[From "American Indians, A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications"]
(Mostly Creek Indian related rolls listed.)

Records of the Superintendent of Indian Trade, 1806-1823
(Predecessor to Bureau of Indian Affairs created 1824)

By 1795 the United States government had begun operat­ing factories, or posts, to trade with the Indians, and in 1806, the Office of Indian Trade was formally established.

Letters Sent, 1807-1823
M16. 6 rolls.

This publication includes handwritten copies of the outgoing correspondence of the Superintendents of Indian Trade with the Secretary of War, factors and other representatives of the Office of Indian Trade, Indian agents, the Secretary of the Treasury and other Treasury officials, the President, merchants, manufacturers, bankers, and others. The letters relate to the purchase of goods for the factories, the disposal of furs and other commodities received from the factories, the operation of the factories, annuity payments, accounts, and appointments as well as to Indian trade and Indian affairs in general. Each volume is arranged chronologically, but there is some overlapping between volumes. Each volume is indexed by name of addressee.

Letters Received, 1800-1824
T58. 1 roll.

This series consists mainly of correspondence received by the Superintendents of Indian Trade. Included are incoming correspondence of the transportation agent and, after the closing of the Office of Indian Trade, of the principal agent for the liquidation of the factories. There are letters from factors, purchasing and transportation agents, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Treasury, merchants, members of missionary societies, and others interested in Indian trade or Indians generally. Also included are some drafts of outgoing correspondence, memorandums, and accounting records. For the most part, the letters are arranged chronologically, although sometimes letters received from one person during a calendar year are grouped together.

Letterbook, Arkansas Trading House, 1805-1810
M142. 1 roll.

Records of the Creek Trading House, 1795-1816
M4. 1 roll

Records of the Creek Factory of the Office of Indian Trade of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1795-1821
M1334. 13 rolls

The factory for the Creek Indians was one of the two original fac­tories established in November 1795. It was not usually called the Creek factory. Sometimes it was referred to as the Georgia factory, but it was better known by the names of its successive locations: Colerain on the St. Mary's River, 1795-97; Fort Wilkinson, 1797­1806; Ocmulgee Old Fields, 1806-09; Fort Hawkins, 1809-16; and Fort Mitchell, 1816-20.

The records have been filmed in the same order as they have been described in the preliminary inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as entries 42 through 53, with the excep­tion of one series of records (entry 43), which has been previously microfilmed by the National Archives as M4, Letters Sent, Records of the Creek Trading House, 1795-1816, and has not been refilmed in this publication. See the BIA Inventory, entry 42, for more information about the Creek Factory.

Records of the Choctaw Trading House, 1803-1824
T500. 6 rolls.

Letterbook of the Natchitoches-Sulphur Fork Factory
1809-1821. T1029. 1 roll.

Office of the Secretary of War

Letters Received by the Secretary of War Relating to Indian Affairs, 1800-1823.
M271. 4 rolls.

This series primarily concerns Indians in the southern United States and the Seneca in New York. It represents only a small part of the original incoming correspondence relating to Indian affairs. The series contains correspondence from Indian superintendents and agents, factors of trading posts, territorial and state governors, military commanders, Indians, and missionaries. Some drafts of letters sent, vouchers, receipts, requisitions, abstracts and statements, certificates of deposit, depositions, and newspapers are included. The records relate to the negotiation of Indian treaties, land reserves of individual Indians, mission schools, government trading posts, issuance of licenses to private traders, distribution of annuities, slaves in Indian country, liquor control, investment of Indian moneys, accounts, and other subjects. The correspondence is arranged by year, thereunder alphabetically by the name of the writer, and thereunder chronologically by the date of the letter. See the BIA Inventory, entry 79, for more information about "Letters Received".

Letters Sent by the Secretary of War Relating to Indian Affairs, 1800-1824
M15. 6 rolls.

This series includes handwritten copies of letters to territorial governors, Indian superintendents, Indian agents and subagents, the Superintendent of Indian Trade, factors of trading posts, military commanders, private traders, bankers, persons having commercial dealings with the department, missionaries, Indians, and others. Some of the letters are noted as signed by clerks in the Department rather than by the Secretary, and a few are noted as signed by the President. Included are copies of addresses to Indian delegations, appointments, passports issued for travel in Indian country, and instructions to treaty commissioners. This series is arranged chronologically. Each volume is indexed alphabetically, primarily by name of addressee but sometimes by name of tribe or other principal subject. See the BIA Inventory, entry 84, for more information about "Letters Sent" .

Office of Indian Affairs (Central Office)
(Bureau of Indian Affairs created 1824)

Registers of Letters Received, 1824-1880
M18. 126 rolls.

