Collection I 035: Indian Rights
Association records on microfilm |
This guide describes the Center of Southwest Studies' user set of the microfilm collection of the records of the Indian Rights Association.
This microfilm is available for use at the Center. The 26 rolls of 1885-1901 records are also available for purchase from Scholarly Resources, Inc., Product #S1858, at $130.00 per roll.
©2004 by Fort Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies account
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Historical note |
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Introduction/ Scope and contents
I 035
Indian Rights Association
records on microfilm
Years:
1864-1973 (bulk 1885-1901)
Quantity: 162 rolls
This collection includes 136 rolls filmed by UMI (with a printed guide dated 1975, 233 pages, which is located in the Center's manuscript collection M 129), and also a less comprehensive earlier filming by the Microfilming Corporation of America of 26 rolls of 15 outgoing letterpress copybooks (1886-1901, roll #s 1-10), early letters (1868-86, roll #12), and incoming correspondence (1887-1901, roll #s 12-26).
The originals of those records (approximately 250 linear feet) are at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (at the HSP site, scroll down to read the Society's description of this collection #1523), as are the papers of Herbert Welsh, who was active in the IRA (collection 702).
A related collection at the Center of Southwest Studies is manuscript collection M 061: Indian Rights Association pamphlets.
Also, see the Theodore Hetzel Papers and the Theodore Hetzel Photograph Collection, both here at the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies. Mr. Hetzel was active with the IRA for many years.
Historical note (the quote is from the Gale website describing this collection)
"The Indian Rights Association was a humanitarian group dedicated to influencing federal U.S. Indian policy and protecting Indians of the U.S., especially in the 1880s and 1890s. More specifically, the Association was formed to secure for Native Americans their guaranteed political and civil rights. This collection of the association’s papers includes records of its activities; letters from U.S. presidents, secretaries of the Department of the Interior, commissioners of Indian Affairs, and leading reformers; and a sampling of grass-roots letters supporting the association’s work." (Click here for further history of the I.R.A.)
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The Center of Southwest Studies purchased these rolls from UMI and from the Microfilming Corp. of America (accession 1991:07006). The Center's archival staff re-housed the diazo microfilm in acid-free boxes in December of 1998.
This inventory was prepared by Todd Ellison, Certified Archivist, November 2004.
Doing your own research: This description of a portion of the collections at the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies is provided to inform interested parties about the nature and depth of the repository's collections. It cannot serve as a substitute for a visit to the repository for those with substantial research interests in the collections.
These collections are located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College. (These microfilms do not check out from the Center; you may find them available at other sources around the country; ours is just one of many copies.) Researchers wanting more information about using this material at the Center may email the archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu or click here to use our E-mail Reference Request Form (or phone the archivist at 970/247-7126). The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please email if you wish to receive a response from the Center.