Superintendencies of Indian Affairs
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A Superintendent of Indian Affairs was an administrator, communicating and overseeing the agents who worked directly with individual tribes. It was the responsibility of the superintendent to see that the agents were following official government policy. Records for Superintendencies exist in the National Archives and copies of many of them are also available in other research facilities.
Superintendent of Indian Trade,
Records
Arkansas Trading House, 1805-1810. M142. Letter Book FHL Collection, film: 1025157
Choctaw Trading House, 1803-1824. T500. FHL Collection, film: 1025085-1025090 Creek Trading House, 1795-1816. M4. Letter Book FHL Film: 1024433
Creek Factory of the Office of Indian Trade, 1795-1821. M1334.FHL Film: 1605523 (first film of thirteen)
Natchitoches Sulphur Fork Factory, 1809-1821. T1029. FHL Collection, film: 1025158
The Superintendencies, Listed Alphabetically
Arizona Superintendency
- Established 1863; abolished 1873
Arkansas Superintendency
- Established 1819; abolished 1834; to Western Superintendency
California Superintendency
- Established 1852; abolished 1873
Central Superintendency
- Established 1851; abolished 1878; from St. Louis Superintendency
Colorado Superintendency
- Established 1861; abolished 1870
Dakota Superintendency
- Established 1861; discontinued 1870; reestablished 1877; abolished 1878; from part of Central Superintendency
Florida Superintendency
- Established 1824; abolished 1834
Idaho Superintendency
- Established 1863; abolished 1870
Iowa Superintendency
- Established 1838; abolished 1846; to St. Louis Superintendency
Michigan Superintendency
- Established 1805; abolished 1851; to Northern Superintendency
Minnesota Superintendency
- Established 1849; abolished 1856; to Northern Superintendency
Missouri Superintendency
- Established 1813; abolished 1848; duties transferred to St. Louis Superintendency after 1851
Montana Superintendency
- Established 1864; abolished 1873
Nevada Superintendency
- Established 1861; abolished 1870
New Mexico Superintendency
- Established 1850; abolished 1874
Northern Superintendency
- Established 1851; abolished 1876; from Michigan and Wisconsin Superintendencies
Oregon Superintendency
- Established 1848; abolished 1873
Southern Superintendency
- Established 1851; abolished 1870; from Western Superintendency
St. Louis Superintendency
- Established 1822; abolished 1851; to Central Superintendency
Utah Superintendency
- Established 1850; abolished 1870
Washington Superintendency
- Established 1853; abolished 1874
Western Superintendency
- Established 1832; abolished 1851; to Southern Superintendency
Wisconsin Superintendency
- Established 1836; abolished 1848; to Northern Superintendency
Wyoming Superintendency
- Established 1869; abolished 1870
The Superintendencies, Listed by Date of Creation
The dates of the records listed in the following chart may extend beyond the date when the Superintendency was abolished. The Bureau of Indian Affairs occasionally filed correspondence under the name of the Superintendency even after it had ceased to operate. Pre-1824 correspondence was under the jurisdiction of the War Department.
State Chronological |
Records |
Record Group |
NARA# | FamilySearch Catalog First Film | Rolls |
Missouri Superintendency 1813-1822 |
Existing records would be filed with the correspondence of the War Department | - | - | - | - |
Arkansas Superintendency 1824-1834 | Tribes: Cherokee, Quapaw, Choctaw, Osage, Shawnee, Caddo and Delaware
1825-1826 Quapaw removed to Caddo or Red River Agency 1834 Most Indians had been removed from Arkansas 1834 Indians west of Arkansas were placed under the new Western Superintendency (Cherokee, Choctaw, Quapaw and others) |
- | - | 1,661,759 | - |
St. Louis Superintendency 1822-1851 | - | - | 1,661,477-486 | - | |
Florida Superintendency 1824-1853 |
Tribes: Seminole Agency: Seminole or Florida Subagency: Apalachicola |
- | - | 1,661,616-21 | - |
Michigan Superintendency 1824-1851 |
Tribes: Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Winnebago, Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee and Ottawa of Maumee 1832-1834 The Six Nations of New York were attached to the Michigan Superintendency |
75 | M1 | FHL Film 1604649 | 71 rolls |
Iowa Superintendency 1838-1849 |
Tribes Sac and Fox 1845 Sauk and Fox moved to the Osage River west of Missouri (now Kansas). |
- | - | -1,661,093 | - |
Western Superintendency 1832-1851 |
Tribes: Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Osage, Seneca and Mixed Band of Seneca and Shawnee, Quapaw, Seminole Chickasaw, Caddo, Kiowa Comanche and others 1839 Chickasaw moved west - Oklahoma |
75 | M640 | FHL Film 1602871 | 22 |
