The Records Concerning American Indians digital collection is sourced from the Treasurer’s and Comptroller’s Papers (SR.204), a collection curated in the mid-twentieth century after the records of the State Treasurer and State Comptroller became largely indistinguishable.

Beginning in the 18th century, these two offices managed public accounts, disbursed payments for military service, oversaw land sales, and administered North Carolina’s financial affairs at large. 

Most digitized records were created in the process of government business, thereby reflecting the dispositions of government agencies rather than American Indians themselves. With some exceptions, this collection documents the perspectives and actions of the State in its relationship with American Indian communities throughout history.

Treaties of 1817 and 1819

Many records in this collection including certificates of purchase, bonds, legal records, and survey materials, document claims to land ownership by members of the Cherokee Nation under treaties signed with the United States in 1817 and 1819. These records highlight continued efforts by the Cherokee people to retain ownership of their lands, largely in Western North Carolina and Tennessee, preceding more forceful actions taken to remove them from the region. 


As compensation for the Cherokee selling or ceding large tracts of their remaining lands in the Southeast to the United States, heads of Cherokee families could apply for individual 640-acre tracts on previously ceded lands. Throughout the historical record, these tracts are frequently referred to as “reservations,” “life reservations,” and “life estate reservations.”

 

Despite this assurance, claims to these lands were often subjected to legal battles, seen in this collection through depositions argued to the State of N.C., ultimately leading to the large-scale removal of most Cherokees under later actions including the Indian Removal Act (1830) and the Treaty of New Echota (1838). 

Financial records

Property records

Legal documents

Essays

The Cherokee Phoenix

Digitized articles from the Cherokee Phoenix, a newspaper published by the Cherokee Nation between 1828 and 1834. Hosted by Western Carolina University Digital Collections.

Controller, Office of

A brief history of the Office of the State Controller (originally spelled “comptroller”), beginning with its establishment in 1782 and following its oversight of public accounts until an auditor's office was created in 1862.

Treasurer

A brief history of the Office of the State Treasurer, including discussion of North Carolina's financial struggles during the colonial era.

Revolutionary War Era

Our digital collection dedicated to North Carolina's role in the Revolutionary War, comprised of selected documents from government and private collections at the State Archives of North Carolina.