History
In the winter of 1854-1855, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated treaties with Native Indians of western Washington territory that would facilitate white settlement in the area. On January 22, 1855, the Treaty of Port Elliott signed by Stevens and 82 representatives of tribes living in the central and northern Puget Sound included a pledge by the United States government to set aside land for the establishment of an agricultural and industrial school to accommodate Indian students from throughout the western part of Washington Territory. The school, "at the general agency for the District of Puget Sound", was to be established within one year. However, the pledge was not fulfilled because the government failed to provide money to support it. Instead missionaries assumed the major responsibilities for education on many reservations throughout western Washington territory.
In 1847, one priest and three seminarians from the Catholic religious community of men bearing the title Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) arrived in the Pacific Northwest. One seminarian was Eugene Casimir Chirouse. In 1857, Chirouse, now Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse, OMI, and Father Paul Durieu, OMI, working among the Snohomish Tribe, established St. Anne Mission and boys school at the mouth of Ebey Slough near Tulalip. The government appointed Father Chirouse as official teacher of the Indians with permission to build a school and church on the Tulalip Reservation. St. Anne mission and school moved to Priest’s Point near Tulalip and then in 1863 moved to an area southeast of Tulalip Bay.
In 1863, Father Chirouse invited the Sisters of Providence to establish a girls school at St. Anne Mission Tulalip. With appropriations of federal funds still pending, the sisters finally arrived in 1868 establishing Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors. The establishment of the school began to fulfill the sisters’ desires to work among the Native Indians in the Northwest. In 1869, Father Chirouse entered into a contract with the U. S. government for federal support of the mission schools of St. Anne, the first contract Indian school in the nation. The sisters and priests furnished books, clothing, housing and medical care in return for government payment of $118 per year per pupil. Our Lady of Seven Dolors was classified as an "industrial school" and as such had a curriculum including reading, writing, catechism, arithmetic, music and singing. The girls also learned to cook, sew, wash, iron and do general housework.
In 1878, the OMIs left Tulalip and the Sisters of Providence assumed the responsibility of teaching the boys from Father Chirouse’s school. The boys’ curriculum included a half day of classroom subjects with the remainder of the day learning trade skills such as carpentry, engineering, farming and shoe making.
The number of sister personnel at the school grew from four in 1868 to nine by the late 1890s. The change was in relation to the increase in the number of students. In 1868-1869, 24 students were enrolled. By 1891, 135 were enrolled, declining to 100 by 1901, the last year the sisters taught at the school.
In addition to education, the sisters also tended to the health care needs of the students and the Indians in the vicinity. Measles, scarlet fever, consumption, and pneumonia struck annually. Medicines and doctors, promised by the government treaty with the Indians, failed to materialize in many cases.
In 1896, Congress objected to federal support of sectarian schools and reduced funding by 20 percent per year until entire support for the school was canceled. To cover this reduced funding, the Sisters of Providence appealed to the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions (established in 1874 for the protection and promotion of Catholic Indian mission interests in the United States) for supplemental funds. When federal funding ceased in 1901, the government assumed possession of the school buildings. The Sisters of Providence were welcome to continue teaching at the school; however, disagreement about operation of the school without religious influence forced them to withdraw. In July 1901, the government assumed possession of the school building and began its own educational program. The school was destroyed by fire on March 20, 1902. A new, larger school opened along the shore of Tulalip Bay in January 1905 and educated children from the Tulalip Reservation until 1932 when the remaining students were transferred to local pubic schools.
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Arrangement
This collection is composed of two series of records relating to the history and finances of Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors School. The series are in two boxes: History and Financial.
Scope and Contents
Series 1: History
This series records the history of the Sisters of Providence ministry at Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors and includes chronicles, historical documentation, and correspondence.
There is one complete bound set of chronicles, 1868-1901. Because the entries for August 1868-June 1879 are only 6½ pages, it is possible that the first 11 years of chronicles were written in retrospect. The entries for the succeeding years are also brief, 1-3 pages in length per year. A second set of chronicles includes the years July 1879-July 1901. The chronicles are in French and were translated by Sister Dorothy Lentz for her 1978 book, The Way It Was In Providence Schools. The translations, 1868-1901, are on two cassette tapes, and 1868-1895 have been transcribed. The tapes are stored with the tape collection under "Sacred Heart Province Institutions." Reference to the Tulalip mission can also be found in the Provincial Administration chronicles recorded at (22) Providence Academy, Vancouver, Washington.
The history of the sisters’ ministry is told through "Sketch of Our Lady of Seven Dolors Indian Mission", written by Sister Mary Barbara Horrigan, c. 1938. Her background notes and drafts provide more detail of life and ministry on the reservation than does her final paper. Included in the background notes are the responses of Sisters Mary of Mount Carmel, Louis Angela, Mary Leopoldine, and Ida to a survey Sister Mary Barbara sent to sisters previously missioned at the school. Their responses give a brief first-hand account of the sisters’ ministry at Tulalip.
The Sisters of Providence ministry in Tulalip is tied to Father Chirouse’s invitation to teach the Indian girls. A folder on Father Chirouse and the St. Anne Mission gives background to the development of this mission. Of note is a 1932 master’s thesis by Sister Mary Louise, OP, entitled "Eugene Casimir Chirouse, OMI and the Indians of Washington". Sister Mary Louise interviewed Sisters of Providence as part of her research; however, the interview notes apparently were not kept and are not in the Archives of her community, the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Tacoma, Washington.
