Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1884

Washington: Government Printing Office. 1884. Single volume. Octavo, 9.25 inches. Original blind-ruled brown cloth, gilt title to spine (gilt tarnished). 512 pp. Large folding colored map, "Map Showing the Location of the Indian Reservations Within the Limits of the United States and Territories," compiled under the direction of Hon. Hiram Price, drawn by Paul Brodie, 1884, tipped in at front. Additional smaller folding map within the text. Numerous statistical tables throughout.

Condition: Good. Cloth worn and rubbed along edges, head and foot of spine; spine sunned. Text block sound and secure. Pencil notation to front pastedown. Edges of text block lightly spotted with some scattered foxing throughout. Rear free endpapers adhered to rear pastedown, one with small closed tear. Large folding map present and complete, in good condition with one 2-inch closed tear at the gutter attachment point, no losses.

Significance: Primary-source survey of U.S. Indian policy and reservation conditions in 1884, with agent reports from every active agency from Arizona to Wyoming, including the Pine Ridge report of V. T. McGillycuddy, the Standing Rock report of James McLaughlin (later central to the 1890 events surrounding Sitting Bull's death), and the reports of Capt. R. H. Pratt on the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and S. C. Armstrong on the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute.