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Genoa Indian School

In 1884 the Genoa Indian Industrial School was opened in Nance County on the grounds of an earlier vocational training school for Indian children. This new boarding school taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, but its emphasis was on vocational training. Students learned farming, blacksmithing, carpentry, nursing, laundering, sewing, and cooking so that they would graduate with marketable skills and presumably be more easily assimilated into white society.

Black and white photo of three people walking down a wide dirt road toward a large building, with a church and other small structures on either side.

 

The school newspaper, The Indian News, as well as programs for school events such as graduation, provide fascinating accounts of life at the school and make clear the emphasis being placed on graduating students who had left their traditional culture behind.

 

Cover of "The Indian News," published monthly at the Genoa Indian Industrial School, Genoa, Nebraska, February 1908, Number R.

The Indian News, February 1908


Cover of "The Indian News" November 1908 issue, featuring a geometric blue border and red text with a decorative pattern in the center.

The Indian News, April 1918

 
Cover of "The Indian News" from April 1918, featuring an American flag and noting monthly publication by the Genoa Industrial School, Genoa, Nebraska.

The Indian News, November 1908

 

Additional Genoa Indian Industrial School documents:

 

Commencement Exercises program for Grant Institute, June 19-24, 1910, in Genoa, Nebraska, featuring a black-and-white photo of people standing on a lawn in front of buildings.

Commencement Exercises of Grant Institute, Genoa, Nebraska. June 19-24, 1910


A tan booklet titled "Annual Calendar Genoa Nebraska 1913-1914" with a swastika symbol and a handwritten name on the cover.

Annual Calendar, Genoa Nebraska 1913-1914

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