The Phoenix Indian School was one of over a hundred boarding schools for Native American children established at the turn of this century. The institution served as a coeducational boarding school for American Indian primary and secondary students between 1891 and 1990. It was an important instrument of the federal government's education of Indian children, and to a large extent it assisted in bringing Native American tribes into the 20th century by providing the means for them to interact with and be a part of the larger American culture.

Recent excavation of the Phoenix Indian School trash dump by Arizona State University's Department of Anthropology uncovered items that date between 1892 to about 1924. The dump was dubbed the Track Site because it was ultimately covered by a football field and athletic track. Archaeological items from the dump provide distinctive evidence of subtle and lasting changes in Indian children's identity that resulted from assimilation.

Artifacts recovered from the school's dump indicate the school's attempt at Native American assimilation policy did not lead to simple conformity. Although the assimilative goal was to thrust the Indian and non-Indian together in an context devoid of "Indian" culture, values, and identity in order to remake the individuals into "non-Indians," the outcome was educated Indian children who incorporated parts of a school-learned American identity with the identity they brought with them. The government Indian boarding school provided the first place where many Indian people learned of the existence of the diversity of other Indian tribes and their separate, "special" treatment by the government. More than any other institution, these schools, actively or passively, created the environment that cultivated and strengthened the idea of an "Indian" identity apart from one's individual tribal identity.

Excavations at the Track Site differed from many archaeological projects because of the historic nature of the site. In addition to artifacts, archaeologists also had written records and even surviving former students to consult in order to help with interpretation of the finds. A variety of artifacts were collected and analyzed. Each item provides a particular perspective on daily school life and how that experience modified the students' identities.

Choose from the following list of items to learn more about life at the Indian School.

Credits