This spring two major things happened at once. FamilySearch pushed a huge batch of new and re-indexed records in its April 2026 update, over one billion records total, and inside that update was an expansion to the core Native collection: United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940. At the same time the National Archives and Records Administration has been finishing a multi-year push to get Bureau of Indian Affairs records out of the basement and online, including a new BIA Photographs Finding Aid and near-complete digitization of the most-used BIA microfilm publications in Record Group 75.
The center of all of this is NARA microfilm publication M595, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940. It is 692 rolls of annual censuses that Indian agents were required to file after an Act of Congress on July 4, 1884. This is not the regular federal census. This is the reservation census taken every year, often on June 30. If your ancestor was enrolled and living on or near a reservation, they should be in M595. The information changes by year. Early years are just name, age, sex. By the 1920s and 1930s you often get English name and Indian name, roll number, age, sex, relationship to head of household, marital status, degree of blood, and sometimes allotment or residence notes. NARA now has these rolls digitized in its Catalog as Indian Census Rolls and they are also on microfilm as M595, and copies are on FamilySearch, Ancestry and Fold3.
FamilySearch also maintains state-specific slices of the same film, most notably Washington, Native American, Census Records, 1880-1952. If you have Northwest ancestry it is worth searching both the national collection and the Washington collection because indexing was done at different times and a name that is missing in one can appear in the other. The national collection recently had 112 newly indexed entries added, which sounds small but each entry unlocks a full page of relatives.
There is a second collection that most people miss: United States, Native American Birth and Death Records, 1885-1940. This is the birth and death supplement that was filed with the annual rolls, especially for 1925 to 1933. When it is present it gives you census roll number, surname and given name, date of birth or death, sex, tribe, ward status, degree of father’s blood, degree of mother’s blood, degree of child’s blood, and whether the person was at the jurisdiction where enrolled. For western reservations like Western Navajo this supplement is often on roll 644 and similar rolls.
The NARA side is equally important. NARA has said that digitization of the most heavily used BIA microfilm publications in RG 75 is about 95 percent complete, including records that used to be held in Anchorage for Alaska Natives. That includes school censuses, allotment records, and annuity rolls. In early 2026 NARA also expanded its BIA Photographs Finding Aid, which finally brings together photos that were scattered across regional facilities. You can now search by tribe, school, or agency. For boarding school history, the National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive is building a parallel portal and so far offers records from nine schools including Chemawa, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Cushman Indian School in Tacoma, and Pipestone Indian School. NARA itself also holds school land and building records and maps that can help you pinpoint where a school was and what records might exist for it.
How to use it all together in practice. Start with one solid hit in M595. Write down the agency name exactly as written, the year, the roll number, and the page number. Then browse that same agency three years before and three years after. Agents kept families in the same order year to year, so you can track births, deaths, and marriages even when the index fails. Pay attention to the roll number column. A sudden new number often means marriage to someone from another family or enrollment from another agency. Note the remarks column, it often says died, married, transferred, or dual enrollment.
Once you have a cluster of years, pull the birth and death rolls for that agency. That gives you exact dates and parental blood degree, which you will need for lineage packets. Then go to NARA’s Indian Census Rolls page and its tribal rolls overview. If your family is one of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory before 1907, M595 is just a clue. You will need to go to the Dawes Commission Final Rolls and enrollment cards. For almost every other tribe, you will want to use the agency and years you found to ask for that tribe’s base rolls, allotment rolls, and other enrollment lists in RG 75. The government has never created one master list of all Native Americans, so you have to work agency by agency.
For organizing and sharing, make a simple packet per ancestor. One folder with all M595 images for that person across years, one image of the birth or death roll, any BIA photo or school attendance record, and a full citation that reads NARA M595, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940, roll number, agency, year, and line or family number. Tribal enrollment offices and family members both want the citation, not just a screenshot.
Finally, search the same name in three places. FamilySearch search, the NARA Catalog, and Ancestry or Fold3 free at a library or NARA facility. All three use the same M595 film but different handwriting interpretations. If you search all three you will find about twenty percent more relatives that one index alone would miss. If you have a surname and a state or a suspected tribe, start with M595 and then layer the birth and death rolls and the photo finding aid. That combination is what makes the 2026 releases so powerful.
Core Links:
1. FamilySearch April 2026 overview listing the United States Native American Census Rolls 1885-1940 as an expanded collection: https://www.familysearch.org/en/newsroom/new-free-historical-records-from-31-countries-april-2026-update
2. Detailed list of April 1-30 2026 new and updated collections on The Ancestor Hunt which mirrors FamilySearch release notes: https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/familysearch-new-and-updated-collections-april-1-30-2026/
3. FamilySearch collection page for United States Native American Census Rolls 1885-1940 collection ID 2761958 which is NARA microfilm M595: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2761958
4. FamilySearch collection page for United States Native American Birth and Death Records 1885-1940 the supplement that gives blood degree and birth dates: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2765178
5. NARA main page for Indian Census Rolls 1885-1940 explaining M595 is 692 rolls and how to access the digitized series in the National Archives Catalog: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/census/research-indian-census.html
6. NARA guide to Bureau of Indian Affairs Records Tribal Rolls Record Group 75 explaining that there is no single master list and rolls were created by agency: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/rolls
7. NARA article Increasing Access to Native American Records describing the new BIA Photographs Finding Aid: https://www.archives.gov/about/speeches/2022/increasing-access-native-american-records
8. NARA guide to BIA Boarding School Records including land and building records and where maps are held: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/schools
9. NARA other Indian School Records list with sample entries like Sisseton Agency School Attendance Records 1922 and notes about photographs through the BIA Photographs Finding Aid: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/schools/school-records-more.html
10. For general context on M595 use and the 1884 law requiring annual agency censuses: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/census/research-indian-census.html
11. If you want to browse all FamilySearch Native American resources in one place: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Native_American_Records
