New Mexico Superintendency of Indian Affairs

United States American Indian Research Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendencies New Mexico

History

The New Mexico Superintendency of Indian Affairs was established in 1850. After the Superintendency was abolished in 1874, the agents in New Mexico reported directly to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. Some correspondence was filed under "New Mexico" until the change in the filing system in 1881, however.

Governors and Ex Officio Superintendents

James S. Colhoun 1851, William Carr Lane 1852, and David Meriwether 1853

Superintendents

James L. Collins 1857, Michael Steck 1863, Felipe Delgado 1865, A. Baldwin Norton 1866, Luther E. Webb 1868, Jose Manuel Gallegos 1868, Maj. William Clinton 1868, Nathaniel Pope 1870 and Levi Edwin Dudley 1972

Agents

Agents without specific assignments

Edward H. Wingfield 1851, Richard H. Weightman 1851, Abraham R. Woolley 1851, John Greiner 1851, and Michael Steck 1852

Agencies

• Albuquerque Agency
• Cimarron Agency
• Conejos Agency
• Mescalero Agency
• Navajo Agency
• Pueblo Agency
• Santa Fe Agency
• Southern Apache Agency
• Tucson Agency
• Utah Agency

The New Mexico Superintendency had responsibility concerning Jicarilla, Ute, and Navajo Indians. A small amount of correspondence from the Santa Fe Agency, the Utah Agency and brief mention of other tribes such as the Comanche Indians is included in their records.

Records

Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.

Records of the New Mexico Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 1849-1880, are at the National Archives and have been microfilmed as their Microcopy Number T21 and at family history centers on their microfilm roll number 1617620. Copies are also available at the Denver Regional Archives and the University of Arizona. This set of microfilm of the records of the New Mexico Superintendency is also available at the Family History Library and its family history centers.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the New Mexico Superintendency, 1849-1880, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library and its family history centers on their microfilm roll numbers 1661276 thru 1661312.

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:

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)