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[article provided by LH. Thanks!]

Many Records Of Indian History Missing Or Altered
AP  02/17/2000

NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. (AP) _ Records that document the history of
Connecticut Indian tribes have been stolen from or altered in libraries and
town halls across Connecticut.

Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon said he believes individuals trying
to prove they are of Indian decent or tribes seeking recognition from the
federal government are responsible for the vandalism.

With the success of the casinos run by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan
tribes, many are looking for their share of that pie and some are willing to
use unscrupulous and illegal methods to get it, Congdon said. People who can
prove they are members of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe receive quarterly
payments from the tribe. Tribal members will not say how much the payments
are but they are believed to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

''If someone's making a case that John Doe deserves to be recognized as a
Native American, and there's a record that shows John Doe owned land, paid
taxes and contradicts the case he's trying to make, there's one big reason
to make it disappear,'' he said.

Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Chief and Treasurer James Cunha said his North
Stonington-based tribe has seen the problem routinely while conducting
research in libraries, town halls and private collections in their effort to
document their claim for federal recognition.

''I've opened up books and seen where someone has cut out a whole chapter
with a razor blade or whole indexes of cards missing from a card catalog,''
Cunha said. ''Places where the word 'colored' has been crossed out and
replaced with 'Indian.' There are a lot of people out there who just don't
care.''

He denied his tribe has had anything to do with the vandalism.

''The whole idea we'd do something like that is absurd. If there was more
communication, (the towns) would realize we have nothing to hide.''

Donald Baur, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the towns of Ledyard, North
Stonington and Preston, said experts working on his behalf have found in the
National Archives in Washington documents related to local Indian groups
with pages missing.

Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives, said there has been
interest in certain records from both the state of Connecticut and the
tribes, but nothing is missing.

Joan Cohn, president and director of the Indian and Colonial Research Center
in Mystic, said since the early 1990s, more people are coming in to check
their genealogy,mainly because of the success of the Mohegan and
Mashantucket tribes.

''There are not a lot of critical documents related to Indians,'' Cohn said.
''It wasn't popular years ago to be an Indian, but now people want to get
recognized and they'll do almost anything to get it.''

Because of that, many libraries are now placing their Indian collections in
more secure areas.

A security camera, signs and other deterrents were installed at the Otis
Library in downtown Norwich after concerns for the local genealogical
records arose four years ago.

Otis head reference librarian Diane Norman said the changes have made a
difference, but at least 10 books in the library's general circulation
turned up missing during a recent count.

''We're not trying to deny access to our records, but we have to preserve
them too,''Norman said. ''A lot of these materials are one-of-a-kind and in
pretty bad condition, so we have to be careful''.
 

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