Description
The Art of Americanization at the Carlisle Indian School by art historian Hayes Peter Mauro of Queensborough Community College writes about the Americanization of boarding school students at Carlisle Indian School through an analysis of the visual imagery in historical photographs produced over a period of years. The author systematically examines the ideals of the boarding school doctrine of assimilation policy and how works of art such as photographs were used to prove the value of the schools in a visual format. The author examines various collections of photographs and the photographers and context of recording the images of Native American children during their boarding school experience. He also examines the various pseudo-science methods of the period such as phrenology and how the measurement of the students' heads supported the Euro-western belief in Indian savagery. The roles of artists such as Clark Mills, John H. Choate, Frances Benjamin Johnston, and John Leslie are examined. The author notes that the images taken by John Leslie, a boarding school student, offer viewers a unique perspective of the world of boarding school students at Carlisle. The book contains a bibliography, an index and numerous black and white photographs.