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!