By centering tribal authority and Indigenous data sovereignty, the project will create a tribally governed digital archive, facilitate community validation and storytelling sessions, and lay the groundwork for future educational and public engagement initiatives defined by the Puyallup people. In the process, the project will provide intensive research training to two undergraduate and two graduate students in Indigenous human rights methods, archival ethics, and participatory research. 

BACKGROUND

From the 19th through the mid-20th century, the Indian boarding school system was a primary instrument of U.S. assimilationist policy. These schools forcibly removed Native children from their families, languages, and cultures in an attempt to erase Indigenous identities and sever ties to community and land. Washington State was home to 17 such institutions, each of which had a direct and lasting impact on the state’s Native Peoples. The harmful legacies of this system for the Puyallup Tribe remain visible today in the form of intergenerational trauma, disrupted kinship networks, and other systemic educational, economic, and health inequities.

Federal investigations in 2022 and 2024 by the Department of the Interior documented the extensive abuse, family separation, and cultural destruction embedded in the boarding school system. However, these reports have yet to provide meaningful mechanisms for data return or tribal governance over historical narratives. Tribal nations like the Puyallup are still fighting to retrieve fragmented records, restore narratives of survivance, and reclaim the histories that settler institutions tried to erase. 

The Puyallup Family Data Reclamation Project directly addresses these gaps. In close partnership with the Tribe, the project will recover, digitize, and repatriate archival materials under Puyallup governance. This work will support community-led validation of records, ensuring accuracy, cultural integrity, and alignment with tribal priorities. In doing so, the project affirms Indigenous sovereignty, facilitates truth-telling and historical justice, and provides tools for intergenerational learning, cultural revitalization, and community-defined healing initiatives.

METHODOLOGY

Archival Research and Digitization: In partnership with the Puyallup Tribal Historic Preservation Department, the research team will identify, prioritize, and collect relevant archival materials from regional, state, and federal repositories. Special attention will be given to records housed in state archives, the National Archives, and church-led boarding school collections. All digitization will be conducted according to protocols that respect tribal knowledge systems and data sovereignty principles. Students will receive training in archival handling, digital preservation, metadata creation, and Indigenous research ethics. The Tribe will hold all digitized materials under formal governance agreements.

Community Validation and Narrative Development: By presenting the recovered archival materials to Puyallup community members, elders, and cultural historians through facilitated validation sessions, this project will ensure that the historical records are accurate, culturally contextualized, and aligned with tribal perspectives. 

Educational and Public Engagement Materials: Based on the outcomes of validation sessions and community priorities, the project will contribute to tribally-defined and tribally-approved educational and public engagement materials. Students will assist in content development, design, and implementation under the direction of the Tribe.

Faculty Leads

Student Researchers

Partners