Enrollment Policies

Richard Henry Pratt writes to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs regarding a desire by the Secretary of the Interior to increase enrollment at Carlisle. Pratt suggests that a number of new rules be adopted regarding students' ages, gender ratio, and health. Pratt also suggests that the children of chiefs and headmen be preferred, to ensure good…

Richard Henry Pratt asks E. J. Brooks to send him instructions for adding additional pupils to the Carlisle Indian School. He references Sheldon Jackson's mission to recruit Navajo and Pueblo students. Finally, he believes that Spotted Tail's decision to return his family members will work to the school's advantage and that Spotted Tail will…

Richard Henry Pratt notes that with the upcoming return of 86 students to their homes the school will be able to accommodate 175 new students in the fall. Pratt notes that there are already 20 students from the Osage Nation and 25 from the Omaha Nation. He believes that many the remaining students could be brought in from the Sioux Nation or…

Richard Henry Pratt details the number of students he is able to accept from various Indian Agencies including the Rosebud, Pine Ridge, Kiowa and Comanche, Pawnee and Ponca, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Pratt provides instructions as to the preferred age and gender composition of the students and notes that he has already arranged for…

Richard Henry Pratt replies to Office of Indian Affairs circular number 21 in regards to securing pupils for the large circular industrial schools. Pratt provides his opinion on the eligibility of students for enrollment at Indian Training Schools as well as the view that the transfer should be done considered a reward for the most capable…

Richard Henry Pratt responds to a telegram from Thomas J. Morgan regarding his request that Carlisle take 75 Seneca students. Pratt notes that with the present enrollment plus those he has already accepted would put his enrollment at 782 with others to come. In addition, Carlisle will already have 79 students from New York which is more than he…

F. Glenn Mattoon forwards a letter from Richard Henry Pratt requesting his assistance in having Ella Rickert obtaining students from the Fort Berthold Agency. Mattoon requests that the Agency be allowed to retain all of its students.

Richard Henry Pratt responds to an Office of Indian Affairs letter requesting information on the enrollment of Benjamin Green and that there are no members of the Five Civilized Tribes enrolled at the Carlisle Indian School.

Alfred John Standing provides Antonio Apache authorization to recruit students for the Carlisle Indian School at the Fort Apache and San Carlos Agencies. Standing provides information on how to select students as well as how to provide the correct government forms.

Richard Henry Pratt forwards correspondence related to the Dagg children enrolling at the Carlisle Indian School to the Office of Indian Schools. It is desirable to send the children to a school at a distance, but Pratt would rather not accept them because two of the four are quite young. 

Richard Henry Pratt requests authority to retain Daniel Eagle as a student even though he is 24 years old and so above the age limit. Pratt shares that Eagle wishes to forward his education and attend the local commercial college when he is qualified for it. 

Richard Henry Pratt proposes the Office of Indian Affairs send out instructions banning the enrollment of students who have runaway from another non-reservation school. He particularly notes a previous case related to the Haskell Institute.

Edgar A. Allen responds to an Office of Indian Affairs circular by answering various questions. In particular he focuses on the industrial training of the school, the outing system, and provides details on the transportation costs incurred in bringing students to Carlisle.

Richard Henry Pratt requests to delay implementing the order to return students with one eighth or less Indian blood until July due to limited finances and to allow three students to finish their course of enrollment.

New York Representative De Alva S. Alexander requests a copy of the regulations governing admission of pupils to the Carlisle Indian School.

Correspondence regarding requests to return Carlisle Indian School students from the Standing Rock Agency. The requests focused on a promise that the term of enrollment for Carlisle was three years rather than five years.

Correspondence regarding William A. Mercer's request for clarification on obtaining agent certificates for enrolling students from New York.

These materials include correspondence regarding the return home of Richmond Martin to New York. The documents also discuss in detail new Bureau of Indian Affairs policies related to the discontinued enrollment of pupils from New York State as well as pupils of a young age.

These materials include correspondence regarding a request from Sara Avery McIlhenny to allow the Carlisle Indian School to continue its previous policy of recruiting Chitimacha students from around Charenton, Louisiana. Previously, agents from Carlisle recruited these students, but new enrollment policies ended the practice. McIlhenny's…

Superintendent Moses Friedman requests official maps and literature regarding Indian reservation boundaries since Education Circular No. 217 requires the school to determine if incoming students live on reservations. Office of Indian Affairs Chief Clerk F. M. Conser informs Friedman that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs' Annual Report of 1907…

These materials include correspondence regarding mistakes on the attendance report. The report indicated certain students were over the age of enrollment and the Office of Indian Affairs sought clarification on their enrollment.

Carlisle Indian School Superintendent Moses Friedman requests to abolish an assistant disciplinarian and a teacher position because both of these positions are no longer necessary after the new rule that students must be at least fourteen years old. Assistant Disciplinarian Louis Felix is in the small boys quarters and Teacher Ella Petoskey is…

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…

Francis E. Smith asks the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for special permission to attend the Carlisle Indian School for an education, as Superintendent Moses Friedman told him he needed this special permission because he is older than the school's age limit. Education Division Chief J. H. Dortch tells Smith to consult with Cherokee Indian…

Acting Supervisor Elsie E. Newton from Muskogee, Oklahoma asks Carlisle Indian School Superintendent Moses Friedman if "two Cherokee boys" from the "unrestricted class of Indians" could attend his school and how much it would cost. Friedman sends two applications to Newton and informs her that board and tuition costs $167 and that the potential…