Marinella Lentis PhD Candidate American Indian Studies-GIDP Native American and Indigenous Studies Meeting University of Oklahoma, Norman Oklahoma May 3-5, 2007

ABSTRACT
This paper investigates, for the first time, the reasons behind the inclusion of Indian arts and crafts in educational institutions for American Indians during a time when every aspect of Indian culture was under attack and on the verge of eradication. Though many works have been written on American Indian education (Adams 1946; Adams 1997; Archuleta, Lomawaima and Child, 2000; Child, 1998; Coleman, 1993; Fuchs and Havighurst, 1973; Hamley 1994; Rayner, 2004; Szasz, 1974) and American Indian arts and crafts (Eldrige, 2000; Gere 2004, 2005; McAnulty, 1976 [2003]; Moyer 2004; Patterson, 2002; White, 1997, 2001; Holm, 2005), none focus on Art Education in the federal boarding schools at such a critical time in Indian history as the turn of the twentieth century. This paper investigates how art, in its broadest meaning, has always been included in the curriculum of federal schools for American Indians and examines, in particular, the reasons, the approaches, and the ultimate goals of native arts and crafts instruction from 1898 to 1910 when Estelle Reel served as the federal superintendent of Indian schools. While the United States government actively sought to eradicate Indian cultures to facilitate the assimilation process, Estelle Reel introduced a Uniform Course of study that encouraged the instruction of arts and crafts. I claim that the goals Reel wanted to achieve ultimately coincided with the goals of educators and policymakers of her time: teach American Indians how to work according to Anglo-American ethics, be self-sufficient, and learn the value of money and material goods. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that Reel’s support of Native arts and crafts in the school curricula was not a generous effort to preserve Indian cultures as it has been claimed (Hoxie, 1984; Lomawaima and McCarthy 2006, just to name a few), but was part of the larger government goal to train the Indians to learn proper work habits, discipline, rigor, and economic self-sufficiency.