Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1720

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.2 linear feet (1 box containing 1 volume plus 1 folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Ruth L. Parker photo album of Presbyterian missionary work at Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 1928-1940, Ms. Coll. 1720, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1928-1940 (inclusive)

Creator:

Parker, Ruth Louise, 1876-after 1950

Form:

Photograph albums

Abstract:

Ruth Louise Parker was the director of the Presbyterian Indian Mission in Wolf Point, Montana, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in 1929. This collection consists of an album Parker compiled while living and working in Wolf Point with photos of the mission, people, and events including Grass Dance and Sun Dance, plus some correspondence.

Ruth Louise Parker (1876-after 1950) was the director of the Presbyterian Indian Mission in Wolf Point, Montana, from September 1928 to August 1929. In 1932, Parker received mail and probably lived in New York City. In 1938, Parker lived in Colorado.

The Presbyterian Indian Mission operated under the Board of National Missions (BNM) based in New York City. The BNM was created in 1923 when the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. consolidated the work of several boards and agencies. While no specific department is mentioned in the materials, the BNM's Department of Town and Country Church and Indian Work was established in 1924, having been renamed from the Department of Church and Country Life. The purpose of this department was evangelical outreach to rural communities, including but not limited to Indigenous communities.

In the early 20th century, there were both Presbyterian and Mormon schools and missions on the Reservation. The Presbyterian Indian Mission in Wolf Point functioned primarily via the Wolf Point Training School until circa 1927 when the school was closed "in favor of community work" (Parker). The Mission also hosted a girls' club which is documented in the album, and held a children's play evening during winter months. Parker's article in the Wolf Point Herald, tipped in to this album, focuses on the widespread poverty and subsequent poor health of Indigenous people in Wolf Point. The Dawes Act of 1887 and the Fort Peck Allotment Act of 1908 meant that the Assiniboine and Sioux people, who had cared for land collectively, were given small, individual parcels to farm; this, after the buffalo had been hunted to a population of just 500 animals by 1889, led to further struggle and widespread poverty ("Assiniboin").

The Fort Peck Indian Reservation emcompasses approximately 3,200 square miles in northeastern Montana. The Reservation is home to the Assiniboine and Sioux nations, both of which are respectively comprised of multiple bands. Wolf Point is the largest city on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation as of 2020.

This collection was Lot 11 in Swann Galleries Sale 2687, Printed and Manuscript Americana; see below.

References and Further Reading

"Assiniboin." UXL Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, edited by Laurie J. Edwards, 3rd ed., vol. 1: Northeast, Subartic, UXL, 2012, pp. 381-401. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX4019400034/WHIC?u=upenn_main&sid=summon&xid=76e295b1. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.

Board of National Missions Office of the General Secretary Records, RG 300.1, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, https://pcusa.org/historical-society/collections/research-tools/guides-archival-collections/rg-3017.

"Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribal History." Fort Peck Tribes, www.fortpecktribes.org/visitor-opportunities/tribal-history/.\

Swann Galleries, Sale 2687, "PRINTED AND MANUSCRIPT AMERICANA," 21 Nov 2024. https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/american-indians-scrapbook-from-the-presbyterian-_1dc4fa694c

Parker, Ruth Louise. "Work of the Presbyterian Indian Mission, Wolf Point." Wolf Point Herald, 28 June 1929.

U.S. Census Bureau. "RACE." Decennial Census, DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171), Table P1, https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=160XX00US3081475. Accessed on 21 Jan 2026.

This collection consists of one photograph album (19 leaves, disbound) with black and white photos mostly of people, events, and buildings in and around the city of Wolf Point, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana, USA. The compiler, Ruth L. Parker, was the director of the Presbyterian Indian Mission in Wolf Point. The album documents the Reservation and the Presbyterian mission work. The church and mission building are documented, along with members of the Presbyterian church community. Most of the people pictured are Sioux and/or Assiniboine Indigenous residents of Wolf Point; the additional pages include photographs of Arapaho people and the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming, USA.

The album includes mostly photographs, but also includes a postage stamp, two postcards, and a clipping of an article written by Parker and published in the Wolf Point Herald. The photos are of people and families; Grass Dance and Sun Dance preparations and proceedings at Chicken Hill; and building exteriors including the Presbyterian church, a former girls' dormitory, Wetsit School for Indian Children, a trading post, and family homes. Most photographs have legible handwritten captions. Some captions explain subjects' relationship to one another. Some photographs are from later years and captions provide updates on the lives of the subjects, especially Birdie Pipe and Bernard Pratt.

Accompanying the photo album are two (2) leaves of a different kind of paper with photographs and captions in blue ink (including "Wind River Indian Reservation-Summer"); one photograph, "Wm. Standing" on verso; one empty envelope addressed to Parker; one empty envelope with "Supplementary material" typewritten; one letter from Joshua Wetsit, Robert Hamilton, and Meade Steele (possibly Stiele) to Parker about government dispossession of Indigenous peoples' rights; one letter to Parker from a Mrs. Donehoo with news from the Wolf Point Mission in 1932; and a 1938 letter from Phoebe Pratt to Parker with updates about her family.

Named individuals, in captions: Mrs. Chas Shields; Ronald Shields; Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Hamilton; David Hamilton; Mrs. Fighter; Joseph Hamilton; Mrs. Henry Blacktail; Mrs. Bearskin; Geraldine and Iola Mireau; Pearl and Walter Jones; Henrietta Headdress; Lucile Day; Edith Bearskin; Josephine and Lucy Redstone; Laura Ryan; Jo Standing and family; Mr. and Mrs. Redlighting; Ronald Shields; Ben Veldhuis; two children in the Shoots-the-Tigers family; Birdie Pipe; Melda Bear; Laura Wetsit (possibly Wets It); a baby named Lawrence (probably Wetsit or Wets It); Mr. Red Elk; Sarah Reddoor; Elaine Jones; Roy Track; Edith Track; Arthur Pratt, Sr., and his children Arthur Jr., Phoebe, Bernard, and Dorothy; Bonnie, Hazel, and Larry Martin, the children of Birdie Pipe Martin and Leroy Martin; William (i.e. Wm.) Standing; George Wallowing Bull; [missing] White Eagle; and Buster Crisspen.

This collection is a part of the Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness.