The following excerpt is from Ella Robinson’s research paper on Cherokee seminaries, which she wrote for the Indian-Pioneer History Project on April 12, 1938.

When the Seminary at Park Hill opened, Miss Ellen Whitmore came out as Principal teacher and Miss Sarah Worcester came as her assistant. Working among the Cherokees was not a new thing for Miss Worcester as her parents were missionaries among them in the East and she had been born and reared among them. Mr. William Ross went north to accompany the young ladies on their western journey, which was a great undertaking and took some three weeks time.

The school opened with twenty-five young lady pupils. Opening day was a grand occasion. The rooms and halls were decorated with wild azaleas, honey suckle and roses. The military band from Fort Gibson was on hand, through the courtesy of General [William W.] Belknap.

Miss Whitmore’s stay was short. In response to her earnest plea, Miss Chapin filled the vacancy she left with Miss Pauline Avery, whom she sent as our principal teacher. She, too, belonged to the teaching staff of Mt. Holyoke. The salary of the teachers had been fixed at thirty dollars per month, including all expenses, which was considered a fair salary.

It was the policy of the Board of Education that they follow the working plans of Mount Holyoke as nearly as possible. Truly the Female Seminary could be called the Cherokee daughter of Mt. Holyoke.

The religious life of the student body was by no means a secondary matter. From the beginning, church services for every Sunday were provided. Sunday school was in regular order each Sunday and each pupil was required to attend unless prevented by illness. Different ministers were invited to preach. In 1854 Miss Eliza Ross; niece of Chief John Ross, joined the faculty. The teachers from Mt. Holyoke fitted themselves into the life, not only of the schools but into the community life as well, and formed lasting friendships among the Cherokees. Miss Avery proved to be just the one to fill the place of principal teacher and in a letter to her friends at Mt. Holyoke expressed herself as being highly pleased with her work and at the end of the second year reported the school in a flourishing condition.

In 1854 Miss Charlotte Raymond came out from Mt. Holyoke to fill the place of Assistant Teacher. As the student body increased each year, additional teachers were employed. One of the common features of all educational work at that time were the public examinations held at the close of each term, and as the result of these examinations, the student’s grades were regulated. Visitors were invited and welcomed, as all instructors were glad to show the progress of their students. During Miss Avery’s principalship a publication was begun at the Female Seminary called “Cherokee Rose Buds,” devoted to “The Good, the Beautiful, the Fine.” The second number was dated August, 1854. The year prior to that the young men at the Male Seminary had started a publication, “The Sequoyah Memorial,” embodying the principles of “Truth, Justice, Freedom of Speech, and Cherokee Improvement.”

Both Seminaries had an advantage over many institutions of their kind in that the teachers and students lived in the same building and were associated together, which was advantageous to the students. The teachers also had direction of the outside reading courses, and one teacher was detailed for duty each Saturday in the Library. Students were admitted at the age of fourteen, provided they had passed a satisfactory examination given by the public school teachers.

The daily program for each school was as follows:

Students’ Rising Bell	5:30 A.M.
Study Hall	6:00–7:00
Breakfast and detail	7:00–8:30
Chapel Exercises	8:30–9:00
Recitations	9:00–12:00
Noon Hour	12–2:00 P.M.
Military Drill	4:00–4:50
Supper	5:00–6:45
Study Hall	6:45–8:45
First Retiring Bell	9:00 P.M.
Second Retiring Bell	9:15 P.M.

The schools were thoroughly graded, and a three years preparatory course was required before entering the Seminary work proper. The first year work consisted of Penmanship, Phonetics, Reading, Arithmetic, Geography, English Composition, History and Spelling. Advanced work in each subject was given in second and third years. The first year of the Academic Department work consisted of Latin, English Grammar, Geography, Ancient History, United States History, Higher Arithmetic, Algebra, Physical Geography, and Philosophy. In the sophomore year the following subjects were given: Ancient Languages, Analysis, English Rhetoric, Caesar, English History, Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. In the third year or Junior year, the subjects given were ancient languages, Cicero, Ovid, Thucydides, Modern Language, French, German, English Literature, American Literature, Mental Science, Political Economy, Moral Philosophy, Trigonometry, Geometry, Botany and Geology. The fourth or senior year offered ancient languages, Virgil, Livy, Modern Languages, Moliere, Goethe, English Literature, Mental Science, Mental Philosophy, Theology, Arithmetic, Surveying, Calculus, … Zoology….

After having been in operation for some five years, both Seminaries were forced to close in 1856, on account of lack of funds. The Male Seminary closed October 20, 1856, and the Female Seminary at the end of the regular fall term.

During the time the schools were in operation, no time was lost in preparing classes for graduation. The first class was ready in 1855, showing that the regular four years courses had been completed.

The Seminaries were not reopened until in the early seventies and it was not until 1879 that a class was ready for graduation again. When the Cherokees returned to their operation after the close of the war, they found the country in a pitiful condition. Their dwellings for the most part, had been destroyed or burned, stock driven off by the invading army … and the fields overgrown with weeds and underbrush. However, even in their poverty they did not forget the most important thing in their nation—that of schools, and they set about to reorganize the two seminaries. Again they appealed to Mt. Holyoke to send them teachers. Among those who responded in 1875 to the call was Miss Florence Wilson, a young graduate from that institution. She served as principal teacher until 1901, then she retired. Another who came in 1873 was Miss Addie Noyse, who remained for some two years.

The first graduating class of the Female Seminary after it was reopened was January 27, 1879, and was composed of Isabelle [sic] Cobb, a medical doctor now living in Tennessee, and Vann Steele, deceased.

In 1887, on April 10, the Female Seminary building was totally destroyed by fire. Plans for the erection of a new building to be located in the north section of Tahlequah were begun and a new substantial three story brick building was started November 3, 1887, and completed April 18, 1889, being dedicated May 5, 1889.

The Cherokees were justly proud of their educational institutions; as well as other things belonging to the nation and were a happy, prosperous people. But the insatiable greed of the white people prevailed and sections of land were opened to white settlement and finally the Indian Territory proper, with Oklahoma Territory, was admitted to Statehood in 1907. It had been the proud boast of the Cherokees that they were able to maintain their educational system “which was their own” without advice or interference from the United States Government through the Indian Department in Washington. No work of the Female Seminary went on in their new home until statehood, when the property was sold to the state of Oklahoma. It had always been in the minds of the leaders of the nation to train and educate their young generation so when those in positions of trust retired there would be others to fill the places…. With the closing of the tribal affairs of the Cherokees and the abolishment of their school system, was brought to a close the existence of a government of the happiest, most contented and prosperous people ever in existence.¹

ENDNOTES

¹ Ella Robinson, “Cherokee Seminaries,” vol. 108, no. 13812, Apr. 12, 1938, 9–18, Indian Pioneer Papers, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.