Massachusetts Indian Association

The Stockbridge Auxiliary of the Massachusetts Indian Association was formed in 1886 by prominent local women in an effort to harness growing interest in the national Indian reform movement at that time. Both state and local Indian associations were outgrowths of the Women's National Indian Association, founded in 1879 by Mary Bonney, and expanded through the work of Amelia Quinton. They generally operated with the same purpose and under the same guidelines, "to awaken, by every means in its power, a Christian public sentiment which will move our government to the abolition of all oppression of Indians within our national limits, and to the granting them the same protection of law that other races among us enjoy; and to aid in educational and mission work for and among Indians."

From the guide to the Massachusetts Indian Association. Stockbridge Auxiliary Records MS 151., 1886-1909, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)