LibGuides: Celebrating Native American and Indigenous Heritage Month: Research

Primary Source 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Historical documents and other primary sources focusing on American Indians.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Historical documents and other primary sources including autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio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Historical documents and other primary sources including newspapers, manuscripts, drawings and sketches, photographs, maps, periodicals, monographs, reports, legal materials,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.

Primary Source 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.

Major Journals

AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
AlterNative publishes scholarly research on Indigenous worldviews and experiences of decolonization from Indigenous perspectives from around the world. AlterNative provides the latest thinking and practice in Indigenous scholarship and has become the leading source for scholarship by Indigenous peoples and for those working alongside and with Indigenous communities.
The American Indian Culture and Research Journal
The American Indian Culture and Research Journal, one of the premier journals in Native American studies, publishes book reviews, literature, and original scholarly papers on a wide range of issues in the fields of history, anthropology, geography, sociology, political science, health, literature, law, education, and the arts.
American Indian Law Review
The American Indian Law Review serves as a nationwide scholarly forum for analysis of developments in legal issues pertaining to Native Americans and indigenous peoples worldwide. Publishing two issues each year, AILR circulates in-depth articles by legal scholars, attorneys and other expert observers. In addition, the Review provides comments and notes written by student members and editors on a variety of Indian law-related topics.
American Indian Quarterly
American Indian Quarterly has earned its reputation as one of the dominant journals in American Indian studies by presenting the best and most thought-provoking scholarship in the field. AIQ is a forum for diverse voices and perspectives spanning a variety of academic disciplines. The common thread is AIQ’s commitment to publishing work that contributes to the development of American Indian studies as a field and to the sovereignty and continuance of American Indian nations and cultures. In addition to peer-reviewed articles, AIQ features reviews of books, films, and exhibits.
Canadian journal of native studies
As a general focus, the journal publishes anthropological, historical, sociological, political, legal, education and cultural issues affecting First Nations people. Although the majority of articles deal with Indigenous peoples in Canada, it also publishes articles dealing with Indigenous peoples world-wide.
Cultural Survival Quarterly
Cultural Survival Quarterly was founded as a society newsletter. Over the last 40-plus years, it has become an authoritative resource on important issues that affect indigenous and ethnic minority communities around the world. Recent topics covered include the preservation of the Yuchi language; indigenous-led philanthropic funding; and indigenous-led land conservation initiatives. This magazine publishes thought-provoking essays, book reviews, and photographs with the intent of expanding public understanding about indigenous rights and cultures, with writers from indigenous communities or working closely with indigenous groups.
First Peoples Child & Family Review
The First Peoples Child & Family Review is an open-access, interdisciplinary, and peer-reviewed journal honouring the voices and perspectives of First peoples and non-Indigenous allies and supporters. Our mission is to promote research, critical analysis, stories, standpoints, and educational resources which advance innovation within child, family, and community based-matters for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, as well as Indigenous peoples abroad.
International Indigenous Policy Journal
IIPJ is a peer-reviewed, policy-relevant research journal addressing issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples throughout the world.
International Journal of Indigenous Health
The International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH) was established to advance knowledge and understanding to improve Indigenous health. The Journal seeks to bring knowledge from diverse intellectual traditions together with a focus on culturally diverse Indigenous voices, methodologies and epistemology. The Journal is peer-reviewed, online, open-access and shares innovative health research across disciplines, Indigenous communities, and countries. Building on its trusted reputation for sharing community-relevant and high-quality knowledge, the IJIH welcomes submissions within the IJIH mandate from researchers and practitioners in Indigenous health around the world.
Journal of American Indian education
Founded in 1961, the Journal of American Indian Education (JAIE) is a refereed journal featuring original scholarship on education issues of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Indigenous peoples worldwide, including First Nations, Māori, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander peoples, and Indigenous peoples of Latin America, Scandinavia, Africa, and others.

JAIE strives to improve Indigenous education through empirical research, knowledge generation, and transmission to researchers, classrooms, communities, and other educational settings. Studies grounded in Indigenous research methodologies are especially encouraged.
Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing
The Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing is a peer-reviewed, open-access, scholarly online journal that shares multi-disciplinary indigenous knowledge and research experience amongst indigenous health professionals, leaders, researchers and community members. The journal publishes original, informative and scholarly articles on the broadly defined topic of indigenous wellbeing. Serving as a forum for the clarification and exchange of ideas, the journal features articles on projects that make a significant impact on our understanding of indigenous wellbeing
NAIS: Native American and Indigenous Studies Association
NAIS publishes the best interdisciplinary scholarship in international Native American and Indigenous Studies. The journal provides an intellectually rigorous and ethically engaged forum for smart, provocative, and exciting scholarship while drawing on the extraordinary professional expertise of our ever-expanding membership in a process of double-anonymous peer review. NAIS provides a forum to place different kinds of research, intellectual traditions, and knowledge practices in conversation.
Native Studies Review
The Native Studies Review began publication in 1984 as a refereed bi-annual journal by the Department of Indigenous Studies of the University of Saskatchewan.

