Santa Fe Indian School Check Ledgers
Collection
Identifier: MSS-1092-BC
Scope and Contents
The collection consists primarily of check ledgers from the tenure of Frederic Snyder as Superintendent of the United States Indian Industrial School at Santa Fe, 1914-1918. Included are nine hardbound check ledgers and corresponding canceled checks drawn on the First National Bank of Santa Fe, 1914-1918. The check ledgers detail the diverse expenditures relating to the operation of an Indian School at the time, and include: a wide range of provisions from a number of named grocers and other local suppliers, including the New Mexico State Penitentiary; railroad tickets for student travel; horticultural supplies such as seed, grape vines, apple trees; recreational equipment for baseball, tennis and football, bathing suits, dolls, band equipment and music, as well as gate receipts and proceeds for baseball and football games; subscriptions to various national publications such as National Geographic and Popular Mechanics as well as local newspapers such as the Albuquerque Morning Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican, Independent; purchases from local merchants such as Seligman Brothers and Emil Uhlfelder’s White House as well as from national retailers like Montgomery Ward, Sears Roebuck and Marshall Field; utility bills, including with Mountain State Telephone and Telegraph; the purchase and maintenance of an automobile; hardware supplies, appliances and furnishings; wages; and charitable contributions (including to the Flying Squadron). The records name many individuals and occasionally identify students and employees. The collection also includes one folder of miscellaneous financial records.
Dates
- 1914 - 1918
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publications or distribution.
Biographical / Historical
Later known as the Santa Fe Indian School, the United States Indian Industrial School at Santa Fe, New Mexico was established in 1890 to serve children from the Pueblos and tribes of the American Southwest. As part of the federal boarding school system, the school was originally designed to assimilate Native American children through education. In the first decades of the twentieth century, this meant industrial education complemented by strict military discipline. Frederic Snyder served as Superintendent of the school from 1914 to 1918. Born in Castleton, New York in 1871, Snyder entered the Indian Service in 1893. His first assignment was as an agency teacher and clerk at the Hoopa Valley Boarding School in California. There in 1900 he married Charlotte Brehaut, a matron at the school. From 1901 to 1902, Frederic served as Superintendent of the Yainax School on the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. The Snyders then served at the Phoenix Indian School in Arizona from 1903-1912, where Frederic advanced to the position of Assistant Superintendent. In 1912, the Snyders transferred to the United States Indian School at Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Frederic served first as Assistant Superintendent and then as Superintendent from August 1914 to May 1918, and Charlotte served as the head matron. In 1919, the couple moved with their daughter Margaret to Stewart Indian School (also known as Carson Indian School) in Nevada, where Frederic served as Superintendent until 1934. Frederic Snyder died in 1962 in Carson City, Nevada.
See: Hyer, Sally. 1994. Remembering Santa Fe Indian School, 1890-1990. Dissertation.
See: Hyer, Sally. 1994. Remembering Santa Fe Indian School, 1890-1990. Dissertation.
Extent
1 Box
Language of Materials
English
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Santa Fe Indian School Check Ledgers
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu