The Images section features photographs, postcards, and different types of artwork, as well as reproductions of images that appeared in newspapers, magazines, and other publications. These images all reflect the Carlisle Indian School students, facilities, and staff. Images available here are drawn from files housed at the U. S. National Archives, from collections of Carlisle Indian School materials housed at various archival repositories, and from a variety of published sources. Visitors to this website are also invited to share copies of photographs from their own personal and family collections; please contact us if you have images you would like to contribute.
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Studio portrait of Sheldon Jackson (left), Harvey Townsend (center), and John Shields (right), all wearing school uniforms.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Studio portrait of Frank Everett.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
View of the band stand on the school grounds.
Format: Glass Plate Negative, Stereograph
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of Sheldon Jackson (left), Harvey Townsend (center), and John Shields (right), all wearing school uniforms.
Note: The Cumberland County Historical Society has two copies of this image: PA-CH1-031b and 12-26-02.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
View of the Boys' Quarters with students in uniforms posed on the porches and in the yard in front of the building.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of Jennie Waupoose (seated at left), Elizabeth Dixon (standing at rear), and Alice Neopet (seated at right), with teacher Sarah Mather (seated in center). Each girl is holding a doll.
Note: The Cumberland County Historical Society has three copies of this image: CS-CH-063.1-.2 and PA-CH1-041b.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Male students posed in front of the building used as the Boys' Quarters, later known as the Large Boys' Quarters.
This image was taken before the third floor was added.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of Lamotte Primaux wearing school uniform.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
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.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of student White Buffalo in native dress wearing a feathered headdress.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
View of the Superintendent's Quarters with people, including probably Richard Henry Pratt, in front of the house and on the balconies.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Studio portrait of White Buffalo wearing native clothing including feathered headdress and holding a bow and arrow.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Portrait of eighteen male students in school uniforms, lined up on the school grounds in front of the girls' dormitory. There is a small child in a sleigh on the ground near them although there is no snow on the ground.
Format: Glass Plate Negative, Stereograph
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of five male and four female students. The caption for the Cumberland County Historical Society copy of this image identifies them as from the Arapaho nation and that they arrived in February 1881.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
View of students on school grounds with superintendent's quarters on the left and the girls' quarters on the right.
Format: Glass Plate Negative, Stereograph
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of Frank Engler.
Note: The Historical Society has two copies of this image, 13-29-04 and PA-CH1-063d.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
View of the hospital building with staff and students posed on the porches.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Studio portrait of six male students, all wearing school uniforms. The caption identifies them as being from the Osage tribe.
Cumberland County Historical Society Staff have identified Fred Lookout as the student in the front row, far right, based on comparison with other photos.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Studio portrait of Henry P. Taawayite.
Studio portrait of Dessie Prescott (seated far left), Jennie Lawrence (seated front left), Nellie Robertson (standing back right), and Katie La Croix (seated far right) with teacher Sarah Mather (seated in center). The students are all wearing school uniforms and holding dolls.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
View of the dining room decorated for Christmas with female student workers posed near the tables.
The caption identifies it as "Christmas Dinner, Indian School, Carlisle, Pa."
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Studio portrait of Jennie Waupoose (seated at left), Elizabeth Dixon (seated at rear), and Alice Neopet (seated at right) with teacher Sarah Mather (seated in center). Each girl is holding a doll.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Portrait of twelve male students, all wearing uniforms and holding instruments, in front of the bandstand on the school grounds. In the glass plate negative version of this image [version 1] a white woman, also holding an instrument, can be seen at the far right. In the print versions of this image she is almost entirely cropped out, with only a bit of her black skirt visible.
This is the school band and the woman is almost definitely Mrs. Walter E. Baker who provided the funds to buy the instruments for the band. The school newspaper reported that she visited the school on November 11, 1881 and the the "boys with the horns" played for her.
This copy of the image from the American Philosophical Society has handwritten captions identifying some of the students. They are, from left to right: Howard, unknown, Conrad, Amos, Elwood, D. Tucker, T. Carlyle, Joshua, Reuben, and Luther. The two students at the far right are unidentified.
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Repository: American Philosophical Society
Studio portrait of Elmer wearing school uniform.
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society