Letters sent by the Indian Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior

From 1849, when the Department of the Interior was established, the Secretary of the Interior has had general supervisory control over the administration of Indian affairs, with primary responsibility for the conduct of work in the Office (now Bureau) of Indian Affairs. Although correspondence concerning Indian matters was assigned to particular clerks in the Office of the Secretary, a formal Indian Division was probably not established until about 1870. From 1867 to 1876 there was a separate Indian Trust Fund Division, and in 1898 the Indian Territory Division was established to take care of business concerning Indian Territory, particularly the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes. Letters were sent by the Indian Division to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the President, members of the President's Cabinet, Members of Congress, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Treasury Department officials, inspectors, other Federal officials, State and local officials, businessmen, attorneys, Indians, religious leaders, and others. They relate to legislation, estimates and appropriations, negotiation and enforcement of treaties, investigations, depredation and other claims, education, health and sanitation, land sales and allotments, surveys, deeds, leases, mining, agriculture, irrigation, railroads, enrollment, annuity payments, trust funds, trade with Indians and the issuance of licenses to trade, liquor control, law and order, missionary work, attorneys, administration of the Indian field service, appointments and other personnel matters, contracts, authorizations for expenditures, buildings, supplies, accounts, and many other subjects.