The entire census covers the eight years between 1915 and 1922 and is based on a microfilm copy of a typescript originally on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.
The census itself concerns the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians from Cherokee, North Carolina, living on the reservation known as the Qualla Boundary.
Individuals enumerated in the census are descendants of the Cherokees who were not removed to Indian Territory during the period 1838-1839 in the migration known as the Trai.