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Choctaw Papers

Collection Overview

The Choctaw Papers consist of a collection of materials such as personal letters, military letters, and legal documents, voting records, and appointments ranging from 1831-1903. Letters include correspondence from Commissioner General I. H. Cook, Colonel Greenwood LeFlore, Joseph G. Heald, Sam P. Shattuck, George Durant, and others. The collection documents show the appointment of different governing officials within new Choctaw land, including voter lists and appointment records for Principal Chief, Commissioner on the Court of claims, and other positions ranging from 1861-1898. Some notable documents are a land grant to Cun-oon-tam-be under 14th Article of Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek which is signed and sealed by President James Polk (1846), a list of Choctaw voters (circa 1890), and a land bounty for a Choctaw warrior who served in Volunteers War of 1812 (1860).

Thomas Gilcrease Library and Archive
ENG
24 items
1846 - 1903
CSV file
MC.1964.43

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Access Restrictions

Available by appointment only at the Helmerich Center for American Research (HCAR) with the exception of materials with donor restrictions. Contact Library staff in advance to inquire if materials exist pertaining to your research interests.

Use Restrictions

Please contact the Rights and Reproduction Department for information on publishing or reproducing materials included in these records. Permission will be granted by the Gilcrease Museum as the owner of the physical materials, and does not imply permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all necessary permissions from the copyright holder.

Provenance

The Gilcrease Foundation acquired these materials before 1964 and is housed in the Helmerich Center for American Research (HCAR). The library currently receives most materials through community donation, board members, artists and the acquisition of manuscript collections.

Staff, interns, and volunteers of the Thomas Gilcrease Library and Archive have contributed to the organization and maintenance of the files since the collection passed to the City of Tulsa in the 1950s.