Wisconsin Superintendency 1836-1848 |
Tribes: Sauk and Fox, Winnebago, Chippewa, Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, Sioux and Iowa |
75 | M951 | FHL Film 1618086 | 4 rolls |
California Superintendency 1849-1880 |
Tribes: Tejon, Tule (Tularenos) Mono, Kern River (Tubatulabal), Wikchamni, Nomelaki, Kings River, Fresno, Kawia, Nuimok, Noi-sas, Wailaki, Yupu, Yuki, Klamath, Hupa, Saia, Mattole, Pit River, Redwood (Whilkut), Wappo, Yokaia (Ukiah), Kianamaras, Pomo, Salan Pomo (Potter), Concow (Konkau) and Mission Indians. |
- | - | 1,660,927-944 | - |
Minnesota Superintendency 1849-1856 | Tribes: Sioux, Chippewa, Winnebago, Assiniboin and Mandan | 75 | M872 / 842 | FHL Film1618093 | 9 rolls |
Oregon Superintendency 1848-1880 | Tribes: Umpqua, Umatilla, Cayuse, Wallawalla, Wasco. Shoshoni (Snake), Kalapuya, Clackamas, Rogue River, Warm Springs, Shasta, Klamath, Modoc, Paiute, Tenion, Nez Perce, Molala, Yamel, Joshua, Sixes (Kwatami), Chastacosta, Chetco and Bannock | 75 | M2 | FHL Film 1617787 | 29 rolls |
New Mexico Superintendency 1849-1880 | Tribes: Navajo, Southern Apache, Utah (Ute), Abiquiu (Ute and Jicarilla Apache), Conejos (Tabaquache Ute) Pueblo, Tucson (Pima, Papago, Maricopa and Apache), Cimarron (Jicarilla Apache and Moache Ute) and Mescalero | 75 | T21 | FHL Film 1617620 | 30 rolls |
Utah Superintendency 1849-1880 |
Tribes: Ute, Shoshoni, Bannock, Paiute and Washo |
75 | M834 | FHL Film 1025139 | 2 rolls |
Central Superintendency 1813,1851-1880 | Tribes: Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Kansa, Sauk and Fox (of Mississippi and Missouri), Iowa, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Ottawa, Munsee, Peoria, Wea, Kaskaskia, Piankeshaw, Miami, Oto, Missouri, Omaha, Pawnee, Ponca, Kowa, Apache (Kiowa-Apache), Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux and others | 75 | M856 | FHL Film 1602893 | 108 rolls |
Northern Superintendency 1851-1876 |
Tribes: Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge, Mackinac, Omaha, Pawnee, Otoe (Oto and Missouri Indians), Great Nemaha (Sauk and Fox of Missouri and Iowa) and Winnebago 1863 many of the Winnebago and Sioux Indians moved to Dakota Territory |
75 | M1166 | FHL Film 1490921 | 35 rolls |
Southern Superintendency 1851-1871 |
Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Quapaw, Seneca and Mixed Band of Seneca and Shawnee, and Osage Indians of southern Kansas, Wichita and Kichai. In 1859 Caddo, Anadarko, Waco Tonkawa, Hainai, Kichai, Tawakoni, Delaware, Shawnee and Comanche Indians were moved from Texas to Wichita Agency in Indian Territory 1861-1864 Indians loyal to U.S. fled to Kansas, after the Civil War the Indians began to return to Indian territory. |
75 | M640 | FHL Film 1602878 | 22 rolls |
Washington Superintendency 1853-1880 | Tribes: Makah, Skokomish, Yakima, Colville, Puyallup, Tulalip, Nisqualli, Nez Perce, Flathead, Spokan, Pend d'Oreille, Cayuse, Paloos, Wallawalla, Quinaielt, Blackfeet, Chehalix, Chilkat, Chinook, Clackamas, Clallam, Lake, Klikitat, Coeur d'Alene, Cowlitz. Dwamish, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Quileute, Quaitso (Queet), Squaxon and Swinomish | 75 | M5 | FHL Film 1637277 | 26 rolls |
Colorado Superintendency 1861-1880 | |||||
Dakota Superintendency 1861-1880 | Bands of Sioux: Hunkpapa, Oglala, Yankton, Blackfee, Brule, Sisseton, Wahpeton, Yanktonai, San Arcs, Miniconjou, Two Kettles (Oohenonpa), Cut Head (Pabaska) and Santee | 75 | M1016 | FHL Film 1549631 | 13 rolls |
Nevada Superintendency 1861-1880 | 75 | M0837 | FHL Film 1637276 | 1 roll | |
Idaho Superintendency 1863-1880 | Tribes: Nez Perce, Shoshone, Bannock, Coeur d'Alene, Kutenai, Pend d'Oreille and Spokan | 75 | M832 | FHL Film 1580047 | 3 rolls |
Arizona Superintendency 1863-1880 | Tribes:Pima, Papago, Maricopa, Tame Apache, Papago, Yavapai, Walapai, Havasupai, Mojave, Yuma, Moqui Pueblo and Scattered Apache | 75 | M734 | FHL Film 1694796 | 8 rolls |
Montana Superintendency 1864-1880 | Tribes: Blackfeet, Piegan, Blood (Kainah), Grosventre, Flathead, Kutenai, Pend d'Oreille, Crow, Assiniboin and Bands of Sioux | 75 | M833 | FHL Film 1618090 | 3 rolls |
Wyoming Superintendency 1869-1880 | Tribes: Eastern Shoshoni, Bannock, Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux | 75 | M1016 | FHL Film 1549631 | 13 rolls |
References
Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. New York, New York: Clearwater Press, [1974].
Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington [District of Columbia]: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.
Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880. National Archives Microcopy T1105.
Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington, DC. Available online