Inventory of the State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs/California Indian Assistance Project Records

Processed by The California State Archives staff; supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou.

California State Archives

1020 "O" Street

Sacramento, California 95814

Phone: (916) 653-2246

Fax: (916) 653-7363

Email: ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov

URL: http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/archives.htm

Inventory of the State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs/California Indian Assistance Project Records

Inventory: F3716

California State Archives

Office of the Secretary of State

Sacramento, California

Contact Information:

California State Archives
1020 "O" Street
Sacramento, California 95814
Phone: (916) 653-2246
Fax: (916) 653-7363
Email: ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov
URL: http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/archives.htm

Processed by:: The California State Archives staff

Descriptive Summary

Title: State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs/California Indian Assistance Project Records

Inventory: F3716

Creator: State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs

California Indian Assistance Project

Extent: see Arrangement and Description

Repository: California State Archives

Sacramento, California

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives collections.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs/California Indian Assistance Project Records, F3716, California State Archives.

Agency History

The State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs was created by the legislature in 1961 ( Stats. 1961, ch. 2139, effective Sept. 15, 1961) but it did not actually get underway until it was funded in 1964 ( Stats. 1963, ch. 1924, effective July 24, 1963). The Commission consisted of nine members: The Director of Social Welfare, the Director of Public Health and the Director of Education; three members of the State Senate appointed by the Rules Committee and three members of the Assembly appointed by the Speaker. The chairman, usually a State Senator, was appointed by the Governor. There was also a seven member Advisory Committee made up of three Indians and four non-Indians. The Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs was to investigate Indian living conditions and complaints in California and make a report to the Governor and Legislature. The Commission went out of existence on Sept. 30, 1969, because its life was not extended by the Legislature.

The California Indian Assistance Project came into existence under a $38,256 grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development under provisions of Section 701 of the Federal Housing Act of 1968. Robert J. Keyes, Assistant to Governor for Community Relations, supervised the Project's staff of three. The project was designed to clarify jurisdiction over Indian-related programs and to expand the California Indian's knowledge of Federal and State Programs available to him.

Part I - Records of The State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs

Folder F3716:1-15

1. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. 1964-1969.

Physical Description: 15ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged chronologically.

Letters received and copies of letters sent. Includes correspondence with other California State Agencies, i.e. Parks and Recreation, Social Welfare and Public Health; requests to Indian Commissions in other states for information about their programs; complaints from Indians regarding housing, sanitation, termination, etc.; referrals to and from Indian self-help organizations.

Folder F3716:16-28

2. PERSONNEL FILES. 1964-1969.

Physical Description: 14ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Includes resumes, letters of application and reference, appointments, and biographical material on Commission members, advisory committee members, paid staff and consultants.

Folder F3716:29-49

3. COMMISSION FILES PERTAINING TO RESERVATIONS. 1964-1969.

Physical Description: 21ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Includes letters received and sent regarding problems of health, sanitation, land disputes and education on reservations and rancherias. Field reports by Commission consultant on his visits to reservations and rancherias to investigate living conditions and the general attitudes of Indians toward government agencies. Copies of correspondence with Federal and State agencies dealing with reservations; selected minutes of tribal council meetings and resolutions passed concerning government programs, water, housing, etc.

Folder F3716:50-115

4. SUBJECT FILES. 1964-1969.

Physical Description: 66ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Includes letters received and copies of letters sent; staff reports on health, education, Indian organizations; grant proposals addressed to Indian organizations to Federal, State and private sources of funding; records of legal actions. Also, includes minutes of Governor's Interstate Indian Commission meetings in which representatives from Indian Commissions throughout the country exchanged information, 1963-1966; correspondence favoring or opposing Commission's extension, 1969; legal briefs and writs pertaining to suits against the Commission for refusing to hold public meetings, 1968.

Folder F3716:116-135

5. COMMISSION AND COMMITTEE HEARINGS, MINUTES. 1964-1969.

Physical Description: 8ff. and 16 tapes.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged chronologically.

Minutes of all committee and commission meetings; includes transcripts of meetings held on July 19, 1969, July 12, 1969, June 28, 1969, May 24, 1969, and audio tapes of meetings held on July 8, 1966, Oct. 30, 1966, Dec. 4, 1966, April 8, 1967, June 28, 1969, July 12, 1969 and July 19, 1969.

Folder F3716:136-140

6. NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS. 1968-1969.

Physical Description: 5ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged chronologically under subject.

Clippings from local California newspapers, especially the Eureka Times Standard, dealing with general news about Indians and their involvement in court cases, fairs, and education.

Folder F3716:141-153

7. INFORMATION FILES. 1964-1966.

Physical Description: 13ff.

Scope and Content Note

Reports of Indian organizations, transcripts of hearings, publications of self-help organizations such as California Indian Legal Services, reports of California state agencies collected by the Commission to aid in its report.

Folder F3716:154-155

8. COMMISSION REPORTS. 1968-1969.

Physical Description: 2ff.

Scope and Content Note

Drafts of Commission report to the Governor and Legislature written by Thomas Weaver, the chief consultant.

Part II - Records of The California Indian Assistance Project

Folder F3716:156-159

1. MEMORANDA. 1971-1972.

Physical Description: 4ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged chronologically.

Includes copies of all outgoing letters and memoranda answering requests from the public for information, transmitting applications for grants or letters of inquiry to the proper agency, answering jurisdictional disputes between government agencies and Indian organizations.

Folder F3716:160-244

2. SUBJECT FILES. 1971-1972.

Physical Description: 85ff.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

Letters received and copies of letters sent, reports of organizations or individuals engaged in projects to aid Indians; proposals for State, Federal or private grants. Includes the Project's quality progress reports to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for its grant; correspondence and clippings relating to Pit River Indians' sit-in at Pacific Gas and Electric Company campground; State Attorney General's report of his office's investigation of a shooting incident on the Hoopa Reservation; letters to the Governor protesting the eviction of the Bridgport Indians from their homes.

Folder F3716:245

3. PHOTOGRAPHS. 1968-1972.

Physical Description: 8 items. 1ff.

Scope and Content Note

Includes one 8×10 black and white print of Berenice Pate, Executive Secretary of State Advisory Commission on Indian Affairs, n.d.; three 5×3½ color prints of Colorado River Boundary, 1968; and four 5×5 color prints of Bridgeport Indian Colony, 1972.