Hartmann and Weinland Inuit Photographs, approximately 1881-1891

Photographs made by Hartmann and Weinland are featured in "Education in Alaska," a report written by Sheldon Jackson, general agent of education in Alaska from Sitka, Alaska, on February 1, 1886. The report contained Jackson's opinions on the specific needs and challenges of establishing a public education system in Alaska, from geographic and climatic challenges to detailed descriptions of the native populations. "The education demanded in Alaska is the moral, intellectual, and physical training of the people at one and the same time -- the gradual uplifting of the whole man.... The training of the schools should be extended to the heart as well as the mind and hand."

Jackson's vision of an education system was based on Christian principles; the establishment of English schools followed the creation of missionary centers and churches. The curriculum included basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also featured sanitary regulations, laws of health, better methods of housekeeping, and virtues such as honesty and chastity. "From these reports it will be seen that earnest efforts are being made to educate and civilize the natives; that school attendance is obligatory, and 98 percent of the children of the school age are reported in attendance."