Nett Lake Indian Agency (Minnesota)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Bois Fort Band of Chippewa

History
The Nett Lake Agency was established in 1908 for the Bois Fort Band of Chippewa. The Bois Fort Band had previously been assigned to the La Pointe Agency and the Vermilion Lake School. The Nett Lake Agency was consolidated with the Fond du Lac Agency in 1919.

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.

The majority of records of individuals were those created by the agencies. Some records may be available to tribal members through the tribal headquarters.They were (and are) the local office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and were charged with maintaining records of the activities of those under their responsibility. Among these records are:


 * Allotment records
 * Annuity rolls
 * Census records
 * Correspondence
 * Health records
 * Reports
 * School census and records
 * Vital records

Some records of the Nett Lake Agency are in the Central Plains Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Kansas City, including financial and administrative records, 1908-1918.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1908 thru 1918. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 287. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the FamilySearch Library and its family history centers (their ). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Nett Lake Agency, 1908-1918, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 92, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City (their ).