The Pierre Indian School, which opened in 1891, was a federal boarding school located on the outskirts of South Dakota’s capital. At the junction of the Lower Brule, Crow Creek, Cheyenne River, and Rosebud Reservations, the school still stands today as the Pierre Indian Learning Center. While today the learning center serves to educate, for almost a century, it was designed to dismantle, destroy, and dilute Native American culture to the point of extinction.  

The perpetuation of Native American mistreatment, trauma, abuse, and cultural genocide stems from the development of the Indian Boarding School System. One of the first of these boarding schools was Pierre. During the school’s 83 years under the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, students were given lashings with open safety pins secured to wet towels, made to hold bricks with open palms until their arms gave out, forced to kneel in the name of God, under threat of his punishment, until their knees bled. The children who attended, some as young as 5 years old, left as shells of their former selves.  

Through hearing from survivors, like one who was brave enough to share his story at Jenna Kunze’s talk, light has been shed on the atrocities committed by the Indian Boarding School System in the United States. The effects of this system can still be seen impacting Native communities today in the form of generational trauma, infrastructural and educational setbacks, and an overall degradation of the prevalence of Indigenous culture and language as a whole. 

Sources 

Regarding Modern Day Pierre Indian Learning Center - 

Pierre Indian Learning Center. (n.d.). About PILC. pilc.k12.sd.us. Retrieved October 29, 2023, from https://pilc.k12.sd.us/pilc/aboutpilc/ 

Pierre Indian Learning Center’s “about us” page is the place to find basic information about what stands where the Pierre Indian School once was. Today, the school is called the Pierre Indian Learning Center, and it is holds classes for indigenous children from 15 different tribes across 3 states. Most of the students who go through the PILC are underprivileged, have limited access to education, are impacted by extenuating circumstances such as learning disabilities or social problems, or speak different languages. The home page briefly references the history of the Pierre Indian School in terms of land grants and how its leadership changed hands but does nothing to come to terms with the school’s dark past. 

Sioux City Journal. (October 16, 1988). For PILC. Newspapers.com. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/sioux-city-journal-for-pilc/82923486/   

This article, discussing the Pierre Indian Learning Center, was published in the Sioux City Journal 14 years after the school was turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affair’s hands. In it, grievances are expressed about the school’s mishandling of complaints. Many staff members at the PILC, according to the author, were fired when their problems were brought up to their superiors, instead of simply having their issues solved. While not immensely valuable historically, this clipping helps to display information about how the mishandling and mismanagement of Indian Boarding Schools is perpetuated across generations, centuries even, despite whatever growth may have occurred overall. 

Lindell, C. (2019, September 24). Presentation explores history of PILC. Capital Journal. Retrieved October 28, 2023, from https://www.capjournal.com/news/presentation-explores-history-of-pilc/article_b9a5b79c-eab7-5d6e-ba7d-b92746b981f2.html (Original work published 2007) 

A local newspaper reports on the history of the PILC, and consequently the Pierre Indian School. The article, which comes from the Capital Journal, is blocked by a paywall, but gives some information as to how the Pierre community recognizes the Pierre Indian School today. 

Regarding Pierre Indian School -  

Hedgpeth, D. (2023, October 25). ‘12 years of hell’: Indian boarding school survivors share their stories. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/08/07/indian-boarding-school-survivors-abuse-trauma/  

This gut-wrenching tale of survival and resilience is a recounting of then-6-year-old Dora Brought Plenty’s journey through the boarding school system. The Washington Post’s Dana Hedgpeth describes how the young orphan was ripped from her hometown classroom and plunged headfirst into the torture of an Indian Boarding School. The 72-year-old survivor can still remember the sight of her braids hitting the floor as they were lopped from her head, the darkness of the basement she was thrown into, half naked, awaiting a fate unknown. For almost 5 years, Brought Plenty endured beatings for speaking her language, arduous challenges for asking simple questions, and relentless degradation for nothing more than who she was. The experience left her crippled mentally, as she turned to self-harm as a coping mechanism. It wasn’t until her senior years that she finally began to find her inner peace. She now expresses her trauma through art, a common method to visualize that which often cannot be said. This source is of incredible importance for a number of reasons, the paramount of which is that it teaches how the wrongdoings of the past are perpetuated today. Dora Brought Plenty’s story, like the stories of thousands of other survivors, exposes the evils of the boarding school system to the world in defiance of the government’s silence. Without the bravery like hers to endure, schools like Pierre could have been successful in the extermination of Native culture altogether. 

Brown, Brock, "Analyzing the History of Native American Education in South Dakota" (2022). Schultz-Werth Award Papers. 35. 
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/schultz-werth/35  

Brock Brown’s detailed exposure of how the effects of Indian Boarding Schools still ripple to this day is jarring. In South Dakota, businesses experience heightened staff-turnover rates, students’ absences are staggering, and locations with reliable internet service are few and far between. These seemingly unprecedented and unrelated setbacks for local communities can actually, according to the author, find their source at the Pierre Indian School, and other South Dakotan boarding schools like it. Because of not just decades, but a century of abuse, mistreatment, and underfunding, Native communities have fallen behind in quality of life, education, infrastructure, and employment. The boarding school system stalled the enrichment of indigenous populations by generations, and the Pierre Indian School played a large role in kickstarting that setback.  

