Episode 12: Research Roundup

Listen to this episode here:

Episode 12: Research Roundup | Carlisle Indian School Research Podcast (zencast.website)

Again, this is just a review of what’s been keeping me busy last week, and helping me procrastinate from reading handwritten documents, which I have to do for the next proper episode.

Thanks to the Smithsonian Institutions’ National Anthropological Archives for allowing me to work with their collection of digitized glass plate negatives of Carlisle-related subjects. You can browse almost all of those here on this DRC site: Browse Images | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

Also, I mentioned they recently sent a new scan of students and employees working on a roof in the very early days of the school. Here’s a link to the print I mentioned: Indian School students and staff working on roof of a building, 1880 | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu) and below is the new, uncropped, scan of the negative:

Also, I expressed my excitement about ordering more scans from the Richard Henry Pratt papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Library. I’d love to be able to be there in person and lug my scanner into the research room, but this is the next best thing.

Book roundup:

Thomas J. Schlereth, Victorian America: Transformation in Everyday Life, 1876-1915

Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents

Sarah Klotz, Writing Their Bodies: Restoring Rhetorical Relations at the Carlisle Indian School

I mention needing to look into using Scrivener software to manage my research materials. If you have experience with it, love to hear from you.

I’ll probably do a whole episode in the future following up on Gina’s email about students on outing in New Hampton, New Jersey. Here is Charles Paisano’s information card: Charles Paisano Student Information Card | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu). You can see the list of his outings, including to the Marletts and the Riddles.

And, regarding my idea about adding something like an FAQ to this site, in addition to covering issues like who had their photograph taken/before and after photos and haircutting, are there any other topics you think should be included?

Episode Eleven: Newspapers from 1879

Listen to this episode here:

Episode Eleven: Newspapers from 1879 | Carlisle Indian School Research Podcast (zencast.website)

From the Carlisle Weedkly Herald, March 27, 1879, p. 3.

In this episode Jim Gerencser and I discuss some of the notable findings from my exploration of several commercially-produced newspapers from 1879. The newspapers I’m using are The New York Times, New-York Tribune, The Washington Post, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), The Philadelphia Inquirer, Harrisburg Telegraph, Carlisle Weekly Herald, and The Valley Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.).

When I’m referring to the two famous photographs of the first students, if you’re not familiar with them, they are First group of male students [version 1], 1879 | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu) and First group of female students [version 1], 1879 | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu).

Here is an example of the “small group” photos I also mention:

Fred Smith, Joseph Gun, and John Primaux, 1879. Cumberland County Historical Society, PO#22.

And since I mention several times how detailed it is, here is the artcle from the Newark Daily Advertiser (reprinted in the Carlisle Weekly Herald):

[Sorry, the bottom line of this column was cut off.]

From the Carlisle Weekly Herald, November 13, 1879, p. 2.

As noted, we were just skimming the surface of the content from this year to give you an idea of the kinds of information I’m finding. Hope you found it informative. If you have questions, let me know. I may not be able to answer them, but I’ll do my best.

Episode Ten: Early documentation, 1879-1880

Listen to this episode here:

Episode Ten: Early documentation | Carlisle Indian School Research Podcast (zencast.website)

Welcome to the first episode of the rebooted podcast! I think this is going to work much better. In this episode Jim Gerencser and I discuss what forms of documentation for the school and its students are available for the years 1879 and 1880.

Note that whenever I refer to “the site” or just say something’s available online, what I almost always mean is the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu).

Statements of Receipts and Disbursements, vol. 1, page 3 Statements of Receipts and Disbursements (1879-1886) | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

Here are some examples of and links to the kinds of documents we talk about in this episode:

An example of student file (Series 1327): Clarence Three Stars (Packs the Dog) Student File | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

This is the type of student information card that I refer to as a “1328 card”:

Student information card for John Menual Chaves, found in his student file John Menaul Chaves Student File | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

This is the type of card I refer to as a “1329 card”:

Emma Student Information card, Emma Student Information Card | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

To see the documents from M234/E79 that are available on the CISDRC site, search or browse through Documents: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

To flip through the cash books/statements of receipts and disbursements, beginning in 1879, look here: Statements of Receipts and Disbursements (1879-1886) | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

Here’s the description of the Richard Henry Pratt Papers at the Beinecke Library at Yale: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1196

Here is an example of one of the newspapers published at the school: Eadle Keatah Toh (Vol. 1, No. 1) | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu). To see more, you can browse through the Publications: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

Richard Henry Pratt’s memoir is Battlefield and Classroom: Amazon.com: Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian, 1867–1904 (9780806136035): Pratt, Richard Henry, Utley, Robert M., Adams, David Wallace: Books

Luther Standing Bear’s memoir is My People The Sioux: My People the Sioux: Standing Bear, Luther, Sneve, Virginia Driving Hawk: 9780803293328: Amazon.com: Books

UPDATE:

Here are some links to documents Jim found about the record keeping systems discussed in this episode:

The Annual Report of 1901 in which Pratt discusses “the card system” being developed (probably the “1328 cards”): Excerpt from Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1901 | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

From the Annual Report of 1909 (p.50). Jim notes “This suggests that they merely created some kind of indexing system for the various records held in various locations around the school grounds.” Draft of 30th Annual Report of the Carlisle Indian School | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

And here’s a report from 1911, making the recommendation that Nellie Robertson Denny be in charge of recordkeeping (among other things): Inspection Report on Record Keeping at the Carlisle Indian School | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (dickinson.edu)

Episode Nine: An Introduction to Medicine at the School with guest Frank Vitale

Listen to the episode here: https://carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/9

We’ve got our first guest on the show, Frank Vitale who specializes in the history of medicine at the Carlisle Indian School. I tried to keep this episode within our usual time but, as you’ll hear when you listen, Frank has a tendency to keep going once you wind him up!

