J. William Trygg Indian Claims Commission Research Collection, 1956, 2020, and undated
1 cubic foot (in 1 box)
This collection, 1956, 2020, and undated, consists mainly of land and timber statistics, maps, and reports that Trygg researched, compiled and wrote, which were used as exhibits during various Indian Claims Commission (ICC) trials in the 1960s to prove that Indian tribes were under compensated for Michigan and Wisconsin land they ceded to the U.S. Government. Trygg was a meticulous, detailed researcher, as demonstrated by this collection. Information includes land acreage, value, abstracts of deeds and land surveys; historical and economic background reports about the land by Dr. Helen Knuth and its settlement; data about the economic value of land on water ways; and timber and forest statistics, value and prices. Other information includes: a report on school forest in Michigan by John H. Carroll, Michigan State University, [1968]; a predictive article Water Supply, Water Demand 1960-1980 by C.R. Humphrys in 1959; and a Report of Investigation of the Value of the land, by Thomas LeDuc, 1958. There are four folders in the front of the box related to Trygg, including: Biographical Materials (about him, his family and others whose research helped Native Americans), information about books he wrote, his collections at other institutions, and some of his historical research correspondence, 1961, 1965.
Native American tribes of Michigan and Wisconsin documented in the collection include the Chippewa, Odawa, Potawatomi, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, and the Red Lake Band, including the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan, Wyandot and Winnebago. Royce areas documented in the collection, include 111, 117, 177, 205, 211, 242, 220, 261, and 268.
Most of the material is in good condition, with some acidification and brittleness. Many pages are copies, dittos, faded, or onion-skin paper
Researchers may be interested in his collections at the Minnesota Historical Collections and Bois Forte Heritage Center in St. Louis County, Minnesota. Trygg also wrote several books, copies of which are separately cataloged in the Clarke.
Processing Note: During processing 4 cubic feet of duplicates, heat-transfer copies of reference and reading materials and unidentified materials were withdrawn from the collection during processing. Pages which were severely acidic, often heat-transfer copies, were photocopied and the modern copies retained in the collection. Seven titles were also separately cataloged.