February 1998 - Volume 4, No. 2
Treasures from Tams-Witmark
By Geri Laudati
The curiosity of a researcher in Pennsylvania, the fastidious cataloging of a remarkable archival collection, and the international access provided by WorldCat all combined to provide a fascinating glimpse into the performance history of one show in the Tams-Witmark/Wisconsin Collection.
Among the collections at the Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, Barbara Lee, a graduate student at Lehigh University, discovered an old photograph of two American Indian children dressed as pilgrims. From other materials at the Society, Ms. Lee identified the occasion of the photo as a 1909 production of The Puritans, a comic opera in three acts, performed by students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
The School, in existence from 1879-1918, was founded by Richard Henry Pratt who had spent eight years (1867-1875) in Indian Territory as an officer of the 10th Cavalry. Along with other Indian reformers who were uncomfortable with the government's extermination policies, Pratt began to formulate ideas of assimilation. He would take Indian children from the reservations, remove them to a school far away from tribal influences, and transform them into white people. In an address to a convention of Baptist ministers Pratt wrote: "In Indian civilization, I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked."
Pratt's dream of an Indian boarding school where such assimilation could take place was realized in 1879 when an abandoned barracks in Carlisle was turned over for his use and the first 72 students, from two Dakota reservations, took up residence.
The school was run like the military and discipline was strictly enforced. Students wore uniforms, were housed in dormitories, and were not allowed to speak their native languages. They followed a program consisting of reading, writing and arithmetic, and carpentry, tinsmithing, blacksmithing for the boys, or cooking, sewing, laundry, baking, and other domestic arts for the girls.
In addition to the academic and industrial programs, art, drama, and music were important aspects of the Carlisle curriculum. Every student took music classes and many received private instruction. The Carlisle Indian School band became a popular parade addition and was featured at every Presidential Inaugural Parade during the life of the school. Choral music was also encouraged and the school had several choirs.
Over the School's 39-year history, many programs were held and visitors were often treated to musical performances. By 1909, these included a staged and costumed three-act comic opera, The Puritans, or The Captain of Plymouth, by Harry Carleton Eldridge. In the principal roles were Frank L. Johnson (Winnebago), and Rosabel B. Pickard (Wichita), both students at the school since 1903. The opera was repeated in 1910, with Miss Pickard and Delia Edwards (Onondaga), a newcomer to the School, in the cast.
Included among the holdings in the Tams-Witmark/Wisconsin Collection are eight published librettos of The Puritans. One copy bears names of cast members pencilled in the preliminaries, another the indication "property of Rosa B. Pickard, esq." One copy bears the signature of Frank L. Johnson and the text of an aria written on the cover. Another includes the inscription "Miss Delia Edwards, Indian School, Carlisle, Pa."
Ms. Lee's reaction when she discovered the annotated record on WorldCat was "to almost fall from my chair in excitement." The Tams-Witmark collection represents a rental library from which professional and amateur performing groups hired production materials for performance. Clearly, these same materials had been used at the Carlisle Indian School's productions of 1909 and 1910.
We are currently in process of securing copies of the 1909 and 1910 programs and photographs from the Carlisle Historical Society, and of the only extant score, which ironically resides at the Milwaukee Public Library. Along with Ms. Lee's thesis, these will provide a welcome adjunct to the collection.