The end of slavery meant a kind of beginning for the family histories of many African-Americans: For the first time, the enslaved people's identities and family connections became part of a public record. And the huge task of recording that data fell to the federal Freedmen's Bureau.

Collecting dust in government warehouses since the late 1800s, the Virginia portion of the Freedmen's Bureau records is now available electronically to the public. The online database that lists marriages, birth certificates, contracts and even some personal narratives will offer a trove of detail to historians and to the descendants of slaves, who have struggled to piece together family histories obscured by the institution of slavery.

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