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Behind the Bricks: Suggested Reading

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Suggested Reading
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table of contents
  1. Contents
  2. List of Figures
  3. List of Tables
  4. List of Abbreviations
  5. Preface
  6. Introduction
  7. The Russ Moses Residential School Memoir
  8. Part 1
    1. 1 - “To Shake Off the Rude Habits of Savage Life”:1 The Foundations of the Mohawk Institute to the Early 1900s
    2. 2 - “The Difficulties of Making an Indian into a White Man, Were Not Thoroughly Appreciated”: The Mohawk Institute, 1904 to the Present
  9. Part 2
    1. 3 - The Indian Normal School: The Role of the Mohawk Institute in the Training of Indigenous Teachers in the Late Nineteenth Century
    2. 4 - Teaching Control and Service: The Use of Military Training at the Mohawk Institute
    3. 5 - “New Weapons”: Race, Indigeneity, and Intelligence Testing at the Mohawk Institute, 1920–1949
  10. Part 3
    1. 6 - A “Model” School: An Architectural History of the Mohawk Institute
    2. 7 - The Stewardship, Preservation, and Commemoration of the Mohawk Institute
  11. Part 4
    1. 8 - Ten Years of Student Resistance at the Mohawk Institute, 1903–1913
    2. 9 - ęhǫwadihsadǫ ne:ˀhniˀ gadigyenǫ:gyeˀs ganahaǫgwęˀ ęyagǫnhehgǫhǫ:k / They Buried Them, but They the Seeds Floated Around What Will Sustain Them
  12. Part 5
    1. 10 - A Model to Follow? The Sussex Vale Indian School
    2. 11 - Robert Ashton, the New England Company, and the Mohawk Institute, 1872–1910
    3. 12 - The Lands of the Mohawk Institute: Robert Ashton and the Demise of the New England Company’s “Station,” 1891–1922
  13. Part 6
    1. 13 - Life at the Mohawk Institute During the 1860s
    2. 14 - Collecting the Evidence: Restoration and Archaeology at the Mohawk Institute
    3. 15 - Collective Trauma and the Role of Religion in the Mohawk Institute Experience
    4. 16 - Concluding Voices: Survivor Stories of Life Behind the Bricks
  14. Closing Poems
  15. Appendix 1 - History of Six Nations Education
  16. Appendix 2 - Mohawk Institute Students Who Became Teachers
  17. Suggested Reading
  18. Acknowledgements
  19. Contributors
  20. Index

Suggested Reading

The following is not intended as an extensive list but rather as a starting point for those who wish to learn more about the Mohawk Institute and the history of residential schools in Canada.

Archival Collections

Government records that detail the running of the school can be found at Library and Archives Canada in Record Group 10. See the helpful overview of Indian Residential School records at https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/indigenous-heritage/Pages/residential-schools.aspx.

There are multiple archival collections of interest for those wishing to conduct further study on the history of the Mohawk Institute. Many people start with Elizabeth Graham’s important 1997 book, The Mush Hole: Life at Two Indian Residential Schools. Graham reproduces many archival sources, including documents from the New England Company, Department of Indian Affairs reports, and letters between church and departmental officials, as well as interviews with survivors of the school.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has also published an extensive narrative about the Mohawk Institute that includes over three documents such as annual reports, primary documents about the school, NEC reports, plans and maps of the school, etc. The narrative can be found at https://archives.nctr.ca/NAR-NCTR-080.

See also the following collections:

Mohawk Institute Fonds, Diocese of Huron, Verschoyle P. Cronyn Archives, Huron University College, London, Ontario.

New England Company records, including Minutes, Letters Sent, London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.

Woodland Cultural Centre, Library and Archives, various collections.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Archives also has a significant and growing collection of digitized photographs and archival records. These are available through the NCTR website, at https://archives.nctr.ca/.

Six Nations Education History and Mohawk Institute History

Acres, William. “Documents of the Mohawk Institute: The Journals and Reports of Robert Ashton, 1872–1876, and the Diary of Alice Ashton, 1877.” Journal of the Canadian Church History Society 59 (2021–22).

Abate, Abate Wori. “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education: A Case Study of the Iroquois of the Grand River Valley in Ontario, Canada.” PhD thesis, University of Toronto, 1984.

Graham, Elizabeth. The Mush Hole: Life at Two Indian Residential Schools. Heffle Publishing, 1997.

Groat, Cody. “Commemoration and Reconciliation: the Mohawk Institute as a World Heritage Site.” British Journal of Canadian Studies 31, no. 2 (2018): 195–208. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/bjcs.2018.14.

Jamieson, Julia L. Echoes of the Past: A History of Education from the Time of the Six Nations Settlement on the Banks of the Grand River in 1784 to 1924. Self-printed, n.d.)

