Sample pages from the microfilm edition of the James McLaughlin papers illustrate the difficulty in deciphering many pages. Copyright State Historical Society of North Dakota
The Papers of James McLaughlin reside at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Sitting Bull College Library has copies of the microfilm edition that comprises 37 rolls. The collection is a valuable tool for researching Standing Rock history, both because of his important role in history here, as well as the fact that many of his descendants reside here as members of the tribe.
The sheer vast bulk of material in the collection makes it an important stop for anyone researching the early reservation period on Standing Rock. State Historical Society of North Dakota has a useful guide to the papers that can be found here. You can also access Reverend Louis Pfaller's original guide at this link. A selected few have been digitized by the useful Colonel A.B. Welch papers website and can be found here. A more detailed guide to the papers remains on this librarian's wish and to do list. Although, it may be difficult without returning to the originals due to the quantities of illegible documents in the microfilm edition.
A major issue with the microfilm edition (as noted above) is the legibility of many handwritten and typed documents within the collection microfilmed 50 years ago. I have not seen the originals, but modern scanning technology to digitize might create a more usable collection. Both this and creating a more detailed guide are things that require time and by extension money, but remain wish list items for the future.