with at least ten children. He believed that his children would have to deal with whites, and perhaps live with them, whether they liked it or not. He decided to send two sons and a daughter for the first class at Carlisle. Model U.S. Indian Boarding School Pratt was so successful in his correspondence and methods that many Western chiefs, suffering from cold and hunger on their reservations, begged him to bring more children East. The chiefs also wrote to Washington with a request to educate more of their children. News of the educational experiment spread rapidly and many came to Carlisle to volunteer services and professional talents. Pratt developed a photographic record of the school for publicity and documentation. The institution and the school were photographed during the school's existence by approximately a dozen professional photographers. The first and best known photographer of the Carlisle Indian School was John Nicolas Choate. After Indian dress was replaced with military uniforms and their hair was cut in Anglo fashion, the Indians' physical appearance was transformed. Pratt, in an effort to convince doubters of his beliefs, hired photographers to present this evidence. Before and after "contrast" photos were sent to officials in Washington, friends of the new school, and back to reservations to recruit new students. The minimum age for students was fourteen, and all students were required to be at least one-fourth Indian. The Carlisle term was five years, and the consent forms which the parents signed before the agent so stated. Pratt refused to return pupils earlier unless they were ill, unsuitable mentally or a menace to others. Between 1899 and 1904, Carlisle issued thirty to forty-five degrees a year. In 1905, a survey of 296 Carlisle graduates showed that 124 had entered government service, and 47 were employed off the reservations. Anniversaries and other school events were magnets for persons of distinction. Senators, Indian commissioners, secretaries of the Interior, college presidents and noted clergymen were accustomed to presenting the diplomas or address the graduating class upon these occasions. The gymnasium held 3,000 persons and was generally filled with an audience of townspeople and distinguished visitors showing their support for aspiring Carlisle students. Community Carlisle, Pennsylvania In 1880, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was a thriving town as a borough and county seat of Cumberland County, west of the Susquehanna River, with a population of 6,209 people. The shoe factory in town employed