Native nations · National Archives records · 1880s–1930s

248,098 lives,
recorded by name.

Free, modern search of Native American records at the U.S. National Archives — the Dawes Rolls of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole Nations, the Guion Miller and California enrollment applications, and a growing shelf of agency records from other nations. Every name as the Archives recorded it; every record linked back to its original document.

Search the records How to start

The Native Past app — now on the App Store and Google Play. Everything in the app →

181,629: people on the Dawes Rolls
66,469: records in 11 more record sets
70,904: family census cards
Free: linked to the National Archives

Built from the records themselves

Nothing guessed.
Every value traces to a card.

0people, in the Archives' own words

The Archives' transcriptions, made searchable

The National Archives and its digitization partners transcribed the original enrollment cards by hand — names, ages, roll numbers, post offices. We index those transcriptions exactly as written. Where a value was never transcribed, we leave it blank and link you to the card image rather than guess.

0parents, named on the cards

Families, not just names

Enrollment happened by household. Each name here connects to its family's census card — including the 75,505 fathers and mothers recorded on the cards, a generation deeper than the rolls themselves — and the card links straight to the original scan in the National Archives Catalog. What you find here, you can verify there.

0application files, joined

The testimony behind the names

Application jackets hold the interviews, affidavits, and decisions behind each enrollment. Where a family's jacket survives and is digitized, we link it to their card.

0people other indexes skip

Doubtful. Rejected. Still part of the record.

Tens of thousands applied and never received a roll number — files marked Doubtful or Rejected, lives cut short before approval. Most indexes leave them out. We include every one the Archives has transcribed, plainly labeled, because their stories are part of this history too.

0records beyond the Dawes Rolls

Growing past the Five Tribes

Eight more record sets, each with its own search section: the Eastern Cherokee (Guion Miller) applications of 1906–09, the California enrollment applications of 1928–33, the 1896 Five Tribes applications and case files, and agency records of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, and Northern Cheyenne — names and numbers exactly as the Archives keyed them, every record linked to its digitized pages. More join as the Archives publishes them.

How it works

From a name to the original page,
in three steps.

1 · Search a name

Spelling was fluid in 1900 — ours is forgiving. Fuzzy and sound-alike matching find Chisholm when you type Chism.

2 · Open the family card

See the household group: every person on the census card, their ages, relationships, and enrollment numbers — assembled from the records.

3 · View the original

One click to the digitized card and application file at the U.S. National Archives — the primary source, free, no account needed.

Start searching

The Native Past app

The history, the languages,
and your research — in your pocket.

Native Past for iOS and Android teaches the history, stories, and living languages of 15 Native nations — and carries this records search with it. Import your own family documents, let the app read them on your device, and build your family tree. Private by design: your documents never leave your phone.

Now on the App Store and Google Play.

Everything in the app →

In the app

History, nation by nation — 173 chapters across 15 nations, written in the present tense, because these nations are here now.

Language lessons — 187 lessons and 950+ verified words and phrases across 12 nations, syllabary and alphabet first.

This records search, in-app — the same 248,000+ records, with the same honest labels and links to every original.

Your documents & family tree — import family records, the app reads them on your device and maps the connections; build your tree and attach the proof. All local, never uploaded.

Cited, always — every chapter, word, and figure carries its sources.

Read this first

These are records of real families —
handled with care.

The Dawes Rolls document a coercive federal process imposed on sovereign nations. We present these records as historical documents: original wording preserved and labeled, provenance on every item, nothing sacred or restricted, and no claims we cannot trace to a source.

Native Past is an educational research tool, not an authority. Tribal citizenship and enrollment are determined solely by sovereign tribal nations. A record here is a starting point for research — never proof of eligibility.

Our commitments & sources

248,098 lives,recorded by name.

Nothing guessed.Every value traces to a card.