An Evidence-based Reinterpretation of the Brafferton Indian School

Summary

The 1693 Charter establishing the College of William & Mary in Virginia, includes a mandate to educate the "Western Indians." After securing funding for the Indian school from the estate of the scientist Robert Boyle, a magnificent Georgian-style structure was built to house the "Indian boys." The received history about this endeavor maintains that the Indian school at William & Mary was unsuccessful. Documentary evidence from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as archaeological evidence, situates the Brafferton Indian School within the Atlantic World’s network of trade, politics of church and state, and offers new insights into the legacy of the Brafferton Indian School among descendant communities with ties to the eighteenth-century school.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20839