Little known 1930s, “landmark” program aided Native Americans and U.S. environment


A special, free presentation by the National Archives on May 31, 2023, will highlight a little known program that involved 3 million Native American men who were hired by the United States government to preserve the nation’s natural resources. Known first as the Indian Emergency Conservation Work (IECW) program, and later named the Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Division (CCC-ID), it was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s massive jobs creation initiative.

For genealogists researching their Native American heritage, the records kept by the CCC-ID are tough to assemble because the tribes/nations of Native American were responsible for the record-keeping. The quarterly reports to the federal government were also supplemented by publications such as the one shown above in this post. Those are the most informative pieces of information that will greatly aid in the ancestral searches involving Native Americans.


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