Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives of Alaska. Bulletin, 1929, No. 12

In addition to maintaining schools for the native children of Alaska, the United States Bureau of Education aids entire communities by extending medical aid, by relieving destitution, by fostering commercial enterprises, by supervising the reindeer industry, and by promoting generally the interests of the natives. The organization of the Alaska division of the bureau consists of the office in Washington, D. C., the office in Seattle, Washington, which is the headquarters of the chief of the Alaska Division and functions as the purchasing and disbursing office for the bureau's Alaskan work, and the field force in Alaska, which, during the fiscal year 1927-28, included superintendents, teachers, physicians, nurses, employees in connection with the reindeer service, employees on the U. S. S. Boxer and on the Yukon River medical boat, cooks, janitors, and orderlies. Ninety-five schools were maintained with an enrollment of 3,742 pupils. In each of the day schools, in addition to instruction in the usual academic, subjects, attention is given to such industrial work as conditions permit. Sewing, cooking. and carpentry are emphasized. Important as the industrial work of the day schools is, it must be supplemented by specialized training in such activities as will enable the natives successfully to meet the new conditions resulting from the advance of civilization. With this in view, three industrial boarding schools are maintained, located at White Mountain, Alaska (on the Seward Peninsula); at Kanakanak, Alaska (on Bristol Bay); and at Eklutna, Alaska (on the Alaska Railroad north of Anchorage). The curriculum of these schools includes such industries as carpentry, furniture making, boat building, the making of clothes, shoemaking, sled construction, operation and repair of gas engines, ivory carving, taxidermy, and basket weaving. Having in view the necessity for the training of natives for service in connection with their cooperative stores, instruction is given in typewriting, stenography, clerical work, and business methods. Problems in connection with the reindeer industry are considered. Reindeer skins are tanned and made into garments. Instruction in health and sanitation is given by resident nurses. Directed play includes basketball, baseball, and tennis, as well as the primitive games of the natives themselves. Utilization of Alaska's food supply is stressed. Fish and berries, obtained plentifully during the season, are canned for winter use. The gardens at Eklutna. furnish many of the vegetables required and hunting expeditions by the older boys supply the school with the meat of the caribou and the mountain sheep. From these industrial schools students will go directly into the industrial and business life of their communities, applying at once the knowledge and skill gained in the schools. [Best copy available has been provided.]