Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Hodge, Frederick Webb, Fenyes, Eva Scott, and Clum, John P.
- Abstract:
- Clum was an Arizona Pioneer and Apache Indian agent at San Carlos. This collection contains manuscripts by John P. Clum, and newspaper clippings about John P. Clum, ranging from 1928 to 1957.
- Extent:
- 0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder)
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
John P. Clum Collection, 1928-1957, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.519.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains manuscripts by John P. Clum and newspaper clippings about John P. Clum, ranging from 1928 to 1957.
- Biographical / historical:
-
John Philip Clum (1851 September 1 - 1932 May 2) was an Indian agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory. He implemented a limited form of self-government on the reservation that was so successful that other reservations were closed and their residents moved to San Carlos. Clum later became the first mayor of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, after its incorporation in 1881. He also founded the still-operating "The Tombstone Epitaph" on May 1, 1880.
President U.S Grant established the San Carlos Apache Reservation on December 14, 1872. After an investigation of political abuses within the Office of Indian Affairs, the government gave Protestant religious groups the responsibility for managing the Indian reservations. The Apaches at San Carlos rarely saw the results of the federal money and suffered as a result. On February 26, 1874, under these difficult conditions, Clum accepted a commission as Indian Agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory. During Clum's tenure at San Carlos, he established the first Indian Tribal Police and a Tribal Court, forming a system of Indian self-rule. Clum encouraged the Apaches to take up the peaceful pursuits of farming and raising cattle. Faced with superior officers who strongly disagreed with his methods, dogged by an uncaring Indian Bureau administration and under constant harassment by the Army, Clum was frustrated. He left his post as Indian Agent at noon on July 1, 1877.
Clum and his wife moved to Florence, Arizona Territory, and bought a weekly newspaper, "The Arizona Citizen," then operating in Tucson but moving it to Florence. Eventually, he moved the paper back to Tucson. For more than two years he published editorials criticizing "the Army of Arizona and the political double-crossers in Washington." Following the great silver strike in Tombstone in 1877, Clum moved to Tombstone and began publication, on Saturday, May 1, 1880, of "The Tombstone Epitaph." He helped organize a Vigilance Committee to end lawlessness in Tombstone, and his association with that group helped get him elected as Tombstone's first mayor under the new city charter of 1881.
After the Gunfight at the OK Corral, Clum was no longer popular in Tombstone. So, in 1898, Clum accepted an appointment as Postal Inspector for the Alaska Territory. During a five-month period he traversed 8,000 miles in the Alaskan territory, equipping existing post offices and establishing seven new post offices. Clum was later named postmaster for Fairbanks, Alaska, and served in that position until 1909. After his tenure as the Fairbanks postmaster, Clum spent several years working for the Southern Pacific Railroad, giving hundreds of lectures all over the country to promote tourism and passenger use of the railroad. In 1928, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived until his death in 1932, at age 80.
- Acquisition information:
- Material was collected by Dr. Frederick Webb Hodge and Mrs. Eva Scott Fenyes. Materials were given as separate donations to the Library between 1936 and 1957.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Glenna Schroeder, circa 1977-1981. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2012 September 28, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
- Preferred citation:
-
John P. Clum Collection, 1928-1957, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.519.
- Location of this collection:
-
4700 Western Heritage WayLos Angeles, CA 90027, US
- Contact:
- (747) 201-8448