Chapel

An excerpt from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of Indian Affairs for the fiscal year ending 1880, containing the first annual report of the Carlisle Indian School. The report discusses the school's opening, recruitment of students, educational and industrial curricula, and overall health. Also included…

View of the Chapel being built in December of 1879. 

View of the school grounds showing the chapel and the superintendent's quarters on the right and the teachers' quarters on the left. 

View of the Superintendent's Quarters with the chapel visible beside it. Richard Henry Pratt, his wife, and an infant are posed in front of the house with a Native American man. There are two young girls on the front porch and two people on the second floor balcony. 

View of the Superintendent's Quarters with the chapel visible beside it. Richard Henry Pratt, his wife, and an infant are posed in front of the house with a Native American man. There are two young girls on the front porch and two people on the second floor balcony. 

View of the school grounds looking east/northeast, probably taken from the porch of the School Building. On the left is the Teachers' Quarters, with a fence apparently around the area behind the quarters. On the right is the Chapel. The Large Boys' Quarters is visible in the center in the distance. 

View of the chapel with added bell tower over front door but before the additons were put on the sides. 

Interior of the school chapel. The ivy decorations may indicate this photograph was taken around the holidays. 

View of the chapel with added bell tower over front door but before additions were put on the sides. Three male students, one in uniform, are posed in front of the building. 

View of the chapel after additions were made to both sides of the building. Four students, one female, are posed near the front door. 

Carlisle School grounds with a view of the Chapel.

The handwritten note reads: CHOATE

The reverse side reads: Old Guard House    Capt. R. H. Pratt Supt.    Old Chapel.     Supt. Quarters.      Ass't Supt. Quarters     Small Boys' Quarters.  …

A composite of 16 photographs of the school. The captions read: Small Boys’ Quarters, Ass’t. Supt’s. Quarters, Superintendent’s Quarters, Chapel, Guard House, Hospital, Disciplinarian’s Quarters, Band Stand, After School, School Building, Large Boys’ Quarters, Christmas Dinner, School Room, Office & Teachers’ Quarters, Gymnasium,…

Richard H. Pratt provides updates on the progress he's made since Sunday. Most notably, Pratt has organized the male students into companies, and they now occupy eight rooms instead of five, the bedding has arrived, and they've started building the foundation for the chapel and assembly room.

Note: This item was copied from U.S. National…

Samuel Wetzel, Superintendent of Building and Repairs, prepares a blueprint and estimate of cost, amounting to $1,165.94, for the chapel and assembly room. Richard H. Pratt forwards both documents to Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. A. Hayt and includes an explanatory cover letter.

Richard Henry Pratt informs the Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. A. Hayt that he has found a method of siding frame buildings with lumber designed exclusively for that purpose and asks him if he can use this new lumber to build the chapel and assembly room.

Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234),…

Richard Henry Pratt provides Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. A. Hayt with a variety of updates about the Carlisle Indian School: everyone is in good health, he will send Hayt a uniform sample in a few days, his corps of assistants is almost complete, he's found a clerk, he'd like to keep a former Carlisle Barracks employee on the staff for…

Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz approves plans and an estimate for constructing a building that will function as a chapel and assembly room at the Carlisle Indian School. Schurz grants authority to spend $1,165.94 on the project. 

Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which were filmed…

Richard Henry Pratt asks Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. A. Hayt requests that funds be transferred to his account in New York to pay for the chapel, which is almost finished.

Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which were filmed from the original documents found in Record Group 75, Entry 79…

Richard Henry Pratt informs Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. A. Hayt that the construction of the chapel and assembly room is completed and will be where the school holds its Christmas celebration. Pratt accepts the building as a gift from the Department of the Interior and invites Hayt to join them for the holiday.

Note: This item was…

Richard Henry Pratt writes two letters to officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, inquiring why needed funds for the construction of the chapel have not been provided. In the first letter, to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Ezra Hayt, Pratt notes that he has borrowed money to fill the financial gap. In the second letter, to Edwin J. Brooks,…

Notice that the commencement exercises for the 1891 graduating class will be postponed until June due to an outbreak of measles on the campus. Richard Henry Pratt predicates that with the 16 cases among students and six cases among children of employees that it will take six months to overcome and likely afflict hundreds of students. As a…

William A. Mercer requests authority to build an addition to the Carlisle Indian School Chapel and provides details on the procurement of supplies and cost of labor.