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Chronicling America
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Newspaper Papago Newsletter (Sells, Ariz.) 1953-19??

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About Papago Newsletter (Sells, Ariz.) 1953-19??

The monthly Papago Newsletter began publication in December 1953. The name "Papago" in the title refers to the word that Spanish colonizers used for the Tohono O'odham people, with the "Papago" designation being used until 1986. The Tohono O'odham Nation, formerly called the Papago Indian Reservation, is located in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico, with Sells, Arizona as its capital. Two issues of the newsletter have survived: the first, published in December 1953, and the other published in June 1954.

The Papago Newsletter was not published by the tribe, but rather by the Papago Indian Agency of the U.S. government's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The front page of the first issue featured "Superintendent's Comments" that stated that "Mr. Bolton…has been designated as Editor." The ten-page publication printed tribal resolutions of the Papago Tribal Council, such as one about the tribe assuming responsibility for operation of its range water facilities and another supporting the quarantine of horses, mules, and burros due to an outbreak of dourine disease. Columns included news about education, range management, and roads, which were all part of a "Papago Long Range Development Plan." The plan had been developed by the Tribal Council and the BIA, but as Eric Meeks and Patricia Nelson Limerick explain in Border Citizens: The Making of Indians, Mexicans, and Anglos in Arizona, "federal officials largely dictated the details of the plan, which called for the improvement of reservation resources, termination of tribal status, and relocation of at least half of the O'odham off the reservations, where they might obtain full-time jobs." (There were also reports from the Papago Agency Placement Relocation Office about the relocation of dozens of Tohono O'odham community members for work in places like Los Angeles and Chicago. The relocation program was, in part, an attempt by the federal government to "coerce Indians to take up more permanent off-reservation jobs" as a step toward termination of tribal status (Meeks and Limerick).

Of significant importance was the emphasis on the need for a new hospital on the reservation to replace the one that had been destroyed by fire in 1947. The Papago Tribal Council passed a resolution "urging the Government to again consider building a hospital at Sells" (December 1953). In that same issue, an urgent call for a hospital filled the last page, signed by Enos Francisco, Chair of the Papago Tribal Council. The long distances of 100 to 200 miles to the alternate healthcare facility and the "terrible infant mortality rate 9 times that of the U.S. general population" contributed to the "distressing situation" (December 1953, June 1954). The Tohono O'odham had to wait another thirteen years before the hospital was built, as reported in the February 1, 1961 issue of Papago Indian News: "That long-awaited H-day, when Papago patients again have a hospital on the main reservation, is here."

Provided By: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Papago Newsletter (Sells, Ariz.) 1953-19??

Dates of Publication

  • 1953-19??

Created / Published

  • Sells, Ariz. : Papago Agency, 1953-

Headings

  • -  Tohono O'odham Indians--Arizona--Newspapers
  • -  Tohono O'odham Reservation (Ariz.)
  • -  Sells (Ariz.)--Newspapers
  • -  Tohono O'odham Indians
  • -  Arizona
  • -  Arizona--Sells
  • -  Arizona--Tohono O'odham Reservation
  • -  United States--Arizona--Pima--Sells

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Monthly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Dec. 1953)-

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn96060908

OCLC Number

  • 36016201

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

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The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Papago Newsletter Sells, Ariz. -19??. (Sells, AZ), Jan. 1 1953. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96060908/.

APA citation style:

(1953, January 1) Papago Newsletter Sells, Ariz. -19??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96060908/.

MLA citation style:

Papago Newsletter Sells, Ariz. -19??. (Sells, AZ) 1 Jan. 1953. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96060908/.