In February 1973, a stand-off began between members of the Lakota, the American Indian Movement, federal marshals, and others that lasted for 71 days. In time, negotiations brought an end to the hostilities. Kent Frizzell was Chief Government Negotiator in the capacity of Assistant Attorney General (Land and Natural Resources Division, U. S. Department of Justice) and later as Solicitor, U. S. Department of the Interior.
The collection consists of the correspondence, documents, newspaper and magazine articles and miscellaneous materials associated with the occupation; data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on principle AIM leaders including Russell Charles Means and Dennis James Banks, and over a hundred photographs consisting of news service photographs taken of the Wounded Knee, South Dakota area, negotiation meetings, U.S. military personnel and equipment, and AIM members and sympathizers. This is also a map of the locations of military and civilian roadblocks and bunkers in the Wounded Knee area and newspaper tear sheets.
In 1978, during his time as a University of Tulsa law professor and the Director of the National Energy Law and Policy Institute (NELPI), he gave to Special Collections his files and photographs covering the events at Wounded Knee.
