EXPLORATION, ENCOUNTER, EXCHANGE IN HISTORY
57
At the Crossroads of World War I
and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
A Case Study of American Indian Participation on
the Home Front and Abroad
A
Jessica Hopkins, Archivist, National Archives and Records Administration
s the first total war of the modern period, World War I offers many options for
students to investigate the National History Day 2016 theme of Exploration,
Encounter, Exchange in History. More than 4.35 million U.S. men and women served
in the armed forces, and several thousand more served in support capacities. From
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soldiers to nurses, each provides a different vantage point for examining the impact
that international events had on individuals on the home front and war front, as well
as offering insights into the flu pandemic during the war.
Surprisingly, stories of these individuals are tucked within the records created by
federal agencies during this time period. The historically significant and permanently
valuable records that were created, sent, or received by the agencies of the federal
“We wanted to do our
share in the big fight,
and we tried to do it.”
—Charles Sorrell of the
Shoshone Tribe and Company
I, 13th Infantry, 8th Division1
government are stored at National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
facilities throughout the United States. Agencies such as the U.S. Food Administration, the National War Labor Board, and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provided goods and services to individuals and families, while also supporting the war effort.
Using the records of an agency like the BIA as a lens, students can begin to understand the continuous interplay of private life
and national and international events within the context of war.
Established in 1824, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was tasked with overseeing the relationship between the federal
government and American Indians and Alaska Natives. Given the agency’s long history, these records provide an avenue to
examine the experiences of many American Indians and Alaska Natives.3 Day-to-day reservation operations are described in
letters, memos, general correspondence, case files, and financial records that reflect the variety of individuals served by and
working for the agency. As a result, these records can include personal information about tribal members, Federal officials,
Indian agents, military personnel, teachers, nurses, and laborers. Some records may even reference individuals such as
ministers, physicians, or businessmen who interacted with Indian affairs because of the good and services they supply as well
as their geographic proximity to an agency.
In addition to its administrative duties, the BIA was responsible for organizing education for American Indian children through
reservation day schools and boarding schools.4 The goal of early reservation-based education was to provide “moral training”
Susan Applegate Krouse and Joseph K. Dixon, North American Indians in the Great War (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 17.
“WWI Casualty and Death Tables,” U.S. Department of Justice, Public Broadcasting Service, accessed January 20, 2015, www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html.
3
“Bureau of Indian Affairs,” U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs, last modified January 20, 2015, accessed January 20, 2015, www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/.
4
This was separate from schools operated by faith-based organizations.
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