1877-1965 - Archive of materials related to General Richard Henry Pratt, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, and Robert Utley's publication of Pratt's memoirs

Various, 1965. Very good. This lot consists of nine items.

1) One is a cabinet card taken by Havens of Savannah, Georgia that has been annotated "My first and only whiskers Fla. 1877". In civilian clothes but taken in Florida while Pratt was a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry Regiment and in charge of Indian Prisoners of War at Fort Marion (the Castillo de San Marcos), St. Augustine, Florida, where he instituted educational programs and opportunities for off-site industrial and agricultural work.

2) A second cabinet card, taken by Broadbent & Taylor of Philadelphia shows a slightly older Pratt and was taken before 1884 when Broadbent's sons bought Taylor's share of the business. Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1879 so this image dates from between 1879 and 1884.

3) Ahe third portrait showing a much older Pratt was taken by Edmonston in Washington, DC. Its size is in between that of a cabinet card and boudoir photograph and is mounted on a large card measuring 8½" x 12½"

4) The famous composite cabinet card by Choate of Philadelphia taken around 1881, titled "Noted Indian Chiefs," 19 "Noted Indian Chiefs Who have visited the Indian Training School, Carlisle, Pa." and given their approval for children from their tribe to attend. Each chief is identified on the reverse.

5) A 10" x 8" photograph of Carlisle's first graduating class originally taken in 1889. This image is surely a reprint as it is annotated "Coe Collection, Yale University Library" on the reverse along with a hand stamp that reads, "American Heritage Mag. / 12/70 / Reject." All the graduates are identified on the reverse.

6) A 1959 mimeographed letter circulated amongst Pratt's grandchildren regarding their attempt to consolidate his "material" for donation to "the Coe Collection at the Yale Library."

7) A 1960 letter from the Yale University Librarian to Richard Pratt (a descendant) thanking him for a donation of 24 original-colored drawings, probably ledger art.

8) A 1965 letter from the author Robert M. Utley to Richard Pratt (a descendant) that reads in part:

"I am gratified to learn that you are pleased with the work I did preparing General Pratt's memoirs for publication. . .. I found the task a challenging and rewarding one, and . . . I formed a deep admiration for the General and his labor in behalf to the Indian. . .. The Pratt family deserves high praise for making the memoirs and other papers available to scholars through Yale University. . .."

9) A first edition with dustjacket of Pratt's memoir, Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian, 1867-1904, edited with an introduction by Robert M. Utley.

. Brigadier General Richard Henry Pratt was an American military officer who founded and was longtime superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was a friend of Harriet Beecher Stowe who repeated praised his educational and acculturational success with the most recalcitrant Native American Prisoners of War who had been incarcerated in Florida following the western Indian Wars. He is generally credited providing the impetus for the development of ledger art by encouraging those prisoners to expand upon their plains tradition of hide painting and providing them with supplies and notebooks.

Pratt is also credited with coining the word 'racism' which he used in 1902 to condemn racial segregation. One of the first white men to champion the idea that Native Americans were fully equal to and as capable as white men, he, along with a number of contemporary chiefs, believed that for Native Americans to survive in a white-dominated world, they must assimilate into white society, hence his much misinterpreted statement, "Kill the Indian, save the man," which has been attacked as genocidal by some 21st century revisionary activists, led by the discredited pretendian, Ward Churchill who was terminated by the University of Colorado for academic misconduct after an extensive investigation found he had repeatedly plagiarized the scholarly work of others as well as falsified and fabricated historical facts in his own publications.

A note with the original photographs and letters stated they were obtained at an estate auction of a Connecticut descendant of General Pratt. The first edition book and American Heritage/Coe Library file photo were acquired separately.

Mostly unique. At the time of listing, there is nothing similar for sale in the trade, and Rare Book Hub shows nothing similar has appeared at auction. Pratt's papers are at Yale.

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