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An Indian Boarding School Photo Gallery



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Children in front of girls' dormintory building, Tulalip Indian School, ca. 1912.
Photographer: Ferdinand Brady
The Tulalip Indian School opening on Jan. 23, 1905, and during the next two years it held enrollment of 200 students. The boys and girls lived in separate domrintories. Children as young as six years old attended the boarding school. Older boys and girls were each assigned two of the youngsters to take care of and assist in getting ready for school. Shown in this photo are the youngest students, lined up in front of the girls’ dormitory. The upper floor contained the bedrooms (including a sick room), the middle floor had a music room in the left wing, a reading room in the right, and a dining room in the center. Showers and a play room were in the basement.
Collection: Brady Collection
Repository: Musuem of History and Industry, Seattle
Online Source

 

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Tulalip students in school uniform pose behind two priests, including Eugene Casimir Chirouse, Washington State, ca. 1865.
Online Source

 

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Yakima School girls, Fort Simcoe, Washington. A large group of girls unifornmly dressed in plain long sleeve dresses, pose under a building at Fort Simcoe.
Collection: Estelle Reel
Repository: Eastern Washington State Historical Society
Online Source

 

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American Horse with children and relatives during an 1882 visit to the Carlisle Indian School.
J.N. Choate Collection, digitized by C. Scott Lambert, Courtesy of CCHS. May not be used without permission.
Online Source

 

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Learning finger songs at Carlisle Indian School, ca. 1900.
Frances Benjamin Johnston photo
Courtesy Cumberland County Historical Society
May not be used without permission.
Online Source

 

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Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian School (Pennsylvania) wearing traditional clothing.
Online Source

 

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Apache children at the Carlisle School four months later.
Online Source

 

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The dining hall at Phoenix Indian School was an important stage for learning Anglo ways and breaking traditional ones. ca. 1904
Online Source

 

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Cheyenne woman named Woxie Haury in ceremonial dress, and, in wedding portrait with husband. Two studio portraits; on left she poses with her hair down, in a beaded & fringed dress, necklace, and beaded moccasins. On right she wears a western-style wedding dress (full length skirt, boned bodice, hair pinned up under a lace veil) and stands beside a young man in white tie.
Photograph: Woxie Haury
Collection: Estelle Reel
Repository: Eastern Washington State Historical Society
Online Source

 

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Chemawa Indian School small boys dorm, Salem, Oregon. 1901.
A large group of small boys sit on the grass in front of a three story building at the Chemawa Indian School. Beside them stands a woman holding a bicycle. Another school building can be seen on the right.
Collection: Estelle Reel
Repository: Eastern Washington State Historical Society
Online Source

 

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Learning sewing at St. Mary's Mission School in Omak, Washington.
Father Stephen de Rouge (former French Count de Rouge of the Chateau des Rues) began St. Mary's Mission in 1886 in a small "log house without a floor, window or chimney...". In 1887 he moved to land offered by chief Smitkin along Omak Creek.
Online Source

 

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St. Mary's Mission Prayer Time
Online Source

 

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Teaching vocational skills in the Phoenix Indian School's bakery.
Courtesy Salt River Project Research Archives, Phoenix.
Online Source

 

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Indian Training School girls activities, at Chemawa near Salem Oregon.
Online Source

 

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Indian Training School boys activities, at Chemawa near Salem, Oregon.
Online Source

 

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Kitchen girls, Tulalip Indian School, ca. 1912. Every student at the boarding school spent at least half of his or her day working in some part of the operation. Boys rotated about every six weeks between jobs as carpenter, engineer, farmer or dairyman; girls were assigned to sewing, darning, laundry and kitchen work.  The students raised most of the school’s food on the grounds and prepared it in the kitchen. In this photo, Mrs. Ryman, the cook, supervises bread baking. Identified workers are: Laura Wilbur (Swinomish), kneeling at left; Julia Abbott (Lummi), second from left; Catherine Edwards (Swinomish); and Isabella Louke (Muckleshoot).
Collection: Brady Collection
Repository: Museum of History and Industry, Seattle.
Online Source

 

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Boys hoeing garden, Tulalip Indian School, ca. 1912.
Photographer: Ferdinand Brady
Boys were assigned to tend the school garden during their daily work period. They grew all of the vegetables eaten in the school dining room. The young fruit trees in the background grew to become part of the large orchard that produced fruit for the school. Here, several young boys pose for the camera, along with the school’s farmer and his wife and child.
Collection: Brady Collection
Repository: Museum of History and Industry, Seattle
Online Source

 

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Wood chopping crew, Tulalip Indian School, ca. 1912.
Photographer: Ferdinand Brady
The steam boilers which supplied heat and power to the school buildings required a constant supply of wood. As part of their regular work assignment, the young men chopped, split, and stacked hundreds of cords of wood. Shown in this photo are Sebastian Williams (second from left), Woody Loughrey (fifth from left) and Clarence Shelton (third from right).
Online Source

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Fort Spokane students, Washington
Nine students and their teacher gather around a table in a classroom. All wear Western style clothing. In the background are two wall maps. On the table sits a plant between two glass lamps (?)
Collection: Estelle Reel
Repository: Eastern Washington State Historical Society
Online Source
 

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Student Soldiers at the Phoenix Indian School, ca. 1930.
Online Source

Note: Administrators of the Indian Boarding Schools took some pride in creating "before" and "after" photographs that showed their power to suppress traditional Native American clothing and culture. At the same time, there are many aspects of life in the schools not recorded in photographs.


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