Samuel Townsend, who attended Carlisle from 1879 through the late 1880s, was often represented in print as an educated Indian for his participation in performances designed to raise funds for the school. For example, an 1887 New York Times article titled “Educated Indians. The Carlisle School’s Way of Solving the Indian Problem,” mentions the original speech on “Work a Civilizer” that Townsend delivered before an audience at the Academy of Music in New York City. Besides delivering speeches at such events, Townsend was considered an exemplar of the vocational work being done at the school.
While at Carlisle, Townsend was trained in the school’s printing office. He printed the school’s publications and was the first editor of the School News, the only student-edited newspaper printed at Carlisle. A four-page, two-column monthly, the School News was printed and edited by students and was intended to showcase the progress they were making in the vocation of printing and in learning English. Townsend’s apprenticeship in Carlisle’s print shop afforded him the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of publishing. His experience printing and editing the School News prepared him for his career as a printer for the Chippeway Herald at the White Earth Boarding School in Minnesota and later as the night foreman for the Daily Oklahoma State Capital. (“Educated Indians” 5; Littlefield and Parins, American Indian 101, 317, 320, 335–37)
This is a very pleasant morning; the sun is shining very bright.
In this school there are many different tribes going to school. Some of these boys are learning to read and write very fast. And another thing they are learning they can make a speech in the chapel.
I am learning how to print papers. Every morning and evening I go there to the printing office and work a little and when the school bell rings I go to school. I am both trying to read and write well. I can set one stick full in a day. I like the trade I am learning.
[A] few days ago Sioux chiefs were here to see their children at Carlisle School. They were very glad to see them, and were glad to see so many different tribes.8