Richard Folles
Oct.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Isaac Stathem
AMITE
Sept.–Dec. 1865 -- Assistant Superintendent H. H. Rouse
Dec. 1865–Feb. 1866 -- Assistant Superintendent Edward Ehrlich
Feb.–Apr. 1866 -- Assistant Superintendent W. K. Tillotson
Apr.–Nov. 1866 -- Assistant Superintendent James Hough
Nov. 1866–May 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner James Hough
May–Nov. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George F. Austin
Nov.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Joseph D. Buckley
BATON ROUGE
May–June 1867 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 2nd Subdistrict George F. Schager
July 1867–Jan. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 2nd Subdistrict William H. Webster
Jan.–June 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 2nd Subdistrict Frank D. Garretty
July–Dec. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 2nd Subdistrict Charles Hill
Feb.–Apr. 1866 -- Agent M. J. Sheridan
July 1866 -- Agent E. C. Phetteplace
Oct. 1866 -- Agent Abner Doane
Jan.–May 1867 -- Agent William H. Webster
July 1867-Jan.1869 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner William H. Webster
Feb.–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George Inness
June–July 1968 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Charles Hill
Dec. 1867–Jan. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward S. Wilson
Jan.–Aug. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner E. H. Hosner
LAKE PROVIDENCE
Jan. 1866–May 1867 -- Agent George W. Rollins
May–Oct. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George W. Rollins
Oct. 1867–Jan. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Thomas H. Hannon
Jan.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner E. H. Masters
MADISONVILLE
Oct. 1866 -- Agent A. J. Rose
Nov. 1866–May 1867 -- Agent W. H. R. Hangen
May 1867–Sept. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner W. H. R. Hangen
Sept.–Nov. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner W. H. R. Hangen (also Covington)
Nov.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Thomas H. Jenks, Jr. (also Covington)
MANSFIELD
Mar. 1867–May 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. J. Walsh
May–Aug. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Michael Cary
Aug.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward Henderson
MARKSVILLE
Mar–Aug. 1866 -- Agent Amos S. Collins (also Evergreen)
Aug. 1866–May 1867 -- Agent Amos S. Collins (also Marksville)
May 1867–May 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Amos S. Collins
May–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Cyrus H. Ross
MILLIKEN BEND
May 1864 -- Assistant Provost Marshal D. McCall
Nov.–Dec. 1864 -- Provost Marshal Benjamin F. Cheney
May–Sept. 1867 -- Assistant Subasistant Commissioner C. P. Varney
Sept.–Dec. 1867 -- Assistant Subasistant Commissioner T. F. Cummins
Jan.–Feb. 1868 -- Assistant Subasistant Commissioner A. J. Baby
Feb.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subasistant Commissioner John S. Shaw
MONROE
Mar. 1867–Aug. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of 5th Subdistrict Samuel C. Gold
Mar. 1867–Aug. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of 5th Subdistrict W. W. Webb
Aug.–Nov. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of 5th Subdistrict John H. Bowen
Sept.–Oct 1865 -- Assistant Superintendent Frank Morey
Feb.–Mar. 1866 -- Agent J. H. Wisner
Apr. 1866 -- Agent H. A. Pease
May 1866–Jan. 1867 -- Agent Joseph Burns
Feb.–June 1867 -- Agent Frank Morey
June–Nov. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Charles C. Swenson
Nov. 1867–Apr. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner W. R. Wheyland
Apr.–Aug. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward K. Russ
Aug.–Oct. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward K. Russ (also Trenton)
Oct.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner H. L. Irwin (also Trenton)
MONTGOMERY
June 1867–Sept. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner D. W. White
NAPOLEONVILLE
May–Nov. 1865 -- Provost Marshal J. W. Greene
Dec. 1865–Feb. 1866 -- Agent Francis S. Dodge
Feb. 1866–May 1867 -- Agent A. C. Ellis
May–Oct. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner O. H. Hempstead, Jr.
