Bill

After your revelation about the Documants relating to the Slaves at Helena in the Curtis Paper per your postin in the "Troops at Fort Smith" thread below, I don't know if you are aware of this bill before Congress.

H.R. 390: Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act

To require the establishment of a national database in the National Archives to preserve records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction and to provide grants to State and local entities to establish similar local databases.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-390

Looks like you have already got a heads-up on this research.