Pima Indian Agency (Arizona)

United States

Indigenous Peoples of the United States

Indigenous People of Arizona

Pima Indian Agency (Arizona)

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Introduction

The Pima Indian Agency, located in Sacaton, Arizona is the administrative office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Its current supervising field office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Phoenix Area Office.

• Address: P.O. Box 8, Sacaton, AZ 85247

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency

Pima

History

The original Pima Agency was established in 1859 with the appointment of a special agent who was an employee of the Overland Mail Company. That company desired to maintain good relationships with the Pima and Maricopa Indians so they could run mail through their lands. The agent resigned in 1860 and was not replaced.

The Pima and Maricopa Indians were with the area for which the Tucson Agency was responsible, so with the resignation of the agent in 1860, the Tucson Agency again was the sole agency over the Pima and Maricopa. From 1861 to 1863, Confederate troops occupied Arizona and the Tucson Agency was abandoned. In 1865, the Pima and Maricopa were assigned to the Pima, Papago, and Maricopa Agency, known later as the Gila River Agency, and after 1875 as the Pima Agency.

In 1902, a separate Papago Agency was established for the Papago who lived on the San Xavier Reservation. That reservation was expanded in 1917 and the Pima lost more of the area for which they had been responsible. The Salt River Reservation of Pima Indians was transferred to Camp McDowell Agency in 1910. In 1934, both the Salt River and Camp McDowell Agencies were transferred back to the Pima Agency. At the same time, the remaining groups of Papago Indians were transferred to the Papago Agency.

Agent and Appointment Date

Silas St. John February 18, 1859

Records

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:

• Allotment records
• Annuity rolls
• Census records
• Correspondence
• Health records
• Reports
• School census and records
• Vital records

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Pima Agency, 1859-1861, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, roll 669. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers on their microfilm roll number 1661399.

Some of the records of the Pima Agency are in thePacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Los Angeles. Among the records there are:

• School attendance registers, 1901-1916
• Applications for enrollment at non reservation Indian schools, 1905-1926
• Marriage cards, 1911-1912
• Individual Indian history files, ca. 1911-1918
• Health records, 1911-1951
• Tribal census rolls, 1911-1946
• School census records, 1915-1938
• Individual Indian identification and census cards, 1929-1933

Reports of Inspection of the Field Jurisdictions of the Office of Indian Affairs, 1873-1900 have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of Microcopy Number M1070. The reports for Pima, Papago and Maricopa Agency, 1883-1900, are on rolls 25-26 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers (their microfilm roll numbers 1617708-1617709).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1887, 1889-1891, 1894-1896, 1899, 1902, and 1919-1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 347-361. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its FamilySearch centers (their microfilm numbers 579757-579770 and 580740). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Gila River Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Pima Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 79, Gila River Reservation in Maricopa County, Arizona and in District 79, Gila River Indian Reservation, in Pinal County, Arizona.

Microfilm copies of...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Pima Agency, 1907-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, rolls 104-105, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City and their FamilySearch centers (their microfilm roll numbers 1724322-1724323). Reports for some years are missing.

Records Available through the FamilySearch Library

• Census Records, 1909-1940. FS Library film: 1,249,788 items 6-9 first film

• Individual History Cards 1926-1927. FS Library film: 1,249,796 items 4, 6

• School Records 1903-1938. FS Library film: 1,249,794 items 3-4 first film

• Vital Records 1850-1931. FS Library film: 1,249,794 first film

• Birth and Death Records 1924-1932, FS Library film 579766 and 580740 (this film is part of the Annual Indian Census - census supplement)

• School, Allotment, Vital Records 1915-1934. FS Library film 1,249,788 items 1-5

References

• 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.
• Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. Available online
• "Accompanying Pamphlet for Microcopy 1011", National Archives Microfilm Publications, Appendix.