As noted, this is just an overview and we’ll definitely be getting Frank back to cover more specific topics. We don’t refer to any specific images, I think, in this episode, but here’s one just to fill out the post.

This is the hospital built in 1881 to replace the one originally on the grounds when the school first opened. Cumberland County Historical Society, PA-CH1-008

Episode Eight: Local churches and the Indian School

Listen here: https://carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/3

So, again, sorry for the somewhat disjointed nature of this episode. It’s not as smooth as I’d like, but we’re all doing the best we can under the circumstances. The world is kind of distracting these days.

If you haven’t listened to Episode Three, that’s the one in which I talked about Richard Henry Pratt’s background, which I touch on here but kind of gloss over. Here’s more info: https://carlisleindianschoolresearch.com/podcast/2019/10/25/episode-3-youth-and-military-career-of-richard-henry-pratt.

Chapel with three students, c.1885. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. NAA 73512; Photo Lot 81-12 06828600

Here’s the mention of the chapel and other religious matters in the first student newspaper:

Eadle Keatah Toh, Vol. 1 No. 1, January 1880. Page 1. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/publications/eadle-keatah-toh-vol-1-no-1

And here’s the bit I read from the 1891 Annual Report. (You can see my advanced research methods at work. I searched the OCR of publications for the word Sunday, and left it highlighted here when I took this image of the section. Sometimes quick and dirty research gets results!)

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior, 1891, p. 591. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/publications/excerpt-annual-report-commissioner-indian-affairs-1891

And here’s a page from one of the St. John’s ledgers, just as a sample.

"The 'Parish Register' of St. John's [Episcopal] Church, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from 1793 to 1881-2.," pp.208-209.

I think that’s it for the show notes, but I do need to add a follow up. When Jim listened to this episode he pointed out that I should make clear that it wasn’t long after the school opened that students began arriving who already had some kind of existing association with a Christian denomination. Again, missionaries were active throughout the West and had staked their claim to most of the regions students were coming from. Also, over the course of the school’s history the students tended to be older and after a certain point most arrived speaking English, having some prior education, and with some kind of prior association with a Christian church.

Hope this episode was informative, if a little choppy. Thanks for listening, and I should add the standard “rate, review, and subscribe” please. It is helpful. Stay safe!

Episode Seven: Discoveries among the glass plate negatives

Listen to the episode here: carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/7

So, really, the last episode went up in December? Well, that’s a pretty long hiatus but I’ll be talking in this episode about what was keeping me busy for those two months: hundreds and hundreds of images. A lot of them glass plate negatives. So come along, why don’t you, and listen to what I’ve learned from spending so much quality time with these collections.

I realized as I was struggling with this episode was that I was becoming paralyzed by trying to cover everything about the early images. That’s too much for one episode and is taking the fun out of it. So instead we’ll have a more casual discussion of some of the discoveries I’ve made.

Photograph of a photograph of the first female students upon arrival at Carlisle, October, 1879. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 74306, NAA INV 06907700.

What’s a glass plate negative anyway?

As I said in the episode, this isn’t my area. When I write an article or a book chapter on this, I’ll give a tidy summary but for now, I think it’s good enough to say it’s a piece of glass with a chemical solution on it that becomes activated by light and so produces a photographic negative. They came in different sizes, depending on what size print you wanted to make. We were—well, I was—pretty excited when the Dickinson College Archives acquired a new batch of Indian School negatives packed in these original boxes.

If you took one out of these boxes you wouldn’t see much. A plate of glass that’s mostly black with areas or gray or white. You really can’t see what’s on it. Holding it up to a light helps. Here’s what one looks like when you put it on a light table.

Better, but you still can’t tell much. But what you can see here is the handwritten caption. This one is very clear and legible (believe me, most of them are not this good!). Sometimes there’s a date, sometimes not. This should give you a basic idea of what we’re talking about.

Who is this guy Choate and why is he so important?

If you spend any time looking into the Carlisle Indian School photographs, you’re going to hear the name Choate right away. Here’s the short version, and I have links to more info at the end of this post. He was one of the photographers working in Carlisle when the school opened. Way back in Episode Six when I talked about the city directories I think I noted that there were three photographers listed in 1877-1878 and J.N. Choate at 21 West Main was one one of them. For whatever reason, Choate ended up being the most prolific local photographer associated with the school. Lots more to say about this in the future.

So what are most of the photos?

The overwhelming majority of the photos I’ve seen—and I’ve seen hundreds now, maybe into the thousands—are of students after their arrival, in uniforms, school-issued clothing, or clothing they bought for themselves in the town of Carlisle. But in this episode we’re going to focus on the oddities and discoveries.

Choate made copies of prints of his own photographs

As demonstrated by the image at the top of this post, in which the hand of the photographer, or his assistant, is visible. Presumably he did this because he broke the negatives or couldn’t find them.       

Photograph of a photograph of students working in the print shop. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 73243, NAA INV 06801900.

Among the discoveries with the greatest potential impact is that Choate also took photographs of images already mounted in albums, specifically he took photos of images mounted in the so-called Indian School albums now owned by the Cumberland County Historical Society. Here are some examples—note the distinctive handwritten captions.

Five Arapaho Chiefs with Interpreter, c.1885. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA 74261, NAA INV 06903200. This is a photograph of Indian School Album 1, page 36.

