Annual Reports of the Department of the Interior – Indian Affairs. Part II.

Part of the official report of the U.S. Department of Indian Affairs for 1899.

This fascinating collection of bound reports was published in 1899 by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. as part of the Congressional documents for the House of Representatives in the 56th Congress. Its 750 pages contain detailed insight into the operations of the organization at the end of the 19th century.

Contents include ‘Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, Report of the United States Indian Inspector for the Indian Territory, Report of the Board of Indian Commissioners, Proposals Received and Contracts Awarded, and a comprehensive index. Tables of statistics, photographs, and fold-outs supplement the dense text. Of particular interest are images of rustic Creek homes, excepts from a tract book naming local indigenous landowners, and several maps.

The last category includes the following: Map Showing Progress of Allotment in Creek Nation, Fractional Township No. 15 North Range No 18 East of the Indian Meridian, Indian Territory; Township No. 15 North Range No. 22 East of the Indian Meridian, Indian Territory; Sec. 9 T.15.N., R. 18 E Indian Territory; Indian Territory Compiled Under the Direction of Charles H. Fitch.

While many officials within the Bureau of Indian Affairs fought diligently to improve the lives of Native Americans across the United States, the attitude with which assistance was given was often patronizing and culturally insensitive. A notable excerpt from the Board of Indian Commissioners (page 222) is indicative:

“While this board is clearly of the conviction that the work of all the kinds and grades of Government Indian schools is important and valuable, and while we should not advise giving up any part of the school work now done upon the reservations, our observations, extending now through many years, convince us of the very great value to Indian children and youth of a residence for several years at the non-reservation schools, where they can observe the life of civilized white people.

And we wish particularly to emphasize the value of the “outing” system, which places so many hundred Indian boys and girls on farms and in the families of Christian whites. Sharing in the home life and in the school life of their white follow-citizens these Indians learn the meaning of Christian civilization by being immersed in it, as they could never learn it in any institution on Indian reservations, or in white communities where there is a strong prejudice against the Indian and a keen desire to get possession of his land.”