Updated:
July 17, 2007
he publication of Helen Hunt Jackson’s book A Century of Dishonor (1881) and later, her novel, Ramona (1884), provided evidence of the poor treatment of the American Indians. Various organizations formed to address many of the issues facing the native people. In New York State, brothers Albert and Alfred Smiley, hosted Friends of the Indian conferences at their Mohonk Mountain House. Riverside was the site of similarly organized conferences. Mission Inn owner Frank Miller participated in these meetings. He had much in common with the Quaker twins who ran the successful hotel in upstate New York and wintered, in nearby Redlands. Biographer Zona Gale wrote that, his (Miller’s) interest in the Indians came from his mother’s Quaker blood.” (p. 85-86).
In 1902, a year before the Mission Inn opened, the Sherman Institute (now Sherman Indian High School), opened in Riverside. Historian Esther Klotz (Klotz, 1982) credits Frank Miller with bringing the boarding school to Riverside. Miller’s influence also resulted in the Mission Revival theme of the school’s buildings. Training for the students, from throughout California and portions of the Southwest, included the manual arts. Sherman students worked at the Mission Inn. They also acted and danced in the Nativity pageant performed in the Cloister Music Room on Christmas Eve.
Miller had a tremendous interest in the objects created by Native Americans. Two rooms in the hotel’s basement were built to display their artwork. The Kiva and Hogan held basketry, rugs, rugs, pottery, and a variety of other objects. For sale in the Cloister Gift Shop was Native American artwork. The artwork was not exclusive to the California Mission Indians. In the 1940’s guests could purchase items made by the Plains Indians of the United States, including beaded pipe bags. Today, many of the baskets once on display are in the collections of the Riverside Metropolitan Museum and the Mission Inn Museum.
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