“Indian Education Board Takes Full Control of Indian School”. Wassaja. San Francisco, CA. (August 1975). Page 4. Image Viewer - American Indian Newspapers - Adam Matthew Digital (amdigital.co.uk)  

While not abundantly informative, this brief newspaper article gives some context as to what it was like when the reins of the Pierre Indian School were handed from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Pierre Indian Board of Education in 1975.  The change led to a more inclusive and beneficial education for many of the students who attended the school by offering leadership which could more closely relate to, and better understand the needs of the community as a whole in Pierre. 

“Agricultural Classes at Pierre”. Indian School Journal – About Indians. (May 1915). Pages 477-478. Image Viewer - American Indian Newspapers - Adam Matthew Digital (amdigital.co.uk) 

A detailed schedule of what a few weeks could have looked like for a student at Pierre is provided in this 1915 journal. Laborious and daunting, the schedule reads less like a student’s day than a farmer’s. Week after week, according to the journal, a student would have found themselves learning about anything from plowing fields, to breeding cows, to how to maintain a barn. Far from a typical education, even for the time, because students were taught about agricultural practices instead of more typical school subjects, Native people were intentionally forced into manual labor as a means of living instead of more progressive, comfortable, or high paying jobs. This subjugation of Indigenous people, the feigned equality, continually leaves the Indigenous population of the United States worse-off than had boarding schools like Pierre never been established. 

“How Shall the Indians Be Educated?”. The North American Review. (1894). Page 443. Image Viewer - American Indian Histories and Cultures - Adam Matthew Digital (amdigital.co.uk) 

This snippet from an 1894 book titled “How Shall the Indians Be Educated?” gives some very useful information about what the Pierre Indian School looked like around when it first opened. The statistics about number of students and staff, opening date, average attendance and capacity helps us to visualize what the school was like more accurately. Specific numerical data paints a picture of how the students lived, and what those who founded and ran the school had in mind for said students. Without knowing the anticipated attendance, the intentions of not just Pierre, but all Indian Boarding Schools wouldn’t be laid bare as it can be today. 

“Pierre Indian School Graduates 31”. The Daily Plainsman. Huron, South Dakota.       (May 30, 1940). Page 3. Pierre Indian School - 1930 - Newspapers.com™  

This newspaper article, published in The Daily Plainsman in May of 1930, commemorates the graduates of the Pierre Indian School. This is a necessary resource because it shows how those in power envisioned their attempt at eradicating Native language and culture as a success with each student who went through the school. The newspaper may be celebrating the achievements of the individuals, but when you look deeper, it’s not to praise their hard work or eventual achievements, but that once they graduate, they are, in the school’s eyes, “cleansed” of their nativity.  

Students at Pierre Indian School; 1893; Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/students-at-pierre-indian-school , November 13, 2023] 

This picture is the pinnacle of the phrase “a picture says a thousand words”. The students, arranged like toys in a window, are meant to convey the killing of the Indian to save the man, but do nothing but solidify the anguish that these schools caused. You can see the fear in each of their eyes, made to pose, most likely under threats of abuse. You can see their freshly shaven heads, a reminder of their culture being stripped from them both externally and internally. Another reminder of which is their clothing. Formal and bland, their traditional attire now discarded, the students were forced to wear what made them appear as transformed from indigenous to white.  

Associated Press. (2023, November 6). Survivors say trauma from abusive Native American boarding schools stretches across generations. WGVU NEWS. https://www.wgvunews.org/news/2023-11-06/survivors-say-trauma-from-abusive-native-american-boarding-schools-stretches-across-generationsn  

This Associated Press article, published in November of 2023, sheds light on both the Pierre Indian School as well as the boarding school system on a broader scale. Abuse was physical, emotional, and sexual for students who attended Pierre, and as the article says, it lasted for generations. The lifelong impact from the trauma endured at Pierre Indian School was passed down from students to their children, grandchildren, and beyond.  

Search Results - South Dakota Digital Archives (oclc.org) 

While not exactly a source in of itself, the South Dakota Digital Archives holds many photos of the Pierre Indian School and its students both during its tenure and after.  

Flandreau Indian Boarding School: A Bibliography 

By: Mia Chapman 

Main Building of the Flandreau Indian Boarding School, 1893 

Books 

Child, B. J. (1998). Boarding school seasons American Indian families, 1900-1940. University of Nebraska Press.  

“Boarding School Seasons" delves into the emotional history of Indian boarding school experiences in the first half of the 20th century. Focused on Haskell Institute in Kansas and the Flandreau School in South Dakota, the book unveils the impact through letters from parents, children, and school officials. The correspondence reveals the profound effects on entire families, as children grappled with homesickness while parents faced loneliness. The letters highlight concerns about the well-being and academic progress of the children, clashes over living conditions, and strategies to navigate restrictive visitation rules. Despite threatening family intimacy through the suppression of traditional languages and cultural practices, families turned to boarding schools for relief during the Depression when economic challenges became more pressing than the threats posed by these institutions. "Boarding School Seasons" offers a nuanced exploration of the aspirations and struggles of real people during this complex historical period. 

