Forest Grove Indian School Students

Title

Forest Grove Indian School Students

Description

A group portrait of 62 Native American students from Pacific Northwest tribes who were enrolled at the Forest Grove Indian School. It was likely taken between May-June 1881, by which time a total of 64 students had enrolled.

This photograph was taken by an employee of the I.G. Davidson Studio of Portland. The tribes then present at the school included Puyallup, Warm Springs, Spokane, Chehalis, and Alaskan (primarily Tlingit). The caption reads: "Davidson, Indian Training School, Forest Grove, Oregon, Photo." The Davidson studio took numerous photographs of the school to sell to the public as cabinet cards. However this image, which is printed on different stock than the other Davidson cabinet cards and with a handwritten rather than printed caption, appears to have been made in smaller quantities, possibly for a smaller audience.

Several students have been identified based on other confirmed portraits. The two students in the top row wearing plaid are Nugen and Augustus Kautz, whose mother was a Nisqually woman named Tenas Puss and father was General August Valentine Kautz of the U.S. Army. The fifth student from the right in the third row from the top is David Brewer, Puyallup. The student standing furthest to the left in the third row from the top is Samuel "Spott" McCaw, Puyallup.

Creator

I. G. Davidson Studio

Subject

Off-reservation boarding schools
Native American Studies
Chemawa Indian School

Place

Forest Grove, Oregon

Identifier

WCMss261_001_125

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-OKLR/1.0/

Source

Native American Collection, 1842-1955 (WCMss.261), Whitman College and Northwest Archives, Walla Walla, WA.

Type

Still Image