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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December 24, 1880
Sheldon Jackson encloses the plan for the Pueblo Industrial Indian Boarding School in Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Office of Indian Affairs. Jackson also states that he is having difficulty recruiting students for the Carlisle Indian School and…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
View Document: Sheldon Jackson Provides Update on Recruitment of Students563.5 KB
December 27, 1880
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt requesting his involvement in lobbying for higher per capita funding for Indian students, and discusses recruitment for other schools.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Requests Pratt's Involvement in Per Capita Lobbying724.52 KB
December 27, 1880 - January 1, 1881
U. S. Indian Agent, George W. Lee, of the Mackinac Agency forwards a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs from John Ka dah qe go na to Richard Henry Pratt requesting a spot at the Carlisle Indian School for his daughter Jane. Lee further…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request from John Ka dah qe go na by to Enroll Daughter729.68 KB
December 27, 1880
The parents of Ernest White Thunder and Maud Swift Bear request that their bodies be returned to them in order to have them buried near their homes. They note that while Richard Henry Pratt sent them frequent letters they were not aware that…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Student Deaths
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Return Ernest White Thunder and Maud Swift Bear for Burial2.81 MB
December 29, 1880
Richard Henry Pratt requests five crusts of vaccine virus for new students and for students who received the vaccine a year ago but for whom it did not work.
Note: This item was copied from U.S. National Archives microfilm reels (M234),…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request for Five Crusts of Vaccine Virus128.13 KB
December 31, 1880
Osage Agency Indian Agent L. J. Miles reports that the Osage School has over fifty girls in attendance and he has secured promises that at least ten pupils would be willing to attend Carlisle. Miles reports that he hopes there is room for them…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Osage Agency Enrolling Students at Carlisle565.3 KB
January 1, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt reports that the visit of Ponca Chiefs Harry Bear, Standing Eagle, and White Buffalo went well. He also notes that Chief Harry Bear asked that his son be returned home due to his falling ill multiple times at Carlisle. Pratt…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Return Home of High Bear Jr.474.76 KB
January 11, 1881
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt discussing political lobbying issues with the Board of Indian Commissioners, likely over per capita funding concerns. Armstrong notes a planned lobbying trip to…
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Discusses Board of Indian Commissioners Lobbying with Pratt565.11 KB
January 11, 1881
U. S. Indian Agent for the Moqui Pueblo Indian Agency, John H. Sullivan, writes to inform the Indian Affairs Commissioner that he has not procured students for Carlisle or Hampton originally because he believed Rev. Sheldon Jackson lacked…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Enrollment of Moqui Pueblo Indians469.72 KB
January 11, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt submits plans and specifications for building a new hospital on the grounds of the Carlisle Indian School. Pratt notes that he has received multiple estimates for the cost of the building as well as supplies and believes that…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
View Document: Submission of Plans to Build Hospital at the Carlisle School2.45 MB
January 17, 1881
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt informing him of a planned trip for Bear's Heart to return home for a month.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Discusses Trip for Bear's Heart with Pratt317.41 KB
January 17, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt references several letters from V. H. Cornman, and observes that based on them it would seem to be easy to recruiting Osage pupils for the Carlisle Indian School.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Pratt References Letter Regarding Osage Children92.8 KB
January 19, 1881
E. Ballon writes to the E. M. Marble, the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs that he was informed of the decision to enroll Arapaho students at Carlisle. He notes that Black Coal was excited at this response and immediately went to gather…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Arapaho Children to be Sent to Carlisle479.89 KB
January 19-20, 1881
These materials include a cover letter and a Descriptive Statement of Pupils regarding 25 children transferred to the Carlisle Indian School from the Tullahassee Mission in Muscogee Indian Territory.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence, Reports
View Document: Descriptive Statement of Pupils from Tullahassee Mission, 1881636.9 KB
January 20, 1881
Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Hampton Institute writes to Richard Henry Pratt discussing the party of Rev. Sheldon Jackson, as well as management concerns with their schools.
Repository: Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Topics: Recruitment of Students
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Armstrong Informs Pratt of Rev. Jackson's Party514.82 KB
January 20-25, 1881
Carlisle Indian School physician, C. H. Hepburn, reports on the death of Dennis Strikes First due to typhoid pneumonia on January 19, 1881.
Note: In this record the student is identified as Denis.
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Student Illness, Student Deaths
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Report on the Death of Dennis (Strikes First)580.67 KB
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 Students270.99 KB
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Proposal to Send Industrial Articles to Rosebud and Pine Ridge Agencies554.16 KB
January 25, 1881 - January 29, 1881
Richard Henry Pratt forwards a letter from George W. Lee, the Indian Agent at the Mackinac Agency, asking if it is possible to enroll some Chippewa students at Carlisle. If so, he would also like to know the terms and conditions of admission.…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Request for Enrollment
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Admit Chippewa Students at Carlisle511.9 KB
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 previous illness and comments on the age of the…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Report of Medical Examination of Newly-Arrived Creek Students686.97 KB
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Objection to Present Composition of Arriving Students2.41 MB
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics: Enrollment Preferences
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Request to Recruit an Equal Number of Girls273.17 KB
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Topics:
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Agent Response to Enrolling Sac and Fox Student at Carlisle299.87 KB
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…
Repository: National Archives and Records Administration
Format: Letters/Correspondence
View Document: Permission to Return Two Sioux Students Home457.91 KB
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 Carlisle709.67 KB