Landrum, C. L. (2019). The Dakota Sioux Experience at Flandreau and Pipestone Indian Schools. UNP - Nebraska. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvb1htgs 

Cynthia Leanne Landrum's work, "The Dakota Sioux Experience at Flandreau and Pipestone Indian Schools," explores the relationship between the Dakota Sioux community and the Flandreau and Pipestone Indian Schools. It sheds light on how Dakota Sioux students perceived these boarding schools to an end and community institutions, paralleling the approach of some Eastern Woodland nations to non-Native education during the 17th and 18th centuries. Landrum offers a fresh perspective on the Dakota people's acceptance of this education system, providing insight into their evolving relationships and the historical dynamics that emerged with the alliances between Algonquian Confederations and European powers. 

Articles/Journals 

Child, B. (1996). Runaway Boys, Resistant Girls: Rebellion at Flandreau and Haskell, 1900-1940. Journal of American Indian Education, 35(3), 49-57.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/24398296?sid=primo&seq=6 

Abstract from “Runaway Boys, Resistant Girls: Rebellion at Flandreau and Haskell, 1900-1940. Journal of American Indian Education, 35 (3), 49-57. 

Rebellion was a common feature of government boarding school life during the period from 1900 to 1940. Boarding schools imposed stringent regulations regarding home visits and running away allowed students and families to circumvent the harsh system. Letters written by students and family members reveal factors that motivated students to run away, the different forms rebellion took, and the strong emotional history of the boarding school experience. Letters show that rebellion evoked anger and frustration in administrators, anguish and worry in parents, and demonstrate the considerable humor, resilience and resourcefulness of boarding school students.  

Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe to seek return of historic land base. (1994). Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minn. : 1996), 6(23).  https://www.proquest.com/docview/368253137?pq 

Kaufman, B. (1995). Flandreau Council asks for investigation of basketball coach: Students seek removal of head coach. Indian Country Today (Oneida, N.Y.), 15(24). https://www.proquest.com/docview/362590533?pq-origsite=primo&accountid=10506 

Abstract from “Indian Country Today (Oneida, N.Y.), 15(24)” 

"There was no abuse," Flandreau Superintendent Jack Belkham told Indian Country Today. "We investigated the incident and found there was no abuse, and we dropped the case. 

"You're trying to make a mountain out of a molehill," Mr. Belkham said. "We have investigated this incident. We have determined that there was no abuse. You're just going to have to take my word on this." 

"For a lot of these kids," the athletic director said, "Flandreau is a last chance." 

Fort Mojave Indian School Annotated Bibliography 

Adacus Greene 

The Fort Mojave Indian School was a boarding school founded on August 22, 1890.  It was located at Fort Mojave, and was named the Herbert Welsh Institute from 1891 to 1892.  McCowan, the superintendent of the school when it opened, focused mostly on a vocational education, as the boarding school lacked funding and he needed food and clothes for the students there.  The Fort Mojave Indian School opened to other tribes in 1924, but would close in 1931 after the policy on Indigenous education shifted back to teaching on reservation schools. 

The records of the Fort Mojave Indian School are very thin and does not have as much information on the school.  Most records of the school are found to be between 1924 to 1931, which was when the school opened to non-Mojave students.  The University of Las Vegas has a large collection of information on the Fort Mojave Indian School, and it is mostly online, while the National Archives records in Riverside, most of it is not online and must be seen in person.

Prepared by Demi Gerovasilis 

*** 

The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School (MIIBS) was the third boarding school in the state of Michigan, in which its establishment was carried out by an act of Congress in 1891. Natives from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, including the Chippewa of Saginaw, Swan Creek, and Black River on the Isabella Reservation were primarily brought to this school. Specifically, Anishinabe Three Fires Confederacy lands were taken, and in exchange, government officials assured that they would provide an education to all Indian children. However, assimilation forcibly occurred at this institution; children could not preserve their identity, culture, and language, and they were additionally required to wear uniforms and cut their hair. In fact, Warren Petoskey, an Odawa and Lakotah elder, who writes about past American Indian boarding schools, directly states that many parents would sing their children's deaths songs as they were taken away to Mt. Pleasant, knowing that even if they survived, "they would never be the same again."  

With an average enrollment of 300 students per year, upon arrival, Native children were disinfected with alcohol, kerosene, or DDT and were given new English names to work, both educational and manual labor. They were further told that their original language was the “devil’s tongue.” Students were between the ranges of 5-14 years old; however, photographs reveal that some may have been younger or older than this range.  

This institution included approximately a dozen buildings over 320 acres and while girls learned and practiced “domestic science” in a modern cottage powered by steam and electricity, boys labored the school’s extensive farm, specializing in “fruit culture.” The various classes, manual labors, sports teams, such as baseball and football, and religious teachings implemented at MIIBS were primarily intended to make Native Americans more civilized and “American.” 

The poor conditions that occurred at this institution, including overcrowding, limited food rations, and a lack of sanitation ultimately led to disease outbreaks, such as such as smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, flu, and tuberculosis. While official documents only record five deaths at this school, local tribe members and researchers currently believe there were over 200 deaths at MIIBS. Although the boarding school closed in 1934, it remained open until 2009 as a home and training institute for those with disabilities. Specifically, the former boarding school became reestablished as the Mount Pleasant State Home and Training School for the Developmentally Disabled. Yet, with the closing of this school, remaining students were sent to the Tomah Indian Industrial School in Wisconsin or to local public schools. 

