Sub-sub-series consists of central registry files created by the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch in 1921-1922 and maintained by the subsequent Dominion Lands Board, 1931-1934, Lands, Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch, 1934-1936, Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs, 1937-1947 and Northwest Territories and Yukon Service, 1947-1950. The records thoroughly document all aspects of the federal government's involvement in the North from the late 1910s until the early 1950s, with the general exception of natural resource and land matters which during this period primarily fell under the purview of other administrative units (see RG85-B-1-a, RG85-C-1-b, RG85-C-2-a and RG85-C-3-a). Very few files in this sub-sub-series were continued past 1951-1953 by the succeeding Northern Administration and Lands Branch, although many were brought forward and integrated into that Branch's own registry series (see sub-series RG85-D-1-a). Several early files from before 1921-1922 were, however, brought forward to this series from the Dominion Lands Branch, the Timber, Mines, Grazing and Irrigation Branch, and the Mining Lands and Yukon Branch.
The files in this registry sub-sub-series reflect such administrative functions or areas of jurisdiction as public health, welfare, education, schools, hospitals, wildlife protection, game laws and regulations, Wood Buffalo National Park, the administration of the two territories' governments, Arctic sovereignty, scientific investigations, northern exploration, communications, transportation routes (including air travel), the maintenance of law and order, the reindeer industry, municipal government, the fur trade, trapping, collection of vital and other statistics, buildings, licensing, liquor control, territorial ordinances, trading posts and companies, appointments, industrial and commercial development, Eastern Arctic Patrol, roads, bridges, publications and newspapers, films, general community files, surveys, churches and missions, wartime northern projects, the RCMP in the North, and tourism, as well as limited natural resources coverage (lands, timber, water, mining). Many of these records are individual case files. On these and many other subjects, the files concern both important policy and regulatory decisions and mundane, day-to-day administrative activities, for during this period the territorial public service was either very weak (the Yukon) or nonexistent (Northwest Territories), thus leaving federal officials to bear the brunt of local as well as national administration of the North., The plan of Fort Smith settlement, province of Alberta and Northwest Territories, shows lots, roads, boundaries and riverfront usages compiled from official surveys by C. Engler, Dominion Land Surveyor, 30 July 1910, and by E.A. Neville, D.L.S., 23 Sept. 1912., The photographs in this sub-sub-series were gathered for possible use in a publication of the Department of the Interior entitled, "Yukon Territory: It's History and Resources," 1926. The subject matter includes: Whitehorse Hospital, Elementary School, Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church, Christ Church, Whitehorse, Yukon; Klondike gold fields; Power house, Canadian Klondyke mining Company; Power House, Granville, Yukon; Steamers "Nasutlin", "Canadian" and "Alaska" at Mayo waterfront; Mayo buildings include: General Hospital, public school, RCMP Headquarters, Post Office, Church and Parsonage, Mayo Radio Station, Binet Brothers Hotel, Mayo High School, Mayo water works; views of Main street; Yukon; Minto bridge crossing Mayo River; "S.S.Keno" at Fraser Falls, Stewart River; "S.S. Klondyke" on Stewart River; ore shipment by Treadwell Yukon Co.; Treadwell Yukon Caterpillar trains arriving from Whitehorse; Silver Ring Mine on Galena Creek, Yukon; Church of England Hostel, one of these houses formely occupied by J. McDougal, Front St., Dawson, Yukon; people, modes of transportation and wildlife. They date from the 1890s to 1926. Some were copied from other sources, but others appear to be unique images. The associated correspondence and caption on the verso of many of the items offer identification. photos by W.S. Haige, Yukon.