This book consists of O'Reilly's work as Indian Reserve Commissioner for the period June 1882 to January 1885. Since the book was once a file, the book commences with the latest date and ends with the earliest date. The cover page for the book which clearly identifies it as: "Department of Indian Affairs, Minutes of Decision and Correspondence, British Columbia Indian Reserves, File No. 298583, Vol
This volume consists of what was formerly designated as book 6 and book 4. Upon examination of the originals it became clear that book 6 represented the first half of book 4. Book 4, as it was then, was missing its first 148 pages. Book 6 went from page 1 through to page 131, however some sketches and minutes of decision were missing. The flimsy, paper cover of book 6 matched with the interior hard cover design exactly. How the two came to be separated is unknown, but it appears to have happened quite some time ago.
agination and organization are a problem in certain sections. How the book came to be numbered as it is not known. There are two, and sometimes three, systems of page numbering occurring in this volume. It would appear that the volume was once numbered back to front, then numbered front to back and some of the correspondence has internal pagination. The page numbers beginning with 1 are in green in the original. The other set is in pencil. The original table of contents found at the front of the volume refers to the pages numbered in green beginning with 1. The system that will be followed will be the system beginning with page 1.
This volume differs from all the others in the federal collection in two respects: first, it consists only of correspondence; second, this was originally a gummed file. The left hand side of each page has a gummed strip affixed to it. These gummed strips were then bound with string. If the original ever had a cover, it has been lost. Also, the gummed strips were longer than the pages which were affixed to them. On the advice, and under the direction of paper conservators, the string binding was removed so that pages could be separated and the unused sections of gummed stripping were trimmed. In some instances the gummed stripping had dried out and could be removed in whole or in part from the page without damaging the original. By and large, however, the gummed strip was firmly affixed to the pages and could not be removed without utilizing other delicate, time-consuming conservation methods. On some letters text has been obliterated. When this has occurred transcriptions have been done from the original as the writing can often be read through the stripping
This book is a compilation of Sproat's Minutes of decision dated from May 21,1878 to October 5,1878. All the Minutes are initialled, some have accompanying sketches glued onto the pages. There are also a few large maps included in the volume. In some instances reserves have been identified, but most sketches are generally noted and "Various" appears in the reserve name column
INTERRUPTED WORK BOOK No. 1 | This volume appears to be complete, no pages are missing. The original book, itself, is in moderate condition. Some pages and maps are loose and the binding is not secure. The paper, however, is high quality and in good condition. Near the end of the book, Sproat inserted some pages dealing with pre-emptions. This paper is quite different from that in the volume, but this will not be evident in the copy. Other pre-emption records are also glued onto pages. The maps in this volume were either glued directly onto the relevant page, or were glued onto other sheets, which were, in turn, glued onto the relevant pages. Similarly, Sproat glued three original letters into the book; 1 from Mohun (6 pages long) and two from Government Agent Hughe
Field Minutes | Volume 4 of the Federal Collection of Minutes of Decision, Correspondence & Sketches consists of thirteen (13) soft-covered books containing the "Field Minutes" of Indian Reserve Commissioner Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, for the period June 1878 to June 1880. The majority of the books cover the summer and fall of 1878, however, notations and remarks in the field minutes indicate that Sproat re-wrote or revised many of the books after his initial work of 1878. In many of the volumes, there are references to the 1879 Land Amendment Act, notations noting work done by surveyor Edward Mohun in 1879 and remarks regarding reports received from Mohun as late as January 1880.
This volume contains correspondence related to Sproat's work as sole Indian Reserve Commissioner. Like Volume 1, this volume contains correspondence upon a variety of issues including surveying, disputes with the provincial government, agreements with Indians, Sproat's perception and interpretation of policy and his perception and interpretation of his interaction with Indians and settlers. Sproat never felt restrained in offering his opinion on a variety of subjects, even if, as he admitted at least once, his opinion was "perhaps a little outside [his] special duties." (p. 301)
This volume deals with some of the work of the Joint Indian Indian Reserve Commission (JIRC), but primarily it contains correspondence related to Sproat's work as sole Indian Reserve Commissioner. Sproat is appointed the sole Indian Reserve Commissioner on March 15,1878 [p. 79]. The correspondence deals with a variety of issues including costs of operation of the Commission, difficulties dealing with the B.C. government, Sproat's perception and interpretation of policies; Sproat's perception and interpretation of his interactions with the Indians [eg. pp. 131,151, 153, 165, 182, 219, 253, 277, 336, 343], and, as Sproat characterizes it, the "settling the Indian Land question."