After 2009, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe signed an agreement with the federal government to purchase the land and remaining structures as an effort to study, preserve, and restore MIIBS. In addition, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe aims to promote public education about federal industrial boarding schools and continuously celebrates the anniversary of the closing of the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding school through the annual event, known as, Honoring, Healing & Remembering. This specific event along with other gatherings across Michigan offer an opportunity to honor the children who lost their lives at these boarding schools. Overall, the prominent goal of current tribal efforts is to bring the native community together, so that the recognition, healing, and preservation of their cultures and traditions may be valued and respected.  

University Collections: 

Elizalde, Tere. “Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School.” Indian Boarding Schools in Michigan. Accessed September 28, 2023. https://umsi580.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/s/indian-boarding-schools-in-michigan/page/mt-pleasant-school.   

This source serves as a digital archive organized by the University of Michigan, which focuses on boarding schools in Michigan. Specifically, insight into the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School is provided. A timeline of the Indian Boarding Schools in Michigan is displayed, which offers a newspaper article detailing the parade and ceremony that was held once the first stone was laid for the construction of the MIIBS.  

The newspaper clipping from the Isabella County Enterprise highlights the events of this parade was, “The Stone is Laid: With Imposing Ceremonies: And a Grand Parade” (Isabella County Enterprise, 1892, pp.1, 5, 8), which is provided by this university source: 

1. https://umsi580.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/s/indian-boarding-schools-in-michigan/item/2985  

This source also offers a copy of the original Mt. Pleasant School for Indians pamphlet from 1913, emphasizing the school’s aim to prepare Natives for the “Duties, Privileges, and Responsibilities of American citizenship.” Also, in this pamphlet contains descriptions and photographs of the building facilities and grounds, Native Americans’ classes and activities. 

2. https://umsi580.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/s/indian-boarding-schools-in-michigan/item/3910  

Mt. Pleasant Indian School Annual Reports from 1910−1913 are included in this source, which offers insight to the yearly updates, industries, purchases, student enrollment, employees, and educational/extracurricular details about the school. The reports further denote the various illnesses occurring at the school each year. MIIBS Annual Reports 1910–1913 addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: 

3. https://umsi580.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/s/indian-boarding-schools-in-michigan/item/3898  

Finally, the item for the public memo titled Honoring, Healing, and Remembering 2021, from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is provided; this event honors the 225 lives lost to the Mt. Pleasant Industrial Indian Boarding School, occurring every year, on June 6th, since 1934. 

4. https://umsi580.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/s/indian-boarding-schools-in-michigan/item/3819  

Books, Articles, and Journals 

In particular, the prayers that boarding school children had to recite each day is included (pg. 10):

Morning Prayer:

"Now I get me up to work,

I pray Thee Lord, I may not shirk;

If I should die before tonight,

I pray Thee Lord, my work's all right."

Evening Prayer:

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray Thee Lord, my soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake,

I pray Thee Lord, my soul to take."

Also, a letter written by Eliza Silas to her mother on June 1, 1920 is provided, in addition to an appeal letter written by a mother, Mrs. Annie Turner, for the return of her daughter, on April 22, 1919 (pg. 11). It should be noted that a 1918 photograph of Mabel Turner, age 7, who was the daughter of Mrs. Annie Turner is further included (pg. 14).  

Surface-Evans, Sarah L. “A Landscape of Assimilation and Resistance: The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20, no. 3 (2016): 574–88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26174310. 

The research conducted in this journal evaluates the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School via the use of archival, archaeological and oral history evidence. The landscape and material records collected from this former boarding school depict the acts of resistance that Native students demonstrated toward this institution. Specifically, in her 2016 archaeological survey, anthropologist Sarah Surface-Evans excavated numerous buttons at the site of the school, explaining that the students would use buttons as a form of currency among themselves. These children would discreetly remove buttons from their clothing and use them to participate in powwow and pipe ceremonies or trade them with each other (Figure 6). This small gesture is just one example of students’ resistance; these buttons served as an invisible sociopolitical purpose of creating kinship networks, imitating/representing the traditions of Anishinabe beadwork and wampum of Eastern Woodlands tribes. 

Brewer, Graham Lee. “Indian Boarding School Investigation Faces Hurdles in Missing Records, Legal Questions.” NBCNews.com, July 15, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/indian-boarding-school-investigation-faces-hurdles-missing-records-legal-questions-n1273996  

This news article details investigations that are underway in relation to Indian boarding schools and the efforts that are currently being carried out by the Department of the Interior to bring justice and healing to the cultural assimilation faced by various tribes over generations. Specifically, the author, Graham Lee Brewer is a national reporter for NBC News and a member of the Cherokee Nation, based in Norman, Oklahoma. In this article, he explains that while the U.S. documented a total of five deaths of Indigenous children at the Mount Pleasant school, once the land was returned to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan in 2010 by the state, the tribe’s researchers found records validating the deaths of 227 children. Furthermore, Shannon O'Loughlin, chief executive of the Association on American Indian Affairs and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, emphasizes that “The hard part is investigating the land and understanding what that boarding school did.” It is essential to acknowledge that the Native children of Mount Pleasant are remembered nearby at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways, where researchers have continued to document the stories of survivors and the federal policies which intended to whitewash their identity. This news article also includes imbedded videos and images to provide additional context to federal government’s campaign to destroy the cultural identity of Indigenous children across numerous boarding schools in the U.S. and Canada. 

