Ground Penetrating Radar Results

During the week of October 16th, a forensic excavation was conducted in the basement of Drexel Hall to further investigate an eyewitness testimony of potentially unmarked graves. Mahpiya Luta - Red Cloud is thankful for the eyewitness's courage to step forward and share their testimony. 

The purpose of the forensic excavation was to investigate two anomalies that were found through ground penetrating radar technology in May 2022. In October, the excavation team investigated the entire area surrounding the two anomalies by digging and surveying the soil. The first anomaly was related to building products (mortar for laying bricks and nails). The second anomaly was related to animal activity (several places where rodents burrowed). The FBI and community members were present and involved throughout the duration of the soil survey. 

To be clear, no human remains were found in the soil survey.

There will be an official report produced by the excavation team led by Marsha Small (Northern Cheyenne) and her team at Ohio Valley Archeology, once a final examination of soil samples from the site has been analyzed. As soon as the report is made available to us, we will post on our website and make that link available on our social media. 

Research Updates

I started to research the archives at Marquette University in mid-September. The Community Advisory Council asked me to find all the children who attended Holy Rosary Mission/Red Cloud from the opening of the boarding school in 1888 through 1980 when Red Cloud stopped operating as a boarding school. So, I identified the various attendance lists in the Holy Rosary Mission collection and the Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission (BCIM) collection and scanned them. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be major gaps in the information. I am now in the process of building a spreadsheet with the names of all children who attended the boarding school and other information, including attendance years. This spreadsheet will be a useful starting point to track what happened to these boarders after they left the school and be more accountable to the history and lives of individuals who attended the school. It will also be a useful to the families of former boarders who are looking for information on relatives who attended the boarding school. I currently have 653 names in my spreadsheet, but there will be thousands of them within a few months.

From Gabrielle Guillerm, Research Coordinator for Truth and Healing.