Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Pennsylvania)

History


The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was established in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1879. It was the first official effort at establishing boarding schools which removed Native American children from their homes and other familiar surroundings in order to teach them English and to train them away from their culture. The school was discontinued 1 September 1918. More than 10,000 students from 140 different tribes from all over the United States attended Carlisle.

States with BIA Schools: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin

Records
Many of the early records of Carlisle are housed at the National Archives in Washington, DC. They include such records as:


 * Student records, 1879-1918
 * Student record cards, 1879-1918
 * Student information cards, 1879-1918
 * Enrollment cards, 1897-1913
 * Attendance books, 1884-1891
 * Enrollment status book, 1898-1912
 * Data concerning former students, abt. 1898

A 1911 census of Carlisle Indian School has been microfilmed as part of National Archives Microcopy M595, Roll 17, and is available at the National Archives and many of its branches, and at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (Family History Library ).

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Carlisle Industrial School, 1907, and 1910-1917 are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 9, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (their ).

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Records (Record Group 75) BIA Schools

Cemetery
The Cemetery Information resource contains a collection of primary sources concerning each individual who was buried in the Carlisle Indian School cemetery.

Search the website here.

Reference:
Carlisle Indian Industrial School History.


 * American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 1998.
 * Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981.
 * Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. Available online
 * "Accompanying Pamphlet for Microcopy 1011", National Archives Microfilm Publications, Appendix.