"To keep the Catholics intact": The Catholic Experience at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1883–1918

Abstract:While the history of Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879–1918) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has been well-documented and analyzed, the Catholic student experience at the school has not. Using school and church records, the author identified over 1,100 Catholic students who attended Carlisle, the majority having already become Catholic before entering the school. School officials (who were mostly Protestant) and fellow Catholics sought to uphold these students' religious beliefs. White perceptions of religion influenced the Carlisle boarding school experience, creating a new category of the religious "other" to distinguish Catholic students.