Colville Indian Agency (Washington)

The Colville Agency is a currently operating agency. Its supervising office in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Portland Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With The Agency
Colville, Spokan, Coeur d'Alene, Lake, Nespelim, Okanagan, Kalispel, Sanpoil, Methow, Joseph's Band of Nez Perce, Moses Band of Columbia, and Wenatchi.

History
The Colville Agency was established in 1872 for the Colville Reservation and later the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene Reservations in Washington and Idaho. Colville Agency was also responsible for other nonreservation Indians of the area.

In 1905, a separate Coeur d'Alene Agency was established and in 1912, the Spokane Agency was established. In 1925, the Spokane Agency was again consolidated with the Colville Agency and became a subagency under Colville.

Records
Many of the historical records of this agency, 1865-1970, are housed in the Pacific Alaska Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle, including:


 * Annuity rolls, 1891-1967
 * Census records, 1894-1970
 * School records and school census, 1897-1944
 * Records of births and deaths, 1914-1944
 * Many other daministrative and financial records

See also records of the Spokane Agency.

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 Blackfeet Agency, 1882-1900 are on roll 7 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 microfilm roll numbers 1617686-1617680).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1885-1888 and from 1890 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, rolls 49 thru 54. 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 microfilm numbers 574208-574215). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Colville Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Colville Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 119, Colville Indian Reservation, in Ferry County, Washington, in District 119, Colville Indian Reservation, in Okanogan County, Washington, and in District 119, Colville Indian Reservation, in Stevens County, Washington.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Colville Agency, 1907-1938, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, rolls 25-26, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their microfilm numbers 1724243-1724244).