Title: Jay P. Kinney Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1836-1941

Creator:

• Kinney, Jay P., 1875-1975

Call Number: Mss 360

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (5 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, mainly 1910-1933, of Jay Kinney, a director of forestry for the United States Indian Service, entirely relating to his management of tribal forest lands in Wisconsin. Included are correspondence, memoranda, reports, statistics, and notes pertaining to repeated charges of mismanagement by the Menominee Indian Mills at Neopit, Wisconsin, as well as smaller files concerning timber management on lands designated as swamplands by the State of Wisconsin on the Bad River, Lac de Flambeau, and Lac Courte Oreille reservations.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00360

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Forester and U.S. governmental official Jay P. Kinney was born in 1875 in Otsego County, New York. He entered Cornell University in 1898 having spent several years teaching in rural schools. At Cornell, Kinney's work included not only general studies but also courses in the recently-established College of Forestry. In 1904 Kinney was appointed principal of the Cooperstown (New York) High School; the following year he was similarly employed in Milford, New York. In 1906 Kinney was appointed to the position of assistant examiner in the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. At night he studied at National University Law School, receiving his degree in 1908.

In 1909 Kinney was offered the position of assistant forester and asked to organize an administrative unit within the Indian Service (a predecessor of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) that was to be responsible for all forest resources on Indian lands. From 1910 to 1933, under a succession of titles, Kinney was responsible for the formulation of policies and the management of the department.

During the years 1933 to 1942 Kinney was general production supervisor of CCC activities on all Indian lands. In 1942 he was transferred to the Office of Land Utilization. In 1945 the Justice Department appointed him to an advisory research position for suits brought by various tribes which charged the government with failure to protect Indian interests. Because of the health of his wife, in 1954 Kinney retired to New York State. After her death in 1956 Kinney returned to government service with the Justice Department in an advisory capacity. Kinney died in 1975.

A more detailed account of Kinney's career is contained in his autobiography, My First Ninety-Five Years (1972). Among his other writings are Essentials of American Timber Law (1917), generally regarded as the only complete base work on forestry law; A Continent Lost-A Civilization Won (1937), Indian Forest and Range: A History of the Administration and Conservation of the Redman's Heritage (1950), and Facing Indian Facts (1973).

The Kinney Papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin represent a small portion of the known documentation about his career. The main body of his papers (4 c.f.), including correspondence, reports and writings, are held by Cornell University. However, in 1957 in an apparent effort to make his papers more accessible to likely users, Kinney placed files concerning Minnesota Indian reservations at the Minnesota Historical Society and papers concerning his work in Wisconsin at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. At the time the Wisconsin papers were processed in 1989, the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections failed to indicate if similar divisions were made for the remainder of his subject files.

The Kinney Papers described here are comprised of two Wisconsin-related categories of material: files on his monitoring of the ongoing problems of Menominee Indian Mills at Neopit, Wisconsin, and files on timber lands on several reservations officially designated as swampland by the State of Wisconsin. Each of these categories is subdivided alphabetically into the subjects utilized by Kinney. Included in the files are correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, notes, and statistics.

Taken together, the files contain extremely detailed information about the federal management and conservation of the Indian resources in Wisconsin. Because of the presence of departmental filing codes on many pages, it is likely that many items duplicate official Bureau of Indian Affairs records at the National Archives. However, Kinney's files contain many memoranda, notes, incoming correspondence, and other items which are likely to be unique. In addition, Kinney arranged his files so that they are more accessible for researchers interested in Wisconsin topics than are the departmental records at the National Archives.

While the majority of the documentation dates from his work as director of forests for the Indian Service, several files relate to his ongoing interest in this topic after assuming other responsibilities. In addition, the Menominee Indian Mills file contains copies of related nineteenth century documents which Kinney may have used during research on one of his books.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Jay P. Kinney, 1957.

Processing Information

Processed by Mary Neth, 1984, and by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1989.

	Series: Menominee Indian Mills
	Correspondence
	General
Box   1	1908-1929
Box   2 Folder   1-2	1930-1939
Box   2 Folder   3-4	Tabulated correspondence file, 1909-1931
	Clear-cutting case
Box   2 Folder   5	Tabulated working papers, compiled circa 1943
Box   3 Folder   1	Tabulated working papers, continued
Box   3 Folder   2	Notes on trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota, 1946
Box   3 Folder   3	Historical documents, 1839-1916
Box   3 Folder   4	Logging claims, 1906-1918
Box   3 Folder   5	Lumber sales policies, 1909-1919
Box   3 Folder   6	Minutes of Menominee Advisory Council, 1941
Box   3 Folder   7	Oconto logging railroad, 1928-1930, undated
Box   4 Folder   1	References and notes
Box   4 Folder   2	Reports, 1929-1931
	Series: Swamplands Dispute	⇧
	Allotments
Box   4 Folder   3	Individual Indian allotments, 1872-1911, undated
Box   4 Folder   4	Timber on Indian swamplands, 1913
Box   4 Folder   5	Wisconsin swampland claims, 1857-1912
	Correspondence
Box   4 Folder   6-8	Bad River Reservation, 1891-1933
Box   4 Folder   9	Lac Courte Oreille Reservation, 1872-1926
	Lac de Flambeau Reservation
Box   4 Folder   10	1903-1911
Box   5 Folder   1	1912-1927