Documents
The Documents section features digitized copies of documents relating to the history of the school. These documents include correspondence, graduation pamphlets, and other forms of ephemera, and have been digitized by Digital Resource Center staff. Today, these documents are preserved in a number of locations, including the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections as well as private collections.
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Date: January 21, 1881
Captain Pratt writes to inform the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that he has just received notice that 25 Creek students are arriving at the Carlisle Indian School on January 22.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: 
Arrival of 25 Creek Students
Date: January 21, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt notes that when he spoke to American Horse and other Sioux Chiefs in 1880 as they returned home they were promised a light wagon produced at Carlisle. According to Pratt sending the wagons along with some tinware would be a good method to show the work being done by the students of the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Agency as well as counter any ill feelings resulting from the deaths of Maud Swift Bear, Ernest White Thunder, and Dennis Strikes First.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Industrial Training
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Date: January 25, 1881 - January 29, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a letter from George W. Lee, the Indian Agent at the Mackinac Agency requesting to send Chippewa students to Carlisle if there is room and what would the terms and conditions be of admission. Pratt notes that the Chippewa are one of the few Nations east of the Rocky Mountains that are not represented at Carlisle.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Admit Chippewa Students at Carlisle
Date: January 26, 1881 - January 27, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a report on the health of the newly arrived Creek students from the school physician C. H. Hepburn. Hepburn indicates four students who have been physically affected by illness and comments on the age of the children as compared to the age they provided. Pratt recommends sending one student home based on Hepburn's diagnosis.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Health and Medicine, Student Arrival
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Examination of Newly Arrived Creek Students
Date: January 28, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt requests from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that both L. J. Miles and E. Ballon should bring as many girls as boys to Carlisle otherwise they should not come. He notes that there are at present proportionately too many male students at Carlisle.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Student Recruitment, Gender Roles
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Recruit an Equal Number of Girls
Date: January 28, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt objects to the gender imbalance among two incoming student groups from L. J. Miles and from the Northern Arapaho. He notes that the work details of the school are divided among the sexes and depends on an equal number of girls and boys to be fair. The current makeup of the incoming students would further imbalance the schools gender ratio. Pratt ends by noting the entire educational system depends on educating both genders as he has received letters from returned students who have difficulties maintaining their education when their spouse was not schooled.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Student Recruitment, Gender Roles
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Objection to Present Composition of Arriving Students
Date: January 29, 1881
George L. Davenport, the Indian Agent at the Sac and Fox Agency in Tama, Iowa, notes that ex-Agent Trask's recommendation to enroll Jim Poweshiek at Carlisle is inadvisable. Davenport notes that Jim is 26 years old with a wife and child and can write in English and has no intention of going away to school. He further states that he would like to see Sac and Fox students at Carlisle but knows of none at the moment who would be admissible.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Agent Response to Enrolling Sac and Fox Student at Carlisle
Date: January 29, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt recommends returning two students from the Sioux Nation. The first is Lawrence due to ill health and the second is Philip Good Voice due to a request from his father and his current home sickness which may lead to poor health in the future.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Permission to Return Two Sioux Students Home
Date: January 31, 1881
L. J. Miles, the Indian Agent at the Osage Agency, requests that if convenient when he accompanies Cheyenne children to Carlisle that the leave from Arkansas City and go through Chicago.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Transportation of Cheyenne Students to Carlisle
Date: February 4, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a the lease and contract for the Parker Farm. The lease and contract stipulate how the Government will farm under the lease.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds
View Document: Parker Farm Lease
Date: February 9, 1881 - February 16, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a copy of a letter from Archibald Young - writing from Toronto, Canada - who is seeking information on the Carlisle Indian School as he is thinking of instituting a school on a similar basis. Pratt asks the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to send the last Annual Report and he will write further on the subject.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Information on Carlisle from Toronto
Date: February 9, 1881 - February 17, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a report from the Carlisle School physician C. H. Hepburn on the health of students recently arrived from the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Pueblo Nations to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Health and Medicine, Student Arrival
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Physicians Report on Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Pueblo Students
Date: February 10, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt requests the authority to hire an office clerk at forty dollars a month. This is in addition to a request to hire a teacher at forty-five dollars a month due to the arrival of sixteen Cheyenne and Arapaho students who attend school at night after their days are spent working in their trades.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Staff Employment, Education
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Hire a Clerk and Teacher
Date: February 10, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt notes that the Carlisle Herald and Valley Sentinel of Carlisle have the two largest circulations of the local papers and would be the best to advertise for material costs. He provides estimates for lumber; masonry excavation of plastering; hardware; roofing tin and spouting; painting; and a water closet, waste pipe, and outside sink.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Supplies and Materials
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Advertising in Local Papers for Supplies
Date: February 11, 1881
Envelope wrap detailing three miscellaneous receipts from Richard H. Pratt.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Financial Documents
View Document: Treasury Department Wrap for Three Miscellaneous Receipts
Date: February 12, 1881
U.S. Indian Agent for the La Pointe Agency, S. E. Mahan, writes that both Joseph Martin and Moses White are healthy and would meet the requirements for admission to the Carlisle School.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Enroll Joseph Martin and Moses White
Date: February 15, 1881 - March 2, 1881
W. J. Cleveland writes to Richard Henry Pratt seeking clarification on the government's policy in regards to sending children home prior to their term of enrollment ending. Cleveland writes that since Spotted Tail was given permission to pay the expenses in returning his children home others have inquired if they are also able to do so. Pratt writes to the Commissioner that it would be wise to give some final reply in order to resolve the issue.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Permission to Return Home
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Clarification Sought on Sending Children Home Early
Date: February 15, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt notes that their is an immediate need to return home Lawrence due to a decline in his health. If their proposed escort can not leave soon then Pratt advises having a conductor accompany Lawrence and Philip Good Voice. However, he needs authority to pay the expense.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Immediate Need to Send Home Lawrence
Date: February 17, 1881
E. Ballan writes to add additional students to the party to be sent to Carlisle. He writes that an interpreter would like to send his son along with another from the Shoshone Nation and had previously received permission from the Indian Agent. In addition, one father will only send his daughter if her brother accompanies her to Carlisle.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Ballan Seeks to Increase Number of Students Sent to Carlisle
Date: February 19, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt seeks to increase the clothing budget of the Carlisle School by $500 due to additional students arriving in the current quarter.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Increase Clothing Budget
Date: February 19, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt seeks additional funding to purchase food to meet the requirements outlined by the school surgeon for ill children including butter, milk, and eggs.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Health and Medicine
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Date: February 19, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt seeks an additional $300 for returning students to their homes in Indian Territory. He notes that fulfilling the obligations already authorized by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs would exhaust his current funding.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Date: February 19, 1881
Estimate of funds for the first quarter of 1881 amounting to $3,397.37 for areas covering supplies, the farm, shops, clothing, funding expenses, and contingencies.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Estimate of Funds, Supplies and Materials
View Document: Estimate of Funds, First Quarter 1881
Date: February 24, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt suggests that the Indian Office arrange transportation for Lawrence and Philip Good Voice to return home under the care of Dr. Faulkner. He notes that he has not been provided orders Sioux City and Pacific Rail Road which is subsidized.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Permission to Return Home
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Date: February 25, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt seeks authority to send Dora home to the Rosebud Agency with Dr. Faulkner.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Permission to Return Home
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Pratt Requests Authority to Send Dora Brave Bull Home