National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive
image courtesy National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive
image courtesy National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive
The National Indian Boarding School Digital Archive (NIBDSA) is a digital platform and repository that collates archival material from and about U.S. Federal Indian Boarding Schools. These schools, which were prevalent between 1869 the 1960s, facilitated the removal of Native American children from their homes and the placement of these children in government- and church-operated boarding schools. Record-keeping efforts at the time do not allow for the exact number of children affected to be known.
NIBDSA seeks to fill the gap of records about U.S. Federal Indian Boarding schools and supports community-led healing initiatives by promoting truth-telling and the importance of understanding the consequences of these schools for Tribal Nations.
USA Today has written about how NIBDSA informs our understanding of the history of U.S. Federal Indian Boarding Schools.