The journal’s mandate is to feature original scholarly research on Aboriginal perspectives and issues in contemporary and historical contexts. As a multidisciplinary periodical, it publishes articles dealing primarily with a Canadian focus but welcomes submissions with an international focus.
Settler Colonial Studies
The journal aims to establish settler colonial studies as a distinct field of scholarly research. Scholars and students will find and contribute to historically-oriented research and analyses covering contemporary issues. We also aim to present multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, involving areas like history, law, genocide studies, indigenous, colonial and postcolonial studies, anthropology, historical geography, economics, politics, sociology, international relations, political science, literary criticism, cultural and gender studies and philosophy.
Studies in American Indian Literatures
Studies in American Indian Literatures (SAIL) is the only journal in the United States that focuses exclusively on American Indian literatures. With a wide scope of scholars and creative contributors, this journal is on the cutting edge of activity in the field. SAIL invites the submission of scholarly, critical pedagogical, and theoretical manuscripts focused on any aspect of American Indian literatures as well as the submission of bibliographical essays, review essays, and interviews. SAIL defines "literatures" broadly to include all written, spoken, and visual texts created by Native peoples.
Wicazo-Sa Review
Founded in 1985, the Wicazo Sa Review is an interdisciplinary journal which seeks to further scholarship and inquiry in the field of Native American Studies.

The robust goal of Native American Studies is to focus on the experience of Indigenous Peoples while considering intricate histories and intercultural heritage, using a cultural, religious, legal, and historical lens. Native American Studies emphasizes leadership within Native Nations through research and initiative to problem solve.

The Wicazo Sa Review provides analysis into past and present processes of decolonization and it’s relationship to survival in the modern world.

Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A great starting place for any research topic. Includes a wealth of peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles on a wide range of topics and disciplinary areas.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select ebooks and other materials.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles and eBooks in the humanities and social sciences.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Non-scholarly reports and analysis on issues in the news. Reports are written by journalists and professionally fact-checked. Each report includes an introductory overview, background and timeline, assessment of the current situation, tables and maps, a pro/con debate, and a list of further reading.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Contains contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. Features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files, and links to vetted websites.
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles in sociology, psychology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science, and law.
SocIndex with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of sociology, including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, religion, racial studies and social work. Includes citations to books, conference papers, and other types of sources.
Anthropology Online This link opens in a new window
Published ethnographies, foundational books, memoirs, contemporary studies, and archival material covering human culture and behavior around the world.
Anthrosource This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles from the American Anthropological Association's journals.

America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles, non-scholarly articles, and book reviews on the history of the U.S. and Canada from 1493.
U.S. History in Context This link opens in a new window
Overviews of historical topics with selected peer-reviewed sources, images, essays, videos, primary sources, and more to give a rich understanding of the topic. The database covers U.S. History topics ranging from the arrival of Vikings in North America to the first stirrings of the American Revolution and on through the Civil Rights movement, 9/11, and the War on Terror.

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles on world history (1450 to present), excluding the U.S. and Canada. Special search functions include searching by historical time period.
World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Overviews of historical topics with selected peer-reviewed sources, images, essays, videos, primary sources, and more to give a rich understanding of the topic. The database covers world history topics from ancient history to current headlines.

Art Full Text This link opens in a new window
Scholarly and non-scholarly articles focusing on art, art history, and criticism from Western and non-Western traditions. Including new artists, contemporary art, exhibition reviews, and feminist criticism.
Music & Dance Online This link opens in a new window
Streaming audio and video, encyclopedia articles, non-scholarly articles, and primary sources. Materials include live performances, audio, instructional films, plays, posters and playbills, interviews, and choreography.
Please use VPN to access the database remotely.
Kanopy Videos This link opens in a new window
Beginning April 15, 2024, Android 7.1.1 will be the earliest supported Android OS for Kanopy mobile use. Users will be prompted to update if necessary starting on that date.
Streaming documentaries, independent feature films, foreign films, classic cinema, and select popular movies.
Information about Viewing Kanopy Videos on Mobile Devices
The Kanopy films can be viewed on iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets using the Kanopy app. Download the app for iPhone or iPad from the Apple App Store, or download the app for Android phones and tablets from the Google Play Store.
To use the app, you'll need a Kanopy account associated with Cal State LA. If you have a non-Cal State LA Kanopy account, you must make a Cal State LA-specific account to access our resources through the app.
If you already created an account on the Kanopy web page via the Library Databases page, you can directly select Log In when you first open the app. If you don't have a Kanopy account yet, after downloading the app, select “Get Started,” select the Find University link as shown below, and then follow the steps to create your Kanopy account:

• Type in California State University, Los Angeles.
• Select our campus name, and click Next to get to the campus login page.
• Log in using MyCalStateLA ID and password. Please note when you type in your ID, please don’t include @calstatela.edu.
• To create your account, you need to use your Cal State LA email address, but you can use a different password for your Kanopy account.
• Once you have created your Kanopy account, you can then login to Kanopy app on your phone or tablet.
For help creating a Kanopy account on your iPhone or iPad, go to iPhone Help Page.
For help creating a Kanopy account on your Android phone or tablet, go to Android Help Page.
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
Provides access to Gale Literature including Resource Center, Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism and LitFinder. The database brings together these literary databases allowing searching across these resources.
- Contemporary Authors Online
- Dictionary of Literary Biography
- Literature Criticism Online