UW Student Receives AHC Award for Indigenous Boarding School Project

Ava Olson, a University of Wyoming student from Cheyenne, is the recipient of a UW American Heritage Center (AHC) Undergraduate Research Award for her work on an Indigenous boarding school project.

Olson’s paper, “St. Michael’s Mission: A Supposed Sanctuary,” examines the history and impact of an Episcopal boarding school for Northern Arapaho children in Ethete on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Olson’s research, completed for UW culture, gender and social justice Assistant Professor Samantha Vandermeade’s course on “Wyoming, Race and the Archive,” reveals how St. Michael’s Mission School (1917-1956) participated in the forced assimilation of Indigenous children despite its stated intentions to be different from other boarding schools of the era.

“Ava’s work exemplifies the kind of scholarly contributions we hope to foster through our collections,” says AHC Director Paul Flesher. “By meticulously examining our primary sources, she has filled an important gap in our understanding of Wyoming’s role in the broader history of Indigenous boarding schools. This research not only illuminates an understudied local institution, but connects it to national patterns of assimilation policies that continue to impact Indigenous communities today.”

The annual $500 AHC award recognizes excellence in undergraduate research using the center’s primary source collections. Olson’s research highlights how St. Michael’s Mission, despite its intentions to respect Indigenous culture, ultimately reproduced many of the assimilationist practices common to boarding schools nationwide, including enforcing English usage, imposing military-style routines and focusing on vocational rather than academic education.

“What makes Ava’s work particularly valuable is that scholarly literature on St. Michael’s role in forced assimilation is limited,” Vandermeade says. “She has made a genuine contribution to our historical understanding while still an undergraduate.”

The AHC is UW’s repository of manuscript collections, rare books and university archives. The center’s collections focus on Wyoming and the American West, environment and natural resources, journalism, military history, transportation, the history of books and 20th century entertainment.

For more information, call the AHC at (307) 766-5511 or email ahcref@uwyo.edu.