Apache Chief, c.1880. National Anthropological Archives NAA 74302; NAA INV 06907300.

And below you can see the page in the album with the images on either sides and the snippet of caption matching what shows in the negative of the copy.

Indian School Album 1, page 93 (PA-CH1-093a-c), Cumberland County Historical Society.

This opens up a host of questions—none of which I think we’ll ever be able to answer—about these albums. I believe the only information we have about them comes from a letter from Nana Pratt Hawkins in a letter to the President of what would become the Cumberland County Historical Society. She wrote:

When the Indian School was closed Mrs. Denny sent my Father, General Pratt, the School albums that were in Miss Ely’s office for the purpose of ordering duplicate prints.

Nana Pratt Hawkins to Samuel M. Goodyear, July 12, 1935.

Interestingly, her list in this letter specifies “two large albums,” While today the albums are unbound, they are cataloged as three, not two, albums.

In any case, we now know that the albums were either kept by Choate in his studio at first—and so were available to him to make copies from—or were kept at the school but borrowed by Choate when he needed them. Who wrote the captions? Who decided which photos were included? Not all of them are.

Another observation we can make—well, I can—about the photos that Choate copied is that most of them are of visiting Indian chiefs. Such photos were probably popular sellers for Choate, who marketed and sold copies of the photos he took of the students, school grounds, and visitors. The first list of Choate photos for sale includes 32 images of visiting adult Native Americans (out of a total of 89). (see “Indian Pictures!”, Eadle Keatah Toh, Vol. 1, No. 10, April 1881, page 4.)

Choate made copies of other people’s photographs

Oh yes he did, and with no credit given either, it seems. And the subjects of all the ones I’ve found so far are Native Americans, often chiefs. Here’s one:

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 73593, NAA INV 06836700.

This didn’t look like it was taken by Choate in his studio, so I did a reverse image search (I use tineye.com) and, indeed, here it is, in the collections of the National Archives as part of a collection of portraits of Native Americans taken by William S. Soule (catalog.archives.gov/id/518890). I haven’t seen any evidence that Choate tried to sell this work as his own, just as I’ve not found any evidence that he ever tried to pass this off as his own and sell it.

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 7345, NAA INV 06822400.

I can’t remember if also found this with a reverse images search or just searched for the text (“Young Apache Bucks in Winter”) and found that this is from a cabinet card apparently originally taken by Andrew Miller (although who knows, he may have copied it too?) but at rate, this is not a image originally taken by Choate.

I have found one instance—and there may be others—of Choate copying and selling an image he did not take. It’s #28 on the list of 89 images references above, “Indian Pictures!,”: Ouray and his wife Chipeta, Utes. The National Anthropological Archives has two negatives of Choate’s copies. Here’s one of them.

National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 73284, NAA INV 06805902.

So, there you are: BRADY WASHINGTON, D.C.. Was that kept in when Choate sold his prints? I doubt it. This is an image taken by the famous photographer Mathew Brady when Ouray and Chipeta were visiting the nation’s capital (www.loc.gov/item/2017894685/).

But the image that may give us the most insight into how Choate viewed authorship and authenticity in his images was identified in his list of images for sale as:

The first Indian boy who applied to Capt. Pratt—Ft. Berthold, D.T., Sept. 19, 1878—for education at Hampton, Va., was called out of the medicine lodge painted and decorated as seen in the picture.

And, according to Pratt’s autobiography, Battlefield and Classroom, this seems accurate. He wrote of his first recruiting trip for Hampton in September 1878 and his visit to Fort Berthold to recruit from the Gros Ventres, Mandans, and Arikara nations:

The first name on the list was that of a young man who was in the dance house getting ready for a performance the Indians had planned to give that evening. We went to the dance house and called him out. Except for breech clout he was nude and his whole body painted black with white ornamentations, particularly on the face and upper parts of his body. (p.198)

He then goes on to describe the performance given that night, “another of the many peculiar dances and pantomimes with which the different tribes entertained themselves.”

So, whether or not the young man referenced in Pratt’s memoir looked exactly like the person in the drawing captured by the photograph, for someone in Choate’s position it was surely would have seemed close enough. The drawing itself is thought be have been made by artist George Catlin in about 1832, and depicts, according the cataloging of the copy of the Choate image held by the National Anthropological Archives, Ok-Kee-Hee-De, The Owl or Evil Spirit, with Body Paint and Buffalo Hair Breech Cloth, Dancing During the O-Kee-Pa Ceremony. (I still need to work on how the Catlin images were circulated, and so how Choate would have come across this one.)

Is Choate misrepresenting his hand in this image? It’s clearly a photograph of a drawing, and he certainly took the photograph. It depicts, more or less, what he says it does, following Pratt’s description. Looking back at the text associated with the marketing of Choate’s photographs in the school newspapers—specifically the group of 89 promoted in 1881—it doesn’t specify that Choate took the photographs, only that he is offering copies for sale. Does this imply that he was the original photographer? Certainly it does to modern readers, and maybe it also did to readers at the time. Should he have given other photographers like Brady credit for their work? Our modern practices would require it, but was this kind of reproduction common at the time? I don’t know, but it seems likely.

My job is not to comment on Choate’s ethics but to learn what I can about how to interpret the circumstances of the production of the photographs marketed by his studio. The examination documented here is evidence that not every photograph with Choate’s studio imprint on it was taken by him, or taken in Carlisle. Most were, some weren’t. So, for me, if a photo doesn’t look “right” it’s worth it for me to dig around a bit and see what I can find. Particularly if it’s a photo of chief or other Native Americans in their own style of clothing, which seems to have been the most popular for Choate’s pirating.

