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DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN EDUCATION

SECRETARY'S MINUTES

FIRST SESSION.-MONDAY MORNING, JULY 8, 1907

The Department of Indian Education met in the State Normal School at 9:30 A. M., with the president, Harwood Hall, superintendent of Sherman Institute, Riverside, Cal., in the chair.

The following program was presented:

Music, furnished by the Sherman Institute Girls' Mandolin Club.

President's address, by Harwood Hall.

"Indian Education," by Colonel George LeRoy Brown, of the United States Army. "Essential Features in the Education of the Child Race," by George P. Phenix, superintendent of the academic and normal departments, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va.

"Native Indian Art," by Miss Angel De Cora, instructor in native Indian art, Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle, Pa.

Demonstration lessons, with classes of Indian pupils, presented by Miss Bertha D. Proctor and Miss Maggie Naff, teachers, Sherman Institute, Riverside, Cal.

The general session then resolved itself into a round-table conference, presided over by the Hon. Francis E. Leupp, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C. A reception in honor of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs was held in the parlors of the Westminster Hotel, at 9:30 P. M.

SECOND SESSION.-TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 9

The second session of the department was held Tuesday morning at 9:30, President Hall presiding.

The following program was presented:

Music, furnished by the Sherman Institute Girls' Mandolin Club.

Address by Hon. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Commissioner of Education of the United States, Washington, D. C.

Demonstration lessons, with classes of Indian pupils, presented by Clarence L. Gates and Miss Carrie M. Darnell, teachers, Sherman Institute, Riverside, Cal.

The following resolutions were adopted:

Resolved, That as this is the first time a Commissioner of Indian Affairs has ever at tended our Annual Institute, we hereby express our appreciation of the presence of Hon. Francis E. Leupp, thruout this meeting; that we are grateful for his advice and encouragement; that we will use our best efforts in fostering the native art of the Indian; and that we will faithfully and loyally strive to carry out the policies he has outlined.

Resolved, That we greatly appreciate the untiring and efficient efforts of Superintendent Reel in introducing into our schools practical methods of instruction, and her persistent labors which have made this institute the most successful yet held;

That we tender our thanks to Mr. Harwood Hall, president of the department, for the able and impartial manner in which he has presided over our meetings, and for his courtesy in entertaining the Indian workers at Sherman Institute; that we are grateful to the teachers and students of Sherman Institute who have so ably demonstrated to the public the practical training given at that noted school; and that we appreciate the opportunity and benefit of meeting with the National Educational Association;

That we acknowledge the courtesies extended and the hospitality of the people of Los Angeles, and that we thank the local press for the extensive reports of our procceedings.

THIRD SESSION.-FRIDAY, JULY 12

A joint session was held with the Department of Manual Training. For program see minutes of the Department of Manual Training.

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ESTELLE REEL, Secretary.

PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS

OPENING REMARKS

HARWOOD HALL, SUPERINTENDENT OF SHERMAN INSTITUTE,
RIVERSIDE, CAL.

This institute is convened by authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, under the direction and supervision of the National Superintendent of Indian Schools, for the purpose of conferring together in order to facilitate the furtherance of the policies outlined by Commissioner Leupp, in the education of the Indian.

The Indian Department of the National Educational Association is an important one, and therefore it shou'd be the aim of each worker to make this session profitable and interesting to ourselves as well as to visitors. As we are engaged in a truly great and noble work with a view to assisting in uplifting a race, we should be zealous in pushing this work ourselves and in enlisting the sympathies of others. The success of any enterprise depends upon the interest its members have in its welfare and prosperity. So, in order for the Indian workers to have an anxious concern for the success of this work, it is essential that we know what is being done, and there is no better means to accomplish this than that afforded by being present at a convention of this kind. The exchange of ideas, the reports of work at different schools, and the discussions of vital topics by able educators cannot help but be highly beneficial to us all.

