Today’s post is by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives at Denver Many of us are probably guilty of it. I certainly was; letting my mind drift during a cataloging course in library school and doodling palm trees amongst my class notes. It seems for Virgil Milo Pinkley, who graduated from the Vanderbilt University … Continue reading Doctor’s Orders; Cucumber Boats? The Wind River Reservation Physician’s Medical Notebooks
Hunger enters stage right wearing a tight fitting black costume, a skeleton painted on the front and back. Hunger walks to the edge of the stage purposefully, then in a strolling fashion back to the house. Hunger peeps into the windows, inspects the adjacent root cellar, goes back to the dilapidated house, and enters. The … Continue reading Pirates in Love, Walking Potatoes, and Barboncito; the Pageants and Plays of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Today's post is by Rose Buchanan, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records When you hear the phrase “administrative correspondence,” what do you think of? It would not be surprising if you conjured up an image of dry, tedious paperwork full of legalese. Sometimes, that image is accurate! But in many cases … Continue reading Highlights from the “Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–1880” (Microfilm M234)
Today’s post is by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives at Denver Let’s take a trip back…80 years ago…to 1945. It is 8:00 PM in the late spring evening, so the endless Montana sky still lies atop the Crow Reservation in front of you while driving back home after checking some fencelines along Pryor … Continue reading The War Comes to the Reservation – the Japanese Balloon Bombs of WWII
In 1913 Philip Longergan, superintendent of the Pueblo day schools, received a deal he couldn’t refuse. Even marked CONFIDENTIAL, adding validity to just how great a deal it was, Longergan was entitled…to purchase an A.G. Spalding and Brothers Incorporated All-Steel Apparatus for the Playground…for 20% off! A.G. Spalding and Brothers Inc. playground equipment coupon sent … Continue reading Swing into the Bureau of Indian Affairs Decimal Filing System
Today's post is by Rose Buchanan, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records On July 20, 1964, Ida Ellen Stansbury Robinson of Merced, California, wrote to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters in Washington, DC, to request information about her family history. “For a number of years I have been aware … Continue reading “I Trust You Will Be Able to Assist Me”: Genealogy Researchers Contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Superintendent Albert Reagan of the Nett Lake Agency in Northern Minnesota was fed up with Tom Fisher. Fisher, a reservation policeman, was already on thin ice with Reagan when Fisher dropped into the agency office on November 16th and complained that he worked too hard. The superintendent vented to his office diary, listing exactly how … Continue reading Dear Diary; the Official Diaries of Office of Indian Affairs Superintendents, 1907-1917
Today’s post is written by Cody White, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records On September 29, 1936, Carmen Gurnoe of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, wrote the Albuquerque Indian School in New Mexico. Her request was simple, and one that Native elders still make today—she needed proof of her birth date, in … Continue reading A Snapshot of Poor Records Storage at the Albuquerque Indian School
By Rose Buchanan, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records “Chilkat Blanket.” This terse subject line is easy to miss in a nearly 100-page file of administrative correspondence from the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB). It headlines a May 17, 1962, letter from Carl W. Heinmiller, director of Alaska Indian Arts, … Continue reading Not “the last Chilkat blanket weaver”: The Story of Annie Klaney and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board
Today’s post is written by Cody White, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records. In honor of both National Native American Heritage Month and Veterans Day, today I want to highlight through our Bureau of Indian Affairs records one of the many Natives who answered our nation’s call in times of war. … Continue reading Meet Sgt. Eva Mirabal/Eah Ha Wa (Taos Pueblo); Women’s Army Corps Artist
