Introduction

The Stewart Indian School Campus in 2015, prior to the construction of the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum.

Welcome!

Today I am officially putting myself and my work out into the world, and honestly, it is a very scary (and exciting) moment!

Over the past five years, while working toward a PhD at UC Santa Cruz, my research focused on the history of the Stewart Indian School, a Native American boarding school located in Carson City, Nevada. Stewart was one of 27 off-reservation boarding schools established by the federal government across the U.S. beginning in 1879. The Stewart School remained open for 90 years – from 1890 to 1980 – and enrolled thousands of Native children from Nevada and across the western United States.

It is important to understand that these institutions were not posh schools built for wealthy, elite kids. Rather, they were created to forcibly assimilate Native children and their families into white, middle-class society through the destruction of their cultures and languages, and the usurpation of their lands.

Some parents willingly sent their kids to these boarding schools, and some students, especially those who attended during the later years it was open, have positive memories of the school. However, especially during the early years the school was open, many children were kidnapped from their families and enrolled at the school without parental permission. Parents who resisted school administrators were threatened with violence and a loss of economic resources if they refused to send their kids to these schools. Some children remained at boarding schools for years at a time, with limited opportunities to see their parents or extended families. Many experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. As a result of these intense traumas, generations of Native families were fractured, some Indigenous languages were lost, and many cultural traditions nearly erased.

My work examines these forces at the Stewart Indian School during the entire period it was open, and also considers how student experiences at the school have been commemorated since the school’s closure in 1980. I wrote my dissertation on the history the Stewart School and also worked for the Nevada Indian Commission as a researcher and writer for the newly opened Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum. (Go visit – it is a truly amazing place!!)

 After finishing my dissertation in the spring of 2019, I submitted a book proposal on the history of the Stewart School to an academic publisher over the summer and signed a publishing contract this past fall. I am going to document the publication process – from my initial manuscript edits, to peer review, to publication – which will take at least a year, but hopefully not more than two, on this blog. I think this will help me stay accountable to my short-term, self-imposed deadlines, as well as my July 15, 2020 deadline to submit my work to my publisher. I also hope to encourage readers to learn more about the history of the boarding school system in the U.S. (and the similar residential system in Canada) and visit the Stewart campus.

Stay tuned for more information, pictures, and interesting details about the Stewart Indian School and my writing process as I move forward.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you’ll be back!

Samantha