Accessing the National Archives and Records Administration Records Online
- Only for the Detail Oriented

by Heidi Sproat

Buggy and crossed eyed after delving into the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a researcher has to pay very close attention to detail - and directions. I thought searching census records was difficult enough, but try researching an entry like this:

And continuing

This looked like Greek to me at first. But once I understood HOW to interpret this, and with the assistance of some expertly prepared directions from NARA on how to use these entries¹ , I was able to locate these entries in the Registers of Letters Received in Record Group 75 in the BIA. The above listing references letters exchanged between anyone who sent a letter or transmittal to the BIA and in return, any letters sent from the BIA. Each of these entries represent a given year, like 1893 is the first entry for the Lincoln Institute in THIS particular grouping of letters. The second grouping of letters represents the chronological listing of entries - 203.1302.6837.7977 … . Once a researcher has these numbers, then it’s off to the actual chronological logbook entries to try to track down the numerical entry.

After having a fairly good grasp of the Lincoln Institution (LI) and Educational Home (EH) structure, people involved, and inner workings, I decided to start from the beginning to better understand the continuum of communications between the LI and the BIA.

An example is sure to help explain this eyesight-robbing exercise. And yes, I had to review EACH year for multiple entities and people to discover and explain some particular issue. In 1899, there is an entry for this number: 45029. It’s in the second to last line on the continued entries above.

The next step is to access the correct date and numerical letter register to see if there is any explanation as to the subject of the letter. With some intensive effort the first couple of numerical searches, I did locate the appropriate record. Although difficult to read at first, I believe it reads “Chas. H. Dickson, City - Reports inspection of LI.”

Once I located the correct register of letters received, (July 24, 1899 - September 26, 1899 (34990-45833) https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225785751?objectPage=386, I chose to place an online order for email receipt - and payment - for accessing these individual records. But keep in mind, just one incorrect number and a researcher is toast. You will not find what you are looking for. Precision. Detailed review, double checking, and frequent breaks helped me locate various letters that have shed increasing light on the entire LI - EH experience for the Soldiers’ Orphans and the Native American children who lived at these institutions in the period generally spanning from 1871-1900. (I limited the time to 1900 because the federal government stopped funding support of the LI and EH after June 30, 1900, the end of the fiscal year.)

Next I waited for NARA to process the order - can take anywhere from 30 - 90 days. The first order I placed on April 11, 2025 I received electronic record delivery on June 3. Reviewing these records rendered more important information about the LI and EH, but nothing that was a revelation.

Not until my third NARA request was fulfilled did I find a goldmine of information about the LI and EH. It was devastating, disgusting and revelatory. The lengthy Inspection Report of the LI and EH contained letters, inspection reports, statements, affidavits, and depositions of individuals who attended the LI or EH, or who were employed at either of the sites. It was an exposé of the living conditions, disciplinary tactics used by the Superintendents, in particular one George Jackson, and a general lack of managerial oversight at primarily the EH when Native Americans boys were there. There were first person accounts from boys who were subject to the Superintendents’ callous physical treatment for the most trivial of transgressions. As sadistic as some of the personal accounts revealed, what was equally disturbing is that the “management” of the Educational Home either took a blind eye to these inexcusable physical punishments inflicted by one drunkard Superintendent, or they purposefully avoided confrontation because the Superintendent position was so difficult to fill.

Additionally, as early as 1885, there has been repeated reports from the Board of Public Charities as to the condition of the EH, and repeated visits by the Pennsylvania Board of Public Charities and Committee on Lunacy which shed light early on about the conditions at the EH and the corporal punishments inflicted by at least one of the Superintendents. There were repeated entries in a City and State publication in early 1899 that exposed these punishments as “shocking and revolting inhumanity.” One of the boys, Noble Haigh², reported the physical abuses to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Superintendent said the boys’ accusations to be substantially true, but that was how he “maintained order.” When EH management did not deny the punishments, their acquiescence to such disciplinary treatments was inexcusable. This Superintendent Jackson apparently fled before the investigation was complete.

There are many more instances substantiated in the various reports, but the foregoing example is just one of the many disturbing and intolerable findings. We have transcribed the lengthy reports and affidavits and they will be available on the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society’s Document Store collection.³ Yes, a researcher could trek to NARA directly, which I have found overwhelming, but this is exactly the kind of research one can execute from anywhere. Alas, I chose to do just this - research from wherever I am.

The true story of the EH and the LI was revealed in these later NARA documents. The route to even find these reports was intensely detailed and at times seemed fruitless, but persistence paid off. While I am generally an optimist, the revelations about the Lincoln Institution, the Educational Home and the conditions the Native American boys were subjected to is just gut wrenching.

Both Mike Bertram and I are open to all questions about our research into the Lincoln Institution and the Educational Home. What started as a query into a Native American “Ponemah” display at the Arizona Heard Museum morphed into an in depth two year research project - one filled with shocking discoveries but a much better understanding of what really happened to the Soldiers’ Orphans and Native Americans who lived at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Institution and the Educational Home.

References

1. https://historyhub.history.gov/native-american-records/b/native-american-records-blog/posts/accessing-the-letters-received-by-the-office-of-indian-affairs-1881-1907
2. Noble Haigh testimonial.
3. https://www.the2nomads.site/TEHSDocumentStore/Documents.html.

Document History

• Created by HS 2025-07-27