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Library of Virginia
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E. Alexander
The educational records of former students who are living are restricted until the student is deceased. If the former student cannot be traced, the records are closed for 75 years (2043). (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99). A list of students whose records are restricted is in each box for reference when releasing or redacting records.
There are no restrictions.
Virginia Dept. of Education, Indian School Files, 1936-1968. Accession 29632, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
This collection was transferred by the Virginia Dept. of Education in 1976.
This collection was reprocessed in 2022.
After years of violent conquest at the hands of the English colonizers throughout the Anglo-Powhatan Wars, the Treaty of 1646 established Anglo designated reservation lands for the Pamunkey, Weyanock, and Chiskiack with additional provisions for the Mattaponi, as well as at least nine other tribal groups. While the Treaty of 1677 at Middle Plantation re-established these holdings, due to subsequent colonial pressure, illegal seizures of land, and Native population depletion from disease, violence, and forced resettlement, by the 19th century the only reservation lands, still diminished but intact, belonged to the Pamunkey and Mattaponi.
Prior to the Civil War, education was largely an individual endeavor reserved primarily for white elites who were able to afford the expense. This changed when the 1869 Virginia Constitution established the state's first public education system, and in less than a year an 1870 Act passed by the General Assembly dictated that the schools be racially segregated. As a result, localities prohibited Native children from attending white public schools and instead required them to attend schools established for Virginia's Black children. Instead of complying, many Virginia tribal groups created their own schools solely for Native children.
The Pamunkey and Mattaponi reservations worked together to establish, staff, and fund an educational network for their children through the 1870-1890s. While both operated schools on their respective reservations prior to the 1910s, the schools were difficult to suport due to inadequate resources and staff. Chief George F. Custalow of the Mattaponi advocated for better resources for the school and with the help of a 1916 ruling by the Assistant Attorney General of Virginia, Leslie C. Garnett, it was determined that citizens of a reservation were "wards of the State" and not citizens of the locality. This resulted in the Virginia Department of Education agreeing to allocate an annual sum for the education of Native children on the Pamunkey and Mattaponi reservations, starting with the 1917-1918 school year for $1012.43.
In June 1950, the two tribes voted to consolidate into one school forming the Mattaponi-Pamunkey Reservation School in order to offer a broader and better program for grades 1 through 8. During the summer of 1950, the school building on the Mattaponi reservation, which was to house the consolidated school, was completely renovated with many new facilities added through additional State funds and donations from the Society of Friends and the Richmond Dietetics Association.
The majority of Virginia Indian children did not have access to high school courses locally as the Mattaponi-Pamunkey Reservation School only supporting a high school for a handful of years in the late 1950s-1960s. Beginning in 1946, the State provided tuition and transportation funding for high school students to complete their courses at Bacone Junior College (Oklahoma), Cherokee Reservation School (North Carolina), Oak Hill Academy (Grayson County, Virginia), as well as various places in Michigan. This program, while marketed as an opportunity, acted as a continuation of the Indian Boarding School era by removing these children from their homes and communities to simply receive an education. After the fight for integration in Brown v. Board of Education and solidified in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Virginia provided integrated public education for grades one through twelve resulting in the closing of the Mattaponi-Pamunkey Reservation School at the completion of the 1966 school year.
In addition to the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey, the tribes most prominently represented in these records, other tribes of Virginia Indians and their schools also appear in the records including: the Rappahannock; the Chickahominy and Eastern Chickahominy of Samaria School, located in Charles City County (served Indian pupils from Charles City and New Kent Counties); the Upper Mattaponi of the Sharon Indian School located in King William County (served Indians residing in that county); the Sappony of the High Plain Indian School located in Person County, NC (served Indians residing in that county and Halifax County, VA.).
This collection documents the educational activities of the Virginian Indian children and the administration of the Mattaponi-Pamunkey School by the Virginia Department of Education. It includes correspondence, memos, pamphlets, photographs, applications, architectural drawings, reports, grade books, transcripts, and other related documents.
This collection is arranged into two (2) series:
Series I: Administrative Records, 1944-1968; Series II: Educational Records, 1936-1966This series documents the administration of the school(s), their operations, and the boarding of students at schools out of state. Records include correspondence, annual administrative reports, meeting minutes, building agreements, commencement programs, equipment lists and orders, policies, contracts, newspaper articles, publications, photographs, menus, food items donated, requisition forms, and other records.
Alphabetically
This series documents the educational programming of the school(s), as well as the academic careers of the students. Included are attendance records and reports, grade books, reports on students at the boarding schools, curriculum files, book lists, high school transcripts, test books and answers, student registration, correspondence, and photographs. Academic records of living students (including but not limited to daily attendance and grades, monthly teacher reports, and yearly reports) are restricted for 75 years.
Alphabetical
These student records begin partway through the collection's timeframe, and do not list every student who attended the school(s). These student records may include correspondence, cumulative records, personal data record forms, report cards, reports, and test scores. Students may also be listed in the daily, monthly, or yearly reports as well as reports from the boarding schools which may list name, age, and grades. The records of deceased students are available for research, while the records of living students are closed until the student is deceased or after 2041. If you are a former student and would like to access your record(s), please contact Reference Services.