Thomas Bailey Marquis papers
name: label: Creator
content: Marquis, Thomas Bailey, 1869-1935
label: Names
content: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (Agency : U.S.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Battle of the Little Big Horn
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Received from Anna Rose Heil, Marquis' daughter, in 1976.
creator: label: Creator
content: Marquis, Thomas Bailey, 1869-1935
culture: label: Culture
content: Inunaina (Arapaho)
label: Culture
content: Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
label: Culture
content: Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Thomas Bailey Marquis papers
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Thomas Bailey Marquis (1869-1935) was a printer, physician, writer, and amateur historian who spent most of his working life in Montana. During WWI, he served with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. When he returned, he worked as a government physician on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and, later, the Crow Reservation. His work with the Cheyenne fueled his personal interest in George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Marquis began collecting artifacts related to the battle and interviewing survivors, which led to the publication of numerous books and pamphlets. He displayed the artifacts, together with photographs and hand-drawn maps, in the Custer Battle Museum in Hardin, Montana, where he lived during the last years of his life. After his death, his museum's collection was donated to the National Parks Service and is now incorporated into displays at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. As the only individual who worked to record Cheyenne eyewitness accounts of that era, Marquis' writings are of great value to scholars interested in battles and life on the plains.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Linear feet (3 boxes, 1 map folder)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1922-1971
label: Date
content: bulk 1922-1935
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1976-105
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Alex Brown, July 2023
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Thomas Bailey Marquis papers comprise material related to the Custer Battle Museum and the Native people with whom Marquis interacted. Included are museum visitors' registers, inventories of museum artifacts, photographic displays, certificates of artifact authenticity, and newspaper clippings. There are also contracts delineating the disposition of museum artifacts by Marquis' heirs and a 1917 census of the Northern Cheyenne with extensive annotations. Photographs include snapshots of many of the Cheyenne people inteviewed by Marquis, as well as some landscapes and structures at Lame Deer. Finally, Marquis' papers contain numerous drawings made by Wooden Leg and Limpy (Cheyenne), along with a collection of maps made by Marquis based on his interviews.

Materials relating to Marquis' medical practice were turned over to the United States Army Medical Library and are now housed at the National Library of Medicine.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The National Library of Medicine holds the Thomas B. Marquis papers, 1906-1973, which includes documents related to his publications and his work as a physician, as well as his diary and correspondence.