New Hope Seminary
aka Female Seminary
Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory

 
 

 above photos are off site links

 
 

more Wheelock photos

Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 5, No. 2
June, 1927
REMINISCENCES OF LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS 
BY REV. J. J. METHVIN

p 166
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v005/v005p166.html 

It was the summer of 1885...received a letter from Bishop Hargrove asking me to come to Indian Territory and take charge of New Hope Seminary, a Choctaw female school, under the auspices of the church.

The New Hope Seminary was a Choctaw national school situated sixteen miles west of Fort Smith, not far from the Arkansas River near what was then called Sculliville, or Oak Lodge. It was run by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under a contract with the Choctaw Nation, and was supported conjointly by the church and the Nation.

The history of the school would form an important item in the history of Oklahoma for it had much to do through the many years of its existence in moulding the character and shaping the lives of the womanhood of the Choctaw people. Here was the beginning of my work among the Indians. History clutters around the lives of individuals and the biography of any outstanding character of a nation gives an insight into the history of that nation not only during the period in which he lived but on through the years to come.

Soon after taking charge of New Hope Seminary there

Page 167

came to visit me the Rev. Willis Folsom, a member of the Indian Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was tall, erect, eagle-eyed, a typical Indian. He was sweet-spirited, a pure-hearted, man of God and holy purpose. He represented the highest type of Christian character among his people. We worked much together. Let me give this instance.

 

 
Sources: 

below not used in this article - saved to show how used on Wheelock pages

Asbill, Barbara and Louis Coleman. Wheelock Academy, An Endangered Native-American National Historic Landmark. Native American Press Archives. Jun 2002 http://www.anpa.ualr.edu/Symposium/SYM_Images/SYM_Sat_Morn_Asbill_wheelock_aca.htm  

Colby, Catherine. Wheelock Academy, Model for the Indian Territory. Cultural Resource Management, Vol. 20, No. 9, National Historic Land Marks, Assistance Initiative. May 2002 http://crm.cr.nps.gov/issue.cfm?volume=20&number=09    http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/20-9/20-9-14.pdf 

Dale, Edward Everett. Oklahoma, The Story of A State (New York: Harper & Row, 1949, 1955, 1968).

Debo, Angie. Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State [The WPA Guide to 1930s Oklahoma complied by the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Oklahoma with a restored essay by Angie Debo and a new introduction by Anne Hodges Morgan] (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 1986).

Green, Len. Bishinik [Newspaper] January 1979, Wheelock, Symbol of Belief, Dedication and Hard Work. Jun 2002 http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/cwheel.htm 

Morrison, W. B. . The Choctaw Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The OSU Library Electronic Publishing Center, Digital Collections, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 4, No. 2, June, 1926: 166-183. Jul 2002  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/ 

Murphy, Justin D. Wheelock Female Seminary 1842-1861 The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Jul 2002 http://www.choctawnation.com/wheelock/wheelock1.htm  

Murphy, Justin D. Wheelock Female Seminary 1842-1861. In The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol LXIX, No. 1, Spring 1991.

National Register of Historic Places, Oklahoma, Bryan County, Site #72001056 3 mile NE of Bokchito. Jun 2002 http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/OK/Bryan/state.html  

Rodell, Carrie carrierodell@earthlink.net. Gilbert Wesley Dukes Jul 2002 http://home.earthlink.net/~carrierodell/gilbertdukes.html   

Wheelock Academy, Millerton, Oklahoma. National Trust for Historic Preservation. Jul 2002 http://www.nthp.org/11most/2000/wheelock.htm  

Wright, Allen. Wheelock Seminary.  The OSU Library Electronic Publishing Center, Digital Collections, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 1, No. 2, October, 1921: 117-120. Jun 2002 http://digital.library.okstate.edu/