Jamieson, Keith. History of Six Nations Education. Woodland Indian Cultural Educational Centre, 1987.

Moses, Olive, Doris Henhawk, and Lloyd King. History of Education on the Six Nations Reserve. Woodland Cultural Centre, 1987.

Norman, Alison. “The History of Education at Six Nations of the Grand River, 1828–1939.” In Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Lori Chambers, Edgar-Andre Montigny, James Onusko, and Dimitry Anastakis, 87–108. University of Toronto Press, 2024.

Norman, Alison. “‘Teachers Amongst Their Own People’: Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Women Teachers in 19th Century Tyendinaga and Grand River, Ontario.” Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation 29, no. 1 (2017): 32–56. https://educ.ubc.ca/special-issue-historical-studies-in-education-spring-2017/.

Norman, Alison. “‘True to My Own Noble Race’: Six Nations Women Teachers at Grand River in the Early Twentieth Century.” Ontario History 107, no. 1 (2015): 5–35. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/onhistory/2015-v107-n1-onhistory03913/1050677ar/abstract/.

Pettit, Jennifer. “From Longhouse to Schoolhouse: The Mohawk Institute, 1834–1970.” Master’s thesis, University of Western Ontario, 1992.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School IAP School Narrative. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, 2013. https://t-r-c.ca/nctr/school_narratives/mohawk_institute.pdf.

General Residential School History

Battiste, Marie, and Jean Barman, ed. First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds. University of British Columbia Press, 1995.

Barman, Jean. “Schooled for Inequality: The Education of British Columbia Aboriginal Children.” In Children, Teachers, and Schools in the History of British Columbia, edited by Jean Barman, Neil Sutherland, and J. D. Wilson, 57–80. Detselig, 1995.

Barman, Jean, and Jan Hare. Good Intentions Gone Awry: Emma Crosby and the Methodist Mission on the Northwest Coast. University of British Columbia Press, 2007.

Chartrand, Larry N., Tricia E. Logan, and Judy D. Daniels. Métis History and Experience and Residential Schools in Canada / Histoire et expériences des Métis et les pensionnats au Canada. Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2006. https://www.ahf.ca/files/metiseweb.pdf.

Chrisjohn, Roland David, Sherri Lynn Young, and Michael Maraun, The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada. Theytus Books, 2006.

Deiter, Constance. From Our Mothers’ Arms: The Intergenerational Impact of Residential Schools in Saskatchewan. United Church Publishing House, 1999.

Fontaine, Phil, and Aimée Craft. A Knock at the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. University of Manitoba Press, 2015.

Fraser, Crystal Gail. By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. University of Manitoba Press, 2024.

Grant, Agnes. Finding My Talk: How Fourteen Canadian Native Women Reclaimed Their Lives After Residential School. Fifth House Books, 2004.

Grant, Agnes. No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Pemmican Publications, 1996.

Jaine, Linda. Residential Schools: The Stolen Years. University of Saskatchewan, University Extension Press, 1993.

King, David. A Brief Report of the Federal Government of Canada’s Residential School System for Inuit / Bref compte-rendu du Régime du pensionnats pour les Inuit du gouvernement fédéral du Canada. Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2006. https://www.ahf.ca/files/kingsummaryfweb.pdf.

Lascelles, Thomas A. Roman Catholic Indian Residential Schools in British Columbia. Order of OMI in BC, 1990.

MacDonald, David Bruce. The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation. University of Toronto Press, 2019.

McCallum, Mary Jane Logan. “‘I Would Like the Girls at Home’: Domestic Labour and the Age of Discharge at Canadian Indian Residential Schools.” In Colonization and Domestic Service: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Victoria K. Haskins and Claire Lowrie, 191–209. Routledge, 2014. 

Miller, J. R. Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts Its History. University of Toronto Press, 2022.

Miller, J. R. Shingwauk’’ Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools. University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Milloy, John Sheridan, and Mary Jane McCallum, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System. Anniversary ed. University of Manitoba Press, 2017.

National Indian Brotherhood. Indian Control of Indian Education. National Indian Brotherhood, 1972.

Niezen, Ronald. Truth and Indignation: Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. University of Toronto Press, 2013.

Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council. Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-chah-nulth Experience. Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, 1996.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 1, Canada’s Residential Schools: The History, Part 1, Origins to 1939. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Vol. 2, Canada’s Residential Schools: The History, Part 2, 1939 to 2000. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples and Residential Schools. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2012.

Watson, Scott, Keith Wallace, and Jana Tyner, eds., Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, 2013.

Woolford, Andrew. This Benevolent Experiment: Indigenous Boarding Schools, Genocide, and Redress in Canada and the United States. University of Nebraska Press, 2015.