Of additional interest is a copy of the 1867 agreement between the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Father J. B. A. Brouillet, Vicar General of the Diocese of Nesqually, regarding funding of the Sisters of Providence education ministry to the girls at Tulalip.
Although the collection of correspondence, 1867-1884, 1901, is small, it adds a personal dimension to the sisters’ ministry. Significant correspondents include Father Chirouse; Sisters Philomene and Benedict, Superiors of the mission; Father J. B. A. Brouillet, Vicar General; Bishop Edward O’Dea, Bishop of the Diocese of Seattle; and various government agents. The early correspondence is in French and English and discusses issues in relation to the sisters’ ministry, particularly U.S. government payment of the contract funds. The 1901 correspondence is in English and relates to the transfer of the mission to the government.
Series 2: Financial
The Financial series includes the Personnel and Works Semi-Annual/Annual Reports and Expense and Receipt ledgers.
The Personnel and Works Semi-Annual/Annual Reports (commonly referred to as Personnel and Works Reports) were sent from the mission to the Sisters of Providence General Administration in Montreal, Quebec. These reports provide financial information as well as statistics on the number of sisters, students, employees, and extended ministries of the sisters. The reports span 1868-1901, with 1890-1891 missing.
The Expense and Receipt ledgers, 1868-1901, record the income and detailed expenditures for the school. The second half of these ledgers were not used for expense and receipts entries for Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors so the sisters used them for another institution unrelated to this school (Sacred Heart School, Tacoma, Washington, 1929-1947).
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Restrictions
Providence Archives is a private repository; access to some records is at the discretion of the Archivist.
Related Materials
Additional correspondence between Father Chirouse and the Sisters of Providence is found in the (13) Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart Collection. This correspondence has been translated.
A property survey drawn in September 1919 by Sister Anatolie "after the official plan of the Indian Reservation at Tulalip, Washington" is found in Inventaires des Immeubles de la Province du Sacre-Coeur (Inventory of Buildings of Sacred Heart Province). The survey shows the overall plan of the mission and includes an insert with details of the buildings’ layout. On the reverse is a brief history of the mission and the buildings.
Sister Mary Claver Morrow’s 1956 master’s thesis, "Bishop A.M.A. Blanchet and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate" is filed in the Bishop A.M.A. Blanchet Collection. The thesis includes information on the establishment of the mission and school at Tulalip as well as the work of Father Chirouse and the OMIs with the Native Indians. Her research includes typed annotations of OMI correspondence preserved in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Seattle, Seattle, Washington. Various publications giving the history of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate are located in the Priests Collection.
The Way It Was in Providence Schools, by Sister Dorothy Lentz (1978), features the history of seven early schools operated by the Sisters of Providence. In this book, the history of Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors School is told in narrative form and is based on translations of the chronicles.
A related collection, not part of the Providence Archives, is "Record Group 75: Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Tulalip Indian Agency" in the collection of the National Archives and Records Administration, Pacific Northwest Region, Seattle, Washington. A copy of the inventory, prepared in 1974, is filed in Box 1, History.
A few photographs of the mission buildings and students are filed in the photograph and postcard collections.
Prayers Used by the Sisters of Charity, published in 1883, Tulalip Mission Press, is found in the Spirituality Collection: Prayer.
The Sisters of Providence conducted (46) Providence of the Sacred Heart School, Fort Colville (Ward), Washington, on the Colville Reservation from September 26, 1873 to July 30, 1921. Historical records from 1873 to 1891 are in the Providence Archives, Seattle, while the records from 1891 to 1921 (when the school was under St. Ignatius Province) are in the Sisters of Providence Archives, Spokane, Washington.
It is unknown at present what historical material and/or photographs may be in the Providence Historical Archives in Montreal, Quebec.
Processed
November 14, 1997, by Loretta Zwolak Greene, Archivist
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BOX AND FOLDER LIST
SERIES 1: HISTORY
Box 1
History
Chronicles
1868-1901 (Set 1)
1879-1901 (Set 2)
Translation 1868-1895, and chronicles inventory
General History
Agreement, 1867
"Sketch of Our Lady of Seven Dolors Indian Mission," by Sister Mary Barbara Horrigan, c.1938
Draft/background notes
"Catholic Pioneering in and around Seattle up to the year 1900. Featuring the Sisters of Charity of Providence with the Indian Girls at Tulalip," by Sister Mary Barbara Horrigan, 1937
Father Chirouse, OMI, and St. Anne’s Mission Church
Correspondence, 1867-1884, 1901
National Archives and Records Administration Record Group 75, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Tulalip Indian Agency, 1974
Tribal Information
Requests
SERIES 2: FINANCIAL
Box 2
Personnel and Works and Semi-Annual and Annual Financial Reports, 1868 -1901 (1890-1891 missing)
Expense Journal, August 1868 - May 1893
Expense Journal, June 1893 - June 1901 (includes Sacred Heart School, Tacoma, WA, Expenses 1929-1947)
Receipt Journal, August 1868 - April 1901 (includes Sacred Heart School, Tacoma, WA, Receipts
1929-1947)
In 1868, the Sisters of Providence opened Providence of Our Lady of Seven Dolors School, on the Snohomish Indian Reservation in Tulalip, Washington. For 23 years, the sisters provided vocational and religious education to the children. They left Tulalip when the federal government withdrew funding and moved to open a secular school on the reservation.