Friday evening marks the opening of a significant new exhibit at the Cascade County Historical Society’s history museum in Great Falls. This exhibition focuses on an Indian boarding school that operated near Cascade, Montana, from the mid-19th to early 20th century. It is the museum’s first major showcase built around historical records recently donated by a Roman Catholic religious order. This exhibit highlights a crucial part of Native American history in Montana.
In the 1860s, Jesuit priests established St. Peter’s Mission boarding school in north-central Montana to promote Catholicism among the Blackfeet Nation. By 1884, Ursuline Sisters joined the Jesuits to manage a girls’ school at St. Peter’s. The Jesuits eventually departed, leaving the Ursuline Sisters to oversee the institution. From the 1800s to the 1970s, Native American children were coerced into attending boarding schools aimed at assimilation. Many children faced punishment for speaking their languages and experienced severe abuse. Tragically, some even died and were buried in unmarked graves. St. Peter’s Mission was among at least 16 Indian boarding schools in Montana, educating thousands before closing in 1918.
THE STORY OF THE RECORDS
According to Sister Dianne Baumunk, provincial superior of the Ursuline Sisters Western Province, the nuns are known for their meticulous record-keeping. “We have a tradition of documenting our homes, schools, students, and more,” she stated. However, the organization of these records is often lacking. Until recently, the Ursuline Centre in Great Falls stored boxes of historical documents dating back to the 1880s. These records, detailing the nuns’ daily lives and information about the Indian boarding schools, including St. Peter’s Mission, were underutilized due to limited access and organization.
In 2023, after selling the Ursuline Centre, the need arose to relocate these valuable records. While other provinces sent their documents to Boston College, the Western Province opted to loan theirs to the Great Falls history museum, ensuring accessibility for local Native communities. “We decided it was more important for the Native people in Montana and everybody in Montana to have access,” Baumunk emphasized.
With approval from the Ursuline Sisters’ mother house in Rome, the records were transferred to the museum, where staff and volunteers prioritized organizing documents related to Indian boarding schools. Jimmy Grant, a historian, noted that the museum’s efforts have made the records much more accessible for research. “It’s a lot easier to see what’s there,” Grant commented.
NEW ACCESS
Mary Lynn Lukin, of Blackfeet heritage, often heard tales of her grandfather’s experiences at boarding schools. Her curiosity led her to the Great Falls museum, where she found records of her relatives at St. Peter’s Mission. Lukin dedicated over 300 volunteer hours to help catalog these records. She discovered intriguing details, such as a program featuring her grandfather’s sisters and misidentifications of their tribal affiliations.
Researcher Jimmy Grant further uncovered records about Lukin’s relative, Nora, highlighting the challenges faced by children at these schools. Grant noted that diseases spread rapidly in institutional settings, exacerbating the hardships. “A lot of the records are really tough to read,” he shared, describing conditions of starvation and disease.
THE EXHIBIT
The exhibit, “Voices of Our Ancestors: The Records of St. Peter’s Mission Boarding School,” opens at the Great Falls history museum on Aug. 21, at 6 p.m., and will be available for a year. Curated by Grant, it features photographs, historical documents, and artifacts such as instruments, a mission dormitory bed, and artwork by Blackfeet artist Louis Still Smoking. Each section spotlights the story of a child or their descendant. The exhibition aims to educate the public about these records and encourage descendants to explore their ancestors’ stories.
—
Read More Montana News
