Correspondence (largely 1820-1856) of Schoolcraft, author, explorer, Indian agent, geologist, and ethnologist, with his successive wives, Jane Johnston and Mary E. Howard; and notes, drafts, and manuscripts of his published and unpublished articles, manuscript magazines, books, poetry, speeches, lectures, and U.S. government reports. Also included are journals, memoranda, financial records, genealogical notes, a letter copybook (1822-1825), maps, drawings, statistical compilations, Indian language vocabularies, clippings, and printed items.

The papers reflect Schoolcraft's career as a glass manufacturer in Vermont and New Hampshire (1810-1817); mineralogist on an exploring expedition in the Ozark Mountains (1817-1818); geologist on the Lewis Cass exploring expedition to Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi River (1820); Indian agent for the Ojibwe at Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinac Island, Michigan (1822-1841); Michigan superintendent of Indian affairs (1836-1841); leader of exploring expeditions throughout the Great Lakes region, notably that of 1832 in Minnesota which discovered and named Lake Itasca as the source of the Mississippi River; member of the Michigan territorial legislature (1828-1832); ethnologist studying the Iroquois of New York (1840s); and compiler and editor of Historical and Statistical Information of the Indian Tribes of United States (Philadelphia, 1851-1857).

The dominant subjects of Schoolcraft's writings are the history, language, mythology, religion, characteristics, and potential of the American Indian; Indian picture writing; the role of the federal government in Indian affairs; Christian missionary work among Indian tribes; American literature using the Indian as the central motif; and mineralogy, geology, and ethnology.

Also included are miscellaneous papers of his father, Lawrence Schoolcraft, of his father-in-law, John Johnston, and of Lewis Cass; Joseph N. Nicollet's journal (1836) in French of an expedition to the sources of the Mississippi River; and Mary H. Schoolcraft's poetry, articles, and notebooks.

Geology > Northwest, Old.

Glass manufacture > New England.

Indian mythology > North America.

Indians of North America > Government relations.

Indians of North America > History.

Indians of North America > Languages.

Indians of North America > Missions.

Indians of North America > Religion.

Iroquois Indians > New York.

Mineralogy > Ozark Mountains.

Ojibwa Indians > Michigan.

Great Lakes (North America) > Description and travel.

Itasca, Lake (Minn.) > Description and travel.

Mississippi River > Description and travel.

Northwest, Old > Description and travel.

Superior, Lake > Description and travel.

Field notes.

Journals.

Microforms.

Poems.

Maps Northwest, Old.

Authors United States.

Ethnologists United States.

Explorers Middle West.

Geologists United States.

Indian agents Michigan.