Additional Articles and Newspapers: 

“Mt. Pleasant Center’s History.” The Morning Sun, June 17, 2021. https://www.themorningsun.com/2008/07/01/mt-pleasant-centers-history/.  

The Morning Sun newspaper is a leading publication based in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, which serves as the primary source of local news and information. This article explains the history of Mt. Pleasant specifically in regard to its transition from a federal boarding school to a facility for those with developmental disabilities and mental illness. It is first explained that in 1933 the MIIBS was transferred to the state of Michigan for $1. After this transition, the boarding school was shut down and The Michigan Home and Training School was established in 1934. This training school was a vocational institution for boys who were “mildly mentally retarded or borderline intelligent,” according to a document from the Mt. Pleasant Center. The conversion from the federal boarding institution to the boys’ training school took less than one year; in fact, when the first group of patients from Lapeer, which was another mental institution, were brought to the training school, some Native children were still living there. These Native children were orphans and had no place to go. In 1946, the institution was changed to the MT. Pleasant State Home and Training School, and in 1975, the school was renamed again to the Center for Human Development. In 1995, the name was changed to The Mt. Pleasant Center, which remained a facility for those with developmental disabilities, until the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe signed an agreement with the federal government in 2009 to purchase the property; the tribe’s efforts to respect and restore MIIBS history continues today.   

Field, Sue Knickerbocker. “Ceremony to Honor Native Boarding School Children.” The Morning Sun, June 1, 2023. https://www.themorningsun.com/2023/06/01/ceremony-to-honor-native-boarding-school-children/.  

The author of this news article, Sue Knickerbocker Field, initially explains the story of Martha Shagonaby, who was a former student of MIIBS. Martha Shagonaby personally did not want to give up her language, customs, culture, or family at this institution, thus in 1899, she set fire to the school’s main building, destroying it. Although Martha remained a prominent and well-respected figure, standing up for Native children’s mistreatment at the time, the institution was rebuilt a year later. Sue Knickerbocker Field further states “That fire didn’t kill anyone, but deaths at the boarding school were not uncommon.” Unfortunately, MIIBS continued to operate until 1934, and even though it has been 89 years since its closure, and intergenerational trauma persists, Therefore, to honor Native children and specifically MIIBS, the author explains that the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe hosts “the annual Honoring, Healing and Remembering event Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a sunrise ceremony, guest speakers and student roll call to pay tribute to their suffering, strength and resilience.” This event starts with the sunrise service at 7 a.m. at Mission Creek Cemetery; the day includes grand entry and flag song, opening prayer, a pipe ceremony, the student eagle staff dedication, guided tours of the boarding school, keynote addresses, and welcomes from Tribal Chief Theresa Jackson, Central Michigan University President Robert Davies, and Mt. Pleasant Mayor Amy Perschbacher. Currently “the MIIBS Committee is working toward developing the boarding school buildings and grounds to become a place for healing, education, wellness and empowerment on a local, national and global level.” 

Surface-Evans, S.L. and Jones, S.J. (2020), 8 Discourses of the Haunted: An Intersubjective Approach to Archaeology at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 31: 110-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12131  

This chapter focuses on haunting, which is an intersubjective approach to archaeology. This “haunting” method is a way to engage and cope with the traumatic events that specifically occurred at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. It is additionally explained that this method provides a means for diversity of memory, which is a fundamental principle in feminist indigenous theory. This particular chapter joins together archaeological, archival, and oral data, in order to explain “three stories of perseverance that have come to light from community-based heritage work.” Therefore, it is understood that archeology has the ability to generate community healing and decolonize women’s experiences at MIIBS. Importantly, Figure 2 includes an image of hundreds of initials, dates, names, words, and symbols (with which school administrators could possibly identify students) that appear carved in the bricks of the school’s carpentry shop building. It is explained that these carvings were thought to represent the idea that “female students were asserting their individual will and marking their presence on the landscape alongside their male peers.” Thus, in the present day, these carvings are reminders to Native descendants of the resilience of these students; the carvings stimulate memories that echo student individuality and rebellion. It is essential to note that members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, faculty and students from Central Michigan University, and the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School Committee worked collaboratively to facilitate this research regarding numerous aspects of MIIBS’s history. The author Sarah Surface-Evans is an Associate Professor of anthropology at Central Michigan University, and also serves as an archaeological consultant for the Committee. 

