Miami Indians collection
Scope and Contents
The collection was donated by Dr. Bert Anson, a professor of history at Ball State University who wrote a history of the tribe titled, The Miami Indians (1970). Much of the collection consists of items used by Dr. Anson for research of the book and includes notes, photocopies of treaties and legal proceedings, tribal genealogies, correspondence, and other materials relating to the Miami Indian tribe.
The photograph series, P.002, contains approximately forty items and includes photographs of groups and individuals, as well as photos of areas once inhabited by the Miamis.
OVB.002 contains four oversize items, all photo-reproductions: a 1778 map of western Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, by Thomas Hutchins; an undated War Department map of lands assigned to emigrant Indians west of Arkansas and Missouri; letters received of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort Wayne agency, 1842-46; and the La Cygne Journal, 1871.
The collection also includes three maps: MAPS.068, the Mitchell Map of the British and French Dominions in North America, 1755; MAPS.069, Ottawa County Oklahoma, Allotment Map, undated; MAPS.070, Location of Historic and Prehistoric Tribes in Indiana, drawn by Larry Vizard, undated.
Dates
- 1790-1971
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, Muncie, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Archives and Special Collections.
Historical Note
The Miami Indians were one of the small groups of tribes comprising the Illinois division of the Algonquian linguistic family. Primarily located in present day Indiana, the Miamis emerged as a pivotal tribe during the French and British imperial wars of the seventeenth century. The Miamis reached their peak of political power in the Indiana confederacies that blocked expansion into the Northwest Territory in the 1790s and later during the War of 1812. Their claim to large amounts of Indiana territory enabled them to conclude several advantageous treaties with the U.S. government and delayed emigration until the late 1840s. The tribe`s emigration in 1846-47 produced two branches: the Indiana group and the Kansas-Oklahoma group. Both branches have managed to maintain political cooperation despite deep seated cultural antipathies.
Extent
1 Cubic Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Miami Indians research documents, 1752-1971
Series 2: Miami Indians photographs, 1790-1971
Series 3: Miami Indians oversize materials, 1790-1971
Series 4: Miami Indians maps, 1755
Custodial History
This collection was received by Archives and Special Collections as a donation from Bert Anson on 1979/08/06 and 1979/12/12.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 1996/01/30 by M. Seelinger. EAD finding aid created 2011/06/22 by Bethany Fiechter.
Processing Information
Series 2 (Box P2) contained empty folder marked "Negatives Color, Box:1, Folder:30, Number of items-Upstairs in Room 478" Current Location: Unknown by: Brian Faust 11/20/2018
- Correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Documents Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Genealogy Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Indiana Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Indiana -- History -- 19th century -- Sources Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Indiana -- History -- 20th century -- Sources Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Legal documents Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Miami Indians Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Newspapers Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Stoeckel Archives of Local History Subject Source: Local sources
- Title
- Miami Indians collection
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Stoeckel Archives of Local History Repository
Alexander M. Bracken Library
2000 W. University Avenue
Muncie Indiana 47306 USA
libarchives@bsu.edu
