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Arapahoe, Navajo: Carlisle Indian School Cabinet Cards, c1885 [131550]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Native Americana Start Price:450.00 USD Estimated At:900.00 - 1,500.00 USD
Arapahoe, Navajo: Carlisle Indian School Cabinet Cards, c1885  [131550]
SOLD
1,700.00USD+ (425.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2021 Feb 14 @ 10:40UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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Group of three original cabinet cards from photographer Choate in Carlisle, PA. Two are of Tom Torlino, and a third of a class of young men and women. The condition is generally very fine.

The Carlisle Indian School was the first Federally funded Indian boarding school. According to information on their web site, it “became a model for 26 BIA Indian Schools” and saw more than 10,000 students from 140 tribes, though reportedly only 158 “graduated”. Photographs of Torlino, a Navajo, are well known in the collecting and historical fields. It is apparent he was a “model” student. The “class” photo shows five young men and four young women who are not identified by name, but in pencil is written “Arapahoe” (Dec. 17, 1884). The reverse also has advertising for Choate, indicating “Photographs of Indian School for sale.” The photographs of Torlino on line do not indicate the boards are imprinted with Choate’s name, but these two photos here are imprinted on the obverse. The web information indicated Torlino was photographed in 1882 as he arrived, and in 1885 in suit and tie. The notes on the back of these photos indicate dates of 1886 and 1889. Which is correct?

One of the published histories mentions that Indian children were rounded up, taken to a holding area in Florida, then to the Indian School in Carlisle, PA. In today’s modern culture, this sounds simple, but is actually a bit upsetting. Splitting up families, often forever, is and can be difficult to understand. While at the time, it was thought “to be the right thing”, (education usually is…), it was education in White Man’s world, a foreign culture to be sure. I argue Native Americans had their own forms of education, foreign form whites, and was every bit as good. The education of mixing of cultures can have very positive effects, and also very negative ones. The complete melding of multiple cultures into one was the concept at the time. But, now a hundred or more years later, is it the “answer?” It would be terribly boring if everybody was the same. My Native American friends have taught me a lot. How bout you?