This post originally contained another example, but in the course of writing it up I realized this appropriation was much more complicated than I had thought at first. You will have wait until for a future episode to learn about, to make it sound like a Sherlock Holmes story, The Strange Case of the Kiowa Baby.

As always, thanks for listening/reading and if you’re following along in real time, thanks for you patience with this long pause between episodes. I’ll do better from now on, I promise!

Resources:

Kate Theimer, “A Very Correct Idea of Our School”: A Photographic History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 2018. www.amazon.com/Very-Correct-Idea-Our-School/dp/1727272501

Richard L. Tritt, “John Nicholas Choate: A Cumberland County Photographer.” Cumberland County History. Vol. 13, No. 2, 77-90. gardnerlibrary.org/sites/default/files/vol13n2.pdf#page=10

Laura Turner, “John Nicholas Choate and the Production of Photography at the Carlisle Indian School,” Visualizing a Mission: Artifacts and Imagery of the Carlisle Indian School, 1879-1918. Dickinson College, 2004 chronicles.dickinson.edu/studentwork/indian/4_choate.htm

Award Winning Book!

Happy to announce that my book, “A Very Correct Idea of Our School”: A Photographic History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, has won the Arline Custer Memorial Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference. Very nice to see it recognized by my archival colleagues, who truly understand the importance of highlighting our rich historical collections!

Learn more about the book and order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Very-Correct-Idea-Our-School/dp/1727272501

Episode Six: Carlisle Before Carlisle

Listen to the episode here: https://carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/6.

This episode covers three topics, each briefly. First, as noted in my discussion of the Native people who originally lived in the Carlisle area, I used:

Judith Ridner, A Town In-Between: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Early Mid-Atlantic Interior, 2010.

Christopher Bilodeau, “Before Carlisle: The Lower Susquehanna Valley as Contested Native Space,” in Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories, and Reclamations, ed. Jacqueline Fear-Segal and Susan D. Rose, 2016.

My discussion of the history of the Carlisle Barracks drew upon:

Thomas G. Tousey, Military History of Carlisle and Carlisle Barracks, 1939.

Paul E. Zuver, A Short History of Carlisle Barracks, [1934?]

Both of these are out of print.

I mention the Hessian Guard House—here’s a postcard of it as it stood during the Indian School time period.

Guard House at Indian School, Carlisle, Pa. (build by the Hessians 1777), Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, MC 2002.2, box 2, folder 3. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/guard-house-indian-school-c1908

And last, but not least, the business directories. Here’s the section I was flipping through during the podcast:

Benjamin R. Sheriff, Sheriff & Co.’s Cumberland Vallery Rail Road Directory, 1877-1878. Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, PA.

I think that’s it for these show notes. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send me an email at info@katetheimer.com. You can also contact me through my Facebook page: Carlisle Indian School Research. Thanks for listening/reading!

Episode five: Researching Ulysses G. Paisano

Ulysses Paisano and John Shiosee [?], December 1887. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 73699; Photo Lot 81-12 06847300. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/ulysses-paisano-and-john-shiosee-1887

Listen to the episode here: https://carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/5

This episode is another one that responds to a question from the Carlisle Indian School Research Facebook page. This time someone was looking for information about a specific student: Ulysses G. Paisano. Since part of the purpose of this podcast is to share my research journey, I thought it would be interesting for you to hear about how we know what we know (and don’t) and Ulysses, and to see once again how the student newspapers functioned for information sharing. In this post I’m basically writing up my script for the episode as the show notes. I don’t think I’ll do this much in the future, but who knows? There’s so much detail here it seems like the right thing to do. Enjoy!

Note: So, as I note in the podcast, about ten minutes after I sent the link for this show to my husband, he emailed me and pointed out something that’d messed up. I’m an idiot. So, I added a new section at the end of the podcast, and to the end of this post. Research is a process. Especially if sometimes you’re an idiot, like me.

Ulysses has a student file and one student information card (shown here).

Ulysses G. Paisano student information card. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 75, Series 1329, box 13. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/student_files/ulysses-g-paisano-student-information-card

What we don’t have for Ulysses is the other kind of student information card—the more detailed kind (see example for Lydia in the previous post). This is particularly unlucky because the person looking for information about him is very interested in learning about any outings he may have gone on. The other kind of information card (which is often included in a student’s file) lists the outings.

[As I was doing a practice run going through this it occurred to me that I’d better give a brief explanation of what outings were, since it may be an unfamiliar term for some listeners/readers. The problem with that is that, as with most things Carlisle, it really would take a whole episode or more to really explain outings. Here’s a super-short version, just to provide some context for this post.

The outing system originated with Richard Henry Pratt, the school’s founder. In short, it was a system in which students would go out and live in white communities, staying with white families. They would work (usually) at the kinds of tasks they were training to do at Carlisle: housework for female students, mostly farm work for male students. Students would (usually) be paid The point was largely to continue the school's work of assimilation, but do so in a more everyday setting than the school provided. Policies were in place that host outing families were carefully selected to be of good moral character, and students were (usually) visited during their stay by the school's outing agent, to make all was well. Usually outings took place over the summer, but sometimes students would stay into the rest of the year.

All those “usually”s etc. are there because there’s an exception to everything and there are always other kinds of situations—like students were stayed with their outing families for long periods of time, which happened. Exploring outings in more detail—the way they were supposed to work and they way they happened in reality—is a topic for the future.]

But, what else do we know about Ulysses? We know he’s identified in one photograph (the one at the top of this post). Ulysses was 13 years old when he entered; John Shiosee was 18. Therefore if the identification is correct, Ulysses must be the student standing at left. To me, he looks younger than 13, but I’m always thinking the students in the photos look young for their ages. More about that later.

