Investigation into the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School

Abstract

This paper focuses on telling the story of the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School (Chilocco School) from its establishment in Chilocco, Oklahoma in 1884 to its closure in 1980. A variety of government documents and resources were used to reconstruct this story, and it is the author’s hope that this methodology might be applicable to research conducted on other Federal Indian Boarding Schools. The Chilocco School was a non-reservation boarding school with a long timeline (1884–1980). Its history of management is well documented through executive orders, federal reports from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessor, the Office of Indian Affairs, from the United States Department of the Interior, and United States Congressional budgetary documents. The school’s history parallels changes in thought in the federal approach to indigenous populations, including the investigations into the abusive practices that led to its closing.