Pipestone Indian Boarding School, 1893-1953: A Bibliography 

Prepared by Alba Martinez 

After the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, the U.S. federal government built various boarding institutions across the nation with the aim of assimilating Indigenous children into American culture. Among the newly built schools was the Pipestone Indian (Training) Boarding School, inaugurated in 1893 and officially closed in 1953. (There are cases in which the school was also referred to as the Pipestone Indian School Reservation.) Many Indigenous communities were left with no other option but send their children to Pipestone by (1) force or (2) due to tribal displacement post-Minnesota Sioux War of 1862. Upon the school’s founding, however, waves of resistance prevailed largely attributed to the illegal establishment of the school on Yankton Sioux reservation land. In 1926, the conflict was resolved when the Supreme Court Case, Yankton Sioux Tribe of Indians v. United States, determined the building of the school violated the 1858 Treaty of Washington. Consequently, the court ruled compensation for the Yankton Sioux. However, in order to attain the compensation, the Yankton Sioux tribe were obliged to cede all control of the quarry land to the National Park Service.  

The original campus consisted of 60 buildings that served up to 400 students. The majority of its first students came from the Sioux and Chippewa tribe nations. The average age of the first 102 students being 13. In 1910, the institution began to recruit students from surrounding areas, including but not limited to the following tribes: Cherokee, Iroquois, Winnebago, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, etc. The student body demographics, however, were largely comprised of the local Sioux nation students. Upon the institution’s closure in 1953, majority of the buildings were torn down. From its closure until the late ‘60s or roughly early ‘70s, the only remaining two-story building that comprised the campus, was inhabited by the superintendent. Since then, the land has been sanctioned off and given to different associations. Majority of the reservation is now currently owned by the National Park Service and the Pipestone National Monument.  

A note on the archival collections – They are currently not accessible online and include significant gaps of the school’s functioning years, provide information on individual student case files, school census cards, register of completed coursework and school enrollment, social welfare student information cards, and other administrative files of the school (i.e., reports, correspondences, employee records). Additionally, throughout the preserved records, files pertaining to the Birch Cooley Day School (1899-1920) can be found embedded throughout as it was supervised by the Pipestone Indian Boarding School.  

Archival Collections  

Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Pipestone Indian School. National  

Archives, Kansas City, Missouri. https://www.archives.gov/kansas-city/finding-aids/rg75-pipestone-indian-school-series-title-list* 

*Currently, the following archives are solely retrievable at the National Archives of Kansas City, Missouri. The issued link only provides access to broad descriptions of what each file record contains. The following highlights some of the more pertinent record files categorized within the functioning years of the Pipestone Indian Boarding School. Its time frame is split into two due to the gap in records from October 1947 to 1949.  

*The following provided descriptions of these records are copied from the file records overview as provided by the National Archives online catalogue.  

Pipestone Indian School Records, 1893-1947 

Johnson, Brian. “Pipestone Group Hopes to Save Historic Indian School Building in Minnesota.”  

St. Paul Legal Ledger, March 2, 2006. 

This brief newspaper article describes the call for action from Bud Johnston, president of the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers, a Pipestone group that owns the two-story building that stood on the former Pipestone Indian Boarding School campus. Johnston details the significance of preserving the building and thus the need for an estimated $250,000 to repair it. He also provides the contextual history to understand why the building is in dire need of repair. One of the main causes being that while the school closed in the early ‘50s, it remained inhabited by the superintendent until the late ‘60s, early ‘70s. From then until the Minnesota West Community and Technical College acquired the building in the ‘80s, it remained completely abandoned. The Keepers, despite unsuccessful attempts on receiving grants, hope they can raise the needed amount through donations to preserve the building and its history (i.e., make it into a museum).    

Hollingsworth, Jana and John Reinan. "Report Details U.S. Indian School Abuses". Star Tribune  

(Minneapolis, MN). May 12, 2022. 

This newspaper article recounts the lingering trauma boarding schools have inflicted on Indigenous people who attended such institutions and therefore the resulting intergenerational trauma. There is a very brief excerpt of the account of a former student’s experience who attended the Pipestone Indian Boarding School.  

Katy Read. "A playful idea keeps Ojibwe words alive". Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). June  

24, 2023 Saturday.  

This short newspaper article includes anecdotes to explain how the Ojibwe culture and language faded. One particular anecdote points at Pipestone Indian Boarding School as one of the main perpetrators for the erasure of Ojibwe customs.   

Kuphal, Kyle. “Researching the Pipestone Indian School Cemetery - Pipestone County Star.”  

Pipestone County Star - Community News and Information for Pipestone, Minnesota, December 9, 2021. https://www.pipestonestar.com/articles/researching-the-pipestone-indian-school-cemetary/. 

This news report announces the partnership between Pipestone National Monument and the Pipestone Human Rights Commission and the American Indian Movement (AIM) to commence research on the Pipestone Indian Boarding School’s cemetery. Investigations will consist of searching for school death records and consultations with tribal nations to gain further insight on the deaths of the school during its functioning years. At the time of this article’s publication, there is unknown data and rough approximations for the bit of information that was retrievable.  

Swanson, Kirsten. “Hidden History: Federal Investigation Generates New Interest in  

Minnesota’s American Indian Boarding Schools.” KSTP.Com 5 Eyewitness News, September 20, 2021. https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/hidden-history-federal-investigation-generates-new-interest-in-minnesotas-american-indian-boarding-schools/. 