Individual Residential School History

Barman, Jean. “Separate and Unequal: Indian and White Girls at All Hallows School, 1884–1920.” In Children, Teachers and Schools in the History of British Columbia, edited by Jean Barman, Neil Sutherland, and J. D. Wilson, 337–58. Detsilig, 1995.

Cariboo Tribal Council. Impact of the Residential School. Cariboo Tribal Council, 1991.

Cross, Natalie, and Thomas Peace. “‘My Own Old English Friends’: Networking Anglican Settler Colonialism at the Shingwauk Home, Huron College, and Western University.” Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation 33, no. 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.32316/hse-rhe.v33i1.4891.

Dyck, Noel. Differing Visions: Administering Indian Residential Schooling in Prince Albert, 1867–1967. Fernwood Publishing, 1997.

Fiske, Jo-Anne. “Gender and the Paradox of Residential Education in Carrier Society.” In Women of the First Nations: Power, Wisdom, Strength, edited by Christine Miller and Patricia Chuchryk, 167–82. University of Manitoba press, 1996.

Fleming, Thomas, Lisa Smith, and Helen Raptis. “An Accidental Teacher: Anthony Walsh and the Aboriginal Day Schools at Six Mile Creek and Inkameep, British Columbia, 1929–1942.” Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation 19, no. 1 (2007): 1–24.

Furniss, Elizabeth. Victims of Benevolence: The Dark Legacy of the Williams Lake Residential School. Arsenal Pulp Press, 1995.

Glavin, Terry, and former students of St. Mary’s. Amongst God’s Own: The Enduring Legacy of St. Mary’s Mission. Longhouse Publishing, 2002.

Graham, Elizabeth. The Mush Hole: Life at Two Indian Residential Schools. Heffle Publishing, 1997.

Haig-Brown, Cecilia, Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred, and the KIRS Survivors. Tsqelmucwílc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School—Resistance and a Reckoning. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. Includes the original text of Celia Haig-Brown’s 1988 book Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School as well as new material.

Haig-Brown, Celia. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School. Arsenal Pulp Press, 1988.

Jack, Agnes. Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Theytus Books, 2006.

Knockwood, Isabelle. Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, N.S. Fernwood Publishing, 2015.

McCallum, Mary Jane Logan. Nii Ndahlohke: Boys’ and Girls’ Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School 1890–1915. Friesen Press, 2023. Book and audiobook. https://www.niindahlohke.ca.

Memoirs

Bear, Chief, Arthur. My Decade at Old Sun, My Lifetime of Hell. University of Athabasca Press, 2016.

Fontaine, Theodore. Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir. Heritage House Publishing, 2022.

Highway, Tomson. Permanent Astonishment: Growing Up Cree in the Land of Snow and Sky. Anchor Canada, 2022.

Johnston, Basil H. Indian School Days. University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.

Kinew, Wab. The Reason You Walk: A Memoir. Penguin Canada, 2017.

Merasty, Joseph Auguste, and David Carpenter. The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir. New ed. University of Regina Press, 2017.

Metatawabin, Edmund, and Alexandra Shimo. Up Ghost River: A Chief’s Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History. Vintage Canada, 2015.

Montour, Enos T., and Mary Jane Logan McCallum. Brown Tom’s Schooldays. 2nd ed. University of Manitoba Press, 2024.

Sasakamoose, Fred. Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Indigenous Player. Penguin Canada, 2022.

Sellars, Bev. They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School. Talonbooks, 2012.

Survivors of the Assiniboia Indian Residential School, Did You See Us? Reunion, Remembrance, and Reclamation at an Urban Indian Residential School. University of Manitoba Press, 2021.

Films

Campanelli, Stephen, ed. Indian Horse. 2018. https://www.indianhorse.ca/en/film.

The Chanie Wenjack Heritage Minute. 2016. https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/chanie-wenjack.

Downie, Gord, dir. The Secret Path. 2016. https://secretpath.ca/#Film.

Moynihan, Kevin, dir. They Came for the Children (a five-part film based on the TRC’s final report), 2019. https://jesuits.ca/stories/they-came-for-the-children-a-film-in-5-parts-based-on-the-trc-final-report-on-residential-schools-in-canada/.

Obomsawin, Alanis. Christmas at Moose Factory. 1971. https://www.nfb.ca/film/christmas_at_moose_factory/.

Pittman, Bruce, dir. Where the Spirit Lives. 1989. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os5KqErc7XY.

Sanfilippo, John, dir. Wawahte: Stories of Residential School Survivors. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGrJNUCQ-r4.

Wolochatiuk, Tim, dir. We Were Children. 2012. https://www.nfb.ca/film/we_were_children/.

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© 2025 Richard W. Hill, Sr., Alison Norman, Thomas Peace, and Jennifer Pettit
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