With such interest and loyalty as have been shown by Indian school workers in the past and in studying and carrying out the present policy of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, I can see great gain and benefit for the Indian schools and the Indian race in general. It is my hope that each and everyone present may receive renewed inspiration and help from the various meetings and conferences arranged for this institute, and that all will take an active part and help to make the convention a real success. The management extends the hand of help and friendship to all, and thus we will work as a unit.

Before taking up the routine of this institute it will be our pleasure to listen to several addresses by well known and prominent speakers.

INDIAN EDUCATION

COL. GEORGE LEROY BROWN, OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, SANTA

MONICA, CAL.

I am glad to see gathered together today so many workers in the Indian Service, and I congratulate you upon the success of your best efforts, upon the flourishing condition of your work today, and that the brightest prospect is for the future. You deserve, one and all, great credit for extending a hand in kindly help to the children of a stricken race, a race that has done much to bring about the blessings of a free government in this land of freedom, a race

that fought stubbornly for home, for country, and for personal liberty, and showed in their fight their indomitable endurance.

I wish to bear testimony today that it is my belief and firm conviction that the present Commissioner of Indian Affairs is working along humane and practical lines which are best qualified to ameliorate the present condition of the Indian race, and to insure to future usefulness. His long years of interest and of useful work along practical lines deserve the highest praise. He has gained the confidence and the respect and affectionate regard of all, whether of red, or of mingled blood, who are interested in the welfare of the Indian.

I am glad today to be permitted to assure you all of good fellowship. Good fellowship extends to all those who do all they can for others, and the best of good fellowship is a good woman. She it was who kindled the fire on the hearthstone of the first home where her little ones gathered about her and received her instructions. Her wandering mate returned at night laden with the spoils of the chase, stretched himself in the genial glow of the fire, and was glad because his heart was good and that this brave woman lived. She prepared all his meals, made the first garments, and the first utensils of the home, and perfected those homely virtues upon which as sound as a rock has been builded the fine fabric of our civilization. Well may woman in this day of fair chance lift high her head and say she is proud to be a woman. There are few Indian women within the reach of my voice today, but I say to you, and my heart goes out to all, lift high your heads and be proud that you are Indian women for in your hand is placed the power to uplift a race. Generations yet to come will depend upon your purity, your devotion, your loving sacrifice, and your endurance in right living; and I say to you Indian boys and Indian men within the reach of my voice today, lift high your heads and stand for the right; just as your ancestors in days of old stood forth, stand forth and fight for an honorable and useful place in the land of your fathers.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD RACE

GEORGE P. PHENIX, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ACADEMIC AND NORMAL DEPARTMENTS, HAMPTON NORMAL AND AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA.

The family is the unit of society; and it must be the unit in all attempts at social betterment. Since the most important thing for the family is that all its member be healthy, we must unquestionably regard training in healthy living as the first essential feature in the education of a race. The physician, the nurse, the field matron, and the missionary, or whoever it is that ministers to bodily ills, exercises a function whose possibilities it is hard to overestimate. A comparison of the old and new ways of life-the well ventilated tepees with the superheated air-proof houses that succeed them, the inability of the Indian to move his new house away from the accumulation of filth when conditions had become all but intolerable, the overcrowding of the new houses

which the size of the tepees rendered impossible in the old days-makes clear the fact that under the old conditions the quantity of infecting material was kept at a minimum and at the same time the Indian's power of resistance was kept at its maximum so that opportunities for infection were few. Under the new mode of life conditions were reversed. Everything favored the increase of infecting material while the Indian's power of resistance was reduced and, thru overcrowding, the opportunities for infection increased enormously. In 1896 the death rate among the Sioux of Pine Ridge had risen to 52.88 per 1,000-a number considerably in excess of the birth rate-and of this high death rate nearly one-half was due to tuberculosis. The unsanitary conditions under which the Indians often live are only too familiar to many of you. They have been recalled here in order to emphasize what follows.