I also remembered that I had not yet posted an image that had some Paisano people in it. The name rang a bell. Here is that image:

Group of unidentified students, probably including members of the Paisano family, c.1889. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, NAA 73647; Photo Lot 81-12 0682100.

For these glass plate negatives from the National Anthropological Archives, what identification information we have comes from the notes scratched on the plates (or from comparing them with other photos in which people are identified). In this case, as in many, the scratched info isn’t very clear:

The person who previously cataloged these image found the word Paisano in there and I agree. The rest of it … looks like another name and then 5 . . . something. But I do think this is potentially a group of students from the Paisano family. There were a lot of them at Carlisle:

• Mary Paisano, age 15, arrived 1884, departed 1890

• Willie Paisano, age 18, arrived 1884, departed 1886

• Frank Paisano, age 10, arrived 1884, departed 1889

• Ulysses Paisano, age 13, arrived 1886, departed 1891

• Minnie Paisano, aged 13, arrived 1889, departed 1890

• Chester Paisano, aged ?, arrived 1895, departed 1902

• Charles Paisano, aged 14, arrived 1896, died 1902

• Mille Paisaono, aged 13, arrived 1896, departed 1901

• Andrew Paisano, aged 9, arrived 1897, departed 1902

• Ferris Paisano, aged 11, arrived 1897, departed 1904 {re-enrolled 1904-1908]

• George Paisano, aged 16, arrived 1897, departed 1900

(I’m not including the three others who attended after this photographer died.)

Ok, so to identify the sitters in this photo, we have to calculate at what point the right number of male and female Paisanos were there at the same time and were the right approximate ages. I’m not up to doing that right now. We could also look on the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center site to see other images of some of them. But, right now, we only have one identified image of Mary and Willie. Oh, and remember that it’s very possible one of the sitters is not from this family (per the caption). You can decide for yourself if you think Ulysses is in this group, assuming that’s him in the photo at the top of the post.

Ok, but back to Ulysses. What else can we tell about him from the records? Nothing about his outings, at least not easily. The documentation sources we have for outings are spotty—not surprisingly since it’s not clear how dedicated the staff were to preserving these kinds of old (and not useful to them) records. (An overview of the existing documentation will have to wait for a future episode.) Ulysses attended from 1886 to 1891. For that period, we have ledgers and some of them have been transcribed so we can easily search for names—Ulysses’s name is not in any of the ones that have been transcribed (link to all the outing ledgers). It’s also possible to find students going in and out from outings in the Daily Morning Reports, which detailed the comings and goings—by day—of students and staff. They have also not yet been transcribed. Here’s a sample from a page:

Daily Morning Reports, 1887-1891. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 75, Series 1331. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/lists/daily-morning-reports-1887-1891

So, to definitely answer whether or not we have any evidence of Ulysses going on any outings, you’d have to painstakingly read through these and see. But it’s possible something is there.

I also checked the Ledgers for Student Savings Accounts to see what we had for 1886-1891. There’s a ledger for 1890-1894. Students on outing were usually paid, so there could be evidence of an outing here for Ulysses. Doesn’t look like it. Here’s his page:

Ledgers for Student Savings Accounts-Boys (1890-1894). National Archives and Records Administration. RG 75, Series 1336. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/lists/ledgers-student-savings-accounts-boys-1890-1894

(If something’s been transcribed, as this ledger has, you’ll see an option on the page to download a spreadsheet. The name will also come up in a general keyword search, since those also search the spreadsheets. But those general searches can bring you back way more results than you can handle sometimes. Anyway, that’s how you tell if something has been transcribed.)

Ok, so not a lot of financial transactions for Ulysses. Not the pattern we’d expect from outings—although, again, this is not for his whole time at the school. So, we’ve checked his own records and the other documentation we have available from his enrollment period. What else can we do? That’s right—let’s go to the newspapers. And there’s a lot about him there—much of his relating to his life after Carlisle. But let’s go through it all, shall we? Spoiler alert: no evidence of outings found, but still, it’s good stuff.

Roll of Honor for November

The following named pupils have received perfect marks in lessons and conduct while in the school room. SECTION 1:--Martha Napawat, May Paisano, Ulysses Paisano.

The Indian Helper, Vol. II, No. 21, Friday December 31, 1886, p.4 http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v02n21_0.pdf

Camp Items

[…]

The boys picked seven bushels of berries the other day. They had some stimulus for doing so much, as Mr. Campbell had offered rewards of 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 cents to the best pickers. Work Together got the first prize, and Clement Ceanilizah, John Lowry, Ulysses Paisano and Sampson Noran, respectively, the others.

The Indian Helper, Vol. II No. 52, Friday, August 5, 1887, p. 3 http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v02n52.pdf

This tells us that Ulysses was at the school’s camp during the summer of 1887 (or at least for part of it). It was most common for students to go on outings in the summer, so I would interpret this as an indication that he did not go an outing this summer.

The school sociable at the gymnasium Friday night, was a happy affair. The laughter and chat about the many tables, in playing games, and among the promenaders along the gallery, proved that these were most enjoyable parts of the program.

The other amusements were a walking march between eight of the larger boys which Timber Yellow Robe won, both by masterly use of elbows in keeping the right of way, and the fleetness of his steps.

A trial of strength by rope-pulling was so closely contested by the seven at each end, that several trials were made before either side could fairly claim the advantage.

