Spokane Indian Agency (Washington)

The Spokane Agency is a cureently operating agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its supervising office is the Portland Area Office.

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Spokane

History
The Spokane Agency was established 28 January 1912 as an independent agency to serve the Spokane Indians on the Spokane Reservation. Prior to 1912, the Spokane Indians had been served by the Colville Agency. The Spokane Agency was again consolidated with the Colville Agency, 31 March 1925, and thereafter served as a subagency to Colville. Some records dating before and after the 1912-1924 period of independence are included in the records of the Spokane 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.

A few of the textual records of the Spokane Agency have been transferred to the Pacific Alaska Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle. Among their administrative files are census rolls, school reports and student case files, land records, and school census records, all of which may be of interest to family historians:

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

Microfilm copies of...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Spokane Agency, 1912-1924, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, roll 143, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and their family history centers (their ).

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1913 thru 1924. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 546. 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.