Conducting Research
The CCHS welcomes visitors and we encourage you to make use of our collections, which are housed at the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, PA. Librarians are on staff to assist with research, providing the most comprehensive investigation of our materials. The historical society is also located just minutes away from the old Carlisle Indian School grounds at the Carlisle Barracks. Click here for more information about our library hours and fees, and directions to the historical society.
If a visit is not feasible, but you have a specific name, event, or subject you are interested in, a trained researcher can search our archives for you for a $30 fee. If you wish to use our search service, please send us a check or money order payable to the Cumberland Historical Society along with the online inquiry form. Please limit your request to one name, event or subject to be researched, and include any dates, places, and names which may assist in our investigation.
The following institutions also have resources about the Carlisle Indian School that may be helpful to explore for information about specific students and the schools history.
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School is a major site of memory for many Native peoples, as well as a source of study for students and scholars around the globe. This website represents an effort to aid the research process by bringing together, in digital format, a variety of resources that are physically preserved in various locations around the country. Through these resources, we seek to increase knowledge and understanding of the school and its complex legacy, while also facilitating efforts to tell the stories of the many thousands of students who were sent there.
Yale Library: The Richard Henry Pratt Papers
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/richard-henry-pratt-papers
This collection consists of Richard Pratt’s personal writings, including letters, diaries, speeches, drawings, publications, and miscellaneous notes. These sources outline Pratt’s philosophies about Indian education and experiences as a soldier and later the superintendent of the Carlisle Indian School.
US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks
The resources here include monographs, dissertations, letters, and photographs. Please visit:
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/RefBibs.html
to search the bibliographies of the resources at the Military History Institute. Suggested search phrases include “Indian School” and “Indian wars.”
For more information, including hours, fees, and location, please visit:
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/
The Library of Congress, Washington DC
http://www.loc.gov/
The materials here are varied, including an assortment of photos, articles, and books. To view a listing of the collection, go to the home page and perform a search for “United States Indian School (Carlisle PA)”.
The Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives
http://www.siris.si.edu/
These holdings can also be searched at the above website.