But the funniest of all was a race between four little boys—Frank Bressette, Siceni, Ulysses, and Clement, with sacks drawn over their feet and tied around their waists. “Such inching along!” But not a bit daunted by an occasional tumble, they made the round amid merry peals of laughter, Siceni being the winner and receiving great applause.

The Band played several pieces, and at nine o’clock headed the column as the boys marched off to their quarters.

The Indian Helper, Vol. III, No. 26, Friday February 10, 1888, p.2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v03n26_transcript.pdf

Joseph Martinez one of the new Crow boys who understands English pretty well has taken Ulysses’ place as orderly, and Miss Ely says he begins like a little business man. That is what Ulysses is.

The Indian Helper, Vol. IV, No. 21, Friday January 11, 1889, p.3. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v04n21_0.pdf

I’m not sure what the job an an orderly entailed, but I’ll check into it. Foreshadowing here since Ulysses will grow to be a successful “business man.”

A new team has been organized who modestly call themselves “New Beginners.” They express the hope to be prepared in a short time to compete with the other teams of our school. Martin L. Smith is their chosen captain. The team stands as follows: Pitcher, Geo. W. Means; catcher, Martin Smith; 1st base, Johnson Webster; 2nd base, David Turkey; 3rd base, James McAdams; right field, Luther Dahha; center-field, Peter Snow; left-field, Ralph Nal-tu-ey; short-stop, Chas. Marksman; substitute, Ulysses Paisano.

The Indian Helper, Vol. V No. 35, Friday May 2, 1890, p.3 http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v05n35.pdf

A baseball team, clearly. But I noted that on the column just beside this article was the sad news that May (Mary) Paisano—who appears to be Ulysses’ sister—had died:

Mr. Kemp says that Ulysses Paisano is going to make a first-class harness maker.

The Indian Helper, Vol. V, No. 48, Friday August 1, 1890, p. 3. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v05n48.pdf

I’m not sure whether or not Ulysses’ training as a harness maker would have made it less likely for him to have gone out on an outing—which were often, but not always, to farms. As I learn more about outings, I might be able to see a pattern for this kind of thing.

So Ulysses leaves in 1891. But, as we’ve seen in previous episodes, the student newspapers function like alumni magazines, sharing news as former students—usually good news that reflects well on the school. Here’s what we know about Ulysses’ later life.

A friendly letter from Ulysses Paisano says he has just returned to his home in Laguna, N.M., from a trip to the Rockies where they got lumber for building a new house. We are glad to hear that he is well enough to husk corn all day long.

The Indian Helper, Vol. VII No. 10, Friday November 13, 1891, p. 2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v07n10.pdf

Well enough? Oh, yes, look at his information card. He left because of illness.

It is said that Ulysses Paisano is married and leading a busy life among his people, the Lagunas of New Mexico.

The Indian Helper, Vol. VIII No. 19, Friday January 27, 1893, p. 2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v08n19.pdf

A business letter from William Paisano , of Laguna, N.M., gives the gratifying news that his brother Ulysses, who used to be our little Ulysses, has sowed more wheat than any other man of his village this year. Their Governor Santiago died recently.

The Indian Helper, Vol. VIII, No. 29, Friday April 7, 1893, p. 2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v08n29.pdf

“Our little Ulysses.” So, back up to my comments about how young I thought he looked in that photo—maybe he was acknowledged to be small for his age? Seems like a probable explanation to me.

Ulysses Paisano writes for the HELPER to be sent to him in New Mexico, and his friends will be glad to learn of his existence.

The Indian Helper, Vol. XII No. 16, Friday, January 29, 1897, p. 3 http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v12n16.pdf

A Wolf Hunt

A wolf found its way to the Laguna, New Mexico, farms and did much damage among the horses, cattle and sheep, William Paisano writes. So William and several others started out on a fierce hunt for the animal. They found it after having chased several miles on horse back, then Ulysses Paisano, (We all remember Ulysses) got ahead of the others and, being a good marksman hit the wolf. William says that he wife Mary is well, and they send best wishes to all their friends.

The Red Man and Helper, Vol. XVI, No. 46, Friday May 17, 1901, p. 3.

http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/RedMan-Helper_v01n42_1.pdf

Bessie Gotholda

Bessie’s first letter since her return to New Mexico is full of interest. […] Ulysses Paisano is doing a wonderful work among our people, preaching to them and telling them about our Heavenly Father.

We have a prayer meeting every week and services on Sunday morning, and prayer meeting in the evening.

Last Sunday morning the people down where Ulysses lives had service in the morning, and we had ours in the afternoon. A great many people belong to church.

The Red Man and Helper, Vol XVII, No. 6, Friday August 9, 1901, p.2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/RedMan-Helper_v02n02_1.pdf

Back from the West

Mr. Siceni Nori, class of ’94 Assistant Clerk to Mr. Bietzel, has returned from New Mexico, where he went a short time since, to take the body of Charles Paisano.

The errand was a sad one, and threw its shadow over his visit to his old home. He talked freely to our reporter, who gave us the following interview.  […]

Can you give me the names of our old students who are doing well?

“Nearly all are doing exceedingly well, There are Ulysses and William Paisano, Charles Carr, Walter Analla, Charles Kieh; perhaps the most well-to-do of all is John Chavis. Two are employed in the Locomotive Works in Albuquerque—Samuel Keryte and Paul Shattuck.” 

The Red Man and Helper, Vol. XVIII No. 6, Friday August 22, 1902, p. 2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/RedMan-Helper_v03n02_0.pdf

Charles Paisano was 14 on arrival and 18 when he died. His school records show his contact (usually a parent) as Martine Paisano, Records show he “died at country home” of “cholera morbus” but the cause is also listed as appendicitis in the Death Record. Note that Siceni was the winner of the sack race described above.

