This index to the Interior Department appointment papers, Territory of Colorado, 1857-1907, collection provides the dates each reel covers. Government Information MAY NOT hold all of these reels. The record in the library catalog describes the extent of our holdings. For help, or to make an appointment to view a reel, email rad@colorado.edu
On the 13 rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced unbound records of the Appointments Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior relating to appointments to positions in Colorado and to subsequent actions concerning incumbents, 1857-1907.
The Territory of Colorado was established by an act of Congress approved on February 28, 1861 (12 Stat. 172), with the same boundaries as the present State. The State government was formed under the terms of an act of Congress approved on March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 474), and the State of Colorado was admitted to the Union by proclamation of President Ulysses S. Grant on August 1, 1876 (19 Stat. 665).
The records pertain only to positions normally filled by Presidential appointment: Territorial Governor and Secretary, Surveyor General, registers and receivers of public land offices, and Indian agents. Some of the records are applications for the position of Supervisor of the Census in Colorado's first and second districts for the 1890 census. A few records concern a proposed pension office in Denver, which was not approved by the Department of the Interior. The officials concerned with land matters and with administration of Indian affairs were employees of the General Land Office and of the Office of Indian Affairs, respectively. Jurisdiction over these agencies was placed in the Department of the Interior when it was created in 1849. After the supervision of Territorial governments and Territorial affairs in general was transferred to the Department of the Interior by an act approved March 1, 1873 (17 Stat. 484), the Governor and the Secretary reported directly to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. Presidential appointments to positions under the direct control of the Office of the Secretary and to positions in bureaus of the Department of the Interior were handled by the Appointments Division, also known as the Division of Appointments and the Appointment Division.
The records document such matters as resignations, removals, and the investigation of charges against officials. Among the records are letters of application and recommendation, petitions, reports, oaths of office, bonds, notices of succession, and applications for leave of absence. There are papers for both successful and unsuccessful applicants and for persons who did not apply but who were nominated by others. Some of the record" do not relate to any specific applicant. Several documents pertain to the establishment or discontinuance of offices rather than to filling positions, and some concern the assignment of Army officers as acting Indian agents. Although most of the documents are incoming communications, there are also copies of some letters sent by the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. The records are arranged by title of office or position and there-under alphabetically by name of applicant or incumbent. At the beginning of the rolls of microfilm there may be records containing general information about the specific office or position or there may be abstracts of information concerning several applicants. Names included in the abstracts are not in the index that is filmed after these introductory remarks unless the applicant has papers elsewhere among the records reproduced in this microfilm publication. Documents concerning a position rather than a person are usually filed under the name of the incumbent. Records relating to an individual applicant or incumbent are generally arranged in chronological order. Enclosures are filmed after the related letters of transmittal. The papers for each person were usually placed in one or more envelopes on which were written the name of the applicant, the position sought, names of persons giving recommendations, and, frequently, indications of actions taken. Papers were often returned to unsuccessful applicants; in these cases there may be only empty envelopes in the file. When papers were mailed to applicants and were returned as undelivered, they were then restored to the files.
Some persons applied for more than one position; in such cases, the papers were usually filed under the later application. A cross-reference notation may indicate this action. There may also be information about an applicant among papers of other applicants.
The records reproduced in this microcopy are part of a series arranged geographically by Territory. Other records of the Appointments Division, including copies of nominations and commissions, many copies of letters sent, and most records of charges against employees are not arranged geographically and have not been included in this microcopy. When the Office of the Secretary of the Interior instituted a central filing system in 1907, many divisional records were discontinued. Most personnel records dated after 1907 are in the National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Mo. The records reproduced in this microfilm publication are part of the records in the National Archives designated as Record Group 48, Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior.
The spreadsheet attached below contains a reel-by-reel description of the complete collection.