Institute to Institute: DC and CIS

History 204 | History of Indian Education | Dickinson Indian School Public Contacts | Prosopography of Indian Dickinson College Students | Institute to Institute: DC and CIS | Bibliographic Information

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Carlisle Indian School

On October 6, 1879, Carlisle Barracks became home to the first students of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The school would be a pioneer in Indian education as its founder, Richard Henry Pratt, would seek a radical education of Indian children by secluding them entirely from their own culture and immerse them in “white” culture and education. Pratt had developed this philosophy on Indian education when he was given charge of the most obstinate of the Plain's Indians at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida during his lieutenancy with the U.S. Army. During their imprisonment Pratt took steps to educate and “civilize” the prisoners. When the prisoners were released, Pratt found a place at Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia for those Indians who wanted to continue their education. Through these experiences Pratt realized that the solution to solve the problem of Indian and U.S. relations was education. Pratt maintained, “to civilize the Indian place him in the midst of civilization; to keep him civilized make him stay”(1). This belief, which would become a motto of the Carlisle Indian School, was put into practice when Pratt secured the use of Carlisle Barracks from the Army in 1979.

To secure the Barracks, Pratt petitioned the town of Carlisle for their support of the establishment of and Indian school in town. Through this and successful lobbying at Washington, Pratt received the government and town’s blessing for his educational experiment. The town of Carlisle was also home Dickinson College, an academic institute that, like the Indian School, had the unique situation of being it’s own identity as well as being an integrated into community of Carlisle. The relationship between Carlisle Indian Industrial School and Dickinson College existed from the very opening of the school when Dr. McCauley, President of Dickinson College, lead the first worship service as the Indian School. In several accounts, Pratt mentions the importance of the Indian School’s relationship with Dickinson College, noting the support of the college faculty as “valuable and unswerving” during his superintendence at Carlisle Indian School(2). Through Pratt’s explanations three main connections between Carlisle Indian School and Dickinson College are revealed. The first is the general connection between the two school’s programs and educators. Dickinson professors served as chaplains to the Indian School and gave special lectures to the Indian students. Most notable are the lectures of Professor Hines on electricity and other scientific experiments that he gave not only to the students but also to their parents like Yellow Tail and Red Cloud. Dickinson College provided an institute to the Indian students who wished continue their education, offering special rates and places at both the preparatory and college level. This assistance directly correlated with the belief that “Indian interests seemed to demand that they be given more, not less, opportunities to mingle with the white population"(3). In addition to academic contact, the two institutes had contact in the public venue as well. The best known instances include the defeat of Dickinson College by the Carlisle Indian School football team and other athletic competitions. Through these main focus points the importance and effect the two schools had on one another and their relationship to the town of Carlisle is more clearly defined.

Footnotes:

1. Jacqueline Fear-Segal, “Nineteenth-Century Indian Education: Universalism Versus Evolutionism,” Journal of American Studies 33 (1999): 330.

2. Richard Henry Pratt, The Indian Industrial School, Carlisle Pennsylvania, (PA: Cumberland County Historical Society, 1979): 30.

3. Carmelita A. Ryan, “The Carlisle Indian Industrial School” (Thesis, Georgetown University, 1962), 67.

Bibliographic Information

Dickinson College

Note: Dickinson College was chartered on September 9, 1783, and the Dickinson School of Law was founded in 1834, but the period focus will focus on 1880-1910 to provide the contextual time line between Dickinson and the Carlisle Indian School.

The year that the Carlisle Indian School (CIS) opened in 1879, James Andrew McCauley was the President of Dickinson College. During this time the faculty was small, consisting of about six members. The small faculty shows the close connection of Dickinson College and CIS, shown through the visits of Professor Himes, one of the six, to the Indian school. Additionally McCauley himself, along with other professors, would give sermons to the Indian students. Even by the end of his presidency in 1888, the faculty remained small, but had grown to ten. The size of Dickinson was also relatively small; from the years of 1872-1888, 484 students had attended the college under McCauley's presidency. Of these students, females were only admitted starting in 1884, with the first female graduating in 1887.

After McCauley retired in 1888, George Edward Reed became the President of Dickinson College in 1889 and held this post until 1911. The size of the school grew monumentally since the time of McCauley; from 1888 through 1911, 1,649 students attended Dickinson College under Reed's presidency. Due to the growing student body, the faculty grew too over the years, from ten in 1889 to twenty-one in 1911. The relationship continued between Dickinson College and CIS even though Pratt had departed in 1904, Superintendent Friedman taking his place, with Reed participating in graduation commencements.

Footnotes

1. Sellers, Charles Coleman. Dickinson College: A History. Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1973.

2. Morgan, James Henry. Dickinson College: The History of One Hundred and Fifty Years, 1783-1933. Carlisle: Dickinson College, 1933.

General Relationships Between Carlisle Indian School and Dickinson College

Influence from the Professors at Dickinson

This section specifically focuses on the influence of the Dickinson Faculty on the Carlisle Indian School. Dickinson and its Faculty have been described as "Advisers", "Friends", etc.

Professor J.A. Lippincott

The relationship between Professor Lippincott and Richard Henry Pratt was indicative of the relationship between Dickinson College and the Carlisle Indian School. Professor Lippincott's role and a Dickinson professor and and Indian School chaplain not only reveals the relationship between the two institutes but also the relationship of the two institutes to the greater Carlisle community.

The YMCA and YWCA at Dickinson College and the Carlisle Indian School

During the time of the Indian Industrial Schools, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) viewed the Indians at these schools in the same light as they viewed American college students. That is, to make young Indian students into strong men and women with an endowed sense of self and connections that will help him succeed in the future. The Associations sought to strengthen its member’s moral and religious fiber and help the Indian Schools meet their educational and social assimilation goals.

The YMCA

The YWCA