Indigenous Peoples of New Mexico

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Learn about the indigenous people of New Mexico, tribes and bands, state-recognized tribes, agencies, records, pueblos, and online sources.

Online Resources[edit | edit source]

  • Native American obituaries : a project of the Farmington, NM Family History Center, 1977-2001

    • Tribes and Bands of New Mexico[edit | edit source]

    Current Tribes and Bands[edit | edit source]

    Tribes

    • Fort Sill Apache Tribe
    • Jicarilla Apache Nation
    • Mescalero Apache Tribe
    • Navajo Nation

    Pueblos

    • Acoma
    • Cochiti
    • Isleta
    • Jemez
    • Laguna
    • Nambe
    • Ohkay Owingeh
    • Picuris
    • Pojoaque
    • Sandia
    • San Felipe
    • San Ildefonso
    • Santa Ana
    • Santa Clara
    • Santo Domingo
    • Taos
    • Tesuque
    • Zuni
    • Zia
    Historical Listing of Tribes and Bands[edit | edit source]

    The following list of American Indians who have lived in New Mexico has been compiled from Hodge's Handbook of American Indians...[1] and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America[2]. Some may simply be variant spellings for the same tribe.

    Pueblos:


    Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs[edit | edit source]

    Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value were created by these offices.

    The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in New Mexico has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs...[3], Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians[4], and others.

    Historic Agencies

    Current Agencies

    Records[edit | edit source]

    The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters. They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:

    Indian Schools[edit | edit source]

    See United States Indigenous Peoples School Records

    The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools that served children from a number of tribes and reservations.

    In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on Native American children.

    The following list of Indian Schools in New Mexico has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs...[5], Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians[6], and others.

    Other School Records[edit | edit source]

    Indian Health Facilities[edit | edit source]

    Reservations[edit | edit source]

    From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the Native Americans was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government.

    Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies.

    The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether.

    For a current reservation map - New Mexico - Indian Reservations - The National Atlas of the United States of America. Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. by the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Geological Survey.

    The following list of reservations has been compiled from the National Atlas of the United States of America[7], the Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America[8], and other sources. Those reservations named in bold are current federally-recognized reservations, with their associated agency and tribe(s). Others have historically been associated with the state or are not currently recognized by the federal government.

    • Alamo Reservation: Federal, under jurisdiction of _______ Tribe: Navajo: Tribe: Zuni
    • Bosque Redondo Reservation:
    • Canoncito Reservation: Federal, under jurisdiction of ______, Tribe: Navajo
    • Jicarilla Reservation: Federal, under jurisdiction of Jicarilla Agency, Tribe: Jicarilla Apache
    • Mescalero Reservation: Federal, under jurisdiction of Mescalero Agency, Tribe: Apache
    • Navajo Reservation: Tribe: Apache
    • Ojo Caliente Reservation:
    • Puerto Cito Reservation: Tribe: Alamo Navajo
    • Ramah Reservation (Community): Federal, under jurisdiction of Ramah-Navajo Agency, Tribe: Navajo
    • Zuni Reservation: Federal, under jurisdiction of Zuni Agency, Tribe: Zuni

    Pueblos[edit | edit source]

    Native American Obituaries[edit | edit source]

    The Native American Obituary Project is a compilation of over 500 pages of newspaper clippings of Native American obituaries from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. The project originated with volunteers at the Farmington, New Mexico Family History Center. The obituaries range in date from 1977 to 2001. They were printed in the following newspapers:

    • The Daily Times (Farmington, New Mexico)
    • The Winslow Mail (Winslow, Arizona)
    • Montezuma Valley Sun (Montezuma, Colorado)
    • Cortez Journal (Cortez, Colorado)
    • Navajo Times (Window Rock, Navajo Nation, Arizona)
    • Lake Powell Chronicle (Page, Arizona)

    The published volume, which includes a surname index, has been microfilmed and digitized under the title, Native American Obituaries. The digitized copies can also be accessed through FamilySearch Digital Library.

    Family History Library[edit | edit source]

    The Family History Library has microfilm copies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs records of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, land allotments and homesteads, and school records and reports. The records were created between 1878 and 1944 at the Eastern Navajo, Jicarilla, Pueblos, Zuni, and other agencies. These original records for New Mexico are located at the National Archives at Denver.

    Records and information about the various tribes are also listed in the Subject Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the tribe.See also New Mexico Native Races for over 130 titles of interest

    • New Mexico Superintendency 1848-1880 T21 30 films 1st film 1617620 FHL Collection WorldCat
    • U.S. Department of the Interior Appointment Division. Interior Department Appointment Papers, Territory of New Mexico, 1850-1907. FHL Collection WorldCat

    Census Records[edit | edit source]

    Online Resources[edit | edit source]

    Mexico Genealogical Society

    Other Repositories[edit | edit source]

    • Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1570 Pacheco St., Santa Fe, NM 87501

    See Also:[edit | edit source]

    New Mexico-Church for a list of missions. There were many Spanish Missions with Pueblos.

    New Mexico-History for a calendar of events.

    New Mexico-Military for a list of forts.

    References[edit | edit source]

    1. ↑ Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30 1907. Available online.
    2. ↑ Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145. Available online.
    3. ↑ Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches, Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc. 1974. (Family History Library book 970.1 H551o.)
    4. ↑ Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. (FHL book 970.1 H551g.)
    5. ↑ Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches, Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc. 1974. (Family History Library book 970.1 H551o.)
    6. ↑ Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981. (FHL book 970.1 H551g.)
    7. ↑ National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. Available online.
    8. ↑ Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.

    Bibliography[edit | edit source]

    • "Accompanying Pamphlet for Microcopy 1011", National Archives Microfilm Publications, Appendix.
    • American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 1998.
    • Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981.
    • Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. New York, New York: Clearwater Publishing Company, Inc., 1974.
    • Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880. National Archives Microcopy T1105.
    • Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30 1907. Available online.
    • Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.
    • National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. Available online.
    • Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. Available online
    • Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145. Available online.
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