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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October 1, 1880
The service record card for Marianna Burgess's employment with the Office of Indian Affairs. The card indicates that she began working as a teacher at the Pawnee Agency in 1873 then left to become a teacher at Carlisle in 1880. She continued to…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Legal and Government Documents
View Document: Marianna Burgess Service Record Card1.61 MB
October 2, 1880
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt asking for information about the former prisoners at Ft. Marion, and for more general information about Carlisle's students and operations.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Requests Information on Ft. Marion Prisoners from Pratt694.57 KB
October 2, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests 50 blank Bills of Lading and 50 blank Invoice forms.
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Requisition for Stationary, October 1880136.32 KB
October 8, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests authority to travel to the Sisseton, Green Bay, and La Pointe agencies in order to recruit 25 new students. As he would like more than half to be girls, he also requests to bring a female assistant on the trip.
…Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Recruit Students from the Sisseton, Green Bay, and La Pointe Agencies142.62 KB
October 9, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests funds to recruit students from the Sisseton, Green Bay, and La Pointe agencies and to install steam heating in the buildings at the school.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Funds for Recruiting and to Install Steam Heat at the School142.28 KB
October 9, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests to spend $250 on "fitting up and furnishing" five teachers' rooms.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which were filmed from the original documents found in Record…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Funds to Fit up and Furnish Teachers' Rooms138.43 KB
October 9, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests to spend $150 to redo the wash on the exterior brick walls of buildings. Pratt notes that they have just finished painting all the buildings' tin roofs and are now painting the wooden exterior walls, so he desires to…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Building Repairs and Expansions
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Redo the Wash on Exterior Brick Walls of Buildings139.56 KB
October 11, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests authority to purchase two tailor's heavy Singer sewing machines amounting to $70 for the school's tailor shop.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which were filmed…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Purchase two Sewing Machines for the Tailor Shop127.26 KB
October 13, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt describes the benefits of photography in assuaging parents' fears of sending and keeping their children at the Carlisle Indian School and believes that it would be similarly beneficial to send photographs to Indian agents,…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Benefits of Sending Photographs to Families and Indian Agents128.75 KB
October 13, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt transmits his Report of Irregular Employees for September 1880.
Note: The report itself was missing from the microfilm reels at the National Archives.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: School Employees - General
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Report of Irregular Employees, September 1880124.27 KB
October 14, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt informs the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that he will be absent from the school from October 14 to November 6, 1880 to recruit students from the Sisseton, Green Bay, and La Pointe agencies. While absent, Alfred John Standing…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Pratt to be Absent From the School for Recruiting137.87 KB
October 14, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests authorization to spend $40 to allow all the Carlisle Indian School's staff, teachers, and students to visit Cooper and Bailey's Menagerie "collection of animals" in Carlisle. Pratt believes the event will help educate…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Field Trips
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Attend Natural History Event141.33 KB
October 17, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt asks if he has authority to bring a female assistant on his trip to recruit new students and requests a book of sub-voucher blanks.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Employee Travel - Recruitment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Recruit Students with a Female Assistant93.01 KB
October 20, 1880
Sheldon Jackson informs the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that he's glad that the Carlisle Indian School accepted 10 more Pueblos, one Pima, and one student from the Mescalero Agency. Because the school cannot secure 50 Utes this season, Jackson…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
View Document: Process of Securing Southwestern Indian Students for the Carlisle Indian School315.01 KB
October 22, 1880
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt about plans to visit Carlisle, as well as Dickinson College, where Armstrong's father Richard had attended.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Topics: Visits by Notable People
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Plans a Visit to Carlisle and Dickinson College with Pratt664.71 KB
October 22, 1880
Superintendent of Warehouse Frank D. Karr informs the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the Acting Superintendent of Carlisle Indian School requested him to arrange the transportation of the school's goods to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency in…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Issues with Transporting Goods to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency239.28 KB
October 28, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests transportation for himself, an assistant, and 25 students from Milwaukee to Carlisle.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234), which were filmed from the original documents…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Student Travel to Enroll
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Transportation for Pratt, Assistant, and 25 New Students to Carlisle97.42 KB
November 8, 1880
A. W. Crain writes to Richard Henry Pratt on behalf of several Creek parents about the possibility of sending their children to the Carlisle Indian School. Crain adds that certain Seminoles would be interested as well. Pratt forwards Crain's…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Creek Parents' Desire to Send Children to be Carlisle Students202.4 KB
November 8, 1880 - January 14, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a letter from the U. S. Indian Agent at the Green Bay Agency, E. Stephens. Stephens writes Pratt requesting to enroll forty students from his agency from three tribes: the Menominee, Oneida, and Stockbridge. Stephens…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Enroll 40 Children from the Green Bay Agency681.61 KB
November 9, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt submits a corrected weekly statement of funds.
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, "Letters…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Financial Affairs - Management
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Corrected Weekly Statement of Funds127.95 KB
November 9, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt provides a report on his trip to Wisconsin and Dakota to recruit new students. Pratt notes that he first went to the Green Bay Agency and secured five students, but the enthusiasm among the parents was so strong that he could…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Full Report on Pratt's Trip to Recruit Students from Sisseton, Green Bay, and La Pointe Agencies293.97 KB
November 13, 1880
Samuel Chapman Armstrong writes to Richard Henry Pratt informing him of his departure and expected arrival date for a visit to Carlisle.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Topics: Visits by Notable People
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Informs Pratt of Expected Arrival Date291.37 KB
November 13, 1880
Samuel C. Armstrong informs Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs E. M. Marble that Richard Henry Pratt is likely not bringing any new students to fill the quota of 68 Indian students at Hampton Institute. Armstrong continues to say that…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Desire to Fill Quota for Indian Students at Hampton Institute218.58 KB
November 14, 1880
John D. Miles, Agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, tells Richard Henry Pratt that his agency gave students cattle to take care of over vacation. As students did not know about the money and effort involved in caring for the animals, Miles…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Enrolling Cheyenne and Arapaho Students384.27 KB
November 15, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt asks the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to approve his Changes in School Employees and Report of Irregular Employee forms for September 1880 so that he can complete his third quarter accounts.
Note: This item was copied…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Financial Affairs - Management
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Approval of Two Forms to Complete Quarterly Accounts133.35 KB