LORETTO INDIAN SCHOOL, Bernalillo, New Mexico 16 PHOTOGRAPHS

Bernalillo: n.p., 1895. Hardcover. Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHS: LORETTO INDIAN SCHOOL, Bernalillo, New Mexico. Circa 1893-1901? Unknown photographer. Sixteen original photographs approx. 4 5/8" x 6 ½" each, fourteen of them taken at this boarding school associated with the Pueblo of Isleta, or nearby. Two taken in Mexico with presumably the photographer's application of description across the bottom. One is dated 1901, which we apply as the late date for the group. The Loretto Community website gives some history of the school. It opened in 1885 with eight pupils and four sisters (four sisters appear in one of the photos). From the website: "1886-87 the number of students reached 60, from the Navajo, Teguas, Tihus and Queres of the Pueblo tribes. They ranged from 7 to 17 years of age. "As this was an Indian Government contract school, the income was from [the U.S. Government.]" The website says a two-story building and a chapel were built in 1893, so we have chosen that as the early date of the photos. The photos include students posing as a group, sheep shearing, a wedding group (dark photo that can be brightened digitally), two sharp, brilliant photos of a young woman and man, presumably a couple-and she does not look particularly happy or is distrusting the situation, two priests and a couple of soldiers hamming it up or trying to look both important and relaxed at the same time, a possible ceremonial or other reason gathering at the pueblo, four girls in presumably the school library, a group of buildings which should provide year of photo by an expert, and a sharp image of a group of people in front of a stone building. Condition over all very good with a couple of overexposures and an underexposure. These 16 photos are on "Kodak Photographs" stiff album pages, disbound. One photo has a minor corner chip. One page is cracked in the corner and has been minimally stabilized with archival filmoplast tape. A rare group of exceptional, candid, posed, and descriptive photos.