Ulysses and William Paisano both have stores and big trade.

The Arrow, Vol. III No. 3, Friday September 14, 1906, p. 2. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/Arrow_v03n03.pdf

Carlisle Graduates in Business for Themselves

[…] Among the Pueblos at Casa Blaca in New Mexico, William H. Paisano has a very good store where merchandise is furnished to his fellow tribesmen, the Pueblos. Mr. Paisano obtained his education at Carlisle. He has eighty head of cattle, conducts a good farm, and has been postmaster since 1906. He has been a governor of the pueblo, and has a nice family. His wife is also a returned student from Carlisle. They have a two-story home, which is well-furnished and is splendidly kept. His brother, Ulysses Paisano, who is also a Pueblo, has a larger store with a more complete stock, and is a very prominent man in tribal affairs. The establishment which Ulysses conducts is attractive in its appearance and thorough in the methods of business. One is surprised on entering this store, situated on a reservation miles away from any white settlers, to see the neat arrangement of the goods on shelves, to find additional stock in well-kept warehouses, and to note the cleanliness of the surrounding premises. These two Indians, each in business for himself, are leaders in their community and fine types of the educated Indian.

The Red Man, Vol. 4, no. 7, March 1912, p. 278-279. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/RedMan_v04n07c.pdf

Notes About Ex-Students

William Paisano was recently re-elected governor of his tribe, the Pueblos. Mr. Paisano is also post-master at Casa Blanca, N. Mex., and has lately been appointed to present his people at Washington, D.C., in a business proposition connected with their land. He left for that city on the 1st of February with his two interpreters, both former Carlisle students, Ulysses G. Paisano and Yamie Leeds

The Carlisle Arrow, Vol. IX, No. 26, February 28, 1913, p. 1. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/CarlisleArrow_v09n26.pdf

So that’s what we know so far from the materials available online at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. We can’t say for sure whether or not Ulysses went on any outings. We can only say that so far we haven’t found any evidence. But, then again, there are still those ledgers that haven’t been transcribed yet. There may be something there. Or, like many Carlisle students, there may be a lot of some kinds of information and not enough of what we’d like to see. I’ll keep this post updated over time if we learn more. Thanks for listening/reading!

So, here’s the update: What my husband (Jim Gerencser, Co-Director of the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center at Dickinson College) pointed out was a bone-headed mistake on my part. Ulysses does have the other kind of card. It is in his student file. Here it is:

So, as you can see, there is nothing here in the bottom section in which outings would be noted. Based on this, I would say with 99% certainty that Ulysses didn’t go on any outings. I am pretty certain if he had they would have been noted here. I have no reason to think the administrators wouldn’t have entered such information here, as they did for other students.

Jim also pointed out that I hadn’t mentioned the other materials in the student file, including a returned student survey in which Ulysses shares information about his situation, and other post-Carlisle correspondence.

Hopefully although this might make you doubt my abilities, it is evidence that although I may make mistakes, others will catch them and I am happy to post corrections. Once again, thanks for listening and hopefully there won’t be any more panicked frantic updates like this one!

Episode Four: How young were the students?

Listen to the episode here: https://carlisle-indian-school-research.zencast.website/episodes/4.

This started with a question someone asked me on the Facebook page: how young were the students? To which I replied, do you mean the youngest ever or generally, how young were they? She wisely answered: both. I confidently replied that one answer would be easy and the other hard. As usual, I was partly right, but mostly wrong. Here’s some useful info to supplement the episode:

In case you need them and didn’t have note-taking implements handy, here are the stats for students under the age of eight:

7 year olds: 24 students, entering throughout the history, from 1879 to 1917

6 year olds: 14 students entering from 1886 to 1907

6.5 year olds: one in 1884

5 year olds: Five students, entering from 1884 to 1906

4 year olds: one in 1907 (there’s a story behind him, but that will have to wait for another day)

3 year olds: one in 1886. Lydia Biddle Eagle Feather.

In trying to find documentation of the government’s age-related policies, I found this dissertation useful: Everett Arthur Gilcreast, “Richard Henry Pratt and American Indian Policy, 1877-1906: A Study of the Assimilation Movement,” Yale University, 1967.

And, here are my stats on the ages of students in general:

According to my math, the youngest annual average age for entering students was in 1880: 13.25 years old for males and 11.76 for females. The highest annual averages for male students was 18.46 in 1907; for females, it was 17.02 years old in 1915. An average age for all the students over all the years is 16.7 for males and 15.2 for females

Here’s Lydia’s enrollment card:

Student information card for Lydia Biddle Eagle Feather, http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/student_files/lydia-biddle-eagle-feather-student-information-card-0

Here are Ralph Iron Eagle Feather’s enrollment cards and Julia Good Voice’s first enrollment card on the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center site. To find more information, click on the links in the People section of these pages

Here’s the image of Ralph Iron Eagle Feather and other students working on the roof of a school building:

Indian school student and staff working on roof of a building, 1880. Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, PA. CCHS 14-07-02. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/indian-school-students-and-staff-working-roof-building-1880

And here’s the one of Julia shortly after arrival. Since she was 17, she’s the person seated at left.

Five Sioux students shortly after arrival, c. 1879. Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, PA. CCHS PO#03. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/five-sioux-students-shortly-after-their-arrival-c1879

I’m not going to link out to all the newspaper articles I quoted, but here’s an image of one of them as an example.