After discovering hundreds of humans remains on the grounds of former Indigenous Canadian boarding schools, this newspaper article announces the Department of the Interior’s interest to begin a “comprehensive review of the troubling legacy of American Indian boarding school facilities in the U.S.” The Pipestone and Flandreau boarding schools are among the schools highlighted to be investigated. The article has been updated since its original date of publication to include Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s memo announcing investigation into Native American Boarding Schools.  

Books and Articles  

Fortunate Eagle, Adam. Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School. Norman: University  

of Oklahoma Press, 2010.  

Hereditary member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and principal organizer of the Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971), Fortunate Eagle describes his early years as a student at Pipestone Indian School (1935-1945) within this memoir.  

Landrum, Cynthia Leanne. The Dakota Sioux Experience at Flandreau and Pipestone Indian  

Schools. Lincoln: UNP - Nebraska, 2019. 

In this book, Landrum, professor of History and Indigenous Studies at Portland State University and Clark College, sheds light on the relationship between the Dakota Sioux community and the schools and surrounding region. Landrum unveils the experiences of Dakota Sioux students at the Flandreau Indian School (in South Dakota) and the Pipestone Indian School (in Minnesota) and the Dakota people’s overt acceptance of this non-Native education system.  

Mary Stout. Native American Boarding Schools. Landmarks of the American Mosaic.  

Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012. 

In this historical survey of Indigenous boarding schools in the U.S., Mary Stout, American Indian Studies scholar and librarian, presents a balanced view of the positive and negative experiences of students who attended these institutions. Stout contextualizes boarding schools within the general American historical and educational movements. Chapter six of the book is specific to the experiences within the Chemawa and Pipestone Indian Schools (1930s-1940s).  

College/University/Museum Resources 

Pipestone County Museum. Pipestone Indian Training School.  

https://pipestonecountymuseum.com/pipestone-indian-training-school/ 

The museum holds archives of the Pipestone Indian Training School for most of the school’s functioning years. Access is availability to a digital collection of photographs of the school. Additionally, there is information on how to access the National Archives at Kansas City to learn more about the students who attended the school.  

1893 - 1953. "Pipestone Indian Training School campus, Pipestone, Minnesota." Pipestone County Historical Society, Accessed November 2, 2023. https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/pipe:122 

1895?. "Pipestone Indian Training School classroom, Pipestone, Minnesota." Pipestone County Historical Society, Accessed November 2, 2023. https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/pipe:116 

The Pipestone Indian Training School. Religions in Minnesota. Northfield, Minnesota. Carleton  

College. https://religionsmn.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/pipestone/pipestonehistory/the-pipestone-indian-training- 

Resource page curated by the local private institution of Carleton College. Information is provided on the following, but not limited to the history of Pipestone (the town), its political history, debates among Indigenous people of the community, the Pipestone Indian Training School, and inclusion of Indigenous voices.  

“Pipestone National Monument (U.S. National Park Service).”  

https://www.nps.gov/pipe/index.htm. 

The National Park Service provides resources on the Pipestone National Monument related to unpacking the cultural history of the pipestone quarries and sacred pipe and the 23 affiliated tribal nations, among other resources on the natural landmarks.  

Films  

A Day in the Life: Artifacts from Pipestone Indian Boarding School, Pipestone, Minnesota (U.S.  

National Park Service), 2015. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/archeothursday-bender-pipestone.htm. 

*Description of this short film is copied from Laura Bender’s article publication on the National Park Service webpage.  

This presentation examines artifacts collected from the Pipestone Indian Training Boarding School, and aided by oral histories and school records, attempts to understand life at the school within the context of the larger political and economic climate of the day.  

Pipestone Indian Training School. Pipestone, Minnesota (Pipestone County Museum), 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhEuO3WgoA.  

*Description of this short film is copied from the Pipestone County Museum’s video description as published on their YouTube platform.  

Gabe Yellowhawk shares information about the Pipestone Indian Boarding School that operated at Pipestone, MN from 1883-1953. Gabe is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He has worked for the Pipestone National Monument for the past 3 years (counting since the publication of this video). While his main responsibility is protecting and restoring the tall grass prairie ecosystem at the Monument, he has also spent the past year researching the history of the Pipestone Indian Training School.  

Theses and Dissertations  

Maize, Megan. “Federal Indian Boarding Schools: Memory, Voice and Interpretation,” 2023.  

This thesis paper examines native boarding schools through archival research, federal policy analysis, and current research based on active databases. Pages 53 through 61 (of chapter 3) are specific to the history, current conditions, and an analysis on Pipestone Indian Boarding School. While there are gaps in time frames and unknown exact dates, statistics, and other information, Maize presents a concise section on the Pipestone institution based on what is currently known to date.   

Secondary Sources:

Carol Fleisher, Clarissa Guy. “Fort Lewis College Removes Inaccurate Panels about the School’s

History as an Indian Boarding School.” RMPBS, November 17, 2021.

https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/fort-lewis-college-indian-boarding-schoolpanel-removal/.

• This source provides background into Fort Lewis from when it was an Indian Boarding

School to its development as a college. 

