Holy Rosary Mission - Red Cloud Indian School Digital Image Collection

March 2010 - Holy Rosary Mission - Red Cloud Indian School Digital Image Collection expanded to 1000 images. Begun in 2006, this collection documents the visual history of Red Cloud Indian School and the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota and Nebraska.

At Chief Red Cloud's request, Jesuits in 1888 founded the school with support from the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity. Formerly known as Holy Rosary Mission, Red Could School has since developed into a two-campus K-12 school system, which has also served as the headquarters for the Catholic Church on the 3,500 square-mile reservation. In 1977, Marquette began to receive the school's historical records as its official archival repository. However, the transfer of the bulk of the photographic images, now totaling approximately 80,000 items, did not begin until 2006.

Work on the digital collection began two years later, and since then, it has grown continuously. The images provide a small but representative sampling of the entire photographic holdings. Because most of the images were acquired with limited identification, preparing them for public use has required painstaking research by Marquette Archives staff. In so doing, invaluable assistance has been received from Red Cloud alumni, general researchers, and the archives staff of the Deutsche Provinz der Jesuiten Archiv (Munich), the Holy Name Province Archives of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity (Denver), and the Midwest Jesuit Archives (St. Louis).

The images, which date from the 1860s to 2000, provide important visual documentation on the history of the school and western South Dakota. Notable topical areas include:

Family home life, Catholic parish activities, native deacons and religious sisters and employment on the Pine Ridge Reservation and elsewhere as tribal officials, cowboys, laborers and Indian dance performers. Prominent figures in Western history, such as Chiefs Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, medicine man-missionary Nicholas Black Elk, son Benjamin Black Elk, and missionary Father Pierre-Jean de Smet, S.J. Prominent visitors, such as Robert F. Kennedy, President Calvin Coolidge and bishops and other church leaders. Students and their activities in academics, Catholic Mass and religious life, drama, Indian powwows and sports such as baseball, basketball, football and rodeo. Teaching faculty, administrators and support staff, including Jesuits, Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity and Indian and non-Indian laity. World War II era participants in the U.S. Armed Forces. St. Francis Mission and the Rosebud Indian Reservation of the Brulé Lakota (Sioux) Indians, also in South Dakota and also staffed by Jesuits and Sisters of St. Francis of Penance of Christian Charity.

Questions about the collection may be addressed to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives.