Researching My Heritage: The Old Leupp Boarding School Historic Site

Abstract

My research documents the early history of the Old Leupp Boarding School, a U.S. federal Indian boarding school in operation on the Navajo Reservation from 1909-1942. In keeping with Diné (Navajo) cultural teachings, I utilize non-destructive research methods, including a critical analysis of archival records, historic photographs, and oral history interviews with Navajo elders who attended school at Leupp, to demonstrate how Navajo students and their families resisted the U.S. federal government’s assimilationist educational policies during the early twentieth century. These accounts of Diné survivance and the continuance of k’e relationships demonstrate the importance and power of conducting oral history research in support of traditional archaeological work at historic Navajo sites.

Mi investigación registra la historia temprana del Old Leupp Boarding School, un internado federal indio en la Reserva Navajo de los Estados Unidos en funcionamiento entre los años 1909 y 1942. De acuerdo con las enseñanzas culturales Diné (Navajo) utilizo métodos de investigación no destructivos que incluyen un análisis crítico del registro de archivos, fotografías históricas y entrevistas enfocadas en la historia oral con ancianos Navajo que asistieron a la escuela en Leupp, para demostrar cómo los estudiantes Navajos y sus familias resistieron las políticas educativas asimilacionistas del gobierno federal de los Estados Unidos a principios del siglo XX. Estos relatos de la supervivencia Diné y la continuación de las relaciones k'e demuestran la importancia y el poder de realizar investigaciones de historia oral en apoyo al trabajo arqueológico tradicional en los sitios históricos Navajo.

KEYWORDS:

• Diné
• Navajo
• federal Indian boarding school
• Native educational experiences
• Indigenous archaeology
• ethnohistory
• survivance
• Navajo boarding school

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Joe Watkins and Farina King for their thoughtful reviews, as well as Wade Campbell for his continued support and Solsire Cusicanqui for her assistance with the Spanish abstract. Thank you to the School for Advanced Research for providing the space to concentrate and write during my Anne Ray Fellowship year in 2019. This research was conducted under a Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Class C Permit (C16031-E) and approved by the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board (NNR-16.253).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).