The Walter Taylor collection is organized into five categories: correspondence, a Kinzua Dam-Seneca Indian file, a general subject file, a small miscellaneous file, and a National Congress of American Indians file. The basic outline of Taylor's filing system was retained wherever practical; however, many duplicates were discarded and many small files were consolidated under Taylor's more general headings. The bulk of the collection dates from 1959 to 1968. Much of the earlier material, 1854-1855, 1938-1939, 1944-1948, 1951-1958, contains documents used in Taylor's research activities and papers for and about Taylor predating his involvement with Quakers.
The CORRESPONDENCE, 1944-1946, 1952, 1959-1968, includes both personal and professional correspondence with most of it documenting Taylor's career as a social worker and community consultant. Scanty material from his early years in Minnesota reveals his desire to upgrade the professional standing and pay scale of social workers. Also some correspondence documents his work as a consultant in Wisconsin working with Indian communities. The letters are arranged in two files: general and specific. The bulk of the general correspondence focuses on his duties as a Quaker representative working for the Senecas. The letters reveal the development of the national campaign protesting the Kinzua Dam's construction; attempts to seek approval for an alternative site; efforts to receive just compensation for the Indians; and efforts to determine priorities in spending the money eventually allocated by Congress. They document the conflict and compromise that occurred throughout this controversy. Arrangement is chronological. The specific correspondence documents the activities of major participants in the controversy. These include advisors and Quaker committees who were sympathetic to the Seneca cause; newspaper columnist Brooks Atkinson; a heavily weeded representative sample of fan mail; Arthur Lazarus, Jr., counsel for the Senecas; Arthur E. Morgan, the consulting engineer who designed the alternative Conewango-Cattaraugus plan; and the leaders of the Seneca Nation. There is also correspondence with the White House staff and federal members of Congress and government agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These files are arranged alphabetically and chronologically thereunder.
The KINZUA DAM-SENECA INDIAN FILE is composed of two sections: the nucleus of Taylor's personal subject file and a file of all remaining materials arranged by type of record. The latter contains agenda and minutes, broad-sides, clippings, legal records, lists, maps, newsletters, notes, pamphlets, press releases, reports, speeches, and writings. The former includes materials on the Cornplanter Indians, their efforts to use a gift of land from the Weber family as a substitute location for their cemetery which was flooded, and the failure of these attempts. Materials relating to the Seneca's efforts to obtain compensation from Congress and the uses of these funds are found in sections about education; housing and relocation; Iroquoia, an open air museum similar to Williamsburg; legislation; and welfare. Separate files about miscellaneous topics were also retained. These include finances; the documentary film The Exiles about the Kinzua Dam; Abner J. Jimerson, a Seneca who wrote about Indian law and genealogy; the Today show which devoted several segments to the Kinzua Dam affair; and the Treaty of 1794 Committee, one of the earliest committees designed to protest the dam's construction. Finally, one artificial file was created to collect several types of records produced by the government of the Seneca Nation of Indians. The materials in this series are arranged alphabetically. Most clippings from newspapers available on microfilm were destroyed although two notebooks were kept as samples. Researchers interested in extensive local newspaper accounts should consult the Salamanaca Republican Press. Since the affair received national coverage, they could also consult the index of the New York Times.
The GENERAL SUBJECT FILE series is a catch-all for Taylor's remaining files which did not relate to the Kinzua Dam or Seneca Indians, although much of it does concern Indian affairs. It includes papers on various Indian conferences and associations; on a fishing rights study regarding Indians fishing in the rivers off the Puget Sound in Washington; on the activities of the Illinois-Wisconsin Friends Committee who worked with the Menominee Indians; on the Oneida Indians with whom Taylor worked while a community consultant in Wisconsin; and on the Wisconsin Indian Summer Projects in which students developed summer recreational programs in Indian communities. Also included are Taylor's research files for Arthur E. Morgan's book, Dams and Other Disasters: A Century of Army Corps of Engineers in Civil Works. Taylor traveled throughout the country gathering research material for this book which traces the relationship between the Corps and several Indian nations and tribes. A folder on Viswanathan documents Morgan's interest in a “grass roots” undertaking in education and community development in Kerala, India. Finally, two folders trace Taylor's earlier work in social welfare including his work on a National Association of Social Workers' Subcommittee on Trends, Issues, and Priorities and his comments about the low pay that social workers received in Minnesota. The MISCELLANEOUS FILE similarly is a catch-all grouping; the Wounded Knee area photographs are in this series.
The NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS FILE is composed of correspondence, statements, and miscellaneous clippings, minutes, press releases, and resolutions, 1946-1958. It includes materials on the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota and their efforts to receive compensation for lands taken for the construction of the Garrison Reservoir; to get certain oil, grazing, and fishing rights restored after the land was sold; and to receive the money Congress eventually allocated to them.
