EXHIBITS

Intermountain Indian School: Work Training and Jobs

Work Training and Jobs

The other main goal of Intermountain was to train students for jobs once they finished school, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs believed that this was the best path to success for Native American youth.

Drafting was one of many trades that students could learn at Intermountain Indian School. (USU Special Collections & Archives, Intermountain Indian School Photograph Collection, P0327, 1:01:23)

Students practiced their vocational skills around Intermountain Indian School.

The military was a popular career option for Native American men.

Vocational Training

Many of the classes at Intermountain were focused on vocational training. The classes were mostly divided by mainstream gender norms during the 1950s and 60s. Male students learned drafting, auto repair, electronics, and carpentry. Female students focused on tailoring, sewing, interior design, cooking, hair dressing, nursing, and dental assisting.

Female students practice tailoring as part of their vocational training. (USU Special Collections & Archives, Intermountain Indian School Photograph Collection, P0327, 1:02:05)

Intermountain students learn to solder, a skill they could use to get a job after school. (USU Special Collections & Archives, Intermountain Indian School Photograph Collection, P0327, 1:02:07)

Guitar making was one of the skills practiced by Intermountain students.

This Navajo student works on a wooden chair in a home mechanics class.

Summer Jobs

Training during the school year prepared students for summer jobs where they would get more experience and earn extra money.

Intermountain students worked in Brigham City and around the Intermountain West.

Summer and weekend jobs were an opportunity for students to earn extra money and practice the skills they learned in vocational classes. The students mostly worked in menial labor—housework for the girls and construction or farm labor for the boys—and were paid less than minimum wage, leading to concerns that they were being exploited. The summer work also kept students away from their families on the reservation.

Peter Iverson, Diné: A History of the Navajos (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2002).

Kaia Landon and Katie Conrad, "Outside the Homeland: The Intermountain Indian School," Box Elder Museum of Art, History, and Nature, http://exhibits.boxeldermuseum.org/exhibits/show/intermoutain-indian-school.