Wassaja Newsletter Masthead

The Carlos Montezuma collection contains several digitized volumes of the Wassaja newsletter that Yavapai intellectual and activist Carlos Montezuma, MD (1866-1923) self-published during the years 1916-1922. Wassaja means “signaling” or “beckoning,” and is Montezuma’s Yavapai birth name. The newsletter was a vital source of news about Indian affairs in an era that had few outlets for such information and contains valuable reports directly from people living within the Indian reservation system. As a prominent figure in the struggle for Indian rights who played a role in the founding of the Society of American Indians, Montezuma was an intellectual leader against Indian Bureau mismanagement; he was notorious for advocating an end to the reservation system and the abolition of the BIA. This collection helps to document different facets of Montezuma’s career as an Indian rights leader and his relationship to his home community of Fort McDowell.

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Letter Addressed to Carlos Montezuma

ContributorsMontezuma, Carlos (Correspondent) / Pratt, Richard Henry (Correspondent) / Dickens, Charles (Correspondent)
Created1901-11-02
DescriptionLetter to Dr. Montezuma- written from the San Carlos Apache Agency by his cousin Charles Dickens requesting the return of Dickens' sister from the Carlisle Indian School. Dickens asks Dr. Montezuma to intercede with Col. Pratt to do this. He also requests an accordion from the Montgomery Ward catalog.

Envelope Addressed to Miss Mildred Ahive

ContributorsMontezuma, Carlos (Correspondent) / Ahive, Mildred (Correspondent)
Created1922-09-20
Description

Envelope addressed by Dr. Carlos Montezuma to Miss Mildred Ahive, Huntington, West Virginia. Envelope is thought to have held volume 8, issue #19 of the Wassaja Newsletter.

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Pratt's Reply Letter to Montezuma

ContributorsMontezuma, Carlos (Correspondent) / Pratt, Richard Henry (Correspondent)
Created1901-11-08
DescriptionPratt replies to Montezuma, discussing Montezuma's expenses- Pratt's payment of Montezuma for work at the San Carlos and Pima agencies and the payment of Montezuma's transport expenses from San Carlos to Bowie: also mentions the arrival of 14 Pima students at Carlisle.