My latest article was published on nursingclio.org. To read the entire piece follow the link below.
https://nursingclio.org/2020/04/02/training-future-wives-and-mothers-vocational-education-and-assimilation-at-the-stewart-indian-school/
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Is it possible to think about anything other than illnesses and epidemics right now? When I was trying to decide what to write about this week, it seemed logical to explore these issues at the Stewart Indian School, especially because disease outbreaks were so common there (and at other off-reservation boarding schools) until the 1920s and 1930s.
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In 1946, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) established the Special Navajo Program to rapidly educate and assimilate Navajo children between the ages of 12 and 18. Between 1946 and 1959, nearly 50,000 Navajo children were taken from their homes and sent to eleven off-reservation boarding schools across the U.S. Navajo students began enrolling at the Stewart Indian School in 1949, and by the time the program ended a decade later, almost 4,000 Navajo students had attended the school.
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This post examines student writings between the 1950s and the closure of the school in May, 1980. These writings share important insights into student life at Stewart, and are, in some cases, the only opportunities for historians to hear directly from students about their experiences at the school. If you are interested, there is also a more extensive collection of student writings available for review at the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum in the Reflection Room. Check it out when you visit!
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While researching my dissertation, I read several collections of student writings that helped me better understand how some students experienced their time at the Stewart Indian School. Through these writings, I discovered some of the sophisticated ways students pushed back against school officials, and how they expressed themselves and their aspirations through articles in school newspapers, speeches, gossip columns, jokes, and art. These mediums allowed students the space to address issues relevant to their experiences and that reflected different aspects of student life at Stewart.
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This post is a “how to” with regard to researching boarding schools in federal archives, and a way for me to share some lessons I learned in working with these institutions.
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On Monday, I had the opportunity to go to Carson City and see the newly opened Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum. This was my first opportunity to see the fully-renovated building and the exhibits I had the opportunity to work on, and I was completely blown away.
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Before diving into my work on the Stewart Indian School, I thought it might be helpful to share some information about the creation of the off-reservation boarding school system and how assimilationist programs were initially implemented at these schools.
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