92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



ments that were made in determining the number of school-age Nava- 

 hos preparatory to the intensive efforts at bringing these children 

 into schools after the close of World War II. The proportion of 

 school-age Navahos as reported in 1945 is 34.6 percent of the total 

 population. Since that time, this proportion has remained in the 

 neighborhood of 35 percent (Young, 1957, p. 281). 



Further insight into the quality of the population data collected 

 at this time can be gained from an examination of the several agency 

 rolls which were prepared on the basis of special surveys carried out 

 by the respective agency superintendents during the period from 

 1929 to 1939. Altliough all of these surveys are subject to limitations 

 in coverage and procedure, they provide a useful series of benchmarks 

 for the analysis of trends in tlie growth of the Navaho population, 

 and permit interesting comparisons. A few of these special surveys 

 appear to have been conducted with skill sufficient to provide fairly 

 reliable data on the age distribution and certain other characteristics 

 of the population covered. The total enrolled population, by sex, 

 and the total and school-age population as obtained by me from sam- 

 ples of the original rolls, are shown in tables 18-20.'*'^ 



Table 19 also contains a number of synthetic totals computed for 

 the Ramah Navaho community on the basis of genealogical records 

 which extend from 1880 to 1948. These synthetic totals were ob- 

 tained by summing the repoited figures for a series of 4-year periods : 

 1880 to 1883, inclusive; 1885 to 1888, inclusive; 1890 to 1893, inclusive; 

 etc. This procedure was adopted in order to minimize the effects of 

 random fluctuations occurring in the figures reported from year to 

 year. Because of the very small numbers involved, such fluctuations 

 would otherwise seriously distort some of the relationships found in 

 the data.*^ 



The major significance of the figures given in tables 18, 19, and 20 lies 

 in the uniformly high proportions of the populations sampled that 

 are of school age. This uniformity is especially remarkable in view 

 of the undoubtedly approximate nature of a considerable proportion 

 of the reported ages. As might be expected because of the small 

 frequencies involved, the widest variation in these proportions is found 

 in the data for the Ramah community, where a low of 29.7 percent was 

 obtained for the period 1895 to 1898, and a high of 41.6 percent for 

 the period 1910 to 1913. In general, hoAvever, the proportions aged 6 

 to 18 lie between 30 and 40 percent, with the average coming very close 

 to 34 percent. 



**■ Many of the original agency rolls prepared from special canvasses of the reservation 

 during this period are on file in the National Archives, Interior Branch, Record Group 75. 

 A number of these rolls were examined by me, and samples of the data contained 

 thereon were obtained. Table IS presents the ofllcial totals reported on the rolls and the 

 sample totals obtained therefrom. 



*' These data were compiled by the late Prof. Clyde Kluckhohn. They were supplied 

 through the courtesy of Dr. David F. Aberle, with the permission of Professor Kluckhohn. 



