Teachers' Monthly Report and Rules
2/1865
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Following the Civil War, the Federal Government established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to aid former slaves – better known as the Freedmen's Bureau. It helped freedpeople establish schools, purchase land, locate family members, and legalize marriages.
This February 1865 teacher's report includes the numbers of students taught, the number of hours spent teaching, and the condition of the school. Teachers H.M and H.S. Barstow were affiliated with the Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Commission (NFAC), and were required to abide by that organization's rules of conduct, which are printed in the report template. Teachers, for example, had to instruct their students for six hours a day and could be dismissed for filing false reports.
This February 1865 teacher's report includes the numbers of students taught, the number of hours spent teaching, and the condition of the school. Teachers H.M and H.S. Barstow were affiliated with the Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Commission (NFAC), and were required to abide by that organization's rules of conduct, which are printed in the report template. Teachers, for example, had to instruct their students for six hours a day and could be dismissed for filing false reports.
Transcript
[printed form]Northwestern Freedmen’s Aid Commission
Teacher’s Monthly Report
No. Three (3).
Report of School No. 20, located at Home Farm, in the Department of Little Rock, Ark, for the Month ending February 1st A.D. 1865.
I.
Have taught fifteen days the past Month. -- Lost two days. (cold)
1. Whole No. of Scholars enrolled, One Hundred & thirteen, 113
2. Average Daily Attendance, [handwritten] Eighty, 80
3. Tardy, Very Low, 10
4. Absent, Fourteen, 14
5. Transferred, None, 0
6. Left, Fourteen 14
II.
1. No. of hours engaged in Teaching Daily, Six, 6
2. No. of hours engaged in Moral and Religious Instruction, Per Week, Seven, 7
3. No. of hours engaged in Visiting the Sick, distributing Stores, or other Missionary Work enjoined, total for the Month, Sixty, 60
4. No. of Days’ Labor Performed, Twenty four, 24
5. No. of Days’ Lost, Seven, (Wife was unwell 5 days - Colds) 7
III.
1. State of Teacher’s Health, Just Medium at present,
2. Sanitary Condition of School, Very Good at this time
3. Sanitary Condition of Post, " " " "
IV.
1. New or Continued Difficulties, A want of the proper books & charts for the use of beginners. House is not properly seated; & is uncomfortable on acct of being too open, [illegible] weather will reunify the soil in part at least
2. New or Continued Encouragements, Scholars appear to be anxious to learn &c
3. Give elsewhere at length cases of Special interest, Religions are maintained and continue to increase in interest -- Good is being accomplished,
4. Contingent Expenses - in Items, Total for the Month $44.30 ($34.30 for Stove & Pipe.) The Ballance for a Blackboard, & other items,
5. Additional Remarks,
Clothing
1 Peices [sic] of Clothing madeup, 3
2 " given away, 40
3 " of clothing sold, 3
4 Bal of goods sold, $3.00
5 Boxes on hand, unopened, -- 1
6 Peices [sic] of clothing on hand 15
7 Packages of goods on hand, 0
8 All we now have are [illegible] overcoats & a Box of Blankets.
V.
Inventory of Articles belonging to the Commission in care of Teacher.
1. Books, - Have a part of the books on hand reported last month
2. Charts, Five,
3. Slates, " " " " " " " "
4. Writing Materials, " " " " " " " "
5. Chairs, Benches, &c., " " " " " " " "
6. Blackboard Materials, Have a new blackboard, & [illegible]
7. Non=Classified Articles, A. slight addition,
Dated, Home Farm, L. Rock, Ark. Jan 31st 1865
Signed, H.M. & H. S. Barstow, N. W. F. A. C. [printed]Teacher. [handwritten] s,
[facing page:]
1. Every teacher is subject to the instruction of the General Superintendent, of the Superintendent of Schools, and of the Superintendent of Sanitary and Domestic Affairs. Disobedience or disrespect to either, will, at discretion of the Commission, be deemed sufficient cause for removal.
2. The Commission reserves the right to dismiss any Teacher, without explanation, upon thirty days' notice.
3. No Teacher quitting his or her assigned post of duty, for a longer or shorter period, without the consent of the Corresponding Secretary, or of an authorized Superintendent, shall be deemed in good standing, or entitled to pay or allowance, until an explanation, satisfactory to the Superintendent of Schools, has been made and approved in writing.
4. Teachers will use their best exertions for the preservation of the property of the Commission; revise the monthly inventory with care; and on no account leave one post for another, or for a return north, without delivering to the nearest Superintendent, the custody of all articles theretofore in their keeping, and taking a written receipted inventory in evidence of the transfer. Failure to observe this rule will render the delinquent liable for the full value of the property un-transferred.
5. All Teachers not excused in writing are expected to spend six hours daily in teaching. Whenever they fail to do so their monthly reports must show the delinquency, and
satisfactorily account for it. To this Rule special attention is called.
6. Teachers will use every endeavor to systematise their labors throughout, and to habituate their pupils to regularity and promptitude.
7. Teachers will not use their orders for transportation without the knowledge and approval of the nearest Superintendent, except in cases of unusual emergency, of which satisfactory explanation shall be made to the Superintendent of School at the earliest opportunity.
8. Any Teacher detected in making careless or wilfully inaccurate reports may be dismissed without notice.
9. No Teacher will be allowed to pay or allowance after the date of his or her dismissal, or the expiration of the time of his or her commission.
10. The General Superintendent and the Superintendent of Schools, have authority to suspend Teachers at their discretion.
11. A Teacher who shall leave the employ of the Commission, or enter the employ of any other party, without the approval of the Superintendent of Schools, or of the General Superintendent and the fulfilment of such conditions as these Superintendents are authorized to impose, will thereby forfeit his or her standing with this Commission.
11. Reports in due form must be forwarded regularly on the first or not later than the fifth day of each month, in duplicate: one copy to the Corresponding Secretary at Chicago; the other to the Superintendent of Schools. Any Teacher who shall fail to satisfy the Commission that this rule has been fully observed, shall, in the discretion of the Commission, forfeit one half the salary otherwise due for each month's labor partially or altogether unreported.
13. Willful carelessness of any of the foregoing rules, will always be deemed sufficient cause for dismissal.
JACOB R. SHIPHERD,
Corresponding Secretary.
Little Rock, Ark
Jan 31, 1865.
H.M. Barstow
Teacher at Home Farm.
Report for January 1865
[line]
N. W. F. A.
[line]
TEACHER’S REPORT
OF
School No. Twenty (20) No. 4
Located at Home Farm, L. Rock, Ark,
for the Month Ending February (Jan 31)
1st A.D. 1865
[line]
No. Three (3)
H.M. & H. S. Barstow,
Teacher. s.
[line]
Dated, Jan 31st 1865
Received,
[line]
Horton & Leonard Printers, 104 and 106 Randolph St., Chicago
This primary source comes from the Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.
National Archives Identifier: 594901
Full Citation: Teachers' Rules; 2/1865; Narrative School Reports from Teachers and Superintendents of Freedmen's Schools, 12/1864 - 6/1865; Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Record Group 105; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/teachers-rules, April 28, 2025]Activities that use this document
- How Effective were the Efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau?
Created by the National Archives Education Team
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