The Indian Helper, Vol. II, No. 30, March 4, 1887, p. 3. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/IndianHelper_v02n30.pdf

I mention the photos of the “Apache babies”-here’s an example. And the Laura mentioned here is student Laura Doanmoe and her son Richard Doanmoe (note that he doesn’t have an enrollment card—well, he does, but not until he’s five years old in 1891 when he and his family return to the school).

If you want to get lost in searching the student newspapers, which I highly recommend, here’s the link for the Publications section of the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. If you’re having trouble, let me know and I may be able to give you some guidance.

And, in case you haven’t bought it yet, here’s a link to my Arline Custer Memorial Award-winning book, “A Very Correct Idea of Our School”: A Photographic History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

Again, thanks for listening and please let me know if you have any questions or feedback. I feel like I’m kind of getting the hang of this. There’s so much more to talk about! Looking forward to bringing you episodes on a more regular basis.

Episode 3: Richard Henry Pratt’s beginnings

You can listen to Episode 3 here.

In this episode I share with you my research about the family, youth, and military career of Richard Henry Pratt, the founder of the Carlisle Indian School. As noted in the episode, almost all of our information about this period comes from Pratt’s own memoir, Battlefield and Classroom, so it tells us more about what Pratt wants us to think about his development than about what he was really thinking or feeling at that time. However, I think we can still see some elements of Pratt’s early life that will factor into his later character and actions. Sorry, no images for this episode and let me know if you need citations for any of the books mentioned.

Note: I refer to Pratt’s wife in the episode as Laura, but her first name(s) was Anna Laura. I’ll have to verify what she actually was known as, but I think it’s not Laura. And in previewing the future episode, I was correct that there were 72 Native American prisoners transferred to Fort Marion for whom Pratt had responsibility.

Also, I don’t know if it bugs you but I did notice that the volume in the intro part is louder than the regular episode. Let’s just say I’ve got some learning to do about recording.

Episode 2: The arrival of the first students

You can listen to Episode Two here.

(Again, this is the first real episode but they’re counting my little Intro as Episode One. Go back and listen to it if you want to hear my stumbling account of who I am and why I’m doing this.)

Here are some notes and illustrations for Episode One, which focuses on the accounts of the arrival of the first students at Carlisle. I’m not sure what kind of information is going to be most useful, so let me know if there’s something I mention in the episode that you’d like to see documented here.

As noted, there were 84 Native Americans, all from the Sioux nation, in this first group of students. Charles Tackett, the interpreter, is included in that number although he was not a student. There were 59 male students and 24 female students; 65 people came from the Rosebud agency and 18 from the the Pine Ridge agency. Below is a section of letter Richard Henry Pratt wrote on November 13, 1879 to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs giving his account of the first students brought to the school. This section shows Pratt’s list of the first students.

You can read the whole letter here: http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/report-first-party-children-brought-carlisle-indian-school

I used a lot of quotations from local newspapers but forgot to mention that you can find all but one of these papers on newspapers.com. It’s a subscription service, but the basic level (which is what I have) is only $8 a month, so if you’re interested it’s pretty affordable. (Nope, I don’t get paid to say that.) You can do keyword searching on the newspapers which is not perfect, but hugely time-saving. One of the papers, the American Volunteer, is only available on microfilm, but I find it the least useful so far, so you won’t miss much (and you’ll save your eyes—the print is super small).

Here’s the little section from the Harrisburg Telegraph that I used in this episode (October 6, 1879, p.4):

I also mention Richard Henry Pratt’s memoir, Battlefield & Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian, 1867-1904. It actually is still in print (I said I didn’t think it was), and you can order it from Amazon, if you like, here’s the link. I also quoted from Luther Standing Bear’s memoir, My People the Sioux, here’s the link for that one. (No Amazon kick-backs for those mentions either.) As far as I know, those are the only first-person accounts of the first days of the school.

Below are two photos taken by J.N. Choate on the first day the students arrived—Monday, October 6. There is no reason to doubt that these are the clothes they traveled in. As far as the boys having “war paint” on—as one newspaper account asserted—it’s hard to see anyone’s face very well, but I don’t think so.

These are the male students with Pratt (far left) and Interpreter Tackett (far right). We’re still working out exactly who is in this image. All 59 male students are in it for sure. There’s an extra person listed in the caption: Moses Broken Leg. We haven’t been able to nail down who he is, but we’re working on it. I’m also not sure how many students are lying there in the center. I definitely see one on the left. Is that another one on the right (which would be symmetrical, and the kind of thing I think they would do)? I’m not sure. If so, he’s not named in the caption, so that makes it more unlikely.

I think the building they are standing in front of was the one used for the girls’ dormitory, but we’ll be talking more about the buildings in a future episode. It’s one of the buildings the students would have stayed in at any rate. As you might expect, this image was widely used and distributed and many copies of it survive. This one is from the Cumberland County Historical Society (PA-CH1-030b).

These are the female students with Sarah Mather (at left) and Interpreter Tackett (at right). (Note there are 25 students here, but only 24 female students listed as arriving. The caption information lists Pollock Spotted Tail—a male student—as being in this picture. Not sure why, but apparently he is.) Again, the building in the background is one of the ones of the grounds that the students would have stayed in. This is Cumberland County Historical Society image PA-CH-012a.

Again, sorry for the non-professionalism of the recording of this episode, but substance matters more than style, I hope. Listening to it again, sounds like I stumbled when giving my own email address, but it’s info@katetheimer.com. Constructive feedback welcomed. Thanks for checking in and I’m really looking forward to doing this. So much information to discuss!

Here’s the intro episode

Here’s my little 5 minute or so intro. It needs to be louder, doesn’t it? I’ve got to work on getting that right.

Listen to the intro episode