Your Librarian
The Land We Stand On Now
We stand on the homelands of the Wahpekute band of the Dakota Nation. We honor with gratitude the people who’ve stewarded the land through the generations and their ongoing contributions to this region. We acknowledge the ongoing injustices that we have committed to the Dakota Nation, and we wish to interrupt this legacy, beginning with acts of healing and honest storytelling about this place.
- Dakota WicohanHistory on the Dakota, who are the keepers of the eastern door to the greater D/L/Nakota Nation. The Dakota are comprised of four bands; Mdewakanton, Sissetonwan, Wahpetonwan, and Wahpekute.
- Native LandAn Indigenous-led project to outline the boundaries of Indigenous ancestral territories, languages, and Cessions in North America.
- Bdote Memory MapA beginning resource for understanding more about the Dakota people's relationship to Minnesota.
- Newcomers: The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862Excellent maps and visualizations.
- Land & Lifeways: The US-Dakota War of 1862Includes primary and secondary sources about the Dakota Homeland, and links to other related projects. From the Minnesota Historical Society.
Repositories of Indigenous primary sources
There are hundreds of small collections, usually centered around a particular region or nation. These are a few of the broadest and most topical collections, but don't feel limited to them!
There are hundreds of small collections, usually centered around a particular region or nation. These are a few of the broadest and most topical collections, but don't feel limited to them!
Connecticut Indian Deed, 1727, from the Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection
- Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
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Manuscripts, artwork, rare printed books, photographs, Indigenous newspapers, treaties, speeches, diaries, maps, travel journals, and more. Material from and about Native American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, to the civil rights movement of the 20th century. - Native American Indians, 1645-1819 This link opens in a new window
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Every major book printed in North America about Native Peoples (1645-1819), including more than 1,600 publications about the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers, featuring text exploration tools, author biographies, and suggested search paths for easy browsing and discovery. - Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
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Collections from Canadian and American institutions, providing insight into the cultural, political and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth into the twentieth century. Including diverse manuscripts; book collections; newspapers from various tribe and Indian-related organizations; materials such as Bibles, dictionaries and primers in Indigenous languages - Native American Tribal Histories, Series 1-4, 1813-1880 This link opens in a new window
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19th-century primary source documents on dozens of Native tribes about the encounters between Indigenous people and American Territorial officials. - Indian Claims Insight This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations and the full text)
Includes historical claims presented to Congress or brought before the Court of Claims. Also includes records of the Indian Claims Commission including briefs, docket books, decisions, expert testimony, oral transcripts, and more. - Territorial Papers of the United States, 1764-1953 This link opens in a new window
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Digital collection of pre-statehood documents including Native American negotiations and treaties, official correspondence with the federal government, military records, judicial proceedings, population data, financial statistics, land records, and more.
- Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection
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Digitized images from the Newberry's Edward E. Ayer collection, one of the world's premiere sources of primary documents on American Indians - Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition archive
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An archive and index of documents related to Native American boarding schools. Not all materials are available online. Requires you to make a free account. - Native Peoples of the Americas Oral History Collections
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An extensive oral history project, including sub-collections for different nations. - National Museum of the American Indian - Online Collections
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The Smithsonian makes some of their collections available online through this digital exhibit. - Native American Literature Collection (Amherst College)This digital collection contains over 100 books written by Native American authors ranging in date from 1772 to the 1920s. The collection includes fiction, poetry, history, philosophy, sermons, anthropological works, photography, activist manifestos, books for children, and much more.
- National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (University of Manitoba)The NCTR was created as part of the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). The NCTR Archives and Collections is the foundation for ongoing learning and research. Here, Survivors, their families, educators, researchers, and the public can examine the residential school system more deeply with the goal of fostering reconciliation and healing.
Indigenous Newspapers
- Indigenous Newspapers in North America This link opens in a new window
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From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, explore nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the US and Canada. With newspapers representing a huge variety in publisher, audience and era, discover how events were reported by and for Indigenous communities. - Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window
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Manuscripts, artwork, rare printed books, photographs, Indigenous newspapers, treaties, speeches, diaries, maps, travel journals, and more. Material from and about Native American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, to the civil rights movement of the 20th century. - Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Search through the full text of newspapers, magazines, and journals published in the U.S by ethnic, minority, and native presses. Covers 1991 - current.
NOTE: You can use the "Ethnic People" menu near the bottom of the search screen to limit your results to only those publications put out by Indigenous peoples. - Alternative Press Index This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
An index of alternative, radical, and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines from around the world. It focuses on emerging theories and practices of radical social change, socialism, national liberation, labor, Indigenous peoples, gays/lesbians, feminism, ecology, democracy, and anarchism. Covers 1969 - current.
NOTE: If you want to search just within the Indigenous newspapers, put this following into one of the lines of the search form:
(JN "American Indian Quarterly") OR (JN "American Indian Culture and Research Journal") OR (JN "Native Americas") OR (JN "Akwesasne Notes") OR (JN "AbyaYala News") OR (JN "Wicazo Sa Review") OR (JN "Daybreak") OR (JN "Chiapas") - Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
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An open access digital collection of 20th century alternative press newspapers, magazines, and journals produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, and extreme right-wing groups.
NOTE: click into the "Series" area to see which publication titles are associated with Indigenous peoples. - Native Americans in History This link opens in a new window(Searches through citations and the full text)
A curated collection of books and articles about Native Americans. News reports and popular editorials provide a variety of points of view on Native Americans. Reports from Native American delegations and personal views of chiefs are also presented. Newspaper coverage: 1728 - 1922; ebook coverage 1663 - 1928.
