Nevada Superintendency of Indian Affairs

History
The Nevada Superintendency of Indian Affairs was established in 1861. After the Superintendency was abolished in 1870, the agents reported directly to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. Correspondence continued to be filed under "Nevada" until the filing system was changed in 1881, however.

Records for Superintendencies exist in the National Archives and copies of many of them are also available in other research facilities.

Tribes
Paiute, Washoe, Shoshoni

Agencies
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.


 * Nevada Agency
 * South East Nevada Agency
 * Western Shoshone Agency

The principal tribes living in Nevada were thePaiute, Washo, and Shoshoni. The Walker River and Pyramid Lake Reservations also came under the jurisdiction of the Nevada Agency.

The responsibility of the Superintendency included such matters as enforcement of treaties, annuities and other payments to Indians, farming, improvements, depredations, construction of buildings, purchase and transportation of supplies, conduct of employees, and accounts.

Superintendents
James W. Nye 1861, Hubbard G. Parker 1865, Theodore T. Dwight 1866, Hubbard G. Parker 1867, Bvt. Col. A. D. Nelson 1869, Maj. Henry Douglas 1869,

Records
Records of the Nevada Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 1869-1870, are at the National Archives and have been microfilmed as their Microcopy Number M837. Copies are also available at the San Francisco Regional Archives. This set of microfilm of the records of the Nevada Superintendency is also available at the and its FamilySearch centers.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Nevada Superintendency, 1861-1880, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the and its FamilySearch centers on their microfilm roll numbers 1661268 thru 1661275.