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American Indian and Alaska Native Records: Reports

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Reports summarize the activities of an agency, office, commission, or other federal entity within a specific time period or in response to a particular mandate. Reports often compile information from other records, such as correspondence.

Reports can be useful resources when researching federal agencies鈥� historical interactions with, and programs for, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. This page discusses three types of reports: agency-wide reports, office-level reports, and special reports.

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Agency-wide Reports

Published Sources

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Organization of the Office of Indian Affairs in 1908 (from the Commissioner's 1908 annual report, page 11; available online through the )

Congress requires most federal agencies to submit annual reports of their activities for accountability and transparency purposes. These reports usually provide a high-level overview of an agency鈥檚 business and fiscal operations.

Agencies鈥� annual reports are useful for tracing shifts in federal Indian policy and spending over time. They can also outline an agency鈥檚 organizational structure. This can be helpful for identifying specific offices with jurisdiction over Indian affairs.

Agencies鈥� annual reports to Congress are often published. As such, they are not always included in the holdings of the 威尼斯人娱乐场. For more information, see Government Publications and Library Materials.

Below are select online sources for agencies鈥� historical annual reports:

  • (Library of Congress)
    • The American State Papers reproduces legislative and executive documents of Congress from 1789 to 1838, including some annual reports to Congress. The publication series is accessible online through the and includes specific volumes of .
  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set
    • The Serial Set contains almost all of the executive agency annual reports from 1817 to the mid-1970s, among other publications. The Serial Set is accessible on-site at 威尼斯人娱乐场 research facilities.
  • (HathiTrust Digital Library)
    • HathiTrust offers free online access to many U.S. government publications, including select annual reports, through its .

The Serial Set and HathiTrust can be searched by keyword (e.g., 鈥渁nnual report,鈥� 鈥淐ommissioner of Indian Affairs,鈥� 鈥淕eneral Land Office鈥�). The American State Papers includes keyword-searchable indexes for the Indian Affairs volumes.

More recent annual reports are often published on agencies鈥� websites. For a list of federal agency websites, see USA.gov鈥檚 .

Textual Records

While agencies rarely maintained a complete run of their published annual reports, they sometimes kept record copies of select annual reports. These are now in the holdings of the 威尼斯人娱乐场.

Examples are listed below. Select the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifiers for the full archival records descriptions, and contact the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC, for more information.

  • General Land Office (now the Bureau of Land Management)
    • 鈥淎nnual Reports, 1860鈥�1932鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
  • Indian Claims Commission (ICC)
    • 鈥淧ublications, 1946鈥�1978鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )鈥攊ncludes ICC annual reports for the periods 1968鈥�1971 and 1973鈥�1977
  • Board of Indian Commissioners
    • 鈥淎nnual Reports, 1925鈥�1932鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )

Office-Level Reports

Federal offices often submitted quarterly, semiannual, or annual reports to agency headquarters about activities within their jurisdictions. While these reports were not typically published in their entirety, they usually informed the agency鈥檚 annual report to Congress.

Office-level reports can include more detail than agency-wide reports. As such, they can be more useful for researching a specific American Indian or Alaska Native tribe than the agency-wide reports.

Below are examples of office-level reports related to American Indians and Alaska Natives in the holdings of the 威尼斯人娱乐场. Select the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifiers for the full archival records descriptions.

For additional series, search the . See Using the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Catalog for additional search tips, and Contact Us with questions.

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Excerpt from the Bishop Jurisdiction's 1924 annual report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75)

    • NARA Microfilm Publication M1011, Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports from Field Jurisdictions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1907鈥�1938 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
      • This microfilm is digitized in full and available in the .
    • 鈥淨uarterly School Reports, 1910鈥�1939" (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
    • 鈥淩eports of Industrial Surveys, 1922鈥�1929鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )

  • Bureau of Land Management (Record Group 49)

  • Indian Health Service (Record Group 513)

  • Office of the Secretary of the Interior (Record Group 48)

    • NARA Microfilm Publication M1070, Reports of Inspections of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873鈥�1900 (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
      • This microfilm is digitized in full and available in the (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier ).

Special Reports

In addition to periodic reports, federal entities occasionally commissioned reports on special topics related to American Indians and Alaska Natives. These reports were often the result of special investigations or projects. Examples are listed below.

Published Sources

  • The Problem of Indian Administration: Summary of Findings and Recommendations (commonly known as the Meriam Report). Available online through .
    • On June 12, 1926, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work requested that the Institute for Government Research, a private organization, survey the economic and social conditions of American Indians. The survey team鈥檚 report, submitted to Secretary Work on February 21, 1928, influenced many policies of President Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 鈥淚ndian New Deal.鈥� For more information, see the Pieces of History blog post 鈥溾�� (2015).
  • Report with Respect to the House Resolution Authorizing the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs to Conduct an Investigation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Pursuant to H. Res. 689 (82nd Cong.). Available online in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (accessible on-site at 威尼斯人娱乐场 research facilities).
    • On July 1, 1952, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for an investigation of the operations and activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The report from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, issued on December 15, 1952, largely focused on ways to reduce the BIA鈥檚 expenses and services. The report in part laid the groundwork for the federal policy of termination, officially announced on August 1, 1953, in House Concurrent Resolution 108 (67 Stat. B132).
  • Indian Education: A National Tragedy鈥擜 National Challenge (commonly known as the Kennedy Report). Available online through the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (accessible on-site at 威尼斯人娱乐场 research facilities) and the .
    • On August 31, 1967, the U.S. Senate authorized an investigation and study of Indian education. In their report of November 3, 1969, the Senate鈥檚 Special Subcommittee on Indian Education outlined failures of national policy, public schools, and federal schools to provide quality and effective education for American Indian and Alaska Native youth and recommendations for improvement.

Textual Records

Select the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifiers for the full archival records descriptions. For more information, contact the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC.

  • 鈥淩eport on the Samuel A. Galpin Investigation, 1877鈥�1877鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
  • 鈥淩eports of the Pueblo Lands Board, 1925鈥�1931鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
  • 鈥淩eports and Evidence Concerning Puyallup Enrollment, 1929鈥�1929鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
  • 鈥淢issouri River Basin Reports and Related Records, 1946鈥�1952鈥� (威尼斯人娱乐场 Identifier )
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