Cooke, Kyle. “Polis Signs Bill to Investigate History of Abuse and Death at Colorado’s Indian Boarding Schools.” RMPBS, May 24, 2022. https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/news/colorado-indianboarding-school-investigation-bill/?bbeml=tp-pck9Q6QNPEiuBt3JmyTokQ.j_QwI7NIimUyI75cM8F_SUg.rM2RSCpfe9EOCfjq9_mUTSA.lE

Vi9a3xxQ0y5CPtW-OqVeA#:~:text=As%20the%20name%20suggests%2C%20Fort,culture%20of%20Native%20A merican%20children.

• This is a report published in 2022 that speaks on an investigation that went on at Fort Lewis about the abuse and death that occurred. It goes into the bill that was passed to investigate these tragedies and the money and findings that were made. There is also a video that explains more in this topic and goes more into the details. 

History Colorado publicly releases final report from federal Indian bo, October 3, 2023.

https://www.historycolorado.org/press-release/2023/10/03/history-colorado-publicly-releasesfinal-report-federal-indian-boarding.

Santa Fe Boarding School Annotated Bibliography 

The Santa Fe Boarding school was established in 1890 with the goal of assimilating young native children. The school originally took children of all ages but soon moved to just sixth grade and above. Similar to other boarding schools, the first half of the day was spent in the classroom while the second half was meant for vocational work which mostly consisted of manual labor. The school is still in use today and teaches their native students the values of Native American cultural.  

“About SFIS.” Santa Fe Indian School, 2023. https://www.sfis.k12.nm.us/about_sfis#:~:text=History,to%20assimilate%20the%20native%20child. 

This source is the current school’s website. It has their current events happening along with an overview of the history of the school. They have a high school and middle school program. They put an emphasis in their curriculum of the history and culture surrounding the boarding school to ensure they are able to maintain what has been built back. This source provides more of an overview of the current school.  

White, Cody, and Rose Buchanan. “The Stories behind the Names: Death at the Santa Fe Indian School, 1891–1909.” National Archives and Records Administration, May 11, 2022. https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2022/05/11/the-stories-behind-the-names-death-at-the-santa-fe-indian-school-1891-1909/. 

This source is a list of students who died while at Santa Fe boarding school. There is a disclaimer at the top of the essay stating that the death of minors is discussed. They give a description of the school and provide a disclaimer that this is not a comprehensive list of every student who died at Santa Fe boarding school as that would be too difficult. Some students who were ill were sent home while others may have been buried on their home reservation. They acknowledge that this essay is a fraction of what could have been found with more in-depth research. They give a list of students and any primary sources they were able to find about their deaths with pictures of these primary sources. They give how the student died and the age at which they died.  

Eric Wills | Online Only | Dec. 15, 2008. “Santa Fe Indian School Razes 18 Buildings.” Santa Fe Indian School Razes 18 buildings, December 15, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20091002204725/http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2008/todays-news/demolitions-at-santa-fe.html. 

This source details the demolition of almost all of the oldest buildings that stood on the campus. They were laden with asbestos and too expensive to renovate. This impromptu demolition sparked a conversation relating to the disregard for historic buildings and preservation of indigenous people’s past. They cited protecting the safety of their staff and students.  

Svenningsen, Robert, ed. “PRELIMINARY INVENTORY OF THE PUEBLO RECORDS CREATED BY FIELD  OFFICES OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.” Onehub. Accessed November 8, 2023. https://ws.onehub.com/workspaces/811581/files/2592313018. 

The piece of this inventory relating to Santa Fe Boarding school begins on page 21 with a little information on pages 4 through 5. This source provides only facts with no bias involved. It gives a short and straightforward timeline with other information regarding other boarding schools as well. At the end of the specific section, they also provide where other mentions of Santa Fe boarding school are in the rest of the inventory. 

Lehman, Ellen J. One House, one voice, One heart: Native American education at the Santa Fe Indian School. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press?, 1990. 

Trennert, Robert A., and Sally Hyer. “One House, One Voice, One Heart: Native American Education at the Santa Fe Indian School.” American Indian Quarterly 16, no. 2 (1992): 283. https://doi.org/10.2307/1185449. 

This book reviews the history of the boarding school. It also covers the period of time in which attitudes changed and students were able to claim the school and celebrate their heritage. It covers the years from 1890-1990. 

Szasz, Margaret Connell. “‘I Knew How to Be Moderate. and I Knew How to Obey’: The Commonality of American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1750s–1920s.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 29, no. 4 (2005): 75–94. https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.29.4.b2220582h05507u2. 

This article provides a large section on Santa Fe Indian School by itself and then proceeds to compare and contrast to two other schools that were run differently. Moor's Indian Charity School was run by a minister, Cherokee Female Seminary was run by an Indian Nation, and Santa Fe Indian School was run by the US Indian Office. Looking at comparisons is important because understanding the history of the Santa Fe Indian School in the context of other schools in the same vein allows for a more well-rounded understanding of the history.  

Hyer, S. (n.d.). Attention former students of Santa Fe Indian school. Indian Education, pp. 8–8. 

This source is a short clipping from a newspaper article looking for former students with any stories, photos, or books that relate to Santa Fe Indian School. It is from 1986 so there is no current relevance but knowing that people have been working on projects throughout the school's existence is beneficial in and of itself.