The Indian School Journal (Chilocco Indian School)

In 1882, the U.S. Congress established the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School on the Oklahoma border, one of five non-reservation boarding schools that also included Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, Chemawa Indian School in Oregon, and Fort Simcoe in the state of Washington. Chilocco formally opened in 1884 with 150 students from the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Pawnee, and Wichita tribes. From its opening until the 1930s, Chilocco followed the model set by Carlisle Indian Industrial School, emphasizing military training and work in trades and domestic labor. Like its boarding school counterparts, Chilocco's leadership adopted as school policy the federal government's goal to assimilate Native Americans by replacing tribal identities with an "American" one through the elimination Indigenous languages, beliefs, and practices.

The printed products from the early period of the Chilocco Indian School must be viewed through this lens of assimilation that underwrote the school's mission. Many of the writings in its main publication, The Indian School Journal , which first appeared in 1901, were written by staff rather than students, and those written by students were unlikely to have appeared without adult staff permission. Although all content should be read with a critical eye, Chilocco's publications still serve as a valuable information source during this troubling period in Native American history.

Issues reproduced here from 1905 to 1926 include articles on a variety of topics: "The Religious Indians of Oklahoma" (September 1905); "Life among the Omahas" (November 1906); "Is the Indian of Mongolian Origin?" (May 1907); "Maine Indians of Today" (April 1908); "Present Condition of the Apaches" (February, 1909); "The Modern Indian Council" (November 1911); "President Taft's Decision on the Garb Question" (November 1912); "Determining the Heirs of Deceased Indians" (March 1913); "Some History Regarding the U.S. Indian at Chilocco School" (June 1914); "Indian Dances of the Southwest" (October 1915); "The Perpetuation of Indian Blood in America" (January 1916); "The Tomah Indian School" (April 1919); "What Chilocco Offers the Indian Student in Agriculture and Allied Industries" (April 1921); "The Indian Health Service" (February 1925).

Users will also find copies of Chilocco, an annual publication generated by the school that focused primarily on "recording the Activities and Achievements of the past year … a mirror that will reflect in future moments intimate memories of school life" (1929 issue). A handful issues also appear of Chilocco Weekly Journal from 1906.