These are registers for the records filmed as microfilm publication M234. Each letter includes the name of the writer; the date the letter was written; the date it was received, beginning in April 1834; the place where it was written; a summary of its contents; the jurisdiction or other heading under which the letter was filed; and beginning in July 1838, the file number assigned to each letter upon its receipt.

Each volume is divided into alphabetical sections; the letters "i" and "j" were combined for registering and filing purposes. The registers contain some cross-references to enclosures and to letters registered under a name different from the expected one.

Letters Received, 1824-1881
M234. 962 rolls (partial list)

[Listing only the "Five Civilised Tribes" related rolls]

This series contains incoming correspondence from all sources concerning Indian lands, emigration, treaty negotiations, subsistence, annuity payments, conflicts, depredations, claims, traders and licenses, population, education, progress in agriculture, health, employees, buildings, supplies, accounts, other administrative matters, and many other subjects relating to Indians and to the operations of the bureau. The letters are arranged alphabetically by name of field jurisdiction (superintendency or agency) or other subject heading, thereunder by year, and thereunder in registry order (alphabetically by initial letter of surname or other designation of writer and thereunder chronologically by date of receipt). Letters relating to an agency for all or part of its existence may be filed under the agency's own name or under the name of the superintendency to which it was or had been responsible. The registers for these records have been filmed as microfilm publication M18.

Cherokee Agency, Letters Received, 1824-80
M234 rolls 71-118
See the BIA Inventory, entries 1041-1057, for more information about the Cherokee Agency.

Chickasaw Agency, Letters Received, 1824-70
M234 rolls 135-148
See the BIA Inventory, entry 1058, for more information about the Chickasaw Agency.

Choctaw Agency, Letters Received, 1824-78
M234 rolls 169-196
See the BIA Inventory, entry 1059, for more information about the Choctaw Agency.

Creek Agency, Letters Received, 1824-76
M234 rolls 219-248
See the BIA Inventory, entry 1065, for more information about the Creek Agency.

Special Files
M574, rolls 1-85
See the BIA Inventory, Entry 98, for information about "Special Files", and see the list of Special Files

Letters Sent, 1824-1881
M21. 166 rolls. DP.
This series consists of handwritten copies of the general outgoing correspondence of the Office of Indian Affairs. Included are instructions to superintendents, agents, and other employees and acknowledgments of and replies to incoming correspondence.  Reports to the Secretary of War (or to the Secretary of the Interior after 1849) and to certain other officials, including chairmen of congressional committees, were copied in a separate series of volumes called "Report Books" (see M348).

Until 1869 the letters were copied in chronological order.  Beginning in that year, two or more books were used simultanously. Letters relating to certain broad subjects (such as land, finance, and civilization) were copied into separate books, but with in each book the arrangement continued to be chronological. Most of the volumes are indexed by name of addressee and, to some extent, by subject. There are also marginal notations of the page numbers for other letters to the same person.

[Too many rolls to list.]

Field Office Records

By the time the Office of Indian Affairs was established in 1824, the system of superintendencies and agencies was well organized, Superintendents had general responsibility for Indian affairs in a geographical area, usually a Territory, but sometimes a larger area. Their duties included the supervision of intertribal relationships in their jurisdiction and between the tribes and citizens of the United States or other persons, and the supervision of the conduct and accounts of agents responsible to them. Agents were immediately responsible for the affairs of one or more tribes. They attempted to preserve or restore peace and often tried to induce Indians to cede their lands and to move to areas less threatened by white encroachment. They also distributed money and goods and carried out other provisions of treaties with the Indians. Gradually, as the Indians were confined on reservations, the agents became more concerned with educating and "civilizing" them.

The records maintained by field offices relate to almost all aspects of Indian administration in the field. Records of a superintendency include those of the agencies over which it had jurisdiction. Sometimes records of reservation schools and other field units are included with the agency records. The kinds of records maintained did not vary much from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, although there are great differences in the quantities that have survived. Most of the correspondence of superintendents and independent agents was conducted with the central office of the bureau, but considerable correspondence was exchanged between superintendents and agents within the superintendency. Also found is correspondence with other field officials and employees, Army officers, businessmen, and Indians.

Records of the Cherokee Indian Agency in Tennessee, 1801-1835
M208. 14 rolls. DP.
See the BIA Inventory for more information about the Cherokee Indian Agency in Tennessee.

Records of the Southern Superintendency, 1832-1870 and Western Superintendency, 1832-1851.
M640. 22 rolls.
See the BIA Inventory for more information about the Southern and Western Superintendencies.

This page last updated April 7, 2004.