BUREAU OF CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS
Record Group 1 of Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records
Scope and Content: BCIM Series 1-1 Correspondence, Ketcham Administration, 1901-1920

The correspondence, by laws, and minutes of meetings under the BCIM's third Executive Director, Monsignor William H. Ketcham, is divided into annual increments of chronologically then alphabetically. The localities include both individual places and institutions and widely dispersed or sparsely settled areas in clusters of places with a number of institutions not listed on the folder headings, e.g. "Arizona Territory, Pima Agency, Papago Reservation," "New Mexico, Pueblo Reservation."

Filed at the end of these states, territories, and areas is BCIM general correspondence pertaining to two or more missions or schools within it, e.g. "Alaska, General Correspondence."

In 1904, following a favorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, federal regulations permitted certain Indian parents to pay their children's Catholic school tuition by using tribal trust funds. The parents and their children were required to be enrolled members of tribes that had a federally administered trust-fund account. The regulations required the parents to sign petitions to authorize the government to pay the tuition from the account and they required the schools to sign contracts with the government and to report the pupils' attendance. The BCIM retained copies of the petitions signed annually by the pupils' parents and government contracts signed annually by school officials. Both sets of documents are interfiled among the correspondence between the schools and the Bureau whereas copies of the pupil attendance reports are interfiled among the Series 2-1, School Reports. Most trust-fund payments and the corresponding documentation ceased by or before the 1970s.

General Information

These records contain extensive and diverse historical narratives about Native Americans and their communities, and especially Native American Catholics and their Catholic parishes and events. Also detailed are the Catholic missionaries and their evangelization through parishes, schools, and special events. 

Additions and Special Compilations, 1873-1990: BCIM correspondence from the Stephan (1885-1900), Ketcham (1901-1920), Hughes (1921-1935), Tennelly (1936-1976), and Lenz (1977-1990) administrations acquired after 2000, which has been neither microfilmed nor interfiled within those respective records. Rather, these additions have been maintained separately and cross-referenced with their respective holdings.

Reformatted records: The microfilm version of the Series 1-1 Correspondence is available via interlibrary loan within the United States; please follow the Guidelines for Interlibrary Loans.