LibGuides: Primary Sources: American Indian Studies

American Indian Studies

American Indian Correspondence: Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries' Letters, 1833-1893 This link opens in a new window Letters written by men and women from the U.S. who served as Presbyterian missionaries to the American Indians during the years 1833 to 1893. The letters describe the Indian peoples and cultures, tribal factionalism, relations with the U.S. government, and the many problems and achievements of the work.
Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America This link opens in a new window Explore manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers (early 16th century) and photographs and newspapers right up to the end of the 20th century.
American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism, The This link opens in a new window Informant reports and materials collected by the Extremist Intelligence Section of the FBI on the evolution of the American Indian Movement (AIM) as an organisation of social protest (1968-1979). Includes documentation on the 1973 Wounded Knee Stand-off.
Indigenous Newspapers in North America This link opens in a new window 200 years of digitised idigenous print journalsism from the United States and Canada. Content includes English, bi-lingual and Indigenous.-language editions, such as Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo languages. Digitised scans of individual articles and full newspaper pages. Date coverage: 1828-2016
American Indians and the American West, 1809-1971 This link opens in a new window Contains a large variety of collections from the U.S. National Archives, a series of collections from the Chicago History Museum, as well as selected first-hand accounts on Indian Wars and westward migration. Subdivided into numerous smaller collections, these can be searched separately or all together. Most collections are from the settler perspective, but there are also records of council meetings of a selection of native tribes.
Bray Schools in Canada, America and the Bahamas, 1645-1900 This link opens in a new window Archives of the Associates of Dr Bray, a philanthropic group whose aims were to provide education for black people and Native Americans in North America.
Early Encounters in North America This link opens in a new window This collection aims to document the relationships among peoples in North America from 1534 to 1850. Mainly consists of personal accounts from all of the protagonists, including traders, slaves, missionaries, explorers, soldiers, native peoples, and officials, both men and women.
Frontier Life This link opens in a new window This collection helps us to understand existence on the edges of the anglophone world from 1650-1920. Discover the various European and colonial frontier regions of North America, Africa and Australasia through documents that reveal the lives of settlers and indigenous peoples in these areas. Includes correspondence, diaries, government papers, business records, land transactions, legal documents, speeches, books and pamphlets.
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals. These materials were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
Indian Claims Insight This link opens in a new window Covers the history of Indian claims from 1789-present. It includes claims presented to Congress and US Courts, including documentation related to settlements of claims and maps. It can be used to understand Native American migration and resettlement throughout US history, as well as US Government Indian removal policies and subsequent actions to address Native American claims.
Indian Trade in the Southeastern Spanish Borderlands: Papers of Panton, Leslie and Company This link opens in a new window Comprising the papers of Panton, Leslie & Co., a trading firm, this collection offers a range of ethnographic sources for the Southeast Native Americans. Documents cover the company's operations from 1763-1901 trading with Native American tribes and influencing Spanish territorial claims over the Americans.
Meriam Report on Indian Administration and the Survey of Conditions of the Indians in the U.S., The This link opens in a new window Records of 15 years of hearings (1928-1943) looking at the effect of the 1887 Dawes Act, which allowed the acquisition of indigenous American land by non-indigenous people, and its effect on indigenous peoples.
Mountain People: Life and Culture in Appalachia This link opens in a new window This collection consists of the diaries, journals, and narratives of explorers, emigrants, military men, Native Americans, and travelers. In addition, there are accounts on the development of farming and mining communities, family histories, and folklore. These documents provide a view of the of the vast region Appalachia over 350 years.
Native American Tribal Histories: Series 1-4 This link opens in a new window Contains the records of regional superintendents from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and their agents, who worked directly with tribal leaders, settlers, and traders. Access is to all 4 sections, which covers areas across the United States. The period covered is 1813-1880 and includes letters, reports, communications from tribal leaders, treaties, registries and notes from curators at the U.S. National Archives. Scanned images and OCR text.
North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window Contains previously unpublished, rare, or hard to find documents including autobiographies, biographies, Indian publications, oral histories, personal writings, photographs, drawings, and audio files. Coverage is from the late 1800s to the 2000s.
Revolutionary War and Early America: Collections from the Massachusetts Historical Society This link opens in a new window Contains 26 collections from the holdings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, focusing on the Colonial Era, the Revolutionary War, and the Early National Period, with some collections extending into the Civil War era. Includes the Pre-Revolutionary Diaries, 1635-1774, which consists of 276 diaries written by 112 people. The collections span a huge date range from 1419-1973 and include a range of papers from families and individual figures.
War Department and Indian Affairs, 1800-1824 This link opens in a new window Consists of the letters to and from the U.S. War Department, covering a wide range of official and other personnel. Also included are many other documents, e.g. requisitions, financial statements, depositions, contracts, newspapers, copies of speeches, licences, travel passports etc.