Miscellaneous Papers, Undated

The Thomas H. Dodge Collection houses correspondence, reports, tribal council minutes and other administrative documentation, newsclippings, and miscellaneous notes. The bulk of the collection documents Dodge's work as Navajo Tribal Council Chairman and Superintendent of the Navajo, San Carlos, Osage, and Truxton Canon Agencies from 1930-1960.

Series I: Correspondence is largely composed of administrative and professional letters that Dodge received in the course of his duties at the Navajo, San Carlos, Truxton Canon, and Osage Agencies. The majority of this correspondence concerns the Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act and attempts at livestock reduction associated with that legislation. Important items regarding this subject include a press release on amendments to the Wheeler-Howard Act concerning Indian property rights (Box 1, Folder 9, 1934 April 15), letters from John Collier (Commissioner of the US Office of Indian Affairs) to Dodge and the Navajo Tribe regarding the Navajo rejection of the Wheeler-Howard Act and stock reduction in particular (Box 1, Folder 13, 1935 March 25 and June 21), and Dodge's explanation to Harold Ickes (US Secretary of Interior) of the Navajo rejection (Box 1, Folder 14, 1935 June 26).

Other items of note housed in Series I include correspondence regarding a controversial article published in Scribner's Magazine by Mrs. Richard Wetherill entitled Death of a Medicine Man (Box 1, Folders 5-6). A letter from the Office of Indian Affairs to the Navajo Council examines the role of the Navajo Police on the reservations (Box 1, Folder 9, 1934 April 5). A memorandum from Harold Ickes on Indian Religious Freedom describes the degree of tolerance afforded Indians by federal authorities (Box 1, Folder 11, 1934 January 3). Edward Nanonka's (Hopi) letter to Dodge describes the alleged corruption of Federal Officers of the Indian Service (Box 1, Folder 12, 1935 December 26). Dodge's letter to John Collier offers an explanation for his resignation as Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council (Box 1, Folder 16, 1936 May 7). E. R. Fryer's (Superintendent, Navajo Service) letter to Collier includes a draft of the Navajo Constitution and Fryer's comments (Box 1, Folder 18, 1937 September 29). Scripts for KTGM radio broadcasts about Navajo life and culture (1938-1939) are located in Box 1, Folders 20-22. A series of letters and press releases on Selective Service and the New Mexico Navajo are located in Box 1, Folder 27. Three items in this series concern health services provided to Indians: The testimony of Leta Meyers Smart before the House Subcommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs (Box 2, Folder 11, 1953 April 30); Dodge's letter to the Osage Tribe (Box 2, Folder 19, 1961 March 3); and the correspondence of an unidentified Field Solicitor of the Osage Reservation at Pawhuska, Oklahoma to Dodge as Superintendent of the Osage Agency (Box 2, Folder 20, 1962 August 14).

Series II: Navajo Tribe consists primarily of materials showing the Navajo Tribal Council and the Navajo Agency. The bulk of the series is comprised of minutes, proceedings, and resolutions of the Tribal Council and related committees. Of particular interest in the Miscellaneous Council Committee Minutes are notes on a meeting at Tohatchi, New Mexico documenting the activities of the Navajo Delegation at Washington, D.C. (Box 5, Folder 7, 1935 May 25). Among the Council Resolutions are a tribal endorsement of the construction of day schools and a facility for blind, deaf and crippled Navajos, and a call for enrollment reductions at Navajo boarding schools (Box 5, Folder 12). The Report of Mining Operations (Box 5, Folder 17) describes activities at the Northern Navajo Reservation in New Mexico and lists oil royalties received during fiscal 1936. The Employment Reports (Box 5, Folder 19-20) provide statistics for whites and Indians working on the reservations in various subject areas (e.g. irrigation, hospital, sheep laboratory). The Navajo Tribal Enterprises file (Box 5, Folder 24) includes audits of various tribal businesses. The Navajo Law Division file (Box 6, Folder 1) contains a memo to the Law Division (1934) concerning amendments to the Indian Liquor Law and Law and Order Regulations for reservations without an established Tribal Court. Social and Educational Implications of the Navajo Program (Box 6, Folder 6) is an address given by W. Carson Ryan in 1934 when he was serving as the Director of Education for the US Indian Service. The Navajo and the New Deal file (Box 6, Folder 11) contains a John Collier report on the Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act and a press release by a New York Times columnist named Meyer Berger on the Navajo lifestyle during the New Deal period.

Series III: Apache, Hualapai, Osage Tribes contains a wide variety of correspondence, minutes, resolutions and other administrative documents. The files regarding the Hualapai include council minutes and documents concerning the Lower Colorado River Basin Project. The San Carlos Apache Tribe materials contain minutes of the Tribal Economic Advisory Committee and research proposals from the Stanford Research Institute (Box 6, Folder 28). Among the Miscellaneous Papers in the Osage Tribe materials are scattered reports of operations in the Osage Mineral Reservation during 1963, tribal budgeting documents from 1959-1961, and a Bureau of Indian Affairs circular concerning guardianships of Indian minors and dependants (Box 7, Folder 6).

Series IV: Personal Papers includes documentation of Indian legal cases, essays by Dodge and others, correspondence, diaries, newsclippings, speeches by Dodge and others, and miscellaneous papers and notes. The correspondence is largely routine but includes condolence letters on the death of Chee Dodge (Box 7, Folder 25) and letters from Walter Roberts including a poem entitled Rio En Medio (Box 7, Folders 27-28). The Dodge Diaries are primarily daily accounts of interaction with various Indians, probably conducted in the course of his Agency work. The newsclippings regarding Dodge's sister Annie Wauneka are mostly related to her receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. The majority of the other newsclippings concern Indian affairs in general, particularly those of the Navajo. The speeches in this series also relate to general Indian affairs and are largely those of Bureau of Indian Affairs officials. Speeches of particular interest include a holograph copy of Dodge's address Relocation: Success or Failure (Box 8, Folder 12, circa 1956) and two Stewart L. Udall speeches given at a Bureau of Indian Affairs conference in 1966 (Box 8, Folder 14). A Royal Marks address on Indian self-government entitled The American Problem and the inaugural address of Paul Jones as Navajo Tribal Chairman are included in Box 8, Folder 15. The Chee Dodge papers (Box 8, Folder 21) are comprised of two affidavits concerning Navajos hired by Chee to work on his ranch and one bill of sale for a horse purchased by Chee.

Series V: Miscellaneous Papers contains documentation of a number of Indian and Indian rights organizations. The American Indian Defense Association materials include a series of photocopied letters concerning Franklin D. Roosevelt's appointment of the Secretary of the Interior, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These letters specifically discuss the candidacies of John Collier and Harold Ickes. The Reports/Interview file (Box 8, Folder 24) contains information on Pueblo Lands in New Mexico. The papers of the various other associations in this series contain articles of incorporation, by-laws, reports and publications. Among the Miscellaneous Notes is a holograph list of the Indian residents of the Camp Verde Reservation. Other items of interest include a draft agreement between the National Park Service, the Office of Indian Affairs, and the Navajo Tribal Council proposing relationships and responsibilities between the three agencies for the use of national park lands (Box 6, Folder 14). An agreement between the citizens of Blonding, Utah and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs concerning the use of the Piute Strip can be found in Box 6, Folder 14. The Miscellaneous-Tuba City file (Box 6, Folder 17) includes completed copies of the Application for Census Identification Number form.