This research guide presents manuscript materials and printed materials about alumnae and their work with Indigenous Americans. Please note that the materials listed below are from white U.S. and European perspectives. For Indigenous history specifically at Mount Holyoke College, please see our LibGuide Indigenous History and Experience At MHC. Questions? Email archives@mtholyoke.edu or call 413-538-3079.
Banister, Zilpah P. Grant (Zilpah Polly Grant), 1794-1874. Papers, 1803-1874.
2 boxes (0.625 linear ft.)
Chiefly letters by and to Banister, 1822-1874, relating to her work as a teacher and to the activities of family members, former students and friends, including Mary Lyon, Catharine Beecher, Joseph Emerson and Cynthia Farrar. Include letters by Maria B. Brooks, Richard Fields, William Potter, Sophia Sawyer, and William H. Williams relating to missionary work with the Cherokees. Also includes autobiographical sketches and other writings, biographical materials, a portrait and photographs.
Collection guide: MS 0506 (LD7093.37 .B33)
Buckland Female School Records, 1826-1830.
1 box (0.42 linear ft.)
Records contain compositions, philosophical questions, handwriting exercises, catalogs, and lists of students from the school in Buckland, Massachusetts, where Mary Lyon served as principal and teacher. Includes a composition by Nancy M. Parsons (February 27, 1830) concerning the “Present crisis of the American Indians.”
Collection guide: MS 0512 (LD 7093.38 B8)
Cherokee National Female Seminary Collection, circa 1850-present.
2 boxes (0.42 linear ft.)
Correspondence, historical sketches, notes, and publications relating to a school established in 1851 in the Oklahoma Territory Correspondence, historical sketches, notes, and publications relating to a school established in 1851 in the Oklahoma Territory by and for Cherokees. Mount Holyoke alumnae Sarah Worcester (Class of 1850) and Ellen Whitmore (x-Class of 1851) were the first principals and teachers at the school.
Collection identifier: RG 39 (LD 7093.9)
Ferry, Amanda White. Extracts from letters and diaries, 1823-1833.
Typed transcript, 6 pages.
Describe her journey to Michigan Territory via the Erie Canal and life on Mackinac Island as the wife of a missionary and minister. Includes descriptions of Native Americans on the island.
Collection identifier: RG 8 (LD 7084.8 White)
Gorham, Esther M. Letter, Feb[ruary] 14 and 19, 1849, South Hadley, MA. to George W. Gorham, New Haven, CT.
Autograph letter signed, 4 pages.
Student at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary tells her brother about news the school has received from alumnae missionaries to the Choctaw Indians.
Collection identifier: RG 27.1 (LD 7096.6 x1852 Gorham)
Hitchcock, Jacob. Letter, [July 1845?], Kidron, C[herokee] N[ation], to Mary Lyon, South Hadley, MA.
Autograph letter signed, 3 pages.
Addressed to students at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, stressing the powerful influence of the school in spreading the Christian religion to Native Americans and others.
Collection identifier: RG 27.1 (LD 7096.6 x1846 Hitchcock)
Mount Holyoke College. Alumnae Biographical Files, circa 1831-present.
1, 819 boxes (639.758 linear ft.)
Include files containing biographical information about and photographs of Native American alumnae Ruth Muskrat (Class of 1925), Vera L. Nori (Class of 1932), and Charlotte A. Owl (x-Class of 1936).
Collection identifier: RG 27.1 (LD 7096.6)
Mount Holyoke College. Committee on Scholarships. Records, circa 1912-1963.
2 folders (0.17 linear ft.)
Consist of correspondence, lists, printed material, and financial records. Include correspondence concerning s scholarship established in 1932 for Native American students at Mount Holyoke College.
Collection identifier: RG 16.3.070 (LD 7092.2 Sub-group 5)
Mount Holyoke College Faculty and Staff Biographical Files, circa 1837-present.
349 boxes, 15 oversize folders (144.41 linear ft.)
Include biographical information about and photographs of Evelyn M. Yellow Robe, a Native American graduate of Mount Holyoke College (Class of 1942) who worked for the Speech Department in the spring of 1943.
Collection identifier: RG 19 (LD 7092.8 Yellow Robe)
Mount Holyoke College Missionaries Collection, circa 1841-present.
16 boxes (6 linear ft).
Consists of books, articles, and other publications, unpublished papers, correspondence, notes, lists, biographical data sheets, records of financial contributions, words and music for a song entitled "The Missionary Call", an autograph album, a photograph album, and photographs. Materials concern the work of missionaries (particularly Mount Holyoke College alumnae) in Africa, China, Hawaii, India, Japan, Turkey, the United States, and elsewhere, circa 1841-present. Includes information about their work with Native Americans and African Americans and schools founded by missionaries.
Collection guide: RG 29 (LD 7093.8 M5)
Mount Holyoke College. Student and Alumnae Profiles and Statistics Collection. Native American Students and Alumnae
1 folder (0.08 linear ft.)
Consists of lists of some of the Native Americans known to have attended Mount Holyoke. Further information about these women is available in Alumnae Biographical Files (RG 27.1).
Collection guide: RG 23.4 (LD 7093.8 N3)
Nichols, Harriet S. Letter, May 30, 1853, Belle Prairie, Minn[esota].
Typed transcript, 2 pages.
Transcript of a letter written by a Mount Holyoke alumna describing her work at the Belle Prairie Seminary school for Ojibwa Indian and mixed-heritage children.
Collection identifier: RG 27.1 (LD 7096.6 x1853 Nichols)
Williams, Caroline. Papers, 1848-1849.
Manuscript; typed materials, 4 items.
Includes a diary kept by Williams, a Mount Holyoke Female Seminary student, that mentions a visit to the school by missionaries to the Choctaw Indians.
Collection identifier: RG 27.1 (LD 7096.6 x1851 Williams)