Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 67 



policy which informed the administration of Indian affairs was poorly 

 defined. Its aim was to "civilize" the Indian tribes whose former 

 ways of life could not be sustained in the face of the expanding fron- 

 tiers of American society. In theory, civilizing the Indian meant 

 providing him with a settled agricultural way of life. In practice, it 

 commonly meant reducing him to dependency status.** 



The custodial role of the Bureau had been clearly established by 

 1849, when it was transferred from the War Department to the Home 

 Department of the Interior, which was establislied in that year. The 

 Bureau has remained a part of the Department of the Interior to the 

 present time. 



Nearly all of the official reports on the general socioeconomic situ- 

 ation of the several Indian tribes under Federal jurisdiction are 

 contained in the "Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian 

 Affairs." ^ The bulk of these reports consists of accounts submitted 

 to the Commissioner by the Indian agents or superintendents assigned 

 to the several Indian agencies. The population data contained in these 

 accounts are, for the most part, limited to estimates of total popula- 

 tion together with figures on school enrollment. These data are usually 

 summarized in a statistical appendix to each annual report. Thus, the 

 ultimate source of the population data submitted for any given Indian 

 tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the Indian agent or super- 

 intendent serving with that tribe.^° 



As a source of information on the population of the Navaho, the 

 I'eports of the Bureau of Indian Affairs can best be considered in 

 five major periods, corresponding to significant developments in the 

 collection of basic data and the maintenance of the pertinent records. 

 The first period, 1848 to 1864, is the interval during which the initial 

 contacts were made between representatives of the U.S. Government 

 and the Navaho tribe. The records of this period contain only inci- 

 dental and highly fanciful references to the size of the Navaho popu- 



^ The salient features of the development of Federal-Indian relations, 1775-1953, are 

 presented in U.S. Congress, 1953, chart facing p. 1584. A basic source on the legal aspects 

 of these relations is Cohen, 1935, chapters 2-4. An excellent summary of this worls is the 

 adaptation by Young, 1955, pp. 125-141. 



* These reports began with the formation of the Office of Commissioner of Indian 

 Affairs under the War Department in 1832. The first significant account of the Navaho 

 Nation is contained in the report of 1849, shortly after the acquisition of the territory 

 of New Mexico by, the United States. For bibliographic purposes, all references to the 

 reports are cited as "Bureau of Indian Affairs." 



^•i In preparing their annual reports, these officials could and did avail themselves of 

 whatever additional sources of information they found at hand, such as the reports of 

 explorers, missionaries, and traders. A somewhat more reliable source was frequently 

 available in the form of ration lists which were prepared in connection with the distribu- 

 tion of annuity goods and other supplies. After 1890, the figures obtained in the decennial 

 censuses could also be used as a basis for estimates of the population of the several 

 Indian reservations. In some cases, furthermore, the tribal rolls were maintained with 

 sufficient accuracy to provide acceptable population figures from year to year. However, 

 the decision to accept, revise, or ignore any particular population figure usually rested 

 with the reporting agent or superintendent. 



