Indigenous History and Experience At MHC

This research guide compiles resources in the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) centering the history and experience of people Indigenous to the United States and Canada at Mount Holyoke College. This guide is not a complete history of the topic, but an introduction to archival tools and materials to start your research. Please contact ASC to suggest additions to this guide. 

Notable Moments

• The first known Indigenous student at Mount Holyoke was Elinor S. Boudinot, x-class of 1846.
• During the academic year 1932/33, the Eva Waid Memorial Scholarship was established for Native American Students at Mount Holyoke College. It was often referred to as the Indian Scholarship.
• Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to become chief of the Cherokee Nation, spoke at Mount Holyoke on February 20th, 1987 about “The Changing Role of the American Indian Woman.” More information can be found in Mount Holyoke College Associated Schools Collection, Cherokee National Female Seminary, Box 1, Folder 2. 
• In 1995, the Native Spirit cultural house was opened. It was later renamed the Zowie Banteah Cultural Center in 1997.
• In 2020, Mount Holyoke College repatriated Indigenous remains that had been in the College’s possession since 1918. For more information on the subject see,
  • “Repatriation of Indigenous ancestral remains” by Sonia Paul, December 20, 2021 
  • “Indigenous remains repatriated from Mount Holyoke over 30 years later” by Katie Goss, class of 2023, Mount Holyoke News, December 3, 2021, p. 1. 
• On September 8, 2021, the College’s Land Acknowledgement Policy was officially established.

Guide developed by Benny Brabble, '23 and Summer Pratt, '26