Mission Indian Agency (California)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
The Mission Indians of California, including the Cahuilla, Cupeno, Serrano, and the Luiseno bands

History
The Mission Agency was originally established in 1865 for various bands of the Mission Indians of California.

On 16 November 1920, the Campo School, Pala School, and Soboba School jurisdictions were consolidated into the Mission Agency. It was divided into Northern Mission and Southern Mission, 25 November 1921 and was again consolidated, 21 April 1922.

In 1948 the Mission Agency was consolidated with the Sacramento Agency and the Hoopa Valley Agency to form the California Agency and the jurisdiction over the tribes which had been under the Mission Agency was assumed by the Riverside Area Office when it was established in 1955.

Agents and Appointment Dates
John Q. A. Stanley May 8, 1865, Lt. Augustus P. Greene October 6, 1869, John R. Tansey December 12, 1870

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.

Many records of the Mission Agency are in the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Laguna Niguel, including:


 * Register of vital statistics, 1922-1947
 * School census records, 1922-1930
 * Health reports, 1923-1932
 * Individual history cards, 1924-1941
 * Soboba Indian Hospital birth and death certificates, 1927-1947
 * Pala family history narratives, 1931
 * Individual Indian files, 1933-1947
 * Degree of Indian blood cards, 1936
 * Heirship cards, 1940
 * Records of Subagencies reporting the Mission Agency, including:


 * Morongo Subagency, 1922-1947
 * Pala Subagency, 1922-1951
 * Palm Springs Subagency, 1936-1964
 * Torres-Martinez Subagency, 1920-1946

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 Mission Agency, 1881-1900 are on roll 26 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 ).

The 1900 federal census included population schedules for the Mission Indian Reservation. The census includes the non-Indian employees of the Mission Agency, as well as many pages of Indian Population Schedules for the native population of the Reservation. They are recorded as District 247, Mission Indian Reservation, in Riverside County, California.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Mission Agency, 1921-1938, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Rolls 83-87, 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 1922 thru 1939. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, Rolls 260-267. 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.

Records Available through the Family History Library

 * Census Records, 1931-1943. FHL film: 1249980 Items 1-3