LibGuides: American Indian &amp; Indigenous Studies: Primary Sources

Databases

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
This database contains manuscripts, artwork, and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers right up to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. It includes a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals.
American Indians and the American West This link opens in a new window
Historical documents and other primary sources focusing on American Indians. Collections include Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Records from the Major Council Meetings of American Indian Tribes.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Historical documents and other primary sources including autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. Includes sources on American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Peoples.
North American Indian Drama This link opens in a new window
Full-text plays representing the stories and creative energies of American Indian and First Nation (Canadian) playwrights of the 1900s.
Indigenous Peoples of North America (Part One) This link opens in a new window
Historical documents and other primary sources including newspapers, manuscripts, drawings and sketches, photographs, maps, periodicals, monographs, reports, legal materials, organizational records, and population census records from the 1500s well into the 1900s. Covers the history of Indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada.

Websites

American Indian Records in the National Archives
Among the billions of historical records housed at the National Archives throughout the country, researchers can find information relating to American Indians from as early as 1774 through the mid 1990s. The National Archives preserves and makes available the documents created by Federal agencies in the course of their daily business.
National Museum of the American Indian Online Collections
Online Archive of California (OAC)
Free public access to searchable collection guides (also known as finding aids) for primary resource collections in repositories maintained by more than 200 institutions throughout California, including many digitized collections.
Calisphere
Calisphere provides free access to unique and historically important artifacts for research, teaching, and curious exploration. Discover over 750,000 photographs, documents, letters, artwork, diaries, oral histories, films, advertisements, musical recordings, and more.
Utah American Indian Digital Archives
The Utah American Indian Digital Archive (UAIDA) is a gateway to the best resources regarding Utah’s Indian tribes. With articles, books, government documents, tribal documents, oral histories, photographs, and maps pertaining to the Northwestern Shoshone, Goshute, Paiute, Utah Navajo, White Mesa, and Ute Indians, this unique archive captures the complicated history of Utah’s tribes from multiple perspectives. The project, which stems from forty years of research conducted by the University of Utah’s American West Center on behalf of Utah’s Indians, offers tribal members, students, and researchers unprecedented access to information about the rich history and culture of Utah’s native peoples.

UAIDA is a joint venture between the American West Center and Marriott Library at the University of Utah, with generous support from the State of Utah’s Division of Indian Affairs and Department of Heritage and Arts.
The Indian Sentinal (Newspaper) 1902 -1962
The Indian Sentinel featured articles about Native Americans across the United States and their evangelization by the Catholic Church. Most were first-hand accounts by lifelong missionaries in the field that were often illustrated with photographs they had taken. Also featured are articles, essays, and letters by Native Americans, many of whom were students in Catholic schools.
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School is a major site of memory for many Native peoples, as well as a source of study for students and scholars around the globe. This website represents an effort to aid the research process by bringing together, in digital format, a variety of resources that are physically preserved in various locations around the country. Through these resources, we seek to increase knowledge and understanding of the school and its complex legacy, while also facilitating efforts to tell the stories of the many thousands of students who were sent there.

University Library

American Indian & Indigenous Studies

Databases

Websites