Shoshone Indian Agency (Wyoming)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne

History
The Shoshone Agency was originally called the Shoshone and Bannock Agency from its establishment in 1870 until 1883, when it became the Shoshone Agency. In 1937, the name was changed to the Wind River Agency.

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.

Many of the historical records of this agency are housed in the Rocky Mountain Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Denver, Colorado as part of the collection of Wind River Agency records. Records in that collection which may be of assistance to the genealogist include:


 * Land allotment records, 1896-1946
 * Census records, 1894-1907, 1931-1958
 * Record of employees at the Shoshone Agency, 1907-1922

Many more records of lesser genealogical value are also in this collection.

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 Shoshone Agency, 1882-1900, are on rolls 48-49 of that Microcopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Shoshone Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Shoshone Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 73, Shoshone Agency], in Fremont County, Wyoming.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885, 1890-1893, and 1895-1937. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 498-504. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

Records Available through the Family History Library
Vital records
 * birth and death 1924-1937 included on census films (microfilm numbers 581879 and 583122)


 * Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Shoshone Agency, 1907-1935, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 137-138, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their.