GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 1: Eastern United States
District of Columbia: DC-3

Catholic Church. Black and Indian Mission Office
2021 H Street, Northwest
Washington, DC 20006

Phone: 202-331-8542
Email: info@blackandindianmission.com

 

History: Comprised of three Catholic agencies, two of which pertain to Native American Catholics, at least in part – the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, established 1874, and the Commission for Catholic Missions among the Colored People and the Indians, established 1884. The BCIM represents Catholic interests on Indian reservations and advocates for Native American evangelization whereas the Commission promotes and administers a national Catholic Lenten collection that provides funds for Native American and African American ministries throughout the United States. The third agency, the Catholic Negro American Mission Board, established 1907, and affiliated with the Black and Indian Mission Office, 1980, advocates for African American evangelization. A unified board of directors comprised of the archbishops of  Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia has administered the three agencies, 1980-present.

 

Holdings of Catholic records about Native Americans: Marquette University Special Collections and Archives administers the archival records of the Black and Indian Mission Office under the banner of Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records. The descriptive inventory contains record descriptions and additional history notes for all three agencies.

 

Unless otherwise noted, the repository on this page holds (or held) the records described here and they are not held at the Marquette University Archives.

new2006/rev2009-2020