A letter dated April 24, 1885 providing a final report on the accomplishments of the Forest Grove Indian School as it was being moved to its new site near Salem, Oregon. The letter is from George H. Atkinson, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Pacific University, to L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior of the United States. In this letter, Atkinson makes a final argument in favor of keeping the school in Forest Grove, principally due to how the Native children were integrated with the white community. He describes the original aims of the Indian School and how it was established; the advantages of its site in Forest Grove; the difficult transition of the first students to the school which included resistance from their parents; accomplishments in vocational and academic skills among the students; and advantages to securing 'hostages' against Indian wars. By the time that this letter was written, the school was already in the midst of being relocated to its new site in Salem.
A letter dated December 4, 1884 regarding additional lands added to the campus of the Forest Grove Indian School in an attempt to keep the school from being moved. The letter is from George H. Atkinson, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Pacific University, to H. Price, Commissioner for Indian Affairs within United States Department of the Interior. At the time this letter was written, the government was already perparing to move the school to a new site.
A brief newspaper article noting that the former boys' dormitory of the Forest Grove Indian Training School would soon be demolished in order to make way for a more modern residence. The building had been used as the boys' dormitory at the Indian School from about 1880-1885, and then in the 1890s through early 1900s it was used as the first men's dormitory for Pacific University. The article notes that a local man named T. Wiggman wanted to construct a newer building in the same location. The newer building which replaced the Boys' Dormitory may be the apartments that currently stand at 2210 C St. in Forest Grove. This article was originally published on April 9, 1908 in the Washington County News. The image is derived from a microfilm copy of the newspaper.
A letter dated May 26, 1884 regarding reasons to keep the Indian School in Forest Grove, Oregon. The letter is from George H. Atkinson, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Pacific University, to H. Price, Commissioner for Indian Affairs within United States Department of the Interior. Atkinson provides twelve reasons for keeping the school open in Forest Grove rather than closing or moving it to a new location. His reason include positive conditions in the town of Forest Grove, academic and vocational successes of the students, happiness of the students' parents with the school, moral qualities of the school and advantages to the land chosen for its farm.
An illustration of scenes from the Forest Grove Indian School that was published in the magazine Harper's Weekly in 1882, based on photographs from 1881. The school, which functioned from 1880-1885, tried to assimilate Native children into Western culture, teaching them trades and basic academic skills while eradicating their native languages and cultural practices.
The images include: 'Housekeeping' (upper left): female students performing tasks they learned at the school including sewing, laundry, ironing, and making bread, with several younger students holding dolls; 'Carpenters at Work' (upper right): male students in front of the school's workshop performing tasks from carpentry class including sawing and cabinetmaking; 'A School Scene' (lower right): male and female students posed in an academic classroom scene outdoors with teaching equipment such as maps, books, charts, and an organ; 'Shoemaking' (lower left): male students in front of the school's workshop performing tasks from the shoemaking class, accompanied by teacher Samuel A. T. Walker; and 'New Recruits, Spokane Indians' (center): a group portrait of the Spokane students who arrived at the school in July 1881: Alice L. Williams, Florence Hayes, Suzette (or Susan) Secup, Julia Jopps, Louise Isaacs, Martha Lot, Eunice Madge James, James George, Ben Secup, Frank Rice, and Garfield Hayes.
The illustrations were based on a series of photographs that were taken in 1881. The photographer was from the I.G. Davidson studio of Portland. The four classroom scenes were posed outdoors at the Forest Grove Indian School, and are intended to show some of the skills that the students were learning there. The center group portrait was taken at the Davidson studio and was intended to be a 'before' picture of how the students looked when they arrived at the school; an 'after' photograph showing them seven months later was also taken, but not reproduced in this illustration. The photographs were probably originally produced in order to assist in fundraising activities for the school.
This double-page illustrated version of the photographs was drawn by Thure de Thulstrup to accompany an article in Harper's Weekly, which was an American magazine with a very large circulation. The article praised the school and described its accomplishments in assimilating Native children.
This image shows the building which had been used as a dormitory at the Forest Grove Indian School from 1880-1885 as it appeared in 1894, after the Indian School had moved away to Salem. By the time of this photograph in 1894, the building had been converted to housing for male students at Pacific University. As an historian of the university written a decade later recounted, 'One of the main buildings erected for the [Indian] school burned a short time before the removal [to Salem; this is referring to the Indian girls' dormitory, which burned down around 1885], and the other has been fitted up for a boys' dormitory and boarding house [for Pacific University students]. Here some of the young men have clubbed together, and thus boarded themselves for from a dollar and a quarter to a dollar and a half a week.' The historian cross-referenced this image from the Pacific University 1894 yearbook, 'The Heart of Oak,' where this image was first published. See: Eells, Myron, ed. 'A History of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, 1848-1902.' Typescript. (1904) p. 83-84. Pacific University Archives.
