Past News Items

Increased emphasis on the ultimate goal of transferring basic Indian Bureau functions either to the Indians themselves or to State and local highlighted the 1952 work of the Bureau, Commissioner Dillon S. Myer said today.

Among the major moves during the year were Indian Bureau-sponsored bills introduced in the last Congress to transfer civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indians to the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Washington;

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael Connor today announced a schedule through 2015 for the continued implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Program) that identifies locations representing more than half of all the fractional interests and half of all owners across Indian Country.

Yeffe Kimball, an Osage Indian artist, will have an exhibition of her work beginning March 1 through April 7 in the Art Gallery of the Department of Interior.

Sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America of which Mrs. Stewart L. Udall is president, the show is entitled, “A 30 Year Retrospective of an American Woman Painter.” It is the first one man showing of Indian art to be sponsored by the Center.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today made public an exchange of letters between Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons and Mr. Reuben Olson, director of public relations, Anselm Forum, Inc., Gary, Indiana.

The correspondence deals with basic questions of Indian affairs policy on which there has been widespread public misunderstanding. The text of the two letters follows:

ANSELM FORUM INC. Gary, Indiana

Bureau of Indian Affairs November 1, 1954

Washington, D. C.

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of President Obama’s commitment to help strengthen Native American communities, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced the latest step in the implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program), as the Department signed its next cooperative agreement, this time with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation located in northeastern South Dakota and in southeastern North Dakota.

The award of a $143,750 contract for construction of a power substation and installation of equipment at the Colorado River Indian Agency, Parker, Ariz., was announced today by the Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

The contract calls for construction of a 20,000 kilowatt substation and installation of equipment. The substation will receive electronic power from a Bureau of Reclamation 161,000-volt transmission line and reduce the power to 34,500 and 69,000 volts for transmission through the Colorado River Indian Irrigation Project power system.

Three major exhibitions of Indian arts now being shown by museums administered by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior were described today by Secretary Rogers C.B. Morton as “demonstrating the vitality of contemporary contributions to the arts by modern Indian people”

The Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma, is presenting through September 14 the first historic survey to feature 43 paintings created during the past four decades by 42 outstanding Indian artists of the Southern Plains region.

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services will hold its first tribal court trial advocacy training session for tribal court personnel in 2014 on Jan. 27-30 in Albuquerque, N.M., which includes a case study on a sexual assault on an adult.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett today announced that two new Indian employment assistance centers will be opened in Oklahoma within the next two weeks.

To be located in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the centers will serve as adjuncts to the vocational training and job placement services provided through the Bureau's area offices in Muskogee and Anadarko. Referrals to the new centers for services will be made by the Muskogee and Anadarko offices.

Appointment of Robert J. Trier as chief of the branch of roads, Bureau of Indian Affairs succeeding J. Maughs Brown, who retires August 31, was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Ralph A. Tudor.