St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Nation). In 1904, fire destroyed the temporary church that had been converted to a boys' dormitory. A year later, the sisters' and girls' first house was also destroyed by fire (see photo). The wood-burning stoves were a constant hazard for the early pioneers. In one of his letters, Father Thomas Borgerding, OSB, describes the agony of not being able to save the building because of the intense wind. Father Thomas wrote to Katherine Drexel requesting funds and she responded with an $800 donation. Using 30,000 feet of lumber stored at the mission, a new building was built by 1905 which housed the boys' residence on the upper level and the sisters and girls on the lower level. By 1906, construction was begun for the sisters and girls' residence and was completed after many summers. [SBMA Lindblad, p. 54-58]
This Ojibwe man's name is Shagobay or Shakopee. He is an elder and leader at Mille Lacs. He is wearing beaded leggings and bells. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
In return for her hospitality, Sister Laura Hesch is invited by an Ojibwe woman to share a meal at the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe).
Until Sister Laura Hesch was given a larger mission center for her activities Mille Lacs Indian Reservation (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), she met with Ojibwe children wherever she found them.
Sister Laura Hesch had a way with children at the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe). She often treated them with a lunch when she taught them.
Sister Laura Hesch befriended a 100-year-old Ojibwe woman who lived alone on the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe). It was through such relationships that she won the hearts of the Ojibwe.
Sister Laura made inroads into life of reservation by making friends with the Ojibwe children who loved the treats she brought when she visited Mille Lacs Indian Reservation (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe).
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Sister Lioba Braun, at the organ, leads the sisters at St. Benedict's Mission in song. Sister Lioba, one of the first sisters to help establish St. Benedict's Mission at White Earth, brought her gift of music and singing and soon had a choir that was able to sing at the religious services. The sister to the immediate right of Sister Lioba is identified as Sister Meinrad Burrell and the sister to Sister Meinrad's right as Sister Basilia Cosgrove. [SBMA]
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). After the missionaries had settled in White Earth and had begun to build a new church and school, the Ojibwe of Buffalo River (Callaway), eight miles away, asked Father Aloysius Hermanutz to send them teachers for their children. Rather than refuse, Father Aloysius promised he would do so if they built a school. He believed that they would be unable to provide a building. However, when they did offer a place for the school, Sister Philomena saved Father Aloysius' embarrassment by offering to ride daily to Buffalo River to teach if Father would lend her his pony. After some mishaps in riding strange horses when Father Aloysius needed his, Sister Philomena begged for a pony of her own which she received. She was also able to convince the bishop to provide her with a saddle. [SBMA, McDonald, pp. 237-238]
St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Nation). Sisters and students pose on the porch of the convent/school. In 1889, with a donation received from the Drexel sisters, a convent/boarding school was built. Upstairs were sleeping quarters for the sisters and girls; downstairs contained the kitchen, recreation room, and refectory for serving meals. At the time there were five sisters, 35 boarding students of ages six to eighteen, and 25 day students. It proved to be so successful that it had to be enlarged within two years. A house was purchased to be the dormitory for boys and the temporary church (built in 1891) served as the dormitory for boys after a new church was completed in 1893. [SBMA; Lindblad, pp. 41-43]
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). The complex of buildings comprising St. Benedict's Mission in White Earth as viewed from the lake in the early 1890s. By 1895, the mission had reached the peak of its development because that year the federal government reversed its policy of giving aid for education on the reservations and set 1899 as the final date after which no more public money would be given. [SBMA]
Stella Stocker is in the foreground with an elder Ojibwe man, who is smoking a pipe, behind her. Stocker identified the man as Chief Maingans. Maingans was originally from Mille Lacs but was living at White Earth in 1908 where he was an informant for ethnographer Frances Densmore. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Stella Stocker combined two photographs to show One Road holding a pipe that she is smoking. One Road, a Dakota elder, is wearing a feather headdress. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Stella Stocker carrying a balsam fir tree to her and her daughter Clara's camp site. Clara Stocker must have taken this photograph. This snapshot is from Stella Stocker's photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
An unidentified man, wearing a beaded bandolier bag, is in the foreground with Maingans behind him and Stella Stocker's hat visible to the left. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A view of a lake with Stella Stocker in the foreground writing. A row boat is on the lake shore. This snapshot is from Stella Stocker's photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
St. Benedict's Industrial School was established in 1884 when St. Benedict's Convent contracted with the U.S. government, through the Catholic Indian Bureau, for support of 30 girls from the White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Since St. Benedict's Convent had sent sisters to teach at the White Earth mission in 1878, recruitment contacts could easily be made. However, the parents were reluctant to have their daughters leave home and the children did not take to the rigors and formalities of institutional life and education. As a result of the resistance of the Ojibwe, most of the students who came from the reservation were of not fully native but of mixed white and Indian blood. Thus, the sisters inadvertently became a part of the suppressive system which disregarded the spirit and culture of the American Indians. "The federal government, aided by church-sponsored missionaries, marched steadily toward its goal of assimilation for Indians. The drive was particularly strong between the 1880s and the 1930s. Their aim was detribalization, individualization and 'Americanization' of the American Indian." (Berg, p. 159) In the boarding schools, students, taken from their homes, were given a new wardrobe, new language and a whole new way of life. It is not surprising that before the turn of the century the government rescinded the contract system. But it has taken almost another century and the experience of assimilating peoples of different cultures for the American people to begin to appreciate the enrichment that multicultural living can offer. (SBMA, McDonald, pages 120-122 and Sister Carol Berg, OSB, "Agents of Cultural Change: the Benedictines in White Earth," Minnesota History, winter 1982, page 159).
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). About 85 boarding students and six sisters posed in the inner court of St. St. Benedict's Mission School in the early 1890s. Record keeping for this large a group of children was not simple. While the churches constructed and operated the schools on the reservations, government policy allowed the schools an annual appropriation of a flat rate for tuition, board and clothing annually; the amount varied from $100 to $150 per pupil. This policy required careful quarterly reports to be sent to Washington. All expenditures had to be accounted for - the number of pounds of meat, sacks of flour, bushels of beans and potatoes, barrels of sugar, pounds of rice, and gallons of syrup and soap These accounts show the frugality of the mission school's fare. For example, the 1886 end-of-year record shows $2.00 for candy and $2.50 for a pair of geese. [SBMA, McDonald, pp. 240-241]
Four Ojibwe young women and girls are standing in front of a birch bark covered structure, Susie Clark is on the right. They are wearing blanket shawls. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Susie Clark faces the camera and two other girls, wearing blanket shawls, have their back to the camera. A dance circle and drum group are in the background. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Three Ojibwe boys are sitting near a lake, playing with slingshots. In her album, photographer Stella Stocker notes that these boys sang for her. This snapshot by Stella Stocker is from her photograph album. Stocker, a musician and music educator, studied American Indian music among the Ojibwe people in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections