Navajo Indian Agency

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Navajo

History
The original Navajo Agency was established in 1852 for the Navajos in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.This agency was located at present-day Fort Defiance, Arizona. Originally it was considered by the Office of Indian Affairs to be a New Mexico agency (because Arizona was part of New Mexico Territory until February 1863).

After 1901, this agency was gradually divided into several independent agencies (known variously as Eastern Navajo Agency, Northern Navajo Agency, Western Navajo Agency, Chinle Agency, San Juan Agency, Shiprock Agency, etc.). A Navajo Agency continued to exist at Fort Defiance, Arizona and was sometimes called the Fort Defiance Agency. For a short time in the mid-1900s, it also was called the Southern Navajo Agency. In 1935, all of the independent Navajo agencies were consolidated into one agency called the Navajo Service, with headquarters in Window Rock, Arizona.

In 1949, the Window Rock Area Office was established and a Navajo Agency was created under the Area Office. Some of the former agencies were reduced to sub-agency status at that time.

Agents
Spencer M. Baird, Henry Dodge, William R. Harley, Robert J. Cowart. Silas F. Kendrick, John Ward, Theodore H. Dodd, James C. French, Capt.l F. T. Bennett, James H. Miller, W.F. Hall, William F. M. Arny, Alexander G. Irvine, John E. Pyle and Capt. F. T. Bennett

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.

Some of the records of the Navajo Agency (Fort Defiance), 1881-1936, are at the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Laguna Niguel, California, including:


 * Records of students transferred to off-reservation schools, 1888-1912
 * Registers of students, 1907-1922
 * Student case files, 1940-1972
 * School census cards, 1953-1979
 * Many other administrative and financial records of the agency, 1881-1979

A few administrative records of the agency, 1936-1952 and 1961-1970, are also in the Rocky Mountain Regional Archives of NARA in Denver.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Navajo Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Navajo Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 75, Navajo Indian Reservation, in Apache County, Arizona, as District 75, Navajo Indian Reservation, in Coconino County, Arizona, and as District 75, Navajo Reservation, in Navajo County, Arizona.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Navajo in New Mexico. Native Americans residing on the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Reservation in 1900 were under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Agency (New Mexico) and are listed on Indian Population Schedules as District 183, Navajo Agency, in Bernalillo County, and as District 183, Navajo Reservation, in San Juan County, New Mexico.

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 Microscopy Number M1070. The reports for Navajo Agency, 1881-1900 are on rolls 27-28 of that Microscopy set. Copies are available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their ).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Navajo Agency, 1907-1926, are included in National Archives Microscopy M1011, Rolls 89-90, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their ). Reports for some years are missing.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885, 1915, and from 1936 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microscopy Number M595, rolls 272 thru 282. 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 and Footnote.com subscription web sites (available free at many family history centers).


 * 1938-1939 Census Navajo FHL film 579692 (this film is part of the above collection)
 * Vital Records with Census FHL film 579684