History 204

Introduction to Historical Methods

Dickinson and the Indian School Overview

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Dickinson College and Carlisle Indian Industrial School

   Image taken from Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

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 India education when Lieutenant Pratt was given charge of the most obstinate of the Plain's Indians at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. 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 Indian 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 that in order “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 School2. 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 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 population1"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….finish with project goal??

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