The Samuel W. Campbell papers contain correspondence, financial records, legal records, and a variety of other papers concerning both his public and private life. The majority of the collection relates to his activities as Indian Agent at the La Pointe Reservation. The papers are organized into five categories: general correspondence, financial records, legal records, a miscellaneous file, and a subject file.
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1889, 1891, 1896-1931, comprises the bulk of the collection. Including incoming and outgoing letters, it covers both Campbell's public and private affairs. With regard to his public activities it reflects policy on the Reservation on such subjects as the cutting and sale of timber, the regulation of liquor, and the education of Indian children. In addition to documenting general policy about such specific problems, the correspondence also reveals attitudes toward the Indians. Also documented are the controversies surrounding Campbell's handling of Indian monies, which resulted in his forced resignation; and daily operating procedures, e.g., requests for supplies, and suggestions on the appointment of personnel. Included in this correspondence are incoming letters from Senators Quarles, Clapp, and Spooner. A smaller portion of the correspondence deals with Campbell's private affairs and includes letters of friends and family about his general store, private property holdings, and personal matters. The arrangement of this series is chronological.
The FINANCIAL RECORDS, ca. 1897-1915, are also mixed. With reference
to Campbell's public activities, a variety of bills, invoices, receipts, and statements document the flow of funds on the Reservation for such things as the order of supplies and the payment and transfer of Indian monies. Similar records reveal information about the financial status of his store and properties. The arrangement of these records is chronological. An account book completes this segment of the Papers.
LEGAL RECORDS, 1900-1913, the second largest series in the collection, are arranged chronologically. Included are leases, contracts, bills of sale, mortgages, depositions, affidavits, and warrants. The majority pertain to Campbell's affairs as Indian Agent and reveal some of the problems on the reservation such as liquor and timber sales. A few of the documents also refer to Campbell's business partnership. The court records are case briefs and court decisions dealing exclusively with Indian-related problems. A legal dispute between Campbell and some Indians is traced through the judicial system until its final settlement in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The MISCELLANEOUS FILE contains a variety of materials such as a one-page genealogy of the Campbell family, a rough blueprint of a lag screw machine, and a list of Indians who were found to be drunk on the Reservation.
The SUBJECT FILE is a catch-all category for the remaining material that deals only with Campbell's public activities. Much of it relates to the operation and policy of the reservation. It includes clippings, legislative bills, lot and lumber plats, miscellaneous minutes and resolutions, notices, petitions, reports, and rules and regulations. The arrangement is alphabetical by subject.
Campbell's Civil War DIARY was added to the collection in 1986.
