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Muscogee (Creek) Nation to host workshop on Carlisle Indian Industrial School history

February 26, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 27, 2018

CONTACT:
Kyla McKown
Public Relations Specialist
918-758-8106 C
918-549-2453 O
XZpXbja@zhfpbtrrangvba.pbz

Muscogee (Creek) Nation to host workshop on Carlisle Indian Industrial School history

OKMULGEE, Okla. – The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Historic and Cultural Preservation Department will be hosting the Carlisle Indian Industrial School Community Sharing Workshop, which is free and open to the public.

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School located in Carlisle, Pa., was the first federally funded off-reservation Indian boarding school, which became the model of 24 other government boarding schools including Chilocco and Haskell.

Through a grant funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Dickinson College and the Cumberland County Historical Society of Carlisle, Pa., have worked the past few years archiving records from the boarding school and presenting the documents to schools and communities.

A total of 104 Muscogee (Creek) citizens attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School from 1879 – 1918. Among the more than 10,000 students, more than 70 tribes had children who attended, including the Five Civilized Tribes.

MCN has invited the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes to attend the workshop, as well.

The workshop will begin with a documentary of the history of the school followed by photographs, newspaper clippings, as well as a list of known Muscogee (Creek) students who attended.

The enrollment handout will include as much information known including home addresses, date of enrollment and names of relatives.

Barbara Landis, CIIS Archives and Library Specialist for the Cumberland County Historical Society, said the slides of photographs and the handout of names usually sparks discussion from workshop attendees as they begin to recognize names.

“It’s very much a sharing time for us,” Landis said. “The school closed in 1918. Therefore, there are no living informants or direct experiences at the Indian school. So, these records serve as the voice on many levels of the students who attended the school. Even though they are heavily sanitized, we are still finding a lot of information that is new to us.”

The last portion of the workshop is a tutorial from Dickinson College Archivist, Jim Gerencser, who will go through the website and how to navigate the archives for particular tribes. Attendees are encouraged to bring laptops for personal searches.

The Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center data can be viewed on the website at http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu.

The workshop will be held at the MCN Mvskoke Dome, 200 Preston Dr. Okmulgee, Okla. 74447, March 9, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

For more information, contact the Historic and Cultural Preservation Department at 918-732-7733.

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