GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 1: Eastern United States
District of Columbia: DC-2

Catholic Church. Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A. Chancery
1025 Michigan Avenue, Northeast (physical address)
Washington, DC 20017
P.O. Box 4469 (postal address)
Washington, DC 20017-4469

Phone: 202-719-3600 (chancery)
Phone: 202-719-3605 (sacramental records)
Email: See website

 

Hours: See website

Access: See website (e.g. request form for sacramental records)

Copying facilities: Yes

 

History: Since 1917, a military vicar administered Catholic chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces. In 1957, the Military Ordinate of the United States was erected, which in 1985, was elevated as the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A. (Washington, District of Columbia). It is believed that Native American Catholic men had served in the Armed Forces since the Revolutionary War.  Officially, Native American Catholic women had served since the Spanish American War, beginning with religious sisters serving as nurses.

 

History of the Congregation of American Sisters, Camp Columbia Hospital, Havana, Cuba:

1898-1900 Sister M. Joseph, C.A.S. [Josephine Two Bears] (Hunkpapa), Sister M. Gertrude, C.A.S. [Ella Clark] (Hunkpapa), Sister M. Bridget, C.A.S. [Anna Pleets] (Hunkpapa), and Sister M. Anthony, C.A.S. [Susan Bordeaux] (Hunkpapa), of the Congregation of American Sisters, served as U.S. Army nurses who also administered the hospital. They were the first Native American women to officially serve in the U.S. Armed Forces

 

Major U.S. military facilities served by Catholic chaplains:

1802-present

U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York

1845-present  

U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

1865-1994

  (closed)

Fort Ord U.S. Army Base, Monterey Bay Peninsula, California

 

1891-present

Puget Sound U.S. Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington

1894-present

Fort Offutt/ Crook, U.S. Air Force Base, Sarpy, Nebraska

1908-present

Pearl Harbor U.S. Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

1911-present

Great Lakes U.S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois

1917-present

Fort Lewis U.S. Army Base, Fort Lewis, Washington

1933-present

Edwards U.S. Air Force Base, Edwards, California

1940-present

Fort Irwin U.S. Army Base, Barstow, California

1940-present

Fort Leonard Wood School, U.S. Army, Pulaski County, Missouri

1942-present

Camp Pendleton U.S. Base, near San Luis Rey, California

1942-present

Fort Hood U.S. Army Base, Killeen, Texas

1942-present

NAS Whidbey Island, U.S. Naval Base, Oak Harbor, Washington

1942-present

Whiteman Air Force Base, near Warrensburg, Missouri

1943-present

Coronado U.S. Naval Base, San Diego, California

1943-1997

  (closed)

Long Beach U.S. Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, California

1951-present

Mountain Warfare U.S. Marines Training Center, Bridgeport, California

1954-present

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado  

 

Holdings of Catholic records about Native Americans:

Inclusive dates: 1917-present

Volume: Over 10,000 sacramental records (estimate); less than 1 cubic foot

Description: Sacramental records of Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A.

 

Unless otherwise noted, the repository on this page holds (or held) the records described here and they are not held at the Marquette University Archives.

new2006/rev2017