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Reporter's notebook - Rare historical document found

After 150 years, an integral document in New Mexico’s history has been found over 2,000 miles away from its birthplace.

The last of three copies of the Treaty of Bosque Redondo, which ended the forced internment of Navajos and Mescalero Apaches at the Bosque Redondo Reservation near present-day Fort Sumner, was found in April in Manchester, Massachusetts. That’s according to a press release by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

C.P. “Kitty” Weaver, great-grandniece of Indian Peace Commission officer Samuel Tappan, said in the press release she was aware she possessed the treaty but wasn’t aware of its rarity.

Weaver will be present at an event June 8 and 9 at the Bosque Redondo Memorial, where parts of the treaty will be on display for the public.

The first copy of the treaty was given to President Andrew Johnson and remains in the National Archives, and the second was presented to the Navajo Nation, according to the press release.

— Compiled by Staff Writer Eamon Scarbrough