Intermountain Intertribal Boarding School Mural Conservation

FAIN: PB-293858-23

Utah State University (Logan, UT 84322-1400)
Katherine Lee-Koven (Project Director: February 2023 to February 2025)

Conservation treatment of murals from the Intermountain Intertribal Boarding School.

Utah State University seeks a Chair’s Grant to support conservation treatment and preservation framing of four artworks recovered from the Intermountain Intertribal Boarding School (1950–1982). Begun in Brigham City, Utah, as the Intermountain Indian School, a federally run boarding school for Navajo children, the institution expanded to include students from multiple tribes and became the largest boarding school for Native Americans in the United States, at one point enrolling more than 3,000 students. The four artworks, believed to have been created by students, are the highest priority of twelve that were cut from walls and doors prior to the demolition of several buildings and stored without security or climate control. They convey aspects of students’ tribal cultures and depict landscapes, wildlife, and tribal regalia and ceremonies. The university plans to commit more funding to this work and to fundraise for the conservation of the remaining artworks, as well as to support exhibition and related programming.