Images of Indian missions and schools, 1890-1933

Indian missions and boarding schools

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church, building on the earlier efforts of Spanish and French missionaries, extended its network of missions and schools among Native Americans in North America. Missionaries would build schools on reservations to educate Indian children and convert them to Christianity. These mission schools often cooperated with federal Indian education programs which removed Indian children from their families and placed them in government-run boarding schools. In both cases, educators believed that the best way to convert Indians to white mainstream culture was to remove children from the tribal influences of their families. Click "View the Document" below and use the site's search boxes to locate more than 100 photos of Wisconsin missions and boarding schools.

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