Scope and Content Note
The Kevin Gover Papers house 1,612 photographs, daily calendars, news clippings, personal correspondence, programs, speeches, video recordings, awards, and framed photographs collected between January 1997 and January 2001, during which time Gover served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior under Secretary Bruce Babbitt. These materials are arranged chronologically by date.
Most of the images in Series I: Photographs were taken by Kevin Gover. Other photographers include Carol Lujan, the White House photographer, and other professional photographers. These images document visits to Indian schools and communities, the BIA's 175th anniversary, and other BIA meetings. Individuals depicted include Hillary and Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Bruce Babbitt, and leaders of Indian communities in the United States. Series II: Calendars and Professional Papers houses daily calendars recording meetings and trips, news articles, speeches, ephemeral materials, personal letters and notes, reports, agendas, meeting records, and other materials. Series III: Audio Visual consists of 5 video recordings covering BIA conferences, especially the Bureau's 175th anniversary. Series IV: Artifacts and Memorabilia includes framed photographs, plaques, and awards. Box 54 contains photographs subpoenaed by the Independent Counsel during the investigation of Secretary Babbitt over the casino controversy.
Dates
- Creation: 1977-2001
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1998-2001
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
To view this collection, please contact Ask an Archivist or call (480) 965-4932 at least five days in advance. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Patrons can also arrange to view this collection at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center (rm. 305) at Fletcher Library on the West campus. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.
Biographical Note
Kevin Gover, former Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the U. S. Department of the Interior, became a Professor of Law at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 2003.
Gover attended Princeton University, where he majored in Public and International Affairs, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to the late U. S. District Judge Juan G. Burciaga of Albuquerque. Professor Gover worked as a specialist for the American Indian Policy Review Commission, a research group chartered by Congress to study a wide range of issues important to Native Americans. Private practice followed, first with a large firm in Washington, DC and then forming a firm in New Mexico with two other highly regarded Native lawyers. The firm grew into one of the largest Native-owned law firms in the country.
Gover served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs under Interior Secretary and former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt from 1997 to 2001. As Assistant Secretary, he concentrated on upgrading Indian law enforcement, rebuilding decrepit Indian schools, reforming trust services, and overhauling the Bureau of Indian Affairs' management system. His reform efforts, coupled with an eloquent and moving apology to the nation’s Indian communities for the wrongs done to them by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the past on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Bureau’s founding, won him wide approval in Indian country and Congressional praise.
Sources:
- ASU Faculty Profile, www.law.asu.edu
- Indian Country Today, 2004 May 7
- See also: LAB BIO-388
Full extent
54 Box(es)
Full extent
18 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Kevin Gover Papers house 1,612 photographs, daily calendars, news clippings, personal correspondence, programs, speeches, video recordings, awards, and framed photographs collected between January 1997 and January 2001, during which time Gover served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior under Secretary Bruce Babbitt. These materials are arranged chronologically by date.
Arrangement
This collection consists of fifty-four boxes divided into four series:
- Series I: Photographs
- Series II: Calendars and Professional Papers
- Series III: Audio Visual
- Series IV: Artifacts and Memorabilia
Provenance
The Kevin Gover Collection was donated by Kevin Gover on June 6, 2004 (Accession #2004-03665).
Separated Materials
Remarks of Kevin Gover at the 175th BIA Anniversary
has been cataloged into the Labriola stacks as E93.G68 2000 VIDEO.
Processing Note
Since all papers came arranged in loose-leaf books by date, materials were transferred into archivally sound housings and left in original order. As a result, material in cases 12-51 cannot be physically organized into series and are instead described as they appear.
- Title
- Kevin Gover Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Preliminary Table of Contents written by Patricia Etter in April of 2006.
- Date
- 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center Repository