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Native American History

| General History | Tribal & Regional Histories | Electronic Texts | Images |

For other sites that include material on the history of Native Americans see United States History to 1865, United States History from 1865, State History and Pacific Northwest History.

General Sites

• First Nations Histories
  Collection of brief histories of a small selection of tribes. Also includes a link to a listing of all recognized tribes. Also see the list of links to tribal sites that is part of Native American Sites.
• Native American History Resources on the Internet
  Part of the Index of Native American Resources on the Internet. Also see NativeWeb: Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the World.

Tribal & Regional Histories

• Midwest
  • Ayer Ojibwa Collection
    Photographs of Ojibwa artifacts "made by members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwa" and housed at the Minnesota Historical Society.
  • Black Hawk War of 1832
    "This project presents searchable primary source materials describing the Black Hawk War of 1832. It includes the Autobiography of Black Hawk, American soldiers' first-hand accounts and reminiscences, maps and other images, and treaties and other government documents."
  • Camping with the Sioux
    "Fieldword diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher" who in 1881 lived with Sioux women in Dakota territory. Part of the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian.
  • Dakota Conflict Trials of 1862
    Trial transcriptions and other historic documents detailing the the trial and history of 38 Sioux, part of the Famous Trials web site.
  • Kiowa Drawings in the National Anthropological Archives
    Smithsonian's collection of Kiowa drawings from Fort Marion artists, Silver Horn and anthropological illustrations.
  • Lakota na Dakota Wowapi Oti Kin
    The Lakota Dakota Information site links to a number of resources dealing with the Lakota and Dakota peoples.
  • Lakota Winter Counts Online Exhibit
    Smithsonian exhibit that includes a database of winter count images, a documentary of Lakota history and culture and interviews. Also see other Smithsonian material on Native Americans.
  • Omaha Indian Heritage
    " Drawing on resources from the University of Nebraska State Museum, the Nebraska State Historical Society and other partners, they have created this fine website. At the present time, the site includes sections containing online texts, photographs, and artifacts."
  • Omaha Indian Music
    Ethnographic collection of music dating from 1890s and 1980s as well as interviews with members of the Omaha tribe and photographs. Part of American Memory.

• Southeast
  • Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842
    This collection, part of the Digital Library of Georgia, contains over 1,000 documents and images relating to the Native American population of the Southeastern United States including "letters, legal proceedings, military orders, financial papers, and archaeological images." Scroll down to this collection on the Digital Library of Georgia page.
  • Chickasaw Historical Research Page
    Excerpts of historical documents including tribal rolls, letters and treaties.

• Southwest
  • Mission to Arizona, 1916-1940
    Collection of photographs by Franciscan missionary Augustine Schwartz of Pima, Papagos and Apache peoples.
  • Sipapu: Tha Anasazi Emergence into the Cyber World
    Archaeological site exploring the prehistoric architecture of the Anasazi. The site includes 3-D renderings of sites, timeline, and collection of research papers.
  • Voices from the Trading Post
    Collection of more than 40 oral history interviews of members of the United Indian Traders Association based in New Mexico.

• West
  • American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
    "This site 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." Part of American Memory, the American Memory version of the site.
  • Chief Washakie Foundation
    "The Foundation’s web site consists of primary resource materials, on-line exhibits, and a searchable database of historical photographs and oral histories pertaining to the history and cultural traditions of the Shoshone and Arapaho of Central Wyoming."
  • Dorothy Hill Collection
    Digitized collection that documents the history and culture of the Native American peoples of Northern California.
  • Frank Fuller Avery Image Collection
    800 images of the Colville Reservation in Eastern Washington.
  • A History of the Northwest Coast
    History of Northwest Coast native peoples provided as a timeline illustrated by documents and images.
  • The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures
    Library of Congress exhibit depicting the exchanges between the Russian Orthodox Church and native Alaskans in the years between 1794 and 1915. Includes documents and images.

Electronic Texts

• AIM and Wounded Knee Documents
  Collection of scanned documents including flyers and newsletters detailing the history of the American Indian Movement and the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee.
• First Nations Collection
  Documents, books, and articles relating to the indigenous peoples of the Southern Oregon bioregion. Nations include the Coos, Klamath, Shasta and more.
• Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties
  Oklahoma State University digitized version Charles J. Kappler's classic, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties initially published in 1904.
• Native American Documents Project
  Collection of federal policy documents dealing primarily with the Rogue River War and Siletz Reservation. The site also includes allotment data for various reservations for the years 1887 and 1904.
• Native Americans and the Environment
  "You will find thousands of Internet and published resources described and catalogued at this site. We also have a document archive and a case studies section where we address specific issues." Also see the Carnegie Museum of Natural History exhibit, American Indians and the Natural World.

Images

• American Historical Images on File: The Native American Experience
  "This collection of historical photographs is provided with the permission of Facts on File, Inc., and is a comprehensive collection of images of Native American people. The collection is arranged chronologically from the prehistoric period and the Paleo-Indians to 1990."
• Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian
  Digitized version of Edward S. Curtis's 20 volume set originally published between 1907-1930. Part of American Memory.
• Images of Native Americans
  Bancroft Library exhibit of Native American images in historical and popular cultural contexts.
• Theodore De Bry Copper Plate Engravings
  A collection of images and descriptions depicting early American Indian life.

Image: Photograph by Anders Wilse, "Makah whale hunters landing their canoe at Neah Bay, 1900." Courtesy of the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection.