A group of U.S. Quakers formed the Quakers and 'Indian Boarding Schools' Research Network (QIBS) in late 2022. Our collective purpose is to thoroughly research 19th-century Quaker involvement in assimilationist boarding schools, and to make our findings accessible to Native American families and tribes and to the Religious Society of Friends.
Watch this recording of a July 15, 2024 webinar about QIBS.
Nov 10, 2024 Presentation by Paula Palmer about QIBS.
Orange Shirt Day - every year on September 30th.
Quakers’ Role in the Indigenous Boarding Schools and Current Efforts Toward Repair, recording of April 11, 2025 webinar.
2025 QIBS Epistle to US and Canada Yearly Meetings.
It’s All About the Relationships, a video presented by Alaska Friends Conference members at the April 11, 2025 QIBS and Beacon Hill Friends House event “Taking Reparative Actions for the Harms of Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools.”
Learning our True History: Alaskan Friends Seek Right Relationships with Indigenous Peoples, an article in Friends Journal, February 2025, by Jan Bronson.
Monetary Reparations Follow quaker Apology to Alaska Native Community
AFC Apology Offered in Kake, January 19, 2024
Book recommendation: As They Were Led, Quakerly Steps and Missteps Toward Native Justice, 1795-1940. by Martha Claire Catlin
Report of New England Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools Research Group (This is an internal report to the Yearly Meeting, November 10, 2024.)
Cover Letter from NEYM to Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, January 7, 2025.
Report sent by NEYM to Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Department of the Interior, January 7, 2025.
New England Yearly Meeting and Indigenous Boarding Schools, a talk by Gordon Bugbee presented to the Friends Historical Association, November 2, 2024.
The Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools: Facing our History and Ourselves, recording of a one-hour slide presentation, November 2022.
The Quaker Indian Boarding Schools: Facing our History and Ourselves, by Paula Palmer, a chapter in Quakers and Native Americans, eds. Ignacio Gallup-Diaz and Geoffrey Plank (2019, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands).
Travelogue: Paula Palmer's visits to historic sites of 11 Quaker Indian Boarding Schools.
A Homecoming for the Arapaho and Cheyenne, A Reckoning for Quakers - January 2026 article in Friends Journal about the recent return of the remains of children who died while at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.
Recording of a webinar November 10, 2024, “Toward Truth and Healing: How Churches Face Accountability for their Indian Boarding Schools.” Representatives of Roman Catholic, Lutheran (ELCA), First Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Quaker denominations share their different approaches to truth-telling and accountability for their participation in the forced assimilation of Native children.
Resources compiled by the six denominations that participated in the November 10, 2024 webinar.
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
Reports by the U.S. Department of the Interior:
Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policy Act of 2025
Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1826-1932). These reports include all aspects of the federal government’s dealings with Native Americans, including boarding schools. Some years the report includes individual reports from Indian agents in the field.