Spokane students on arrival
After 7 months at school
The Forest Grove Indian Industrial Training School was a boarding school for Native American children that operated from 1880-1885. It later became Chemawa Indian School in Salem. It was the second off-reservation federal boarding school in the United States. The U.S. Department of the Interior administered the school with support from Pacific University, which donated land and lobbied on its behalf.
The school was part of a broad system of forced assimilation and cultural loss. Native Students who were taken to federal boarding schools were not allowed to practice their cultures or speak their own languages, and were often separated from their families for 3-10 years or longer. Boarding schools caused multi-generational trauma to many Native families.
This site includes nearly all documents that have been found in the Pacific University Archives relating to the Forest Grove Indian School . Use the site navigation to view items relating to Students or the Administration, or Browse all Items here. For additional links and sources, see the Research page.
Credits
Site by Shawna Hotch and Eva Guggemos