Tuberculosis is one of the most serious diseases with which civilized and semi-civilized people are afflicted, but it is by no means the only one. There is an enormous waste of life due to ignorance in caring for the minor diseases which are often preventable. Diseases of children head the list. The number of children one may see in a single day afflicted with maladies of various sorts even among the more settled tribes of the Southwest appalls one. Many ills receive no attention except what some non-medical government official may in his kindness administer on his occasional visits. While tuberculosis existed among the Indians before they came into contact with the white people, yet at that time the disease was rare among them and remained so until they changed their nomadic to a settled life in houses.

To alleviate or to prevent bodily ills most men will make some effort, and to gratify the desires of their children parents will do much. For these two reasons the physician, the day-school teacher, and the field matron can probably accomplish more immediate good than any other agencies. Their work gradually converts needs into wants and so raises the whole standard of life. Much must of necessity be left to the slow processes of evolution; and nature is never in a hurry.

Next in importance to health in the home we must place efficiency in home management; hence I would have as the second essential such training of the children as shall tend to secure this end. This is the opportunity of the school. I have in mind, however, not the prevailing type of public school in the East. Valuable as the school of the usual type may be in its proper place, it after all deals with matters remote from what are strictly the essentials of education. Neither have I in mind the boarding school, whether on or off the reservation, for we must bear in mind that the most important part of education is a thing of the home, and any school which breaks up the family by taking the children --especially young children-out of it can never do this needful work. The relation of parent and child is one of the most vital and stimulating factors in the elevation of a race, and anything which tends to weaken this relation is to be deplored.

Fortunately the ideal type of school has already been evolved. I refer

of course to the Indian day school. Indeed, I can conceive of no more effective instrument of civilization than the day school at its best.

There are enrolled in government boarding-schools over twenty thousand pupils, many of whom are very young. In the day schools there are less than five thousand pupils. This proportion is not as it should be.

Day schools naturally differ considerably in equipment and in efficiency, but if we visit one of the better sort we shall find an efficient man with an efficient wife, in charge. The husband and wife occupy a little cottage which they have transformed into a model home. A schoolhouse is near by and the necessary buildings for housing such horses, cows, and chickens as the little farm may support. There is enough land fenced in for garden and pasture. The whole place is neat and well kept.

This type of school is unique. Human ingenuity could hardly devise a simpler or more effective means for uplifting a backward people. The home. is perhaps the most valuable half of this interesting institution, for here the girls prepare the daily lunch; here they get their first lessons in sewing and learn to make their own dresses; here they wash, dry, and iron their clothes, and learn important lessons in the matter of personal cleanliness and hygiene. The little farm, which is but the outside half of the home, offers to the boys opportunities analogous to those which the girls enjoy within. The lessons in gardening and caring for animals are of the most valuable kind and relate the school to the home in a natural and wholesome way.

So far as the work of the schoolroom itself is concerned, if the children learn to speak and write the English language, acquire thru pictures and books some knowledge of other places and other peoples whose customs differ from their own, and get a little knowledge of numbers it is quite enough. The rest may safely be left for other schools to do for such pupils as go to them.

NATIVE INDIAN ART

MISS ANGEL DE CORA, INSTRUCTOR IN NATIVE INDIAN ART, CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA.

The time has not been long enough since the subject was put into practice to show some of the possibilities of adapting Indian art to modern usages. Indians, like any other race in its primitive state, are gifted in original ideas of ornamentation. The pictorial talent is common to all young Indians.

The method of educating the Indian in the past was to attempt to transform him into a brown Caucasian within the space of five years, or a little more. The educators made every effort to convince the Indian that any custom or habit that was not familiar to the white man showed savagery and degradation. A general attempt was made to bring him "up to date." The Indian, who is so bound up in tribal laws and customs, knew not where to make the distinction, nor what of his natural instincts to discard, and the consequence was that he either became superficial and arrogant and denied his race, or he grew dispirited and silent.

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