book chapter

Indian agent

Caxton PrintersCaldwell, IdahoPublished In 1950 • Pages:

By: Kneale, Albert H., b. 1872.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is an account by an Indian Bureau employee of the five years (1923-1929) he spent at Shiprock, New Mexico, as superintendent of what was then the Northern Navajo Reservation. The author had previously spent twenty-four years on other reservations, but chapters dealing with these tribes as well as some parts of the Navajo chapter have been omitted from this file. Material excerpted from the Navajo chapter (pages 325-382) deals with such early government programs as improving the breed of sheep, development of the water holes, acculturating the tribe through boarding schools for the very young children, etc. The author claims that during the period of his administration, the natural hardiness of the Navajo together with a minimum diet of meat enabled the tribe to pull through even the severest winters without undue distress. However, Kneale is a bitter critic of the 'New Deal' program for the Navajo inaugurated under Commissioner John Collier (he does not actually name the latter), accusing it of being responsible for reducing the Navajo to his present near-destitute condition. Kneale particularly singles out for attack the centralization of the agency at Window Rock, Arizona, the institution of day schools, and the sheep reduction program.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Pastoral activities
Routes
Personal names
Informal in-group justice
Districts
Dependencies
Crime
Offenses against life
Missions
Elementary education
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Navajo
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2004
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southwest and Basin
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Government Official
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
3: Good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Kachen S. Coley ; 1952-1953
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1923-1929
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1923-1929
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Shiprock, New Mexico, United States
NotesAdditional notes
by Albert H. Kneale
This document consists of excerpts
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
50009648
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Navajo Indians