For your consideration is an original handwritten and signed Department of the Interior Office of Indian Affairs Signed Letter, March 31, 1874. Provenance: From the John Kleinschmidt collection which was on loan to the C.M. Russell Museum from 1987 to 1993 and included in the "The Cowboy West: 100 Years of Photography 1992-1993 exhibit. The letter was from then Commissioner of Indian Affairs Edward Parmelee Smith to Indian agent J. J. Saville of the Red Cloud agency, Dakota Territory. John J. Saville was appointed as Indian agent of the Red Cloud Agency in 1873. The government agencies were forerunners to the modern day Indian reservations. The agency became the administrative center for the Oglala Sioux and served as the distribution point for government annuities (food and supplies) as substitute for the buffalo hunting way of life. The goverment sought to use the agency to transform the Indians into adopting the white man's culture, to educate the children and to teach the adults how to farm. In summation the letter relates to the necessity of the agent to procure receipts for the subsistence stores issued to the Ogala and to use the Army troops to prevent the Indians from taking the supplies not alotted to them. The letter is signed by Commissioner Smith. A wonderful piece of history from the time prior to the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. This two-page letter is in very nice preserved condition, age tanning noted. Measures 7.375"W x 9.75"L.