A group portrait of the boys in the Chemawa Indian School band, taken soon after the school relocated to Chemawa from Forest Grove in 1885. The students hold their instruments as if they were performing, probably as a posed demonstration for the camera. From left to right, they hold four trumpets (and/or bugles); three euphoniums or similar brass instruments; a tuba; a large drum with cymbal; and a snare drum. The student holding the large drum is probably James Stewart, Nez Perce. The four students on the left may be the same boys noted as being "buglers" on the school roster (not necessarily in this order): George Piute, Warm Springs; George Brown, Tlingit; Philip Jones, Tlingit; and George Blake, Tlingit. For another photograph taken on the same day, see image WCMss261_001_157.
A group portrait of the 1885 graduates of the Forest Grove Indian School. The school relocated from Forest Grove to Chemawa that year and was renamed soon afterwards. This image was probably made at Chemawa based on the white building in the background. It was probably taken at the end of the school year in June. The boys wear their military-style school dress uniforms; several have stripes, epaulets and medals that probably indicated their ranks within the school. The girls wear matching white dresses which the girls probably sewed in the school's sewing workshops. Two students have been identified: James Stewart, Nez Perce (middle row, fourth from right); and Jacob Helm, Paiute of Yakama (middle row, second from left). Emma Kahama may be the fourth student from the right in the top row. Students listed in school records as 1885 graduates, many of whom are probably in this portrait, include: John Alexis, Lummi; George Blake, Stikine Tlingit; David Fletcher and Jennie Fletcher, Snohomish; Jacob Helm, Paiute of Yakama; Etta Hollaquilla, Warm Springs; Thomas Itwis, Puyallup; Levi Jonas, Nez Perce; Emma Kahama, Puyallup; Peter Kalama, Nisqually and Hawaiian; Ella Lane, Puyallup; William Lewis, Tlingit; William Martin, Puyallup; George Meacham, Wasco; Lizzie Olney, Warm Springs; Emma Parker, Wasco and Warm Springs; Lillie Pitt and Sallie Pitt, Pit River and Warm Springs; Rosa Price, Nez Perce; Peter Sherwood, Squaxin Island; John Smith, Skokomish; James Stewart, Nez Perce; Susie Winyer, Nisqually.
A group portrait of mostly Tlingit boys from Alaska who were enrolled at the Forest Grove Indian School in 1881 or 2. The photograph was taken by an employee of the I.G. Davidson Studio of Portland, outdoors on the school campus. The Davidson studio took several other group portraits of students on the same day. Copies of the photographs were sold as albumen print cabinet cards to the public, with a portion of the proceeds going to the school coffers. This arrangement was made as an agreement between the studio and the school's first superintendent, Captain M.C. Wilkinson. The caption reads: "Davidson Photo. No. 37. Indian Training School, Forest Grove, Oregon. Group of Alaska Boys. Capt. M. C. WIlkinson, U.S.A., in charge."
The boys wear their everyday school clothes and caps from the school's military-style uniforms. Most of them have tucked small tokens into their button holes: oak leaves and wildflowers. Students in this image probably include those listed in the school roster as having come from Alaska by 1881: William Lear, George Brown, Frank Shattuck, Samuel Goldstein, Walter Burwell, Arthur Jackson, Harry Kadeshan, Charles Lott, Philip Jones, George Blake, and William Lewis. Of these, William Lear and Frank Shattuck appear to have actually been Samish and Coast Salish from northern Washington; the others were Tlingit of Chilkat, Sitka and Stikine. Based on another confirmed photograph, the second boy from the left in the bottom row is probably Walter Burwell. A swing can be seen hanging from the trees in the background, possibly identifying the location as the school's play area, which was just west of the campus.
A group portrait of the boys enrolled at Chemawa Indian School, very soon after the school relocated there from Forest Grove in 1885. The boys stand at attention, demonstrating a military drill for the camera. The student standing in front of the others may have been leading the drill. One student holds the United States flag aloft on the right. A woman stands in the doorway of the white building on the left. Trees, which had not yet been cleared from the campus, lie behind a fenced area in the background. The boys in this portrait were taken to the school from tribes across the Pacific Northwest as part of a government plan to force them to assimilate into white culture. For another photograph taken on the same day, see image WCMss261_001_176.
A group portrait of 62 Native American students from Pacific Northwest tribes who were enrolled at the Forest Grove Indian School. It was likely taken between May-June 1881, by which time a total of 64 students had enrolled.
This photograph was taken by an employee of the I.G. Davidson Studio of Portland. The tribes then present at the school included Puyallup, Warm Springs, Spokane, Chehalis, and Alaskan (primarily Tlingit). The caption reads: "Davidson, Indian Training School, Forest Grove, Oregon, Photo." The Davidson studio took numerous photographs of the school to sell to the public as cabinet cards. However this image, which is printed on different stock than the other Davidson cabinet cards and with a handwritten rather than printed caption, appears to have been made in smaller quantities, possibly for a smaller audience.
Several students have been identified based on other confirmed portraits. The two students in the top row wearing plaid are Nugen and Augustus Kautz, whose mother was a Nisqually woman named Tenas Puss and father was General August Valentine Kautz of the U.S. Army. The fifth student from the right in the third row from the top is David Brewer, Puyallup. The student standing furthest to the left in the third row from the top is Samuel "Spott" McCaw, Puyallup.
A family portrait of the Minnie and Samuel Ammon Thurston Walker Family of Forest Grove, Oregon. From left to right: Minerva ("Minnie") Jane Knighten Walker, Raleigh Clay Walker, Charles Lovell Walker, Pearl May Walker, and Samuel Ammon Thurston Walker. Around the time this portrait was taken, Samuel and Minnie were working as instructors for the Forest Grove Indian School and its successor, the Chemawa Indian School. Most of the family members pictured here were also known for their music and formed several popular bands in later years. This photograph is part of the Charles Lovell and Winnette Sears Walker Collection. Winnette was a 1906 alumna of Linfield College. Charles was an alumnus of Tualatin Academy who later became a musician and an insurance agent in Hillsboro, Oregon.
