A Research Guide to Materials Relating to Native Americans Available in the Chicago Archives Branch.

The Chicago Archives Branch has a sizeable amount of material pertaining to Indians who once resided in the area of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota which is contained in the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the District Courts of the United States, the United States Attorneys and Marshals, the Chief of Engineers, and the National Archives microfilm collection. The BIA records in the Chicago Archives pertain to major administrative units of the BIA, the Great Lakes Consolidated Agency (records date from 1869 to 1952), the Menominee Agency (1865 to 1956), and the Sac and Fox Reservation at Tama, Iowa (1896 to 1947). The records of these field units consist mainly of general correspondence, financial and accounting records, and case files for individual Indians. Correspondence is classified under major headings such as "Administration and Control,""Health and Social Relations,""Education," etc. A number of the National Archives micropublications might be used directly with the textual holdings of the Chicago Archives Branch and thereby permit the researcher to examine BIA central office records in conjunction with those of a BIA field unit. (AN)