Information: The first column shows data points from Choate, John Nicholas, 1848-1902 in red. The third column shows data points from Choate, J. L. in blue. Any data they share in common is displayed as purple boxes in the middle "Shared" column.
John Nicholas Choate was born in Winnfield, Connecticut in 1848. He moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1875 and opened his photography studio at the corner of Market Square and Main Street. In 1876 he moved his shop to 21 West Main Street, where it would remain. Choate was one of Carlisle's most prominent local photographers, taking portrait photos of local dignitaries, groups, locations, and events, as well as important visitors to Carlisle. In addition to creating portrait photographs in his shop, Choate took photographs of local landscapes, using a horse-drawn studio. In 1895 a local newspaper reported that he had been granted a patent "on a mechanical apparatus for retouching photographs. The principle depends upon the secondary vibrations of an electric battery."
He is best-known today for the hundreds of photographs he took of students from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. From the opening of the school in 1879 until his death in 1902, Choate appears to have been the preferred photographer for the school. In addition to taking photographs of the students on the school grounds and in his studio, Choate also created portraits of the many visiting Native American chiefs. Many of these photographs related to the school were widely distributed in their day.
The United States Indian School at Carlisle, Pa., was founded by Gen. Richard Henry Pratt in 1879, and served as a model for government boarding schools for Indians until its closure in 1918. Over 10,000 students enrolled at the Carlisle Training School during its 39 years, where, separated from their native cultures, the students were prepared for work in industrial and manual labor and socialized into "civilized" life. Given new white names to replace their Indian ones, the students were prohibited from speaking their native languages, were instructed in Christianity, and were fed, clothed, and housed under strict military discipline. The 27 photographs in the Speck-Choate Photograph Collection were taken by J. N. Choate, a local commercial photographer in Carlisle, Pa., and collected by the anthropologist Frank G. Speck. Choate advertised "Photographs of all the Indian Chiefs that have visited the Indian Training School at Carlisle Barracks, also of children in native and school costumes" and were intended to document the benefits of civilization that the school brought to Indians. Typical images include "before and after" shots of students in native dress and school uniforms, the school band, and shots of the students at work in the saddle shop and making shoes. Choate also took a number of images of visiting chiefs in traditional dress, including the Lakota chief Spotted Tail, and the Cheyennes Man on Cloud and Mad Wolf. One photograph depicts Richard Henry Pratt seated with Quaker supporters. Among the tribes represented are the Lakota, Laguna, Cheyenne, Creek, Lipan, and Pueblo.
ArchivalResource:
0.25 Linear feet; 27 photographs
The collection brings together images by well-known Western photographers such as A.F. Randall, John Grabill, C.S. Fly, Stanley Morrow, Ben Wittick and John Choate. Primarily images of famous Indian leaders, as well as other portraits and scenes.
ArchivalResource:
305 Albumen prints (some as cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards); 6 Acetate negatives
Indian training schools photographic collection circa 1870-1902
Indian training schools photographic collection circa 1870-1902
Title:
Indian training schools photographic collection circa 1870-1902
16 black and white photographs, ca. 1870-1902, of Native Americans at Indian training schools in Forest Grove, Oregon and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, many students identified; Portrait of Sioux Chief Spotted Tail; Metlakahtla Indians at a Fourth of July celebration in 1897.
ArchivalResource:
.06 cubic feet (16 photographs in 4 folders)
Choate, J. N. (John N.), 1848-1902,. Indian training schools photographic collection [graphic], circa 1870-1902.
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Choate, John Nicholas, 1848-1902
creatorOf
General William Nicholson Grier collection of photographs
General William Nicholson Grier collection of photographs
Title:
General William Nicholson Grier collection of photographs
The General William Nicholson Grier photograph collection contains 10 photographs that Grier collected related to his service with the US Army (1835-1870). The photographs include depictions of Carlisle Indian School students circa 1879-1884 and portraits of the 1868 Navajo Treaty signers.
ArchivalResource:
0.03 Linear feet; 10 Photographic prints
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