Nov. 1867–May 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner John W. Sword
May–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Julius Lovell
NATCHITOCHES
June 1867–May 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 4th Subdistrict James Cromie
May–July 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 4th Subdistrict Isaac N. Walter
July 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 4th Subdistrict N. B. McLaughlin
July–Nov. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 4th Subdistrict G. A. Hewlett
Nov.–Dec. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 4th Subdistrict Theodore W. De Klyne
Feb.–Apr. 1866 -- Agent W. H. Henderson
May 1866–May 1867 -- Agent James Comie
May 1867–Sept. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Charles Miller
Aug.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner E. H. Hosner
NEW IBERIA
Dec. 1865–Jan. 1866 -- Agent Edmund C. Burt (also St. Martinsville)
Jan. 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent William H. Cornelius (also St. Martinsville)
Apr.–July 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner William H. Cornelius (also St. Martinsville)
Aug. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner I. W. Keller (and A. A. C. Leblanc, Clerk, St. Martinsville)
Sept.–Oct. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner L. Jolissaint
Nov. 1867–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner John T. White
NEW ORLEANS
May 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner for Orleans Parish Left Bank A. N. Murtagh
June–Aug. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner for Orleans Parish Left Bank L. Jolissaint
Sept. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner for Orleans Parish Left Bank W. H. Cornelius
Oct. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner for Orleans Parish Left Bank John T. White
Nov. 1867–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner for Orleans Parish Left Bank L. Jolissaint
Apr.–Dec. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Comissioner for St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes Ira D. M. McClary (also Kenilworth Plantation)
Jan. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Comissioner for St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes Oscare A. Rice (also Chofield Plantation)
Jan.–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Comissioner for St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes P. J. Smalley (also Chofield Plantation and P. O. Lock Box 841)
June–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Comissioner for St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes H. M. Whittmore (also Merritts Plantation)
NEW ROADS
Mar. 1866 -- Agent Thomas H. Hopwood (see Labatuts Landing)
Apr.–July 1866 -- Agent Thomas H. Hopwood
July 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent H. F. Wallace
Apr.–Nov. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner H. F. Wallace
Nov. 1867–Feb. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner M. Basso (also Point Coupee)
Feb.–Apr. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner C. J. Lorigan (also Waterloo)
Apr.–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner C. J. Lorigan (also New Roads and Waterloo)
July–Oct. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Victor Benthien
PLAQUEMINE
Jan. 1865 -- Provost Marshal M. Masicot
Feb.–Oct. 1865 -- Provost Marshal Nelson Kenyon
Oct. 1865 -- Provost Marshal James M. Eddy
Dec. 1865 -- Agent A. R. Houston
Feb.–Apr. 1866 -- Agent J. C. Stimmell
May 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent F. A. Osbourn
Apr.–Dec. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner F. A. Osbourn
Jan.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner E. Charles Merrill
ST. JOSEPH
Aug.–Oct. 1865 -- Agent David L. Jones
Nov. 1865 -- Agent A. Roberts
Nov.–Dec. 1865 -- Agent A. Hemingway
Jan.–Feb. 1866 -- Agent R. D. Mitchell
Feb. 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent J. H. Hastings
Apr.–May 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. H. Hastings
May 1867–Aug. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward Henderson
SHREVEPORT
May 1867–July 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 7th Subdistrict Martin Flood
Aug. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 7th Subdistrict Frank D. Garretty
Oct.–Dec. 1865 -- Assistant Superintendent D. H. Reese
Dec. 1865–Apr. 1866 -- Assistant Superintendent L. Horrigan
May–June 1866 -- Agent E. E. Williams
June 1866 -- Assistant Superintendent William P. Hagardon
June 1866–May 1867 -- Assistant Superintendent Martin Flood
May 1867–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Thomas F. Monroe
Sept. 1869–Sept. 1870 -- Superintendent of Education James McCleery
SPARTA
Dec. 1866–Feb. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner E. W. Dewees
Feb.–June 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George Schayer
June–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward Newell Bean
THIBODEAUX
Aug. 1866 -- Agent C. P. M. Taggart
Feb.–Mar. 1867 -- Agent S. A. Kohly
Mar.–Apr. 1867 -- Agent J. D. Rich
May–June 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. D. Rich
June–Nov. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. A. A. Robinson
Nov. 1867–Apr. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Francis Sternberg
Apr.–Sept. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Nelson Bronson
Sept.–Oct. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner I. H. Van Antwerp
Oct.–Nov. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner William S. MacKenzie
Nov.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner William Hollenback
TRINITY
May 1867–July 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner M. Johnson Lemmon (also Prairie Landing)
Aug. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. H. H. Camp (also Mossy Farm Plantation)
Sept.–Nov. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner J. H. H. Camp (also Trinity)
Nov.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Van R. K. Hilliard
VERMILLIONVILLE
Jan. 1866–Apr. 1867 -- Agent S. W. Purchase
May 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner S. W. Purchase
May 1867–Jan. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Edward Lindemann
Jan.–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Oscar A. Rice
VERNON
May 1867–Sept. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner W. Bishop
VIDALIA
May–June 1867 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 6th Subdistrict J. H. Hastings (also St. Joseph)
June–Oct. 1867 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 6th Subdistrict J. H. Hastings (also Vidalia)
Nov. 1867–July 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 6th Subdistrict George W. Rollins
July–Aug 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 6th Subdistrict Frank D. Garretty
Aug.–Dec. 1868 -- Subassistant Commissioner of the 6th Subdistrict George W. Rollins
Aug.–Sept. 1865 -- Agent J. H. West
Feb. 1868–Apr. 1867 -- Agent B. B. Brown
Apr.–June 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner B. B. Brown
June–Oct. 1867 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner George H. Dunford
Sept. 1867–July 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Christian Rush
July–Dec. 1868 -- Assistant Subassistant Commissioner Alexander Hamilton
Related Materials:
See also Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection
Provenance:
Acquired from FamilySearch International in 2015.
Restrictions:
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
