InfoGuides: Primary Sources Guide: Native American & Indigenous Studies

Databases

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam.
Arizona Archives Online
Online catalog of archival collections, preserved and made accessible by Arizona repositories, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums.
National Archives
This page contains links to American history relating to Native Americans.
National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archives
Link to archive finding aids and digital resources housed in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian.
"American Indian Records" 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.
Native American Constitution and Law - Digitization Project
This project of the University of Oklahoma Law Library and the National Indian Law Library of the Native American Rights Fund provides online access to government and tribal legal documents, including Constitutions and Tribal Codes.

Tribal Court Clearninghouse
The Tribal Court Clearinghouse is a comprehensive website established in June 1997 to serve as a resource for American Indian and Alaska Native Nations, American Indian and Alaska Native people, tribal justice systems, victims services providers, tribal service providers, and others involved in the improvement of justice in Indian country. It is one of the most comprehensive websites on tribal justice system issues, and includes a wealth of tribal, state, and federal resources. The Clearinghouse website contains extensive resources on tribal, state, and federal law along with extensive Indian country subject-matter resources, a training events calendar, and resources from all Tribal Law and Policy Institute webinars.
Digital History Online
An American history site developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the College of Education at the University of Houston.
Digital Public Library of America
Recommended for qualitative information. The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) makes millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to everyone in one location. They also provide Primary Source Sets that include photographs, audio clips, drawings, letters, and much more.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 70,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World to soldiers’ letters from World War II and Vietnam.

American President Project
A website developed by the University of California-Santa Barbara. It is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database the following content:
• The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913)
• The Public Papers of the Presidents Hoover to G.W. Bush (1929-2006) & Obama (2009)
• The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Carter - G.W. Bush (1977-2009)
• The Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents: Obama (2009-2012)
In addition this collection also contains thousands of other documents such as party platforms, candidates' remarks, Statements of Administration Policy, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and election debates.
Public Papers of the President of the United States
Contains material that was compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. It includes volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. As subsequent volumes are published, they will be added online.
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
Searchable full-text edition of the 1953 publication, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Includes speeches, correspondence, and more, compiled by the Abraham Lincoln Association.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
This institution, part of the National Archives and Records Administration, provides a gateway to many resources about FDR, the New Deal, and more.
The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (1745-1799)
The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799 - posted by the University of Virginia E-Text Center. Access provided by the Internet Archive.
The National Security Archive
An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States.

The Tomaquag Museum
Rhode Island's Only Indigenous Museum Dedicated To Sharing Our Culture, Arts and History From A First Person Perspective. Tomaquag Museum Features An Extensive Collection and Archive That Focuses On Tribal Communities of Southern New England.
Mashantucket Pequot Museum
Permanent exhibit includes a walk through diorama of Pequot life, along with related exhibits that engage the visitor with information on thousands of years of Pequot life in North America
Indians of the Midwest: An Archive of Endurance
The story of the Indians of the Midwest is one of endurance. Beyond the rich oral narratives that many tribes maintain, the Newberry houses an archive of materials that records and preserves aspects of the varied cultures and traditions of the indigenous nations of the region we have come to call the Midwest.
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
The purpose of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MoCNA) Collections is to document the contemporary Native art movement through an active collecting program, expanded research opportunties, and effective collections stewardship.

The collection contains nearly 8,000 works of art and reflects the following priorities: Documents the contributions of the Institute of American Indian Arts and other important Native artists to the contemporary Native art movement; Includes Indigenous artists from the United States, Canada, and other countries; and Works that reflect the historical roots of contemporary Native art, c. 1930-Present

To inquire about researching this collection, please visit iaia.edu/museum/collection/research/.
Exhibits - National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has one of the most extensive collections of Native American arts and artifacts in the world—approximately 266,000 catalog records (825,000 items) representing over 12,000 years of history and more than 1,200 indigenous cultures throughout the Americas.
Digital Collections for Haffenreffer Museum (Brown University)
The Haffenreffer Museum's permanent collection now includes over 150,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects from all over the world, and forms the basis for research, exhibitions, and community outreach. The Museum collection illustrates and documents human cultures and societies worldwide. The collection is strong in the indigenous arts of the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia, along with smaller collections from other parts of the world.

