6/23/2020

Carlisle Indian School Web Pages

In 2010, I lost access to my original epix.net Carlisle Indian School web pages. These pages were developed in 1993, after a quick tutorial from my son, a computer software developer freshman at NYU. He taught me basic HTML code and I embarked on a steep learning curve in Indian boarding school studies.

Those pages introduced me to a huge network of Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) boarding school student descendants, researchers, writers, filmmakers and friends interested in the names of students. I spent many years during my free time, transcribing newspaper articles and answering emails from this on line network. This network supported and encouraged "Powwow 2000," the first major gathering of CIIS descendants to the site of the Indian School for two days of dancing and programs. This site facilitated the installation of a PHMC marker identifying the CIIS as the first off-rez federally funded Indian boarding school.  

After the epix.net URL was purchased by Frontiernet, which in turn, was bought out by Yahoo in 2019 the pages have been floating in the ether with no direction. As soon as Frontiernet took over, I lost access to the pages. Passwords no longer worked and file transfer protocols were rendered useless.
The technical support people at Frontiernet couldn't negotiate the epix protocols. So these pages are still sitting out there, linked to an old email addy that no longer works, showing outdated events that have long since expired, and linked to student name lists by nations that one needed the URL's to find, since they weren't publicly linked out of respect for those nations who prefer their names not be readily available.

The purpose of these pages has always been to "get the names to the nations."



The history page (shown above) couldn't be updated or edited for almost a decade. Despite the presence of the pages showing up at #6 in google searches as recent as last night, the pages have just been floating around in the ether with no direction.

Now there is a new development.

My position as the Carlisle Indian School Archives and Library Specialist for the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) has been abruptly axed - due to budget cuts. I had intended to migrate all my original web pages to the CCHS site but after spending time and frustration trying to make it work, I now realize that's not where they belong.

With a little help from my son, the pages are back!!






1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh gosh, such bad news along with good news. I'm angry and grateful at the same time. And props to your son for his help.