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This is the fourth and final volume in Jeff Bowen's transcription of a census of the Eastern Band of Cherokees taken by Indian agent James E. Henderson between 1915 and 1922. Mr. Bowen's transcription is based on a microfilm copy of a typescript originally on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The concluding volume consists of Agent Henderson's census commentary for the years 1921 to 1922. This series marks the first time the Eastern Cherokee data has been made available as a publication.

As with the previous three volumes, Volume IV 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 to 1839 in the migration known as the Trail of Tears. While there is sometimes additional data, information provided in the census almost invariably gives the individual's name, family relationship, date of birth, and sex-information that is critical in any genealogical research. In some cases, the Indian Agent also compiled Cherokee birth and death dates or the names of children living apart from their parents. In all, the final volume refers to another 4,000 Cherokees who inhabited the Qualla Boundary.