Manuscripts

Ely Samuel Parker letters to Robert Campbell

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Description: Two letters from Ely Parker to frontiersman and fur trader Robert Campbell (1804-1879), written during Parker's time as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The first letter regards instructions for establishing agencies for Red Cloud and Spotted Tail's Sioux bands. Parker writes that Red Cloud has requested an agency at Fort Laramie or Fort Fetterman, but Parker instead recommends that the agency be kept on existing Indian land at Raw Hide Buttes rather than being moved to government land. He gives similar instructions for Spotted Tail, also stipulating that the locations selected by suitable for agriculture and have supplies of water and timber. The second letter accompanied payment for Campbell's purchase of "articles" for Navajo Indians. Both letters are on Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs letterhead.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1870-1871.
Call number: mssHM 74522-74523

Sioux

Visual Materials

Studio portraits of Sioux leaders and scenes on the Sioux Agency in North Dakota: a schoolhouse, U. S. Agent's house; trade store; Devil's Lake; an Indian farm; Fort Totten and soldiers; native camps and views of dances. People identified: Red Cloud; Running Antelope; Sitting Bull; family of Sitting Bull in front of his tepee; American Horse; Spotted Tail. Photographers/publishers: Portrait of Red Cloud by Mathew Brady, 1872. Also D. F. Barry; unidentified.

photCL 275

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Ely Samuel Parker papers

Manuscripts

A collection of 135 items from 1802 to 1894, it consists of correspondence, documents, and manuscripts of Ely Samuel Parker relating to Native American affairs and personal matters; also included are papers of Parker's brother, Nicholson Henry Parker. The material covers many subjects including Seneca Indians of Western New York; Native American political and cultural affairs; the removal of Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi; protests against emigration; Schermerhorn's exploring party; The Treaty of 1838 and the Amending Treaty; and the opposition and repudiation by the Senecas. The collection also includes material on the Seneca Mission Station on Buffalo Creek and studies in the Seneca language; a list of Native Americans of the Six Nations who took part in the War of 1812; a dictionary of the Seneca language; and a census of Seneca Indians, 1855 to 1857. In addition, there are Ely Samuel Parker's school compositions, chiefly about Native American life and culture, and confidential correspondence with Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, American folklorist and historian of the Iroquois.

mssPA

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Photographs of Western U.S. Army Forts

Visual Materials

Views of frontier United States Army forts in Wyoming and Nebraska made by Pvt. Charles Howard, 1876-1877, and two views of Fort Wingate, New Mexico, ca. 1870s by an unidentified photographer. The photographs are mostly broad views of the military posts and their surrounding landscapes, showing cavalry, barracks and other buildings. The forts illustrated are Camp Canby, Camp Sheridan and Camp Robinson in Nebraska; Fort Fetterman, Fort Laramie and Fort McKinney in Wyoming Territory; and Fort Wingate in New Mexico. Besides views of the forts, there is one view of the town of Cheyenne; the Red Cloud Indian Agency, Nebraska; and a group portrait of soldiers and their families at Fort Wingate.

photCL 292

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Lauren Winfield Aldrich papers

Manuscripts

The group includes a handwritten draft and a typed transcript of Aldrich's manuscript entitled "Brief reminiscences of the soldiers life on the plains and in the mountains during the early days of 1867-8-9 to 70." This memoir discusses Aldrich's experiences serving as an army scout in Nebraska and Wyoming at forts along the route of the Union Pacific Railroad construction. Aldrich was assigned to Fort Laramie, Fort Russell, Fort Fetterman, and Fort Kearny. He describes his regiment's skirmishes with the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux Indians, as well as their dealings with the Pawnee scouts. Aldrich also talks about a treaty with Chief Red Cloud, his relationship with Major Frank J. North and Captain Luther H. North, and an expedition into the Yellowstone River Valley. Also included are several pieces of correspondence, certificates, and discharge papers related to Aldrich's military career and his duties for the National Indian War Veterans

mssHM 65812-65821

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Eli Fay letter to "Dear Friends,"

Manuscripts

In this letter to unidentified individuals who appear to live in Sheffield, England, Eli Fay writes of his arrival to California from England. He arrived in New York and "took the cars" to Chicago, a journey that he reports took 26 1/2 hours. He is amazed at the growth of Chicago. Leaving Chicago, again "on the cars," Fay continued west, describing the landscape in general detail. Once arriving in Los Angeles, he describes the city and its inhabitants in greater detail. Of southern California, he writes that "as a whole is but little more than a vast Sanitorium," a refuge for "people who suffer from throat and lung troubles." Fay himself is ill, and has come to California for relief, for his doctors have told him that "my only chance of recovery was in a total suspension for the time being of my pulpit labor." He reports his health has improved, and his daily horseback rides in the open country have been of vital help. He laments that he left England "before I had finished the work that I had laid out for myself" and hopes to return once he has fully recovered. He asks for details of the church he has left, and hopes all is well.

mssHM 16550

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Samuel D. Snowden letter to Alvin T. Smith

Manuscripts

In this letter, Snowden asks Alvin Smith to please take care of certain affairs for him in Oregon, chiefly concerning land claims, while Snowden is in California. He also writes of how Oregon men are faring in the quest for gold around Sutter's Fort.

mssHM 16377

Ely Samuel Parker letters to Robert Campbell

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Sioux

Ely Samuel Parker papers

Photographs of Western U.S. Army Forts

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Eli Fay letter to "Dear Friends,"

Samuel D. Snowden letter to Alvin T. Smith