The 1880s were a critical decade for the Salish and Kootenai people of the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. The recent loss of the plains buffalo herds forced tribal members to look for new ways to support themselves. The priests and schools at St. Ignatius Mission taught many of the skills they needed, but not without simultaneously pressuring the Indian people to abandon valuable elements of Salish and Kootenai culture.A Pretty Village is a collection of original documents describing life at St. Ignatius Mission and the interactions between missionaries and...

St. Ignatius Mission on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana was a bustling place in the early 1890s. Each year well over three hundred Native American students attended the schools and over a thousand tribal members and Indian visitors camped at the mission for the Christmas, Easter, and St. Ignatius Day celebrations. The mission was also a training center for aspiring Jesuit priests. Here Indian students and parishioners learned useful skills and received spiritual consolation, even as the missionaries worked to undermine valuable aspects of Salish and Kootenai...