Much has been written about federal Indian boarding schools, but far less is known about what went on in day schools, whose aim was to educate Indian children up until the third grade and prepare them for admission in reservation or off-reservation boarding schools.
These previously unpublished photos taken by teacher John A. Keirn show students at the Moenkopi Day School near Tuba City, Arizona, posing in fields and orchards. These images suggest that children as young as five were put to work picking apples and harvesting crops.
