Northern Idaho Indian Agency (Idaho)

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

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Coeur d’Alene, Kalispel, Kootenai, Nez Perce

History
The Northern Idaho Agency was established in 1938 as a successor to the Coeur d'Alene Agency. The Fort Lapwai Agency had been combined with the Coeur d'Alene Agency in 1933. Hence the responsibility for the Nez Perce Indians also was included in the new Northern Idaho Agency.

By 1992, the Northern Idaho Agency sereved the Kootenai Tribe, the Nez Perce Tribe and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. In that year, a field office was established in Plummer, Idaho to serve only the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. In 1996, the Kootenai Tribe became self-governed and ceased to receive services from the Northern Idaho 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.

Some of the records of the Northern Idaho Agency have been transferred to the Pacific Alaska Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle, including some of the records of predecessor agencies, 1871-1969. Some of those have also been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library, including:

Records Available at the Family History Library

 * , 1887-1947
 * , 1923-1950
 * , 1925-1952
 * and, 1910-1938

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency from 1938 to 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 302. 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.