Freedman's Village and Reconstruction Collection, 1857-1996.
(Realia)

RG 103 is divided into three series. Series one concerns Freedman's Village. Series two concerns the "America's Reconstruction" exhibit held in 1996 at the Virginia Historical Society. Series three contains copies of articles and some exhibit posters concerning integration in Arlington.

Please contact the Center for Local History in advance to view these materials. There are no research restrictions.

RG 103 consists of copies and transcripts of materials collected by teacher Roberta (Bobbi) Schildt in the course of her research on Reconstruction and specifically Freedman's Village in Arlington, Virginia. She used the collections of the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Freedom and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland, among other repositories. A smaller portion of the collection consists of copies of newspaper clippings collected by Dusty Horowitt, her former student, during his research on the integration of Arlington schools in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ms. Schildt, a teacher in the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program in Arlington, worked with her seventh grade students to produce the 1984 book, Freedman's Village: Arlington, Virginia 1863-1900. Freedman's Village was founded in 1863 on the lands along Arlington Heights, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. Originially a temporary camp for freedmen, it became a permanent community for freed slaves, first under the direction of the War and Treasury Departments and later of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. In the 1880s, the land became a military reservation, and the villagers had all moved to other parts of Arlington by 1900. Most of the land which made up the village is now contained in the area of the Arlington National Cemetery. In 1992-1993 Ms. Schildt studied the Reconstruction era with Dr. Ira Berlin at the University of Maryland. In 1995-96 she produced a teachers' resource book to be used with the exhibit "America's Reconstruction."

Finding aid is available in the library.