Archival Collections

People's Plateau Web Portal
The Plateau Peoples' Web Portal is a collaboration between the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes Of The Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation and Native Programs at Washington State University. This Portal is a gateway to Plateau peoples' cultural materials held in multiple repositories including WSU's Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections, the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture, the National Anthropological Archives and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. The materials in the Portal have been chosen and curated by tribal representatives. Each item has one or more records associated with it as well as added traditional knowledge and cultural narratives to enhance and enrich understanding to many audiences.
Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains
The Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains Collection includes photographs, paintings, ledger drawings, documents, serigraphs, and stereographs from 1874 through the 1940's. In 1998, the images were digitized and drawn from the library collections of three of the Montana State University campuses (Billings, Bozeman and Havre), the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, and Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, Montana.
American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection
This site from the University of Washington provides an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics.
Edward S. Curtis's "The North American Indian" Collection
Edward Sheriff Curtis published The North American Indian between 1907 and 1930 with the intent to record traditional Indian cultures. The work comprises twenty volumes of narrative text and photogravure images. Each volume is accompanied by a portfolio of large photogravure plates.
Photographing Native Americans (Massachusetts Historical Society)
The portraits in this web presentation were collected by four Bostonians during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Charles W. Jenks and Francis Parkman collected carte de visite and tintype portraits of American Indians during the 1860s as historical records of tribal groups and their role in contemporary American politics. After a visit to southern California, Boston collector Kingsmill Marrs brought home platinotypes of southwestern Indians taken by Adam Clark Vroman in the late 1890s.
Mountain West Digital Library
Provides free access to over 690,000 resources from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and government agencies, counties, and municipalities in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, and other parts of the U.S. West.
The Bob Fitch Photographic Archive
The phrase "Indian rolling" -- assault or murder of Native Americans by non-natives -- came into use in the spring of 1974 when three Navajos were beaten and killed by white teenagers in the town of Farmington, New Mexico. The perpetrators were sent to reform school for the crime. Organized and led by American Indian Movement (AIM) members, protests by tribal members were intense but nonviolent. Demonstrations became more confrontational when march permits were revoked or refused. In May 1974 Bob Fitch investigated and documented the murders and protests, having learned about them from Santa Fe investigative journalist Don Devereaux. Farmington is located in the southwest "four corners" region, near the conjunction of four states -- Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Most of the region belongs to the Hopi, Ute, Zuni & Navajo nations. Border town racism and violent incidents continue today.
Native Americans of South Carolina Archives
Native South Carolinians have been, and continue to be, an essential part of our state’s history. However, the average South Carolinian would be hard-pressed to name more than one of the state-recognized tribes, and might think of the history of Native South Carolina largely ending with the colonial-era Yamasee War. NASCA looks to correct these misconceptions, helping to tell the story of Native South Carolina with complexity, nuance, and respect. In pursuing the goals, this project will take the form of an evolving website, providing access to significant primary source materials and other resources.

Marquette University - Native America Collections
Post-Columbian collections encompassing Indians/ Indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America, the bulk of which pertain to the Catholic Church and Native Americans or Indigenous people in the United States since 1874.
University of South Carolina at Lancaster - Native American Studies Archive
(covers much of Catawba Nation history. Link provides access to archival collections and resources.)

Native Americans of South Carolina Archives
Native South Carolinians have been, and continue to be, an essential part of our state’s history. However, the average South Carolinian would be hard-pressed to name more than one of the state-recognized tribes, and might think of the history of Native South Carolina largely ending with the colonial-era Yamasee War. NASCA looks to correct these misconceptions, helping to tell the story of Native South Carolina with complexity, nuance, and respect. In pursuing the goals, this project will take the form of an evolving website, providing access to significant primary source materials and other resources.
Index of Native American Resources
This portal, compiled by an individual, provides links to primary and other resources.
"American Indian Records" 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.
"After Columbus: Four-hundred Years of Native American Portraiture"
Digital Collection of Native American portraits and photographs from the New York Public Library.
New York State Library Native American Collections
The New York State Library holds a wealth of first hand descriptions of the Native American experience in New York. These resources span four centuries, beginning with the Dutch colony of New Netherland and continuing to the close of the American frontier in western New York and beyond. Original manuscripts and published accounts provide windows upon Native American life and serve as lenses through which cultural and historical interpretations can be made.