Carlisle Indian School Policy Changes

An excerpt from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ending 1891, containing the Twelfth Annual Report of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The report, submitted by Superintendent Richard Henry Pratt, includes a table of the school's population, as well as discussions…

Richard Henry Pratt inquires if an Office of Indian Affairs letter is meant to deny the Carlisle Indian School its yearly vacation during the Summer.

Richard Henry Pratt responds to an Office of Indian Affairs letter concerning Ralph Eagle Feather. Pratt provides the history of Eagle Feather and notes that he would be quite willing to find Eagle Feather farm employment but that if he is willing to leave the reservation he would be able to find work as a carpenter in the West.

Richard Henry Pratt writes to Thomas J. Morgan informing him that he is placing the rules and regulations for enforcing compulsory attendance in the Red Man. In addition, Pratt writes of the letter of George Means that he is forwarding officially under separate cover the article published by Mr. Harries in the Washington Evening Star.…

W. S. Olive, Special U.S. Indian Agent, submits proposed rules for overseeing the individual student financial accounts at the Carlisle Indian Schools.

These materials include correspondence regarding the re-enrollment of Philomena Badger. Badger's re-enrollment was the cause of clarification on the enrollment policy of pupils over the age of 18. Philomena re-enrolled at Carlisle when she was 18 years old, against the wishes of her guardian; the Commissioner of Indian Affairs decided that…

These materials include correspondence regarding the return of a student from the Old Town Indian Reservation in Maine. Carlisle's superintendent initially denied the request, before the Office of Indian Affairs determined that the school should not focus on educating students who were not under the care of the Office.

These materials include financial documents and correspondence concerning the handling of student's accounts at Carlisle. The document also contains lists of the balances due to students enrolled as of January 31, 1908. 

These materials include correspondence regarding the death of Claudia Marie. Additional correspondence is included regarding the discharge of students before their term of enrollment expired without the approval of the Office of Indian Affairs.

These materials include correspondence from the cashier at the Merchants National Bank in Carlisle, Pennsylvania concerning the receiving and recording of individual deposits of pupils money. 

These materials include a letter from Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert Valentine to Carlisle's Superintendent, Moses Friedman, proposing a change to how employment appointments are made for the Carlisle Indian School. Valentine suggested bringing Carlisle's appointment policies in line with the rest of Bureau, placing that…

These materials include correspondence regarding a request to return home Spencer Williams and Carl Sylvester. Also included is correspondence discussing the school's acceptance of overage pupils, and whether or not to charge tuition in a similar manner to the Hampton Institute.

These materials include correspondence and a draft of Superintendent Friedman's 30th Annual Report for the Carlisle Indian School, reflecting the period ending July 31, 1909. Friedman forwarded the draft to a Bureau official, along with information on how to have news published in Carlisle's student newspaper. The annual report includes…

These materials include a letter from Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs F. H. Abbott to Carlisle Superintendent Moses Friedman, suggesting that future applications from overaged individuals be forwarded to the Bureau for expedited consideration.

This material includes correspondence concerning a November 1910 inspection of Carlisle by James McLaughlin. This includes information concerning the guard house, a list of runaway students, and an investigation into the administrative affairs at the school. 

These materials include correspondence and reports on the record keeping system for student files at the Carlisle Indian School. Supervisor of Indian Schools Charles F. Pierce was critical of the decentralized nature of the student file records. Pierce recommended that Nellie Robertson Denny, a clerk at the school, be put in…

These materials include correspondence and reports from Supervisor of Indian Schools, Charles F. Peirce, listing 69 pupils as ineligible for enrollment at the Carlisle Indian School. Peirce recommended they be dismissed from the school as a result. Additional correspondence regards the circumstances of various students named in the report.…

These materials include correspondence regarding an inquiry into the exclusion of Charles Geck from the Carlisle Indian School. Geck was released from the school as a result that he had access to public schools near his home in Oklahoma.

These materials include correspondence and pamphlets related to circular orders and regulations in force at the Carlisle Indian School under Superintendent Moses Friedman. Friedman forwarded the documents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for approval. The forwarded documents include a blank Pupil's Health Report, the Outline of Course for…

This document contains correspondence concerning the retention of students with tuberculosis at boarding schools including Carlisle. Indian Service officials including Joseph Murphy, Medical Supervisor and Ferdinand Shoemaker, Physicial Expert in Tuberculosis and Trachoma for the Indian Service make policy suggestions.

These materials include correspondence regarding students' heritage. Specifically, officials sought information on students' blood quantum, as changing policy barred the enrollment of students considered to have less than one-fourth degree Indian blood. Also included are total enrollment statistics for the beginning of 1912.

These materials include correspondence regarding the enrollment status of students impacted by changing school admissions policies. The list includes students whose homes were within close proximity to public schools, who were over the age of 24, and those making slow academic progress. 

These materials include correspondence regarding a question from Hattie Martin, of Haverford, Pennsylvania, on whether Indian students with black heritage were excluded from enrolling in the Carlisle Indian School. School and federal officials debated on how to respond. Carlisle Superintendent Moses Friedman argued that those students often…

Supervisor of Indian Funds Benton informs Commissioner of Indian Affairs F. H. Abbott that $35,000 of Carlisle Indian School students' money is held in the Farmers Trust Company in Carlisle, and the school handles all business and all record-keeping of this money. Benton recommends that the students should have to keep an account book and…

These materials include correspondence concerning the funds of a group of students, and how large checks for individual pupils should be deposited and controlled by the Superintendent. This includes students from the Pawnee and Winnebago Nations.