In 1947 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began what became known as the Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP). Encouraged and funded by the leadership of the LDS church, the objective of this program was to assimilate local Native Americans into the Mormon culture. Assimilation was to be accomplished by having members of the LDS church offer to act as foster parents to Native American youths, thereby providing the opportunity for a better education, Mormon religious influence, and life away from the reservation. In 1954 the ISPP was formally instituted by the LDS church. During the 1960s and 1970s the program had high enrollment, but by the 1980s the program was in decline and subject to mounting public criticism. With the 1985 death of the ISPP's strongest advocate, LDS president Spencer W. Kimball, the program lost much of its momentum. In 1990 the program was officially discontinued by the LDS church.
Source: Smith, Jenny M., Beyond the Statistics: Indian Experiences in the Indian Student Placement Program, USU M.A. Thesis, 2003. (Available in USU Special Collections & Archives.)
From the guide to the Jenny M. Smith's Indian Student Placement Program oral histories, 1999, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)
