Scope and Contents
Correspondence, ephemera, memoranda, photographs, and receipts kept by Joshua Ross, a Cherokee (American Indigenous people also known as Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi) educator, politican, and trader, 1848-1918.
Material from 1872 to 1908 pertains to Cherokee politics, tribal membership, and land claims. A portion of this material relates to the Dawes Act of 1887 and Curtis Act of 1898, which dismantled tribal governments and communal lands in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Multiple letters to Ross from relatives concern Cherokee genealogy. Letters from his siblings concern the genealogy of an African American man, Calvin Fields Ross, formerly enslaved by the Ross family.
Material from 1874 to 1891 includes correspondence and memoranda relating to the Indian International Fair held annually at Muskogee. Includes letters about the organization of the fair, responses to invitations to speak or present, and a list of artifacts brought to the fair (along with the name of the group and person who brought or produced each item).
A photograph documents the grave of Emily J. DeShurley in Elmwood Cemetery at Augusta, Butler County, Kansas, approximately 1942.
Dates
- 1848-1942
- Majority of material found within 1872-1918
Creator
Language of Materials
In English. Some material is in Cherokee.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Joshua Ross Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from William Reese Co. on the Walter McClintock Memorial Fund, 2022.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by format and chronologically thereafter.
Extent
0.42 Linear Feet (1 box)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
Correspondence, ephemera, memoranda, photographs, and receipts kept by Joshua Ross, a Cherokee (American Indigenous people also known as Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi) educator, politican, and trader, 1848-1918.
Material from 1872 to 1908 pertains to Cherokee politics, tribal membership, and land claims. A portion of this material relates to the Dawes Act of 1887 and Curtis Act of 1898, which dismantled tribal governments and communal lands in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Multiple letters to Ross from relatives concern Cherokee genealogy. Letters from his siblings concern the genealogy of an African American man, Calvin Fields Ross, formerly enslaved by the Ross family.
Material from 1874 to 1891 includes correspondence and memoranda relating to the Indian International Fair held annually at Muskogee. Includes letters about the organization of the fair, responses to invitations to speak or present, and a list of artifacts brought to the fair (along with the name of the group and person who brought or produced each item).
A photograph documents the grave of Emily J. DeShurley in Elmwood Cemetery at Augusta, Butler County, Kansas, approximately 1942.
Joshua Ross (1833-1924)
Joshua Ross (1833-1924) was born in Wills Valley, DeKalb County, Alabama, to Andrew Tlo-s-ta-ma Ross (1798-1840) and Susan Lowrey Ross (1798-1872). Andrew Ross was a nephew of John Ross (1790-1866), principal chief of the Cherokee people (the American Indigenous people also known as ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, Aniyvwiyaʔi, or Anigiduwagi). Susan Ross was the daughter of Tsa-Tsi-Agi-Li (also known as Rising Fawn or Major George Lowrey) (1770-1852), another Cherokee chief.
Joshua Ross graduated from the Cherokee Male Seminary in Tahlequah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1855 and from Emory & Henry College in Virginia in 1860. He taught at the Cherokee Female Seminary at Park Hill, Oklahoma, briefly in 1861, but soon went to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, to clerk at a sutler's store during the American Civil War.
Ross married Muskogee Yargee Ross (1842-1914), a daughter of Chief Checartah Yargee, in 1864 near Fort Gibson. The couple had four children: Susie Lowrey Ross Martin (1872-1949), Joshua Ewing Ross (1877-1950), John Yargee Ross (1879-1965), and Jennie Pocahontas Ross Clement (1885-1958).
The Ross family resided in Muscogee (Creek) Nation, where Joshua Ross was an instructor at the National Cherokee Institute for Males, as well as a store owner, a member of the Cherokee Grand Council, and organizer for the Indian International Fair, an annual event that gathered representatives from indigenous nations throughout the Indian Territory and the United States to promote agricultural development.
Muskogee Ross died in Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, in 1914. Joshua Ross died there as well in 1924.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards. For more information, please refer to the Beinecke Manuscript Unit Processing Manual.
- Enslaved persons -- Oklahoma
- Indian slaveholders -- Oklahoma
- African Americans -- Oklahoma
- Cherokee Indians -- Government relations
- Cherokee Indians -- Land tenure
- Cherokee Indians -- Oklahoma
- Fort Gibson (Okla.)
- Indian Territory
- Indians of North America -- Exhibitions
- Indians of North America -- Genealogy
- Indians of North America -- Government relations
- Indians of North America -- Land tenure
- Indians of North America -- Oklahoma
- Indians of North America -- Tribal citizenship
- Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma
- Oklahoma
- Photographs
- Receipts (financial records)
- Ross, Calvin Fields, 1852-1934
- Slaveholders -- Oklahoma
- United States (General Allotment Act (1887))
Source
- William Reese Co. (Bookseller)
- Title
- Guide to the Joshua Ross papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah Lerner
- Date
- March 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.