For over 70 years a mainstay form found in non-reservation student case files is an application, typically the 5-192 in its many iterations but on occasion another specialized form. Today’s blog will dive into these and explore what information on an individual and family can be found through them.
Student case files from any boarding school, whether on or off reservation, were rarely saved prior to 1900 so it is difficult to track the usage of such a form prior to that date. However, given the forced attendance of children during the first decades of the boarding school era, perhaps the service couldn’t even bring itself to the level of hypocrisy of requiring an “application.” But those applications that appear later as the years went on, and can be found today, are a genealogy gold mine for Native students and their families.
The 5-192 form listed in the “Regulations of the Indian Office. Effective April 1, 1904”
A review of the most complete early set of student case files, those from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and held by the National Archives in Washington DC, pegs the introduction of the application form there to 1904-1905. The initial form is one page, with basic information such as name, birth date, parents, tribal affiliation, and prior education. The parents then have a section where they consent to the child’s enrollment, there was a section for the reservation agency physician to sign off on the child’s health, and lastly a section for the reservation superintendent's endorsement of the enrollment. The earliest of these actually note “Agent’s or Superintendent's Indorsement,” as the title Indian Agent was not phased out until the early 1900’s.
The 1905 form for Jesse Kenjockety at the Carlisle Indian School, scanned and hosted by the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.
The 5-192a were soon expanded to four pages - though the first page was just a cover of sorts with basic name information and the last a page of instructions. New parts were added; a much larger section on previous schooling to note not only where but what dates, grades completed, and why they left. In the circa 1915 version the school physician would also sign off on the child’s health, along with the reservation physician, but this section was dropped within ten years.
A 1915 form for Elliot Tasso at the Genoa Boarding School, scanned and hosted by the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project.
The 1929 revision tweaked the title to “Application for Admission to Non-reservation School and Test of Eligibility.” That latter addition is because by this time the Office of Indian Affairs had found it more cost efficient to send children to local public schools if available and pay those school districts, so if such schools were available for a child they were not to be admitted. The very first section dives into this, asking about local public schools and why they could not attend there. Likewise, some schools such as the Santa Fe Indian School at this time were retooling their curriculum and focusing on various traditional vocations, such as art and silversmithing, and the slots became competitive. In that vein, the 1929 form also then asked for any vocational, art, or athletic experiences and training the child had. The form now also asked for the student’s religious preference and the section on the parents was greatly expanded to include finances; if able, they were required to pay tuition. For the first time siblings are asked about, but only statistics and not names. Lastly the medical section was expanded to ask about 23 medical issues along with current vaccines and what communicable diseases they may have had.
The headings from 1927, 1929, and 1933.
The 1933 version was much the same, with the sections just rearranged. There was one new part added, however; a list of several dozen vocational and art topics that the applying student would select three from that they were interested in pursuing.
The 5-192 shifted in format dramatically in 1947. The form dropped back down to two pages but required a health record and prior school transcripts to be attached. Questions about land ownership in the family were added, the section on religious preferences expanded to have the parent consent or deny the child to partake in religious services. The health questionnaire was dropped, now back to just a signature from the reservation physician attest to the child’s health.
The shift in 1947.
In 1951 the new format and heading was kept, but the religious section shrunk back down to just one question and a new section on applying for high school and advanced vocational courses was added. In 1961 the form underwent a facelift but the questions remained largely the same, with a 1964 version virtually indistinguishable from the 1961 form. These two were used interchangeably for admissions up to 1974, where our archival student case file holdings largely end.
The 1961 and 1964 version.
OTHER APPLICATION FORMS
The 5-192 wasn’t always used by schools. The Haskell Institute, in at least 1937, had their own form which hewed close to the data the 5-192 required but then had two whole pages on “Social and Extra-curricular Data.” This included listing hobbies, books and magazines the student had read, who they go to for advice, what they feel it means to succeed, and school subjects they enjoy or disliked and why.
The heading for the Haskell Institute application, 1937.
Following WWII the Special Navajo Education Program was started to address the education shortfall on the massive Navajo Nation. Eventually expanded to seven schools, this precipitated its own forms.
The Navajo Special Education Program forms, Navajo Form Number 1-4.