Exhibits > Trout Creek >
Roberts Mission
8. Shoshone Episcopal Girls School or “Roberts
Mission,” Date Unknown (Beatrice Crofts)
 In
1887, Chief Washakie made a personal gift to John Roberts of 160
acres of land as the site for a permanent school for Shoshone girls.
Washakie is often quoted as saying, “Our hope is in the children
and young people.” We know from papers in Roberts’ handwriting
that Washakie told him that he believed the children must be educated
to live in the Indian’s changing world.
This view of the mission school. (1890-1949), shows the circular
“teepee” to the far left, a wooden structure which Roberts
built as playhouse to combat homesickness. Here, young Shoshone
girls were allowed to speak their own language, encouraged to sing
their native songs and to practice tradition arts such as beadwork.
|
