American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Studio portrait of Pueblo students John Menaul, Mary Perry, and Ben Thomas, wearing traditional garb as they would have entered the school at Carlisle. They are posed before a backdrop painted with trees and plants, and straw or grass covers the studio floor (dark brown spots and blotches to image, toning, soiling, wear to mount edges and corners). Printed label identifying subjects affixed to mount recto. Ca 1880.  -- Studio portrait of the same 3 students "after three years' training," sporting conservative hairstyles and wearing school uniforms. They are posed with studio furniture (soiling and wear to mount edges and corners). Printed label identifying subjects affixed to mount recto. Ca 1883. -- Together, 2 cabinet cards featuring a group of 3 Pueblo students, before and after being "civilized" by the school. Each approx. 3 3/4 x 5 3/8 in., or larger, on cardstock mounts; framed together to 17 1/2 x 15 in. (not examined out of frame). 

According to Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, the Pueblo children's traditional names are Kowsh-te-ah (Menaul), Ki-ot-se (Perry), and Wat-ye-eh (Thomas). 

John N. Choate (1848-1902) began a long photographic career at Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1879 when the famous Carlisle Indian Industrial School was founded. The school's superintendent, Richard Henry Pratt, commissioned Choate to take these "before and after" portraits to document the progress his school was making in "civilizing" the students. The photographs were distributed widely, to Native American reservations to recruit new students, and to United States officials and wealthy donors to encourage their support.