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ABOUT U.S. INDIAN CENSUS SCHEDULE, 1885-1940

• Name (Indian and/or English)
• Gender
• Age
• Birth date
• Relationship to head of family
• Marital status
• Tribe name
• Agency and reservation name

Other information about an individual, such as degree of Indian blood, as recorded in the later census years, may be available on the original record. Be sure to view the corresponding image in order to obtain all possible information about an individual.

The Indian Census schedules are census rolls usually submitted each year by agents or superintendents in charge of Indian reservations, as required by an act of 4 July 1884 (23 Stat. 98). The data on the rolls varies to some extent. For certain years – including 1935, 1936, 1938, and 1939 – only supplemental rolls of additions and deletions were compiled.

There is not a census for every reservation or group of Indians for every year. Only persons who maintained a formal affiliation with a tribe under federal supervision are listed on these census rolls.

Most of the rolls for the year 1940 were retained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and are not included in this database. Rolls were not required to be submitted after 1940 so only a few post-1940 records are included here.

Original data: Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C.