A portrait of an unidentified Native American girl. She probably attended Chemawa Indian School and/or the Forest Grove Indian School; or she might be the daughter of alumni from the school, such as Katie and David Brewer. The photograph is a small, 43mm x 81mm image in carte-de-visite format. It is stamped on the verso of the photograph as having been taken by W. P. Johnson, and probably dates from between 1886-1888 (See: Robinson, Oregon Photographers, 1993, p. 394). This may be the same girl who is pictured in another portrait in the collection, PUApic_008361.
An image of the Indian Training School's original campus in Forest Grove. This photograph was likely taken in 1880 or early 1881. The view is looking west from what is now the intersection of C Street and 22nd Place in Forest Grove. The girls’ dormitory is on the right; the boys’ dormitory is on the left; and the school workshop is in the center. Plank sidewalks connect the buildings. In contrast to later photographs: the dormitories have not yet had dormers or porch roofs added; the foundations have no skirting; and the workshop does not yet have the addition that would later be added on the right side. None of the buildings pictured here have survived. The photograph is numbered 35 in a series of photographs by I.G. Davidson, a photography studio based in Portland. The series shows how the school taught the children to behave according to the norms of white society, including learning trades and wearing Western clothing. This scan is of a later black-and-white print based on a negative held by the Oregon Historical Society (negative no. 58774).
A letter dated March 5, 1884 regarding land and conditions at the Forest Grove Indian School from George H. Atkinson, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Pacific University, to Professor C. C. (Charles Cornelius) Painter. Painter was an advocate for Native rights and was the Corresponding Secretary for the American Missionary Association's National Education Committee. Both Atkinson and Painter were ordained ministers in the Congregationalist Church. In this letter, Atkinson responds to questions regarding the title to the land on which the Indian School buildings sat. This land belonged to Pacific University but would be deeded, Atkinson said, to the Government for the purposes of running the school. Atkinson closes the letter with his hopes that Painter will help the school to secure more funding.
A posed photograph taken in 1881 of Native American boys in the Forest Grove Indian Training School performing blacksmithing (left) and carpentry skills (right). The names of the children are not identified. The white man is their blacksmithing instructor, William S. Hudson. The building in the background is the school’s workshop, which was on the main campus of the school in Forest Grove. The caption notes that this was number 33 in a series of photographs by I.G. Davidson, a photography studio based in Portland. The series shows how the school taught the children to behave according to the norms of white society, including the teaching of vocational skills such as this one. This photograph was reproduced alongside several other images of the school as an etching in a popular magazine, Harper's Weekly, in 1882. The Pacific University Archives' copy of this photo is a black-and-white reproduction of the original, which would have been a sepia-toned albumen print.
A posed photograph of Native American students sitting at desks outside of one of the dormitories at the Forest Grove Indian Training School. Various maps, drawings, Christian signs and objects such as a music organ, books, blocks, and a globe are arranged around the students, demonstrating the subjects that the students were being taught. The children are separated by gender and organized by age, with younger students at the front. The actual classroom spaces at the school were indoors. The caption notes that this was number 32 in a series of photographs by I.G. Davidson, a photography studio based in Portland. The back of the photograph reads: "Indian Training School, Forest Grove, Capt. M.C. Wilkinson USA, in charge ." I.G. Davidson photoThe series shows how the school taught the children to behave according to the norms of white society. The Pacific University Archives' copy of this photo is a black-and-white reproduction of the original, which would have been a sepia-toned albumen print.
A hand-tinted photograph depicting students at Chemawa School, standing under its entrance arch in Salem in 1905. A caption on the photograph reads: "Entrance to Indian Training School, Chemawa, near Salem, Oregon." The students shown in the image are mostly younger boys, all wearing the military-style school uniform. The Pacific University Archives' copy of this photograph is a reprint made in the late 20th century. The original photograph was issued as a postcard.
This brief history of the Forest Grove Indian School was written in 1904. It was probably by Myron Eells, who edited the text from which it is extracted, 'A History of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, 1848-1902.' This text was never published but still exists in a typescript copy at the Pacific University Archives. This brief historical sketch notes Pacific's support for the Indian school, its successes, its removal to Salem, and the fate of the Indian school's buildings afterwards. Particularly notable is the mention that one of the dormitories had been converted into a boarding house for male students at Pacific by 1894. Also of note is the editor's background: Myron Eells was the brother of Edwin Eells, who was an Indian Agent in the Puget Sound area during the time when the Indian School was in Forest Grove, and who likely helped to funnel native students to the school.
A hand-tinted photograph of the entrance arch to Chemawa Indian School in Salem, lettered 'Indian Training School.' It depicts Chemawa as it appeared in 1905. The Pacific University Archives' copy of this photograph is a reprint made in the late 20th century. The original photograph was likely issued as a postcard.
